ink drop

December 2012 Ink Drop

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I received the December 2012 ink drop from Goulet Pens tonight. After dinner I poured a cup of coffee and did some samples and swabs. The ink selection was red and green in honor of the Christmas season. I got lucky in that none of the samples duplicated the reds & greens I’ve been accumulating. So all these inks are new to me.

These are this month’s selection and my impressions (based just on the test swabs):

  • De Atramentis Fir: This is a scented ink. I’m ambivalent about scented ink but have no desire to use them. As expected, this has a fir scent, at least that’s the claim. The scent isn’t overwhelming. The green is nice, but I don’t see it being a regular for me.
  • Rohrer & Klingner Verdura: I like this green, at least the swab. I’ve also liked other Rohrer & Klingner inks so I look forward to trying it out.
  • Noodler’s Green: A simple, to the point name and a nice looking green.
  • Diamine Matador: A nice red, but just another red to me.
  • De Atramentis Oriental Red: Again, nice but just another red to me.

Green is one of my favorite colors, although I’ve yet to come across a green worthy of consideration as a favorite ink. I’ve been accumulating samples. I guess with this latest crop it’s time to begin writing with some green ink.

If my calendar is correct this is my last ink drop unless I reorder. I like getting the ink but I’ve got so much unused ink now I need to make a dent in what I already have. So I think it’s time to take a break from the monthly drops and get to using what I already have.

November 2012 Ink Drop

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I did my swabs and writing samples for the Goulet Pens November ink drop this past weekend. It took awhile to get to it since none of the inks grabbed my attention when I opened the envelope, except for one I already had. They’re nice enough, but I don’t think they’ll make it into a pen anytime soon The five November inks are:

  • Diamine Ochre – This brown ink is easily my favorite among the bunch since it’s one I  already have a sample. I added it when ordered some brown inks to try. Looks like it will have good saturation and shading. I do like brown inks.
  • Noodler’s Tiananmen – This is a nice dark red with a purple tint in my swab. My second choice among these five inks.
  • Noodler’s Cayenne – My ink swab and writing sample doesn’t look as orange as I expected. The swab does have an orange shade to it, but the writing sample (written with a glass dip pen) looks like a dark red.
  • Rohrer & Kilingner Morinda – I’ve read that this is an easy tio clean red ink. If so it may be more than the common red it appears to be.
  • De Atramentis Ghandi – A thin yellow ink that doesn’t appeal to me at all. Maybe useful as a highlighter or for drawing, neither is something I do.

The R&K Morinde will probably get put in a pen pretty quickly thanks to it’s reputation as an easy to clean red. But other than than, no inks jump to the top of my “must try” list, but a couple I’ll use eventually and will probably like.

Additional Reading:

Goulet Pens Ink Drop Reveal and Contest

October Ink Drop

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I finally got around to opening this month’s ink drop from Goulet Pens. This  month all five inks where from a new boutique brand called Scribal Work Shop. It’s their Cryptid line of Fountain pen inks

The ink names have a mythical theme. A Cryptid is a creature who’s existence is suggested but unproven. The inks are named after such creatures. The five inks are:

  • Kraken Black
  • Zhulong Red
  • Siren Blue
  • Leviathan Green
  • Nessie Purple

I’ve used two of the inks so far. I’m using Kraken Black in a stub nib to write the draft of this article. I also inked up a fine nib with the ink. The second ink is Leviathan Green. I used that in a Lamy Safari and used an extra fine, fine and medium nib.

The colors are pretty basic but very pleasing. I’ve liked the online samples I’ve seen along with the swabs I’ve done. Although the ink can be considerably different than swabs and digital reproductions.

The two inks I’ve tried are true to the nib width. This means the Leviathan Green was too light on Rhodia Dotpad 80g white paper using my normal, light writing pressure with an extra fine nib. The fine nib was also light but at least it was readable with normal writing pressure.

Goulet Pens reported some mold in their Zhulong Red ink after the ink drop had been sent out. My own sample seems fine.

I like the concept of these boutique inks and I especially like the black ink. At $8 for a 60ml bottle its hard to beat. Still, these are basic colors and I already have too many unopened bottle and samples waiting to be used. I’d like to show my support by adding some Cryptid ink but I’m undecided as to whether or not to buy any. The black is certainly an ink I’d use. The green hasn’t really appealed to be so far, maybe with more use.

Additional Reading:

Goulet Pens blog post and video about Scribal Work Shop Cryptid Ink

September 2012 Ink Drop

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This month’s ink drop from Goulet Pens arrived yesterday. Of the five inks I expect to try out three of them soon.

Diamine Apple Glory – I like green inks and this is a vibrant green ink that seems to match the color of my Lamy Safari Apple Green pen. Here’s a review on the Fountain Pen Network (FPN).

Noodler’s Liberty’s Elysium – a vibrant, saturated blue ink. Blue inks don’t excite me very much but this one stood out thanks to the vibrancy in the pictures I’ve seen. Since it’s blue I probably wouldn’t have tried it out, but I’m happy to have a sample. A FPN review is here.

Noodler’s El Lawrence – I’m not sure what color this is, brown or green? or mud? But I like it. It will probably be the first of the batch that I try out. Here’s a FPN review.

The other two inks are scented inks, which doesn’t appeal to me. It depends whether or not I detect the scent when writing. De Atramentis Sandalwood is a green ink and De Atramentis Dianthus is a purple ink. While I oftern use purple ink for margin notations I’m not in the market for a new brand or shade.