Perle Noir is one of the most recommended and well reviewed black inks out there. When I bought this ink a few years ago, I was disappointed. It is not the blackest, not the smoothest, not the fastest drying ink, not an archival ink, not the cheapest. I decided to give it a second chance so I eyedropped a Preppy with it and filled a Lamy All-star. Over the past few days I have written many pages of work notes with the ink. Perle Noir is a well behaving black ink that is sold at a reasonable price, but it doesn't excel in anything. Below some writing samples, followed by drying times and test in water resistance. Drying times are about average to slow, 45 secs with a broad nib on Tomoe River 52g paper. The ink is certainly not water resistant, but it can handle an accidental drop. The full characteristics: Feathering none Shading hardly any Show through negligible ...
However, it's still subtle enough to use in an office environment for note taking. For cards and letters to your red wine loving friends it's an excellent color with a wink to wine or dinner of course. The color remains pleasant to read, even in long notes.
The ink feels a bit dryer and is a little less lubricated than what I'm used to from Diamine inks, but other than that the ink behaves really well. No feathering, nice shading, and hardly any show-through. Drying times little less than 25 seconds which is pretty good. Water or fluids will immediately ruin your writings.
Compared to the Diamine Syrah the Merlot is less red and saturated. It's still very red though which can be seen when compared to Larmes de Cassis. A true red, Rouge Grenat (Herbin) looks quite similar on the bottle, but in practice is completely different.
All in all, Diamine Merlot is a nice color to have to the side. Next time I'll write about the Syrah.
Comments
Post a Comment