Ink at the Heart of a Fountain Pen
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The two inks I am going to review here are from cartridges not bottled ink. I bought the cartridges when I bought my first Mont Blanc pen – thinking I wouldn’t need that much ink as I couldn’t use it all so cartridges were better than bottles. Ha ha ha to me, in the 5 years since I bought the pen my ink collection has exploded. It led to me completely forgetting I had these cartridges until I had a big ink ‘sort-out’ late last year. Just a note at the start because I used cartridges there are none of my usual water proofing tests I started with burgundy red as I wanted to try a Yookers pen I had been given. The pen is a refillable felt tip that can use cartridges or a standard converter. Burgundy red comes in the standard Mont Blanc 60ml bottle for $NZ36 ($US20.50) or in a pack of 10 cartridges for $NZ15.  I realised my ink must be old when I saw the cartridge packing on the Mont Blanc website.
According to Mont Blanc Burgundy red is - for expression - Burgundy Red blends rounded wine tones with flaming fire for intense, passionate language. Chromatography revealed shades of a pinky red and a deep brownish purple.  On my col-o-ring it has tones of Mont Blancs Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Encre du Desert but is actually redder when put up against that ink. It is certainly a brownish red. There is not much difference on Tomoe river paper.
The writing experience was quite different as it writes more as a dusky pink colour. I started with Tomoe river, moved to cheap paper and finished with Rhodia  Tomoe I am not sure the dry times are reliable because I am using a felt tip. I should have repeated them when I put the cartridge in a fountain pen as I did when I was trying the cheap note paper.  The thing that became obvious with the cheap paper is the flood of ink you get when you start writing if you haven’t used the pen for awhile, it can happen with a fountain pen too but using the Yookers it is very obvious.  Rhodia In the end I am not sure why I bought this ink when I did because I don’t really like the colour. I guess I can keep using the cartridges in the Yookers until I have used them all up. Though this ink is still available on the Mont Blanc web site I won’t be replacing it when I've used it. Despite my dislike of the colour it is as most Mont Blanc inks well behaved and worked well. I do know why I bought the corn poppy red – because it pops and I suspect I thought it would be a fun colour. I suspect however that this is a discontinued ink because on the Mont Blanc web site they only have cartridges available, no bottled ink and unlike the Burgundy red they are still being advertised in the old packaging – it gives the impression it is old stock they are clearing.
According to Mont Blanc corn poppy red is – For love and hope: creative ideas grow playfully as Corn Poppy Red bursts from your pen. Chromatography was really just a single shade of an orange red colour – nothing really exciting about it.  On my col-o-ring it is a bright orange red and looks a lot more orange than red on Tomoe river paper.
I started with cheap paper then Rhodia and finally Tomoe river – this is a very wet ink.
 Rhodia I was quite disappointed to see after about 2 minutes I was sorting out the paper to take a photo and look how the writing at the bottom of the sheet smeared even after all that time.  I do like the colour of this ink but if its no longer available I won’t be too upset. It is too wet for my liking and there are other inks I have that are credible dupes for this. The nemosine ink is a favourite. 
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