Graf von Faber-Castell Garnet

This ink sample was provided for review by Anderson Pens. 

This is one of the two Faber-Castell inks that I'm not really sold on. It's a fine ink, but it's not special. The color is something like a light maroon. It brings Sailor's Oku-Yama to mind, but it's too flat. As you see in the smear above, it's got a matte sort of texture to it.

 These two pictures are taken in different lights. The above picture was taken indoors under daylight fluorescents and the below was taken by indirect morning sun through a window. (Sounds romantic, right?)

I tried this ink out in my Lamy's 1.1 nib, and it wasn't very satisfying. It stayed in that pen for a long time because I didn't hate the color, but it was just sort of dry and...lame. There was no spark with this ink. It didn't behave as well as the "partially document-proofed" inks in the line (though I'm out of town and I've lost the regular-paper pictures, so you'll just have to trust me on that one for a couple of days).

BEHOLD THE CLOSEUPS!

I sorta wish that I had more reds inked up to compare to this one. Check out some of the other red reviews I've posted to compare with this one.

In the end, this ink just doesn't hold up. It's not special, and it doesn't perform all that well. Stick to the other ones, if you ask me. There are plenty of other reds and maroons out there that are better than this one. The pen I had it in is a little on the dry side, but it only performed marginally better in the wet nib of my Skyliner 50. Some sheen or higher saturation might have saved this one.

Chromatography!

This one is kinda interesting. It looks like it has a blue-grey base that sticks around after the reds, pinks, and oranges rise to the top of the paper.

Copy Paper Test:

Check this ink out at Anderson Pens where it sells for $30 per 75ml bottle.  (3ml samples are also available.)

Video Review and Water Drop Test

Spoilers below!

The ink for this review was provided free of charge by Anderson Pens. The review was all mine, however.