Vinta Inks - Mermaid Green (Sirena 1952)

Mars Ravelo (1916-1988) was a famous Filipino cartoonist and graphic novelist.  He wrote many famous stories but the one that has remained popular through the years in Filipino culture is the story of Dyesebel.  A Mermaid born to human parents.   

The story goes that Dyesebels mother spent so much time looking at pictures of Mermaids while pregnant Dyesbel was born as one.  Dyesebel was first serialized in 1952 and a film was made the same year, since at least 5 films and 2 TV series have been made.

The ink is another from Vintas pastel collection.  It is a pale mint green with pink undertones.
This came as a sample so I can not show you what it looks like in the bottle but in the sample vial it looks Kelly green.
Chromatography revealed pink, a grey, at least two shades of green and a bright blue.

On col-o-ring it looks like a consistent pale green colour but up close the subtle pink undertones are there.

On Tomoe the pink / grey dominates and there are only hints of dark green at the edges.  Not at all what was expected given the col-o-ring swatch.

When it came to writing I was trying another of my cheap Chinese pens.  I bought a few pen BBS eyedropper pens and they like many others are very good value for money and despite a stainless steel nib it is still a very good pen.
I started with a cheap paper from an old folder.  When I used this paper with a couple of other Vinta inks there was a lot of feathering and show through.  Here the ink dried to a very pale green with no shading.  It is hard to see as the ink is so pale but it wasn’t completely dry at 30 secs there was a little smear when tested. 
Minimal feathering, no real shading and a lot of show through.  For me it is a very insipid colour.

Cheap paper was followed by Tomoe.  Again pale but with some depth it reminded me of a slightly washed out Mont Blanc Homage to R Kipling (see below).  Very little in the way of shading, of course no feathering but still a slow dry time.

Mont Blanc on the left, Vinta , the right

The last paper was Rhodia and my comment was MEH!!

Vinta inks are very reasonably priced.  The packaging is simple but I have said elsewhere the bottles are not great in so much as they are going to be difficult as the ink level drops, thank goodness for my Peneider pen snorkel
This is a well behaved ink, flows well though on the slower side to dry.  The colour is just too bland / pale for me but I know there are many out there who will love it.  It is good to see a company making these sort of colours and not always bold bright in your face sheening inks. 
In summary –
Saturation – low
Shading – minimal
Sheen – no
Flow - good
Nib dry-out - none
Nib creep – none
Start-up - immediate
Feathering – barely noticeable on cheap paper
Drying – slow at 25-30 secs
Cleaning – very easy
Water resistance – not sold as waterproof but I am so impressed with this ink.  It may be pale but it barely moves when held under a running tap.