Ink at the Heart of a Fountain Pen
|
|
|
|
The introduction is repeated from the previous reviews. In 2016 Monteverde started to re-imagine / configure their inks and as a part of that they have released a number of collections e.g. noir, emotions, gemstones and this, the Sweet Life collection released early 2019. The collections are not easy to obtain in my part of the world but Pen and Ink (Queensland) have the sets for AUD$99 plus postage. I contacted Monteverde in the USA about some of their other inks, the US people directed me to the Australasian distributor who in turn directed me to Pen and Ink. It would appear Pen and Ink are the only retailers in this part of the world, (and have been fantastic) in the US many retailers stock Monteverde inks. There the sets retail on line from US$90 - $100. As said there are 10 inks in the collection, I will divide the reviews but make some general comments here and after the last review summarise what I have found / think. The same pen was used for each ink i.e. a Birmingham Pen Co 6th Avenue pen. The inks are named after a collection of popular American desserts, I couldn’t think of anything more American than keylime pie or blue velvet cake, some of the others are fairly international e.g. chocolate pudding and birthday cake. Each ink comes in a 30ml glass bottle with more interesting labels than some of Monteverdes other inks. They all contain ITF technology. ITF stands for ink treatment formula which in Monteverdes words - “drastically improves ink flow quality, extends cap-off times and lubricates and protects the ink feeding systems from corrosion and clogging” The inks come in a black magnetic sealing box which is ‘specifically designed for reuse and recycling. The box is contained within a soft cardboard outer sleeve. Pictures of the packaging are in my first review. The colour range is limited with a preponderance of browner shades.  Strawberry Shortcake Initially I thought this wasn’t very strawberry then I thought it was but have settled on orange-red like a blood orange.  The red around the edge of the blood orange is what you get with this ink Chromatography was fairly monochromatic with a lean towards orange-red.  A fairly bright orange-red on Col-o-ring and dull orange on Tomoe. You can see quite a difference when the two swatches are side by side.
 On Midori it is still blood orange to me, slow drying with a little shading.
On Tomoe the colour leans a lot more towards the orange rather than red hues. It was very slow drying and the shading not much better than on Midori.
I can report for this ink no start up problems when I reused the pen. On copy paper slight feathering and show through. This is an interesting colour, I have a few red inks but for some reason never seem to use them. Credible dupes (from left to right) Bungbox - Maranouchi Line, TAG – Hushimi no Shyunuri, Monteverde – Ruby, Diamine – Firefly (shimmerink), Private Reserve – orange crush and Noodlers – Cayenne.  In summary Saturation – high Shading – minimal Sheen – no Shimmer – no Flow – good Nib dry-out - none Nib creep - none Start-up – ok Feathering – a hint on cheap paper Drying – slow, a minute on Tomoe Cleaning - good Water resistance – not great but then again not sold as waterproof   Birthday Cake I think this was a random name chosen for the purple ink in the collection. A birthday cake can be many colours but purple is not what usually comes to mind, then again I can’t think of any dessert known for its traditional purple colour. Having said that I did some searching and Ube an ingredient from the Philippines, is made from yams and has been used for generations to colour sweets purple. Chromatography was more interesting than many of the other inks in this collection, purple, pink and a lot of turquoise.  On both col-o-ring and Tomoe this is more at the violet end of the purple spectrum.
On Midori this had a better dry time than some of the other inks I have reviewed in this collection. There was little shading apparent, just a violet ink.
On Tomoe a similar colour, acceptable dry time and some shading.
I didn’t try this ink on cheaper paper as I somehow broke the pen I was using – very sad! Credible dupes are (left to right in the photo) Bungbox – Hanzomon Line, Pilot 100th Anniversay – Jurojin, Sailor Kobe Story – Sannomiya Pansy and Watermans – tender purple.  In summary - Saturation – high Shading – minimal Sheen – no Shimmer – no Flow – good Nib dry-out - none Nib creep - none Start-up – good Feathering – none, but didn’t try cheap paper Drying – reasonable at 30 secs Cleaning - good Water resistance – not sold as waterproof  
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Ink Brands
All
|
RSS Feed