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Franklin-Christoph Loden

11/3/15

A super-dark green? Yes. Please.

In most lights, this ink looks pretty near to black. If you're using a wet nib, it's going to look very dark. A slightly drier nib will show off some green in the middle of a line. You can see the variation in the lettering below, and in the video at the bottom of the page.

There's no sheen on this ink, and there's very little shading on normal papers. You will see some shading on better papers, though.

I've heard that the Franklin-Christoph inks are a little dry, but I don't think that's the case. They're not super-wet or anything, but they're certainly not dry. I'd call them controlled. They've worked in several of my pens, from generally-dry nibs to generally-wet nibs.

The only problem is that Loden is just a little bit bleedy on office paper. It's not a serious problem, and I've certainly seen worse. It was just fine in a drier nib, like the Lamy, and not a huge problem in the  wetter nibs (like the Wahl-Eversharp and the Delta).

 Check out the review below!


Written Review



Close-Ups!



These next two pictures are of this ink on a little Maruman pad that I carry around in my pocket. I wish I'd kept track of the pens I was writing these with, but I didn't. Anyway, they show the variation between wet and dry nibs. I'm pretty certain that the center line was written with the Delta Unica and the other two were the Sailor and the Lamy. 




Color Comparisons

I had a bevy of green inks in pens, and none of them are much like Loden. You'll find (below) several inks that are kinda close, but this one is unique in my experience.



Copy Paper Test



Chromatography
 Neat, huh? It's mostly a grayish green, but there are some really nice blues in there at the top edges.

 Anything Close?

I went through my stacks of ink swatches, and these were the only ones that I could find that were at all close. They're only a little bit close, though. Maybe Zhivago is sorta close, but it's not nearly a match. So, if you want this color then you'll need to buy this ink. No close matches, I don't think.


Here's that word card all by itself. 



Video Review and Water Drop Test




I'm a big fan of this ink, despite its slight flaws. It bleeds a little with a wet nib, and it isn't water resistant at all. On the other hand, the color is unique, the flow is nice, and the price is certainly right.

Right now, the only place to find this ink is at Franklin-Christoph's web site. It's $12.50 for 2oz bottles. You might be able to find it at Anderson Pens occasionally, but it's not a regular offering.



***This ink was provided by Franklin-Christoph for review purposes. The review, however, is all mine. ***
Post Comment
Winnie said...

Lovely color and very usable for the office and letter writing. I haven't tried this brand yet. I love their pens.

Mike Matteson said...

Definitely try out their inks. Their new ones, in particular, are very good.