KSLV-II, by Colorverse

Part of Colorverse's space and time series, KSLV-II is a special edition in honor of South Korea's space program. Named after a Korean rocket it comes with a smaller (15ml) bottle, 75t Rocket Engine.

The color is a deep blue, with a very clear purple sheen. This sheen is so present that - when writing with a very broad nib like a poster 4mm, the ink almost flips over completely: purple with blue sheen. Note the huge difference between the poster nib, a normal broad nib and a stub nib.
An excellent blue for work or personal notes, or personal correspondence. Because of the purple sheen I wouldn't use it for business correspondence.

This ink is the first Colorverse ink I have tried and I must say the ink is very well behaved. No feathering, beautiful shading (with some sheen), good lubrication and negligible show-through. The ink is wet, drying time with a normal nib is above average (50 sec), with a really broad nib the ink is still wet after a day.
It was hard to find a similar color. I thought KSLV-II would be like Kon-Peki, but this ink is much more blue. Ku-jaku is too light and too green. And neither Asa-gao nor Homer blue (Montblanc) comes close.

All in all this ink is a nice addition to my collection. Definitely an ink to use frequently!

Written on Clairefontaine Triomph paper (white).

Kikyou, Sailor Manyo

A few months ago this new ink series by Sailor was announced. Based on flowers, in a stylish 50ml bottle. What I see is not a flower, but an ink that is stormy blue with a hint of green. Teal? Maybe, but in my opinion it's darker than that, scans and monitors can be slightly deceiving. This ink can be a work horse. Very suitable for note taking, definitely works in the office, but also for personal notes and correspondence.

The ink writes like a dream. It's not very wet, but smooth and extremely well-behaved in any pen. Just the combination crown mill vellum paper and a poster nib (as you can see), leads to some feathering of the ink. Drying times are simply fast, with just 12 seconds on this paper! Shading is low. Water resistance is low. Even after days it smears easily with just a tiny drop of water.

I called this ink a work horse. It is, and an expensive one. Even though it's wonderful ink, it's simply not special enough to justify the price. Yonaga (Sailor) and Balt…

Gele oker van Frans, P.W. Akkerman

P.W. Akkerman in The Hague has a series of Dutch masters, based on colors 17th century Dutch painters used. It is a nice series, with some lovely colors. Stone red by Vermeer for instance is amongst my favorite ink colors. And these bottles, absolutely stunning! Gele Oker van Frans (Yellow ochre by Frans) is based on paintings by Frans Halsema.
But why this color? It's likely to cause eyeball cancer or at least some severe retinal burns. Observing the sun through binoculars is less painful. The ink is nearly impossible to read on Crown Mill or Rhodia paper. A broad or stub nib is a necessity, or even a glass dip pen.
The ink characteristics are simply good. Akkerman has high quality inks and this one is no exception. No feathering, no show through, moderate wetness, sufficient lubrication and some nice moderate shading. Drying times below average and water resistance very poor. With a price of around 25 euro for a 120ml bottle, the inks are very reasonably priced too.
But this col…

Red Fox, Mont Blanc, Le Petit Prince

Red Fox is a Montblanc Limited Edition, based on their Le Petit Prince series. The ink is a dark brown orange, not unlike the fur of a fox. I wasn't sure what to expect of this ink to be honest, reviews are mixed, but in the past week I have been writing a lot with it. It's great for personal use and at the same time, despite being a dark orange, it's a color that you can easily use in an office environment to take down notes. For longer reads the color remains pleasant.

The ink and its color surprised me and I must say, Ireally like this ink. At 35 euro for 50 ml the ink is expensive, but well worth it.

It's a high quality ink. As expected, no feathering, no bleed-through on decent paper, shading is strong and excellent and the ink behaves extremely well in my Parker Duofold (medium nib). Lubrication is a bit better than most Montblanc inks I know but still, some pens have difficulties with it. TWSBI and Montblanc is not a good combination for instance. This is a non pe…

Fountain pen inks reviews and comparisons

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