This review is only the second that I've done for a Visconti ink. The other one was a sepia that I got on sale last Christmas, and it was pretty okay. (I didn't love it, initially, but it really grew on me.) Brian Anderson is always talking about this one, so I had to give it a try. I think I'll be getting a bottle soon.
Visconti's Blue is great. It's a dark-medium blue with some really nice shading. As you'll see in the ink smear, the color is pretty swell. You'll also find some slight sheen in this ink, if you put it down heavily.
Close-Ups!
Here's that sheen I was talking about. You're not going to see it on every letter, but it'll show up on a good paper with a wet nib. (Also, close up, I see that I smeared it a little bit. )
This is a really nice ink smear. All of the colors of this ink are represented.
Chromatography!
There's a fair amount of purple-ish hue in here, but it's mostly blue. In such a rich color, I'm not surprised.
Copy Paper Test!
There's some show-through, but no bleed to speak of. A couple of spots show up in this extreme close-up, but they don't really show to the un-aided eye.
Ink Comparisons!
Water Test and Video Review
This ink will run you $17.50 for 40ml, but it's worth it in my opinion. This is a great blue, and it comes in a pretty cool bottle. You can also find it in charming little cartridges or in samples from Anderson Pens.
Howdy, Folks! I hope you're spending time with family and friends. I certainly am. We've gone out of town to Potomac, MD for a few days to see my aunt and my dad (and a few cousins). I don't have pens or ink to show just now, but here are a few things from the last couple of days to tide you over.
Mrs. Inkdependence is under the weather with a sore throat and such, so much Alka-Seltzer has been consumed on her part. That stuff doesn't really taste like orange. I don't know what it is, but that taste is singular. (I'm not sick, but I had to know what made her make the face that she makes when she drinks it.)
We don't have much need of a roaring fire in NC, but it was a cold and dreary day on xmas eve so the fire was kinda the perfect thing.
We had a bunch of local family over for xmas eve dinner, and my Aunt makes a big spread for that occasion every year. Fancy china and a big table by the completely covered tree. She doesn't stop until every branch has at least one thing on it. Most of them are sagging under the weight of at least a couple of ornaments. It's pretty great.
My Dad's dog thinks that she is a lap-dog. Unfortunately for Dad's lap, Dreamer is a 98lb German Shepherd. She has been getting on just great with our little 17lb Scraggles.
Season's Greetings, all, and I'll be back soon with all sorts of inks and pens and associated whatnots!
Badger Black is the last of the Anderson Pens' inks, and it's a perfectly competent black ink. It was formerly known as Scribal Workshops Kraken, and I think I liked it okay under that name. I don't appear to have blogged about it, but it was in one of the Ink Drops back in the day. Certainly, as Badger Black, it is a good ink.
I'm not the biggest fan of black inks, but everyone needs to have a couple of them. You can't write in green or brown every day, unfortunately. This black is perfectly fine. It doesn't surprise me, but it's solid. It's not the darkest black, but it is saturated enough that it doesn't shade, and it's not a grey. Definitely black.
Close ups!
I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on this one. It's a good black.
Ink Comparisons!
Chromatography!
The inks in this set are pretty monochromatic. This one has a lot of black in there, but there's just a tinge of blue around the edges, and maybe a little...mauve at the base?
Copy Paper Test!
This is really well-behaved. No bleeding, feathering, or spread on this copy paper. That's a good thing for anyone who works in an office.
Water Drop Test and Review Video
The Final Words:
That's it, folks. There aren't any more Anderson Pens inks to talk about. This black is good. It's not all that water-resistant, but it performs well otherwise.
Check it out at Anderson Pens. Bottles are $12.50 for 60ml (2oz), and 3ml samples for $1.25.
If you like what you see here, then please head on over to Patreon to see how you can help support Inkdependence.
Thanks very much to Brian and Lisa for sending this ink out for me to try!
**While this ink was a press sample, the review is all mine.**
This purple used to be known as Scribal Workshops Nessie. I didn't try that one out, but this version is a very dark purple that shades on the right papers. I said I didn't see it below, but I just didn't look carefully enough, I suppose. It doesn't shade much.
Like some of the other inks in this set, it's a bit on the dry side. It's no where near as dry as Oskosh Denim, but it's not as free-flowing as Green Bay, either. It's somewhere in between. This isn't exactly a performance problem, as it will work perfectly well in lots of pens that tend to run on the wet side. For instance, it wasn't happy in my Monteverde Artista, but it worked really well in my Delta Unica.
The color is well-named, as it looks a lot like the flower of a violet, or even the underside of an African violet's leaves. If you're into purples, and you've got a wet nib laying around, then this is an ink you'll be happy with.
Close Ups!
Sheen?
Sort of. There's just the barest hint of sheen in this ink where it goes down heavily. Don't think you'll see it very often, though.
Ink Comparisons!
Chromatography!
There's just the barest hint of pink at the top edge. The rest appears to be purple on purple.
Copy Paper Test!
Water Drop Test & Review Video
The Final Words:
I'm not in love with this ink, but it takes a singular purple to make it into my rotation so that's not really a mark against Wood Violet.
Check it out at Anderson Pens. Bottles are $12.50 for 60ml (2oz), and 3ml samples for $1.25. They appear to be out of the bottles at press time, so grab a sample for yourself.
If you like what you see here, then please head on over to Patreon to see how you can help support Inkdependence.
Thanks very much to Brian and Lisa for sending this ink out for me to try!
**While this ink was a press sample, the review is all mine.**
Oskosh Denim is a dark blue that shades into a good simulacrum of denim. The darkest notes are almost black, while the lightest ones are pretty light blue. It's a nice color. It also doesn't seem to bleed, feather, or spread on copy paper. Those are all good things.
I say in the review below that it's my least favorite, and that's because the ink just doesn't want to flow very well. It didn't want to work in my Wahl-Eversharp Skyliner, but that nib is a bit finicky. Once you got it going, it was okay, but "getting it going" required priming it with the converter's piston. It wouldn't start on its own.
Some of these inks are a little on the dry side, so they want a wetter nib. I tried this ink out in my Custom 74, one of the wettest nibs I have, and it was okay. It wasn't great, but it was okay. I think this ink needs something even wetter to get going freely, but I don't have the pen for it. Maybe a dip pen would be the ticket?
Close-Ups!
Mnemosyne Cards!
I really like the way that these cards show ink. They're not quite white, but that's okay with me. All of the high-lights show up really well on this paper.
Chromatography!
Copy Paper
A little bit shows through, but that's only because the ink is a bit dark.
Ink Comparisons!
You can see it's a bit different from anything I have inked up.
Video Review and Water Drop Test
The Final Words:
If you've a wet nib that needs taming, and you want an ink that looks like dark bluejeans, then check it out at Anderson Pens. Bottles are $12.50 for 60ml (2oz), and 3ml samples for $1.25. They appear to be out of the bottles at press time, so grab a sample for yourself.
If you like what you see here, then please head on over to Patreon to see how you can help support Inkdependence.
Thanks very much to Brian and Lisa for sending this ink out for me to try!
**While this ink was a press sample, the review is all mine.**
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