Aurora Borealis, by Diamine

If there would be a price for the ink with the most beautiful, intriguing name, this ink would definitely be nominated. Aurora Borealis by Diamine is a green, 'tealish' ink. The color is saturated, but still modest. Suitable for an office environment (note taking) and of course for any personal correspondence. Both short and long. I have used this ink for one letter, some cards and a day of note taking.

The behavior of Diamine inks is well-known and predictable. Works absolutely fine in any pen. High quality inks that don't feather, have minimal or no show-through, are well lubricated, are wet but with acceptable drying times and heavy, beautiful shading. Even when writing with a Lamy EF nib, shading is clearly visible. The ink is very susceptible to water.

At first glance this reminded me of Iroshizuku's Syo-ro and yes, the colors are close. Aurora Borealis is a little bit more green and saturated. Iroshizuku's other teal, Ku-jaku, is noticeably more blue. Herbin's Vert empire is more like a moss green and Herbin's Emeraude de Chivor is, like Ku-jaku, far more blue, dark and saturated.

To conclude, Aurora Borealis is a very nice, well-behaved, green color with excellent shading. I will most likely finish the bottle. What's wrong with it is that ' nothing is wrong with it'. Aurora Borealis lacks something special, the ink is too much a dime a dozen.

Comments

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…

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