Caran D'ache Chromatics: Organic Brown

[cybaea]

This is a warm brown ink with some great shading going on. Please could somebody try it in a wet flex pen: I think it would look great!

 

However lovely it is, and it is lovely, I am still left with a feeling that it is 'just another brown ink' in a sea of browns. Granted it has shading, but so have many others and this ink is not particularly well behaved. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing great either.

 

Suggested usage

 

DAILY WRITER: Plausible, but not for me.

 

BUSINESS: Only for the most informal of notes.

 

NOTES AND JOURNALS: Yes, a welcome warm colour.

 

INFORMAL LETTERS: Absolutely! Warm and welcoming, 'cuddly', even, like a big brown teddy bear.

 

FORMAL LETTERS: Not likely, except possibly as a signature ink where warmth is to be conveyed (which is almost always the wrong thing to do in a business setting)

 

LOVE LETTERS: Possible.

 

Review

 

 

Feathering

 

 

Soak test

 

 

Writing samples

Rhodia No 18 Dotpad

 

 

Rhodia R pad

 

 

Corporate 'cartridge' paper

 

 

I hope this helps someone. Keep writing!

 

[inkstainedruth]

This appears (at least on my screen) to be a very red/burgundy brown (almost a violet-tinged brown). Is that the color you're getting? It's very odd, to say the least. Not entirely sure what I think of it, but for some reason I keep staring at it. Which may be bad -- I did the same thing with a review of Noodler's El Lawrence....

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[cybaea]

yes, it is a warm brown with a lot of red and a little green when you soak it in a tissue with water. But I don't get violet - red, green, brown, but no blue.

[lapis]

Nice review, but as you say, somewhat mediocre in terms of a "nice" brown. It's too red and unrich for me.

Now -- oops, I should say "in the old days" -- Grand Canyon was a nice brown. I can still see the rich sand colour in it. It had style.

But as for feathering, the new brown outweighs everything... Maybe they should have named it "Etching Brown"

[SUNIL GARG]

Great Review. To me this brown from CdA seems so un-CdA.

Way too thin & light.

More like a J.Herbin take on a color.

[Bo Bo Olson]

What horrible Feathering and on good paper.

[cybaea]

What horrible Feathering and on good paper.

 

My bad: the feathering is on inkjet paper, not the Rhodia, and I didn't make that clear in the description (though it is sort of implied on the hand written sheet). Apologies for any confusion. This ink feathers and bleeds through on cheap paper but not more than many other inks and it is well behaved on Rhodia and similar.

[mhosea]

LOL, I thought at first that it was waterproof because the before and after soak tests looked pretty much the same. Then I realized that the part that was soaked was just the missing part on the left.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'm glad that was not feathering on good paper.

It's not that bad of a medium-light red tinged brown edging towards sepia.

Stupid of them to get rid of Grand Canyon...a wrong named ink.

 

I try to avoid ink jet paper like the plague.

I would prefer pure laser over combo paper...because to be combo paper, some thing has to be lost to make it ink jet compatible.

 

Seeing I don't yet have a scanner; (that never did what I needed them to do)..next month for the new computer. I had to come up with a system to tell folks what I thought about Inks I made comments on.

 

BEF= Bare Eyed Feathering while sitting.

NEF= Near Eye Feathering...nose away.

NEF/MAG= Slight near feathering/wooly line..(a good line)

MAG= Feathering/woolyline under a thick magnifying glass (a very good line)

UEL* new = uneven inking within the letter line....little open spaces...lack of 100% coverage.

CSL=Clear Sharp Line Under strong magnifying glass magnification. not a 10X or more loupe which would be more than a bit AR.

 

I see many a magnified scan, where an unevenly inked line is shown as good/no feathering. I don't think it so good, perhaps it is no feathering, but it is not a CSL.

Of course that had much to do with paper...but paper is also what one tests when one tests an ink..

It could well be I use a lot of '50's German nibs that are ground flatter, with out the American Bump under the nib tip. That might be a reason for a sharper line.

So UEL would be something new for my way of doing things.

 

Then comes the question what is a wooly line and where does feathering begin?

Edited July 27, 2013 by Bo Bo Olson

[rudyhou]

i like brown inks, but this one is too reddish to a point that it looks rather purple-ish. not exactly a welcoming shade of brown.

[Charles Skinner]

I have just written about fifteen lines with this ink and love! It "speaks to me, poor earthen vessel that I am!" C. S.