Rohrer & Klingner SketchINK Lilly

 Another newcomer to the blog, Rohrer & Klingner's SketchINK series is pretty new. These inks are all nano-pigment inks that are supposed to have really good flow as well as being lightfast and water resistant. I can say that this ink is pretty wet. I had great flow in the Pilot Custom 74, and really nice flow in the Pilot Kakuno. I can't really test for light-fastness, but you can scroll to the bottom to see the water test.

I was a little leery of these inks, and they weren't on the list of things I asked Anderson Pens for, but Lisa handed me a bag of samples that I didn't have yet, and this set was in there. Some of the vials showed a little bit of nano-pigment that had fallen out of solution, and I swirled the vial until it was all suspended again. That made me think that this would happen in the pen's converters, too, so I put it in the Custom 74 since those are really easy to clean out. When that one worked just fine for a while, I decided to really test it and put it in the very fine nib of a Kakuno. No problems at all.
 
The only thing to be aware of is that the odd pictures on the bottles aren't all safe for work. Check 'em out. You'll see what I mean. Maybe don't take these bottles to work with you. 

The colors are varied and interesting, and I'm looking forward to using them all.

Written Review

Close-Ups!

I may have gotten a little ambitious with the smear on this one. 

Staples 20lb Copy Paper Test

The only problem with this ink is that it bleeds when you use it in a wet pen. It's a pretty wet ink, and so this wasn't a great combo on this very average paper. It behaved itself much better from the finer, drier nib. 

Inky Fingers Currently Inked Notebook (Wheat Paper)

InkJournal Currently Inked (Tomoe River Paper)

Chromatography

I think this one is pretty cool. It did make me worry about the water resistance, though. Water moved most of the green up the strip. 

Water Test and Video Review

Now...check this out.

I swear that this bottom one has had water all over it. I haven't seen water resistance like this in a long while. Maybe ever. Well done, R&K!

Lots of color comparisons:


I know that this one is supposed to be a brown, but it didn't look even a little like any of the browns in my catalog. I thought it would look like Sailor's Rikyu-Cha or Diamine Salamander, but it's not even close. Looking back through my cards, I should have included Iroshizuku Yama-Guri, but I didn't. It's only a little close to that one.

Krishna's Jungle Volcano

 A new brand on the blog! I ran into Tom from Inkjournal at the Philly Pen Show this January, and he showed me this new (to me) line of inks that he was selling. Dr. Sreekumar of Krishna Pens has been making pens and inks in India for quite a while, and he has some really nice looking work. Alongside inks with really interesting colors (and interesting sheens), there are hand-made ebonite pens painted in layers of lacquer with some really pretty nibs. It seems like he makes the pens to order, and can mix up inks in various ways, too.

Anyway, this one is a really interesting ink. Super-sheen inks are pretty hot right now, but there aren't any others out there (that I'm aware of) which have a bright  orange base with this kind of awesome green sheen on top. It's a striking combo. While I love the color of the ink, and the price is pretty good, I had some problems with hard starts in both of the nibs I used this ink with. I think you'll want to have a really wet nib for this one, or else just add a touch of water to it to thin it out a tiny bit. I ended up dipping the nib in water to get it flowing, sometimes. Once you've got it going, though, it's pretty great.


Check out the images below, and let me know what you think of this one.




The Written Review

Close Ups!

InkJournal Tomoe River

Oddly, I didn't get as much sheen on Tomoe River as I did on the Rhodia (or even the copy paper). It's weird how different inks react to different papers. Usually, Tomoe River is all sheen. Not this time. Just some shine.

Find these journals here.

Inky Fingers Currently Inked

You can find these helpful little journals here.

20 lb Copy Paper

This ink, in contrast to other super-sheeners, is really great on copy paper. You get a little sheen, but not too much. You also get zero bleed, feather, or spread. That's always impressive. Perhaps that's because it's just a little dry?

Chromatography

Flames!
Water Drop Test and Video Review

Like a Mogwai, don't get this one near water. It'll be a mess.

Color Comparisons!

It was really hard to match this orange through all the sheen on the word card, but it's somewhere between Diamine Pumpkin and Nemosine Solar Storm, I think. Sorta? It's a cool orange, anyway.

Bonus Sheen!

Montegrappa Ducale Grande Emperador Brown Limited Edition

Kenro sent this huge limited edition our for review, and it's totally worth a look. There are only 200 of these, so make sure you jump on it if you're interested.

You should be able to find it at most Montegrappa dealers including:

Pen Chalet

Fountain Pen Hospital

and Anderson Pens (who may not have it on their site, but can almost certainly get it for you).