Ink Review #2526: Octopus Fluids Grey Kangaroo

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Today let’s take a look at Octopus Fluids Grey Kangaroo. You can find this ink for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

The color:

Grey Kangaroo is a deep graphite grey.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink shades to black.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: High

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering in the larger nib sizes.

Comparison Swabs:

Grey Kangaroo is a little bit deeper than Aurora Grey. Click here to see the grey inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pelikan M605 White Silver with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink has a slightly wet flow.

Overall, I really like this ink. It’s nice and smooth with a slightly wet flow, high water-resistance and even has a little shading. It is pigment based, so you do have to have a little more care than the average ink, but it’s worth the little bit of extra trouble.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does notcontain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Wearingeul Kim So Wol Literature

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Today let’s take a look at four inks from the Wearingeul Kim So Wol collection. You can find these inks for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: Half Moon, Song of the Reed, Flowers on the Way and Flowing Leaves.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 30-70 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: Three had low shading and Song of the Reed had medium shading. Half Moon had blue shimmer and Flowing Leaves had silver shimmer.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size but just a little bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Half Moon isn’t super close to any of these other grey shimmer inks.

Song of the Reed is a little more yellow than Inkebara Earth.

Flowers on the Way isn’t super close to any of these other pink inks.

Flowing Leaves is a little darker than PenBBS Forgive Green.

Longer Writing:

All had dry flows.

Overall, all four were too dry for me. I don’t think I have a favorite-they were all about the same for me. I could take or leave them.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #2283: Colorverse Under the Shade

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Let’s take a look at Colorverse Under the Shade from the Joy in the Ordinary collection. You can find this ink for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

The color:

Under the Shade is a medium grey.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink shades quite a bit.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had just a little bit of feathering and a few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Under the Shade is darker than Diamine Silver Fox. Click here to see the grey inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pilot Vanishing Point Galaxy with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a dry flow.

Overall, I enjoyed the color, but the flow is too dry and it can be too light in smaller nib sizes. I think there’s better grey inks out there than this one.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Wearingeul Natsume Part 1

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Today let’s take a look at three inks from the Wearingeul Natsume collection. You can find these inks for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: I Am A Cat, The Mind and A Watery Star

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 30-100 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: All three had low shading. I Am A Cat had gold shimmer and A Watery Star had blue shimmer.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size but just a little bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

I Am A Cat is closest to Diamine Snow Storm.

The Mind isn’t super close to any of these other greys.

A Watery Star is much lighter than these other blue shimmer inks.

Longer Writing:

All had dry flows.

Overall, all three were too dry for me, and can be too light in smaller nib sizes, so I would stick to medium and broad nibs. I Am A Cat also took way too long to dry for me.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #2279: Colorverse a UMa

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Let’s take a look at Colorverse a UMa from the Project collection. You can find this ink for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

The color:

a UMa is a medium grey.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink shades to blue.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had just a little bit of feathering and a few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

a UMa is lighter than Colorverse Photo Black. Click here to see the grey inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pelikan M205 Moonstone with a fine nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a dry flow.

Overall, I enjoyed the color, but the flow is too dry and it can be too light in smaller nib sizes.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

PenBBS Season 30 Part 2

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Let’s take a look at four inks from PenBBS Season 30. I purchased my inks from Vanness Pens, but they are no longer carrying the brand so I’m unsure of where you can purchase them.

Swabs:

Left to right: 437 Yangzhou, 438 Snow Night, 439 Dunhuang, and 440 Ginger.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 20-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: Yangzhou and Dunhuang had medium shading. The other two had low shading. Snow Night had low black sheen.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size and few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Yangzhou is lighter than Sailor Manyo Ayame.

Snow Night is a little darker than Pure Pens Llanberis.

Dunhuang is a little lighter than PenBBS Magnolia.

Ginger is lighter than Diamine Sand Between.

Longer Writing:

Yangzhou and Ginger had dry flows, the rest were average.

Overall, I think Snow Night is my favorite out of the four. Yangzhou and Ginger can both be light in smaller nib sizes so I would stick to medium and broad nibs.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.

My 10 Favorite Grey Inks

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We’ve been tackling my top ten inks in each color category and today it’s time to have a go at grey inks! So let’s take a look!

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun is so smooth and pretty. I love the cool-tone.

Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same is like Fuyu-syogun but warmer.

Diamine Moon Dust is my favorite grey shimmer. It’s just pretty.

Sailor Manyo Hinoki has gorgeous shading: from green to grey to purple.

Sailor Ink Studio 224 has similar shading to Hinoki but it leans a bit more toward purple.

Diamine Earl Grey is a fabulous purpley-grey. It reminds me of elephants.

Montblanc Oyster Grey is a good medium grey.

Monteverde Smoke Noir reminds me of graphite.

Rohrer & Klingner Thea is my favorite water-resistant grey.

Diamine Silver Fox is gorgeous and well-behaved.

What’s your favorite grey ink? Let me know in the comments below!

PenBBS Season 30 Part 1

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Let’s take a look at five inks from PenBBS Season 30. I purchased my inks from Vanness Pens, but they are no longer carrying the brand so I’m unsure of where you can purchase them.

Swabs:

Left to right: 432 Plum Blossom, 433 Su Wu, 434 Beethoven, 435 Snow Pine and 436 Dark Bamboo.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 5-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-High (Tea Green had high water resistance)

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: All five had medium shading, Beethoven had low bronze sheen.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size and few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Plum Blossom is brighter than Sailor Jentle Oku-yama.

Su Wu is a little brighter than these other blue inks.

Beethoven is similar to Vinta Dream a Dream.

Snow Pine looks more green on paper but more brown in swabs.

Dark Bamboo is a llittle less green than Sailor Yoi.

Longer Writing:

Su Wu and Dark Bamboo had dry flows, the rest were average.

Overall, I think Snow Pine is my favorite out of the five-it looks different on every paper. It’s green on Tomoe River paper but brown on Col-o-ring swabs.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #2264: Colorverse A And

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Today’s ink is Colorverse A And from the Colorverse Project collection. You can find this ink for sale at most retailers including Vanness Pens.

The color:

A And is a medium grey-blue.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink shades from grey to blue.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had just a little bit of feathering and a few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

A And is a little lighter than Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun. Click here to see the grey inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pelikan M605 White Silver with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a dry flow.

Overall, the ink is a little too pale and dry for me. I wish it was a little darker and a little wetter.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

PenBBS Season 29 Part 3

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Let’s take a look at four inks from PenBBS Season 29. I purchased my inks from Vanness Pens, but they are no longer carrying the brand so I’m unsure of where you can purchase them.

Swabs:

Left to right: 414 Avocado, 415 Huangshan, 416 Tea Green and 417 Wolfgang.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 20-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-High (Tea Green had high water resistance)

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: All four had medium shading, Tea Green had low red sheen.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size and few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Avocado is similar to Kobe Maiko Green.

Huangshan is close to Bookbinder Ground Rattler.

Tea Green is a little lighter than Vinta Dream a Dream.

Wolfgang is lighter than Monteverde Copper Noir.

Longer Writing:

Avocado and Wolfgang had an average flow. Huangshan was dry and Tea Green was wet.

Overall, Avocado and Wolfgang were rather average for me, nothing too special about them. Huangshan was too light and dry, basically unusable. Tea Green had a nice wet flow and high water resistance, so that one was my favorite out of the four.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.