Ink Review #329: Robert Oster Sparkling Cranberry

Today's new release is Robert Oster Sparkling Cranberry, a new Robert Oster Shake 'N' Shimmy ink. I purchased my bottle of ink from Pen Chalet. 

Sparkling Cranberry comes in 50ml bottles. The shimmer sinks to the bottom of the bottle, so it needs to be shaken before filling a pen.

The color:

Sparkling Cranberry is a bright cherry red with plenty of silver shimmer. This ink would be great for Christmas cards.

Swabs:

In large swabs, you can see lots of shimmer, but no sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: low-mostly in the swabs.

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and lots of shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as a bit of bleeding, so it's not an ink I would recommend for cheap paper.

Comparison Swabs:

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Diamine Red Lustre, Robert Oster Sparkling Cranberry, and Robert Oster Red Gold. Click here to see the Robert Oster inks together. Both Red Luster and Red Gold have gold shimmer, while Sparkling Cranberry has silver shimmer.

Robert Oster Clay Red, Robert Oster Rubine, and Robert Oster Fire Engine Red. Click here to see the red inks together. Robert Oster Rubine is the closest non-shimmer ink to Sparkling Cranberry.

Longer writing: 

I used a broad Conklin Durograph Forest Green on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow. The shimmer sinks fast, so to keep it in suspension the pen needs to be rotated often.

Overall, the shimmer is a bit inconsistent. To keep the shimmer in suspension it has to be rotated at the end of every written line. The ink dries fast, and is a nice color. 

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does contain an affiliate link.