Tag Archives: purple

INK REVIEW: Private Reserve Purple Mojo

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Private Reserve Purple Mojo Ink Swab

Hello, Purple Mojo!

Words that come to mind….vibrant, in-yo-face color, PURPLE, bright. This is one screamin’ purple ink!

Private Reserve Purple Mojo Writing Sample

It writes quite well. No issues with bleeding, show through, or feathering on my Rhodia paper. There’s even a bit of shading – always nice, yes?

Dry time isn’t really an issue and the highlight test was also fine.

I keep returning to my one lingering question, though. Is Purple Mojo…

special enough?

After falling in love with Mr. President, I just don’t know.  Check it out in the Compare Squares.

Bottom Line:   I like Purple Mojo well enough. I don’t love it.  To me, it’s not special enough in terms of color. But..that is the only thing holding me back and if you love the color, you should go for it because it really is a well-behaved ink.

INK REVIEW: De Atramentis Alexander Hamilton

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I had no idea Alexander Hamilton was so sexy. 

I’m clueless as to why this ink from De Atramentis was named Alexander Hamilton, but I love it just the same.

Let’s have a closer look….

beautiful shading
deep rich purple

The full review…

Alexander Hamilton is well-behaved in the pen. Perhaps a bit wet with the broad nib, but I can work around that.  In fact, I tried the same ink one other time and loved it then, too.

The color is darker than a traditional (perhaps the better term would be royal) purple and I think this makes it suitable for use in almost any setting. Of course, I work from home and no one but the dogs are judging the ink colors in my notebook.

I love it!  If you’re at all into purples, you should consider Alexander Hamilton from De Atramentis.  Again, look at that shading!

I used a sample for this test, but I’m definitely adding a full bottle to my wish list.

What about you? Love purple? Hate it? What is on your wish list?

Oh! Almost forgot…in case you’re curious.

QUICK LOOK WEDNESDAY – Six Pretty Colors

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Sometimes, I want to play with my pens, inks, and papers, but can think of nothing to write.

The first step is to write the name of the ink and the name of the pen (see above). I just noticed that each ink is from a different manufacturer – nice.

Apparently, the last resort is to write things that I overhear from the television (see below).

It was actually quite a bit of fun – watching and scribbling, changing pens and writing a bit more. I love the way the entire sheet of paper looks – each color is pretty amazing on its own, yes?

Let’s take a closer look . . .

Above – DeAtramentis Alexander Hamilton. I love this purple. It’s so rich and deep in color – nice saturation. I don’t see this ink discussed much on the various forums, but I think this is a purple that could be used anywhere.  (more on that another day)

Below – Private Reserve Spearmint. One of my favorite green inks. It looks a bit dark here to my eye, but it is usually quite cheery.

Do you have a guess as to which show I was watching at the time?

Below – Montblanc Hitchcock. A gorgeous blood red ink if I ever did see one. Some really pretty shading in there, too. I have to confess, I have a quite a lot of this in my cabinet. Shall I keep it forever? Use it as if I’ll never run out? Or maybe even sell some?

Below – Noodler’s Habanero. A favorite. That shading. The brightness of the color. Need I say more? Mm..wait, I already did right here.
 

By the way, the above quote is the one that seems like the one that would tell the secret of what I was watching. Have you guessed it yet?

Above – Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun. I wonder if I only could have one ink, if this would be it. Check out my big review here. It is crazy CrAzY to think that I, lover of bright and beautiful colors, would be so taken with a gray ink, but there you go.

Above – Diamine Majestic Blue.  Easy to see why it’s one of my favorites, yes?  So pretty.

And, so, there we have it – six pretty colors. All so different from one another and yet all so wonderful.

Which show was I watching?  Downton Abbey, of course!  Have you seen it? Highly recommended.

QUICK LOOK WEDNESDAY: You call that red?

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Time for another Quick Look Wednesday!

What do all of these inks have in common?  They are all samples from my bag of red inks.

Red?

 Private Reserve – Vampire Red
 Diamine – Maroon
 Pelikan Edelstein – Ruby
 Sailor Jentle – Grenade
So, yes, I sort my ink samples by color. I have so many that there has to be a system – I’ll take pictures and show you sometime soon. 
I first look at the name of the ink and sometimes it’s obvious where the ink belongs.  Delta Brown?  Not a big decision. Frankly, Pelikan Edelstein Ruby didn’t seem like a big decision either. Ruby – Red, right? Not so much. Yikes.
When the name doesn’t make it obvious, I open the sample, have a peek, and make a best guess. Sailor Jentle Grenade belongs with the purples. Oops.
I’m really liking Private Reserve Vampire Red. Perfect name for this color, yes? Can’t wait to write with it!
Maroon from Diamine is ok – nothing special to me. It’s one of those colors that isn’t really a color. Haha.
What do you think?  Do the names of inks get you all bothered, too? Ruby – ha!

INK DROP: May 2013

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Seriously? I’m probably the last person to comment on the May Ink Drop color from Goulet Pen Shop.

I’ve been just a little busy. There was the wedding. And then the baby! (Not ours – bummer.)

But here they are…

Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts
De Atramentis Ocher Yellow
Roher & Klingner Alt-Goldrun
Roher & Klingner Alt-Bordeaux
De Atramentis Mint Turquoise

They look so different on different papers, yes? Four passes on the Clairfontaine Triomphe paper to get close to the same look on the Brush Dance paper.  (Disclaimer: I’m the president of Brush Dance and maybe just a little slanted in that direction, but really? We have great paper.)

As for the inks? I’m not IN LOVE with any of them.  Each of them falls squarely into that “not a color” area for me. Alt-Goldrun is so popular – I want to write with it very soon.

What do you think? Love ’em? Hate ’em?

INK REVIEW: J Herbin Violette Pensee

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Boom! Take that, boring winter colors! Pow! In yo face!

See it huge.

I really like this color. It’s maybe a little milky looking, but in this case, I really really like it. Boom!

Totally saturated, fun color that doesn’t hold up well to water. (So what?)
LOVE that the drop spatter is visible in this image.
It’s the little things.

My bottom line? Same as my top line!

Perfect getting ready for spring color. Agree? Disagree? Discuss in the comments!
(Oh yeah..and Private Reserve Tanzanite? I’m coming for you, Ms. Thang.)

INKY REJECTS

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Three inks that will never ever ever (well, maybe) make it into any of my pens.
We’ll start with Organics Studio Mercury in the middle. Turns out that after sitting for awhile, this ink solidified – well, actually, it gellified (it’s a word).  You can actually see the clumps in the third swab of this really pretty color.
Organics Studio Cobalt is guilty by association. I know, I know. I could try it with a glass dip pen, perhaps. It is a really pretty color – especially when it’s laid down in three layers, yes?
Noodler’s Rochmaninoff. I bought a sample of this from Goulet Pens (love them!) and it’s clear this isn’t like other inks. I had to shake the vial to mix it all up and even then, it looked – suspicious – like something I wouldn’t want to put in a pen. But. When I swabbed it, no problem – perfectly smooth and kinda pretty (in a Pepto kind of way). And look at the glow – pretty, right? I think I’m going to get brave sometime and test this one. Maybe. 
Are there ink brands you just won’t use? Have you ever changed your mind and it worked out ok? Or (yikes) didn’t work out?

PEN REVIEW: Pilot Varsity All Colors

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We’ve already looked at the blue – and now here are the remaining colors of the Varsity Pilot fountain pens.

The Classics
Some people worry that something is wrong with the pen when they see the ink down in the section (the part of the pen between the barrel and the nib). This is perfectly normal and is a result of the ink moving through the feed system into the nib. In most pens, this part of the pen is opaque – but if you could see, you would see – this is perfectly normal.

Handy Ink Window

The Whole Enchilada
Bottom Line? In a pinch, these get the job done. The colors are fun.

INK PREVIEW: Oops.

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Pffft.

I’d completed the review of Montblanc’s Winter Glow and then went to my stash – grabbed four red inks out of my red inks sample bag – and above is the result.

Dude. Those aren’t red. Maybeeeeeee Rouge Caroubier is close – but even it is more of a pinky color.

Heaven only knows why I didn’t stop after the first – or the second – OR THE THIRD – but I kept right on going.

So..what you have here is a mess. But at least you can see the swab of Winter Glow and a bit of writing. It’s darker than I thought it would be coming out of the pen.

I’ll get a proper review of Winter Glow done soon.

After I try sorting my samples by color one more time 😉

INK REVIEW: Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire

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Despite whatever else I say below – I like this ink. I do. 
It failed the water test. See?

It’s not really sapphire in color. I realize there are different colored sapphires out in the world, but most people think of them as blue. This is more of a purple – or even a very bright periwinkle.  I like all of those colors.

It’s bright. Love that.  It’s BOLD. Really love that.

Tiny bit of shading.
Not the driest ink in the land.

And some feathering upon close examination.

So..Pelikan Edelstein isn’t a perfect ink, but I like it. I’m not sure that I’ll get a full bottle of the stuff (this review was from a sample vial), but I like it.  No matter its issues.
Have you tried Sapphire? Maybe I need to try it again with another pen/paper.