Fountain pen inks reviews and comparisons

September. Autumn has started on the northern hemisphere. The evenings are longer, the nights already cold and the days more chilly. Yet, there is still plenty of sunshine and the leaves are starting to turn yellow, brown, and red.  So what ink colors match this early Fall season? I’ve compiled a list of ten suitable colors. Fully aware that any list is arbitrary and unfair to some beautiful colors that I left out. To name a few, Montblanc’s Homage to Victor Hugo , Diamine’s Macassar , Herbin’s Lie de Thé or Cacao du Bresil , and KWZ’s Capuccino . Yes, these are all brown inks. Too early in the season. I guess I will have to write a brown ink special in a few weeks.  The colors that did make it to the list are more colorful, resembling the sunshine and colorful leaves. In random order Yama-guri (Iroshizuki), Oxblood , Autumn oak, Pumpkin, Burnt Sienna (all Diamine), Rosso antico, Red fox , James Purdey & Son single malt (all Montblanc), Habanero (Noodler’s), and SBRE Bro...

When it comes to dark red inks that are beautiful, can be used for other purposes than grading and Christmas cards, and are even acceptable in an office environment, two Diamine inks lead the pack: Red Dragon and Oxblood . At first glance they look somewhat similar.  However, Red Dragon is a purer, brighter red. Fresh blood if you will. Oxblood leans more towards brown and can be compared to dried blood.  In behavior the inks don't differ much. Both quite wet and behaving really well with all pens I've tried them in.  In the scan I have used the same pens to do the writing samples. Using three different languages to show the effect and behavior better. The paper is Original Crown Mill Vellum (off-white).  There is no argument about taste, pick your own favorite. In everyday writing show-through and bleed-through are no concern with these inks, as long as you stick to decent paper. You can easily use the backside in your Rhodia notebook.  There is a di...

Mid September, the last week of summer. Autumn is already sending its rain; a colorful season is ahead. Red inks fit autumn perfectly in my opinion. I love Diamine Oxblood and P.W. Akkerman's Stone red and assumed this Crimson ink would be a nice addition to my collection of reds. I was not mistaken.  Crimson is a very nice, beautiful color. Red of course, but subtle and elegant. Not a red for graders and correctors. It's no problem to use this for note taking in the office or for any personal correspondence and writing you want to do. The ink is pleasant for the eyes and remains so even when reading long notes or letters. Diamine makes great, wonderful value for money inks. No feathering, negligible show-through, wet but not too wet, well lubricated and high, beautiful shading. Drying times were surprisingly fast, roughly 18 seconds. The ink doesn't like water, spilled fluids ruin your writing rapidly and thoroughly.  Crimson is a dark red color with a hi...

My first ink review, it had to be this one. Possibly the most beautiful ink color I have, Oxblood by Diamine.  It is a strong, dark red, leaning towards brown. It draws people's attention, but is classy enough for business use, and even better for personal correspondence.  I always have a pen filled with this ink. But I use it more fall/winter t han in spring/summer. Most of the time Diamine comes in the practical 30ml plastic containers, for this color I have also bought the beautiful and less easy to obtain 80ml glass bottle.  The ink behaves really well, it's smooth and quite wet with long drying times (30-35 seconds). I only use high quality paper like Crown Mill, Rhodia or Lalo. There is no point in wasting precious quality ink on cheap copy paper. I particularly like the shading in this ink, it's very noticeable but never extreme. To give an idea, I have included some comparisons with Vermeer's Steenrood (PW Akkerman), Rouge Grenat (Herb...