De Atramentis Oriental Red

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DA's Oriental Red is an interesting red, but it's not one that will make it into my regular rotation, I don't think. The color is actually a little brighter on my monitor than it appears on my page. When you're thinking of this red, think of the look of a faded old red barn. It reminds me a little of the color of R&K's Morinda, but Oriental Red is a bit more boring.


If you're into that sort of color, then this is a well-behaved ink. It doesn't bleed or feather, and it spreads just a little. The flow is a bit dry, so you might want to use it in a pen that has a wet nib in it. The pen that I tried it in (my TWSBI 540) is a little bit on the dry side, and so it was really dry in combination with this ink.

De Atramentis makes no claims that this ink is water-resistant, and that's a good thing. It's not.

May's Goulet Ink Drop

 The theme this month was "Because we felt like it." They couldn't come up with a cohesive theme, but they wanted to send out this set of inks. It's an interesting set, and I've only got one of them, so that's a win for me.

The one that I have is the last on the page, which is Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. I had just run out of my previous sample of this ink, so the timing was excellent. I really like that ink. It's one that I'll have to get a bottle of very soon, I think. A great blue-black that doesn't feather, spread, or wash away with water? Yeah, not much else to ask for. Well, perhaps "Massachusetts" could be a little easier to spell.

The rest of these inks are pretty cool, too. I'm glad I've got some more R&K inks to try out. I've only had a little experience with those in the past, and I think I liked them. The two DA inks are new-to-me, and the orange will look nice in my TWSBI 540 while the Turquoise will likely end up in my wife's turquoise Lamy Safari. If she wants another green ink, that is. She's currently using Soft Mint in her mint-colored Diplomat Traveler, so she might want some variation. Guess we'll see if she reads the blog and lets me know. :-)

Noodler's Gruene Cactus Eel

Let's take a look at a green ink that I do like. Unlike Moss Green, this ink is pretty good. It belongs in the darker end of the green family, but it's not going to be confused with a green-black. It's a definite green. A little bit darker and richer than Noodler's Hunter Green.  It's actually pretty close to the green Franken-ink that I made a while back, but it doesn't require any mixing or danger.


It's a member of the eel family, and that gives it a little extra lubrication. It's smooth, but it's not too smooth. Some inks tend to skate across the page, and it can make your writing sloppy because the nib doesn't have any real resistance against the page. This eel ink isn't too slippery. It's just right for my persnickety Pilot Vanishing Point. It tends to squeak and stutter with many inks, but it works well with a few of the juicier inks, and this one fits well.

How about water resistance?

De Atramentis Moss Green

If you look though the reviews on this blog, you'll find plenty of greens. I'm kind of a big fan. There's lots of room in the green spectrum for different colors, shades, and hues.

This one isn't going to go into the rotation any time soon. It actually looks quite a bit better on this Rhodia paper than it does on anything else. On notebook paper and printer paper it bleeds through the paper while managing to remain too light to read. I guess if you have the right paper it might be an okay ink, but it's definitely the least impressive De Atramentis ink I've tried.

It's also not a water-resistant ink. It runs pretty fast when you drip anything on it. Definitely a little temperamental.

Franklin-Christoph has Bottled Ink!

Hey folks, 

I love a new source of Writing Fluid and, if their ink is as high-quality as their pens, we're in for a treat. Check out their website for more details. 

They've got four colors right now: Black Magic, Dark Denim, Syrah Syrah, and Olde Emerald. They're almost local, too, so I might have to do down to Raleigh and snag a set of them to try out. 

April's Ink Drop

Hey folks,
Sorry for the long absence. Things have been a little hectic the last couple of weeks, and I haven't had the time to blog.

This months Ink Drop was a blue/green set that includes some pretty nice looking inks. Surprisingly, I didn't have any of these in my collection. It's time to clean out some pens and use some blues.

The Pilot Metropolitan

One last pen before we go back to looking at inks. The Metropolitan is a new-ish entry-level fountain pen that will compete really well with the others in that realm like the Pelikanos, Safaris, and Sheaffer VFMs. At around $15, it is the same price as a VFM, but it comes with its own converter so you don't have to refill cartridges in order to use bottled ink. The price is well below the other entry-level pens, so it's a really good place for a new fountain pen user to start with.


Aesthetics

It only comes in three colors, but you can choose from among several detail-designs for the barrel, and I suppose that spruces it up a bit. The black and silver models look pretty classy, while the gold is a bit too much for my tastes. The Metro has an aluminum body and cap with a glossy black section. The nib is tastefully engraved with little hash marks moving towards the tip. It's a smart lookin' pen.

I've been carrying mine around in my pocket for a while, and there aren't any scratches on it yet. Granted, I don't carry around a bunch of change in the same pocket, but it's still survived a couple of months without any damage.


Nib & Performance

The nib in the pictures above is the nib of my Pilot Plumix. These two nibs are interchangeable, and the Plumix is a stub, so I bought both of them specifically to make the switch. That's not because the Metro comes with a bad nib. It doesn't. It's a very smooth nib. It's also pretty stiff. In fact, if anything, it's a little too smooth. It tends to skate a little if you're using a smooth ink, but I haven't had much of a problem with it.

The pen performs well, but it is a tad dry. The first ink I used in it was Waterman Mysterious Blue, and it was not a very good match. I've been using Noodler's Dark Matter in it for a while, now, and it's working really well. I thought it was the nib that was running dry, but I've put it in the Plumix and it works perfectly well. I think the feed could be opened up a little if you want it to run wetter, but if you're using a slightly less viscous ink you won't have a problem.

These two pictures are of the Metro's nib, but that nib lives on my Pilot Plumix now.  That's the Plumix section you're seeing there. 

If you're reading this blog, you're probably already into fountain pens. If, for some reason, you're not already a user, you should pick up one of these. They're a great value for the price, and they're great everyday carry pens. 

Pentel Oh!Gel 0.7

This is the second of the Pentel gel pens that I have to show right now, and it's the better of the two. The styling is a bit more plain, and the whole pen is one uniform diameter and it is a bit longer than most of the other pens I have lying around. It's the same length as a retractable EnerGel. The pocket clip is longer than average, and made of a stiff and sturdy-feeling plastic. The click on this pen is stiff and positive. Overall, it's sturdy, not unattractive, and functional. There aren't any weird protuberances like on the HyperG, and the grip is tacky and grooved.  

The only down side is that the ink seems to take a little longer to dry than the ink in the HyperG. It's a KFR7 refill instead of the KLR7 that the HyperG uses, so perhaps the KFR is a darker, but slower-drying ink. I'll take the darker ink over the lighter, but left-handed folk are bound to want it the other way around. 

This is the end of the non-fountain pens for now, though they'll be making a come-back in the near future as I've just gotten a handful of singles from the local pen shop this weekend. 

Also: I'll be posting a give-away in the near future, so watch out for that. (I just have to decide what I'll be giving away.)

Pentel HyperG 0.7

The next two pens are both gels from Pentel. I got both of these as singles from the local-ish Office Supplies & More. I haven't seen them in the other stores around here, but I'm sure they're available online or in store more exotic than Target.

They really went for a more futuristic style on this pen, and I think it missed the mark. I don't mind the diamond-pattern in the barrel or the clip, but the grip and the plastic bit by the tip are big misses. They are uncomfortable for me since I tend to grip near the point (I'm so used to saying "nib") because the little plastic point pokes me in the finger tip and the rubber grip section seems to be backwards. It's smooth on the top and bumpy on the bottom. Weird. I think that if they'd flipped the grip over and made that plastic ridge a bit longer it could have been a much better pen.

I'm also not a huge fan of the way it writes. The pen I'll be reviewing next appears to use the same ink cartridge, so perhaps this one is just a dud, but this one doesn't write all that well. It's not terrible, but it's just not putting down enough ink for my tastes. Still better than a ball point, but not as good as a gel ought to be.

If you have a different grip, then perhaps you'll like this style more than I did, but it's not really for me.