First Look: Introducing Esterbrook Inks!

June 26, 2021

I’m happy to reveal that Esterbrook inks will be coming soon to your favorite pen retailers, in a range of nine new colors, six standard and three shimmer. (You may have seen these teased on the Esterbrook Instagram account over the past week.) Cary was kind enough to send me samples so that I could publish my first impressions, and so far, so good. While I’ve not had the opportunity to fully test these inks in my pens, I inked up a few this morning and will be putting them through the testing process.

Standard colors include Cobalt (blue), Ebony (black), Evergreen, Aqua, Tangerine, and Scarlet. As shown below, there are also three “Shimmer” inks: Shimmer Aqua, Shimmer Tangerine, and Shimmer Lilac. At first glance, all of the colors are vibrant, and I haven’t noticed any loss of saturation or smearing in the two weeks since I swabbed the sample sheet shown here.

I chose Evergreen and Shimmer Lilac to test out for the week.

Initial Thoughts and Where to Buy Once the New Inks Hit the Market

I’m liking the color selection here, which strikes a good balance in the sense that Esterbrook has included somewhat offbeat colors such as the tangerine and lilac alongside more standard “pen company” colors such as blue, black, green, turquoise (“Aqua,” which is a shade darker than is typical) and red (“Scarlet”). Even the standard blue is a rich “Cobalt” that I could see getting plenty of use. While I’m not a huge shimmer ink user, I will note that the “shimmer” here isn’t overly glittery, seems usable for everyday writing, and might pair quite nicely with one of the Diamondcast Esterbrook pens.

Esterbrook chose a more traditional ink bottle design, akin to the classic Pelikan bottles.

The Esterbrook inks are not available for purchase quite yet, but they should start appearing at your pen retailer of choice over the next couple of weeks. I’m almost certain Vanness Pens will have these inks in stock as soon as they hit store shelves. Stay tuned for final details on pricing and for an updated link to purchase.

Disclaimer: Esterbrook provided me with the ink samples and ink bottle featured in this review free of charge, for review purposes. This post does not contain affiliate links.

Water and White Lightning: Fixing High Maintenance Inks

September 18, 2019

For years I avoided certain ink brands, namely Noodlers and Private Reserve, not because I actually believed those inks would destroy or “melt” pens, but because of batch inconsistency and the fact that many of the inks bled and feathered on all but the thickest coated paper. Others never dried, remaining tacky and subject to smearing for up to a week or more. I would get frustrated and give up, selling or giving away the bottles I had accumulated.

With nearly a decade in this hobby under my belt, I’m slightly more patient than I used to be, and writing this blog has provided me with the opportunity for experimentation. Noodlers makes a wide range of vibrant and unique colors, and most of the inks are so saturated with dye that you can add a couple drops of water or ink additive to improve the ink’s behavior without changing the color significantly or sacrificing vibrancy. The only caveat is that by diluting the ink, you run the risk of compromising special properties such as “bulletproofing” (permanence/water resistance) or quick-drying. I generally don’t purchase inks for these reasons, however, other than a couple water-resistant inks I keep in my collection, and I’ve found that most aren’t significantly affected by a drop of dilution.

Noodler’s Walnut has always been a favorite of mine, but I’ve had trouble with feathering and slow dry times if I use the ink undiluted. How did I fix it? Read on below.

So How Do I “Fix” Problematic Noodlers Inks?

I’ve found that certain Noodlers Inks that are prone to feathering, bleeding, and extremely slow dry times work better with 1-5 drops of water added to a 5ml sample vial. Inks such as Air Corps Blue Black and Walnut are great colors, but sometimes bleed, feather, and smear on cheaper paper, or take a long time to dry on fountain-pen friendly paper like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, or Tomoe River.

Writing Samples of Noodlers Walnut, Air Corps Blue Black, and Shah’s Rose, three colors that behave extremely well with a touch of water (Walnut, Air Corps) or a tiny drop of White Lightning (Shah’s Rose).

On the other hand, for inks that are too dry, I take the same amount of ink (5ml in a sample vial) and add a tiny drop of Vanness Pens “White Lightning” ink additive. You might remember a version of this product when it was sold by Organics Studio, under the moniker “Cuddles Flo Plus”, but Vanness acquired the formula after Organics Studio discontinued it and are now bottling the product directly. White Lightning is intended “for use in poor flowing or dry inks to increase flow consistency,” and the product really does work. I can’t emphasize enough, though, that you should use this product sparingly, and do not add directly to the bottle unless you are extremely sure of the amount. Use too much and you can turn a dry ink into the inverse: an ink that feathers, bleeds, and never dries. I’ve had success using White Lightning to improve the flow of drier Noodlers Inks such as basic Noodler’s Black, 54th Massachusetts, and Shah’s Rose. I’ve also spoken with other people who swear that White Lightning improves extremely dry inks such as certain Kyoto TAG inks, as well as Platinum’s “Classic” series of Iron Gall inks.

One of the great things about Noodlers is that the bottles come filled to the brim. (Just be careful opening them for the first time.) I’ve actually heard some people describe the full bottle, the super-saturation, and the need to dilute certain col… — One of the great things about Noodlers is that the bottles come filled to the brim. (Just be careful opening them for the first time.) I’ve actually heard some people describe the full bottle, the super-saturation, and the need to dilute certain colors as a “bonus,” because it makes the bottle last a very long time.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Noodlers Ink is widely available from most pen retailers, and the bottles pictured here were supplied by site sponsor Pen Chalet. What I’ve discovered over the years is that Noodlers makes “tinkerer’s inks.” If you don’t mind playing around with the formulation, you can better enjoy the wide range of colors and properties that the brand has to offer. White Lightning Ink Additive can be purchased from our sponsor Vanness Pens, and is a product exclusive to them. This unique product really does work, and if you have a large ink collection that includes colors you love but can’t use due to how the inks themselves behave, consider experimenting with water dilution or additives to tailor the inks to your preference.

Disclaimer: The inks and ink additive were provided to me free of charge by my sponsors, for review purposes. Many thanks to Pen Chalet and Vanness Pens for making this review possible!

Six Month Review: Favorite Inks from 2019, So Far

May 29, 2019

As with my Six Month Review of my favorite pens from the first part of this year, I’ll take a look at some favorite inks I’ve reviewed so far. Unfortunately, I don’t do as many ink reviews as I do pen reviews (honestly, I don’t use THAT many different inks), so this may actually turn into a recap of most of the inks I’ve reviewed this year. The good thing is that those inks I choose to review actually end up being the inks I really like and use, and I’ve loaded up on ink in the first part of this year, and look forward to broadening my horizons a bit going forward.

Pilot Iroshizuku 100th Anniversary Inks Bishamonten (Red) and Hoteison (Dark Green). While I wasn’t blown away by the 100th Anniversary Iroshizuku inks as a whole - I found the overall color palette underwhelming - these two inks have both seen steady use, and caused me to pull out my other underused Iroshizuku inks and invest in several additional colors. Look forward to seeing more Iroshizuku content coming your way.

Rediscovering an Old Favorite: Private Reserve Burgundy Mist. I set aside my Private Reserve inks years ago and more or less wrote off the brand, but my recent experience with Burgundy Mist has me wanting to repurchase more old favorites as Private Reserve has been revitalized under new ownership.

Robert Oster / Pen Addict “Fire on Fire” Collaboration. Brad and Robert Oster came up with one of the best “everyday” orange inks on the market, in terms of flow, visibility, and the lack of any tendency to form “nib crud.” Fire on Fire will be a mainstay of my rotation for as long as they continue making the ink.

Taccia Ebi (Purple Red) and Uguisu (Olive Green). Taccia is a brand that I’ve grown to appreciate over the years. They don’t make a wide range of products, but what they do make - both pens and ink - are of excellent quality. The inks are also quite reasonably priced, and I’m certainly going to pick more of these up in the future.

Waterman Tender Purple. Making a guest appearance in my review of the Tactile Turn Gist 2.0, I will always think of this ink as Waterman Violet, which is what it was called for years before Waterman updated its line not to add more colors, but rather a series of cheesy names such as “Tender Purple,” “Inspired Blue,” “Serenity Blue,” etc. Strange marketing decisions aside, it’s a great ink, and I’ve had multiple fills of this ink loaded in my Gist for the past couple months.

Thanks for reading! For more of my thoughts on inks, check out my post titled “Favorite Workhorse Fountain Pen Inks, as Determined by Actual Use.” As a reminder, I’m on vacation for the rest of this week so nearly all of what I post will be recap-style content. Things will be back to normal next week!

Ink Review: Colorverse Season 4, "Trailblazers In Space" (Albert/V2 Rocket)

July 28, 2018

Colorverse recently launched Season 4, titled "Trailblazers in Space," and once again the company has shown that it really has no competition in terms of marketing creativity. This season's theme is again well-thought out, and the inks in the various sets seem to complement each other well. For those of you who aren't space geeks, the names are a tribute to the various animals, mainly monkeys and dogs, who were the first "Trailblazers" to "visit" space. (To be honest, after reading up on this theme in depth, I personally found the history behind these sets more than a little morbid. For example, I think there were technically six "Alberts", which is reflected on the design of the Colorverse box.)

Anyway, back to the ink. The set that I have is Albert/V2 Rocket, which pairs a bright grass green (Albert) with a bright orange (V2 Rocket). I say "bright" - both colors aren't quite what I would call fluorescent, but it's close. While V2 Rocket is easily my favorite here, Albert is also a great color. Both are on the drier side for Colorverse inks, though there were no flow issues. One thing to note about Season 4 is the new and improved packaging. Colorverse now includes foam inserts to help keep the bottles in place during shipping and prevent spillage, which had been an issue with the previous packaging design. (Check out the photo below.)

Colorverse Albert in my Franklin-Christoph Model 02 with a Masuyama-Rouse 14k needlepoint nib.

Colorverse V2 Rocket in my Jim Rouse Sheaffer Legacy.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Colorverse inks continue to pleasantly surprise me. With all the crazy colors, sheen, and "glistening" properties, one might think that these inks would be slow to dry, or otherwise have issues with feathering and bleeding. Not so - every single one of these inks has behaved itself in any pen I've tried, and Albert/V2 Rocket are no exception. You can check out my prior reviews of other Colorverse inks, including Black Hole and Dark Energy, Schrodinger and Cat, and Quasar.

Many thanks to our sponsor Pen Chalet for graciously supplying this set of Colorverse Ink for review. Pen Chalet carries the entire range of Colorverse, including Season 4. Each set is priced at $36 USD for 80ml of ink (a large 65ml bottle and a smaller 15ml bottle), and with this season you get two different inks per box, much like Season 3.

Disclaimer: Pen Chalet provided me with the ink featured in this review free of charge. This post contains affiliate links.

Six Month Review, Part II: Favorite Inks from the First Half of 2018

May 30, 2018

For my first “on vacation” post from last week, I recapped my five favorite pens from the first half of 2018. This week I’ll do the same for several inks I’ve been using recently. If you’ve been following the blog regularly, you won’t be surprised to see that Colorverse inks feature prominently, as I’ve been quite impressed with this line of inks from South Korea.

Disclaimer: The following contains links to paid sponsors and affiliates. It’s how I support the blog and keep the lights on around here. That said, whether or not I chose to include a specific pen on this list in the first place is a choice separate and apart from which retailer I choose to link to. No sponsor or affiliate had any input into the inks included on this list, which reflects my own personal opinion.

Colorverse Dark Energy. It’s a dark burgundy ink, so of all the Colorverse inks that I’ve had the opportunity to try so far, Dark Energy is my favorite. I’ve had it inked in at least one pen since I got my hands on this bottle. Colorverse inks play nice in most pens and on most paper. My review here.

Sailor Rikyu-Cha. Is brown? Is it green? Is it grey? All of the above? Rikyu-cha is one of those colors that defies categorization, other than to say it’s really cool looking and an ink that I enjoy using regularly. Sailor inks are among my favorite for everyday use, and Rikyu-cha is an excellent work-friendly option. My review here.

Colorverse Schrodinger & Cat. For their “Season Three” inks, Colorverse chose to issue inks in pairs, so you’ll receive a 65ml bottle of one color along with a 15ml bottle of another. Schrodinger (a dark green) and Cat (a “glistening” blue) complement each other nicely. Cat is actually one of the few “shimmer inks” that I’ll use for regular writing. My review here.

Papier Plume Bootlegger’s Sacrament. Ok, not fair, since it was a Chicago Show special edition and I’m not sure how much is left for regular purchase, but I really, really like this dusky purple ink. If you were unable to get a bottle, keep watching the Papier Plume website and social media accounts, because they are releasing a steady stream of new ink colors in addition to their regular lineup. My review here.

Aurora Blue-Black. Some might find this choice boring, but Aurora’s first new release in years has become something of a staple for me, in addition to their standard blue and black inks that, in my opinion, are some of the best “standard” colors out there. The ink itself was actually released last year, but it didn’t make its way into my rotation until recently. I’ll need to review it on its own soon, but it makes an appearance in my review of the Aurora Flex nib.

Honorable Mention

Well, the Montegrappa Fuchsia did make an appearance on my Instagram feed.  Sort of. — Well, the Montegrappa Fuchsia did make an appearance on my Instagram feed. Sort of.

Montegrappa Fuchsia. I can’t officially add this ink to the list, since I’ve just received it, but given my “pink ink” obsession I thought I’d mention it here. Montegrappa only recently started to expand their ink offerings by releasing some “wilder” colors, like the Fuchsia, and so far I’ve been impressed. The color is quite vibrant, and generally behaves well for such a brightly colored pink. Look for a review soon.