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Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of Brilliant Violet with each of the four "sparkly-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver. DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet, dip pen, Clairfontaine paper Photos taken with iPhone For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a Venetian dip pen and a Chinese M&G fountain pen with medium fude nib. The fude nib allows for thick or thin lines depending upon the angle of which the pen is held. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper. Overall, the ink flow was excellent. The ink itself is a highly saturated color with some water resistance. There was very little feathering on the inexpensive notebook paper, but the ink bleeds through on the notebook paper and the Clairfontaine paper, and even the Tomoe River paper when used heavily. For me, however, this would not be a problem, since I would likely only be using this ink for special occasions and would not write on the back of the page anyway. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the sparkles. All of the four "sparkle-effects" were quite nice. The most pronounced effect came from the Gold sparkles, which I used for the rest of this review. Drops on standard paper towel DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet Gold, Chinese M&G with fude nib, Tomoe River cream paper DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet Gold, Chinese M&G with fude nib, Tomoe River cream paper I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The Chinese M&G pen does have a history of starting hard when not used regularly. But the ink flowed immediately from the nib. There was also no sign of clogging or "nib crud". The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the sparkly particles, however. DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet, Gold, Cyan Blue Silver and India Blue Copper ink, Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper I love the color of the ink with the copper sparkles, but all of the sparkles compliment the ink very nicely. And as a wonderful bonus, cleaning the sparkly ink from my pen was fairly easy - as easy as an highly saturated ink. This ink is made by DeAtramentis, and is worthy of that illustrious name.

I've been thinking about giving the DeAtramentis Document series a try as I do prefer a waterproof or water resistant ink. In researching some of the properties, I've come across some conflicting statements about this series of inks. The Goulet website says that the Document series is NOT pigmented. The JetPens website says that the Document series IS pigmented. Which is correct. Forgive me if this has been addressed else where. Honest: I did do a search first.

Hello I am trying to research permanent and waterproof inks for fountain pens. I am an artist and I am on a quest for the past three years to find the perfect brown to lay OVER watercolor paintings. Not ink first than watercolor. Watercolor first then ink. My goal is to match the hue of the India ink I used in rapidographs Higgins Brown. Yes I know, not to use India ink in fountain pens. Noodler’s Walnut, DeAtramentis Document Brown, Noodlers Black, Platinum Carbon Black are all too dark. I’ve given up and I’m now using Birmingham Pen Co Soft Pretzel because it’s the brown I want - but it’s not lightfast or waterproof. I have to immediately place the finished work in plastic and in a box. Not good to display ever. Questions 1. Will DeAtramentis Dilution ink work to lighten an inks hue? 2. Am I limited to just DeAtrementis Document inks or can I use it on Noodlers, Diamine, Birmingham inks as well? 3. Any advise? samples attached

I am always hunting inexpensive notebooks or legal pads that are fountain pen friendly for my work. I have been, for the most part, disappointed by the cheap quality of the paper on most pads and notebooks for everyday use. Last night, I spotted a display of these "new" notebooks that boast a high quality paper that resists ink bleed. At $1.97 per notebook, I decided to purchase a couple. A Quick Review of the new Five Star Coillege Ruled Notebook by Acco Brands in A5-related size: This notebook is made in the U.S, and is Number 11231. It has a 2 subject divider and a colorful cover. The paper is a light weight, student quality and likely not archival. The overall feel of the paper is smooth, but has a slight amount of toothiness. The manufacturer indicates that the notebook "Lasts all year. Guranteed!", and contains reinforced storage pockets, water resistant cover and high quality paper, "which resists ink bleed with common student writing instruments such as pencil, ball point pens, gel pens, felt tip pens and markers". I decided to see how fountain pen ink would do. The pens, nibs and inks used in this test for feathering, bleedthrough and showthrough were: Montblanc 144, fine 18K gold nib: Sailor Kobe Ooji Cherry Namisu Nova, medium titanium nib: Montblanc Irish Green Conklin Duragraph, 1.1 stub nib: Midnight Blue ink creation of mine Franklin Christoph Panther, Matsuyama medium italic 14K semi-flex nib: DeAtramentis Aubergine Italix Captain's Commission, medium italic nib: Diamine Woodland Green Lamy Studio, fine 18K gold nib: Akkermann #14 Purple Lamy 2000, medium 18K gold nib: Sailor Nioi Sumire Lamy LX, medium nib: Robert Oster Australian Mauve Opal Delta Capri Marina, broad fusion nib: GvFC Deep Sea Green Lamy Safari, broad nib: Diamine Bilberry Lamy Safari, medium nib: Robert Oster River of Fire Lamy Al-Star, fine nib: Robert Oster Tranquility Lamy Safari, fine nib: Cross Violet Custom made, fine 18k nib: Robert Oster Green Diamond Delta Horsepower, 1.1 stub fusion nib: DeAtramentis Robert Louis Stevenson Jinhao 450, Goulet 1.1 stub nib: DeAtramentis Edgar Allen Poe The following are printer scans of the inks tested on the paper. The image quality is not the best, but it should give you some idea. Note that the pink/red/purple colors seem "fuzzy". This is the result of my printer scanner, not the ink feathering. Page 1: Page 2: Feathering/Spreading: Overall there was minimal feathering. Those which did have some feathering included those inks which came from stub or broad nibs. Almost all fine or medium nibs showed little to no feathering. Bleedthrough: There was no bleedthrough, except with my very wet Italix Captain's Commission with Diamine Woodland Green,there were a few tiny spots where the ink was just beginning to bleed. Showthrough: Almost all of the fine and medium point nibs did not show through. The exception is my Namisu Nova which has an exceptionally wet medium titanium nib, and Lamy Safari medium nib with the very wet Robert Oster River of Fire ink. Almost all of the broad and stub nibs did showthrough, with the exception of Conklin Duragraph because the ink is fairly light in color, and surprisingly the Delta Capri Marina with a very wet broad nib filled with GvFC Deep Sea Green. Overall, I am very impressed with these little notebooks. I would recommend these to any student who uses fountain pens, particularly with fine and medium nibs. And with the black or dark blue cover, this would be acceptable for professional use as well as long as your use is non-archival.

De Atramentis is a German manufacturer of calligraphy and writing ink. The inks are hand made (the entire production process is done manually in their manufacturing center) by its founder - Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen. I believe he uses high quality dyes from well established European companies like BASF and Bayer. Maron is interesting ink. I enjoy the color because of it's complexity. On the other hand the writing properties of this ink haven't met my expectations. That's good. It means I can still look for my grail ink . What I find disappointing is medium saturation and average flow and lubrication. The ink feels dry especially in finer nibs. It looks cool in my amazing but ugly Kaweco Sport Classic (Seriously this broad nib is amazing) but once used in pen with finer nib . worse flow the ink looks less interesting. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, B Lamy Al-Star, Oxford notebook, fine nib Lamy Al-Star, Oxford notebook, medium nib

DEATRAMENTIS PEARL VIOLET This lovely ink is one of my top 5 favorite inks ever. This is made by DeAtramentis inks. They are hand-made in Hachenburg, German by Dr. Franz-Josef. The inks are completely hand-made, with all aspects done manually in their manufacturing center. The dyes used are high quality from well established European companies that include BASF and Bayer, meeting high European standards. The inks could be considered traditional, although DeAtramentis does make scented and other kinds of special inks including permanent inks and most recently "shimmer-types", and makes a variety of ink colors resembling great European beverages including fine wines, whiskeys and beer. DeAtramentis has a wide selection of colors to please every eye, although not all colors are sold in every country. The bottles are heavy dark glass which contain 35 ml of ink, deep enough and with a large enough opening for large pens. Prices for the standard ink are about $12.95 in the U.S. When I made my return to fountain pens several years ago, DeAtramentis inks were some of the first inks that I tried. Ever since then, they make up a significant portion of my ink collection. But of all the DeAtramentis inks, Pearl Violet is probably my favorite. It is a lovely shade of purple, leaning toward pink on the light side and grey on the dark side. I love the shading variation of this ink on the various papers that I use it on. On cream color paper, it has almost an antique feel, evocative of Victorian times - of lovely ladies with parasols and gentlemen with top hats. On bright white it is a joyful color reminding me of the first tulips of spring. I love the color of this ink. But what I love most about the ink is the way it behaves. In almost every pen that I own, this ink helps the pen perform to its very best - whether it be a very dry Chinese pen or my wet and wild Italix oblique italic pen. Most recently, I filled my Montblanc 144 with this ink for the first time. This Montblanc is a bit finicky in many respects, like you would expect from a fine Parisian lady. In fact, I had not found a really good ink for this pen . . . until I filled it with Pearl Violet. That's it . . . end of story. This is the ink for this pen. And just in the nick of time. I was seriously contemplating selling the pen because it seemed too fussy about inks and paper. Well, now this pen hums . . . yes hums. You know what I mean . . . when a pen is just happy with life. And that makes me happy as well. O.K. . . . o.k... here are the scans. Water Test: Right was treated with water drops left on the page for 5 minutes, then blotted. The scan above is the closest to the real color. This is made on my portable ScanSnap which is the best of my scanners in terms of color accuracy. The following two scans are done on my HP printer/scanner, which does a moderately reasonable job. Note the differences of the ink on the Rhodia paper, which is not as bright white as the HP copy paper above. But also notice the beauty of this ink on the cream colored Tomoe River paper. As you can see, this is not a heavily saturated ink. But it behaves very well on all papers that I have used it on, with little feathering, bleedthrough or showthrough except when the ink is used in really wet pens and pools. I can not say enough good things about this ink. BUT, it does have a couple of things against it. It is not water resistant. It does have some water resistance, leaving some remnants of readable letters behind. And it does not sheen... not even on Tomoe River paper. While I like sheen in some inks, for me it is not an important feature for an everyday ink. This is likely not an ink that you would in a formal business setting. I do use it for my business for markups, note taking, etc. But I don't use it for meetings with clients and signing documents. I have noted that in much older reviews, the reviewers stated that this ink is dry. I have not found that to be the case with my last two bottles, which were purchased in the last couple of years. I would consider it to be a moderately wet ink in most of my pens.

I got this ink a while back. Belatedly worked a review, and only recently took photos. I switched camera apps on the iPhone and I think the color here is better. But at last, I review an ink that everyone can buy! DeAtramentis inks are readily available. They have a wide selection made even wider by customizing the labels representing famous and infamous figures. The Alexander Hamilton ink is the exact same ink as DeAtramentis Aubergine, so it says on the bottle. This is a popular ink due to the resurgence of interest in its namesake due to a certain Broadway play. So it sometimes is out of stock depending upon your source. But the ink itself is really nice. It's a great color. I don't know how water resistant this color might be. My test was on a fairly absorbent paper, but water allowed some seepage of color to the verso. And it tends to spread and bleed. The ink held up fairly well to running 4 oz of water over it. But my general rule is that unless an ink is stated as being "permanent" or "waterproof" it probably isn't though some inks have more water resistance than others. This could be one such under the right circumstances. The color isn't quite as muted as in the pics. It was difficult to get images where the ink didn't just show as black. It's not a bright purple at all, definitely muted. Also quite dark, almost as dark as Sailor Bungbox Ink or Witch, but it doesn't go to black. This pen is very wet, and so some show through and a little bit of bleed through was experienced on more absorbent papers. A finer nib, less wet, may not have these minor issues. Buy it for the great color though. Pen: Edison Premiere (F-steel) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7 using Camera+ app

de Atramentis Pine Green (Tannengrun), it is NOT FIR which is a green from the Fragrance Ink line

A little bit sentimental... My first review more then a year ago...: But now the "real" thing.. It is an ink with scent. The scent is not unpleasant but barely noticeable when writing. And although the Ginkgo is my favorite tree, I never smelled it. On some paper the feathering is an issue, on Tomoe River and the swap it behaved very well.

Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of India Blue* with each of the four "sparkly-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver. DeAtramentis India Blue, dip pen, Clairfontaine photos taken with iPhone, no color correction For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a dip pen and a Conklin Duragraph fountain pen with 1.1 stub nib. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper. This ink is a wonderfully saturated royal blue. Overall, the flow was wonderful - nicely lubricated with great flow. In addition to the sparkles, the color had some shading. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the sparkles. Of the four "sparkly-effects", the most pronounced effect came from the bronze and copper samples, although the gold and, particularly the silver, were beautiful. I particularly favored (for the moment) the effect of the copper sparkles and have chosen that for the rest of my review. DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The Conklin Duragraph pen is a very easy pen and seems to like most inks. But the pen glided across the page with this ink. There was also no sign of clogging or "nib crud". The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the sparkly particles, however. Surprisingly, with such a saturated ink, there were no feathering, bleedthrough and even minimal showthrough on any of the papers that I used. DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper I was surprised at how much I love the color of the ink with the copper sparkles, but all of the sparkles compliment the ink very nicely. And as a wonderful bonus, cleaning the sparkly ink from my pen was fairly easy - as easy as any highly saturated ink. I am excited to present these "mini-reviews" on the new DeAtramentis Pearlescent inks. This ink is worthy of the illustrious DeAtramentis name. * The name of the ink is DeAtramentis Indian Blue, not India Blue. My samples were labelled India Blue.

De Atramentis makes a fairly extensive collection of inks. They are handmade in Germany by Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen. I think "maron" is supposed to mean brown. Maybe someone will confirm that, or correct me. But this is an unusual ink color. Different web sites show a different color: some a grey-green, some a more brownish color. I don't know how much variation there may be in the production of this inks, but this ink is quite paper dependent as to the color. I have gotten both, but may photographic attempts have not gone well in capturing these nuances. The waterfastness test sheet may actually most closely capture the color. With those caveats in mind, here are the pictures. As always, MvL stands for Mohawk via Linen paper, Hammermill is the 28 lb inkjet paper. Sadly the image capture here simply makes the ink look black which is very far from truth. In the converter, the ink looks brownish, but on MvL the ink looks distinctly gray-green. Same on the inkjet paper. But under certain light, the ink looks more brownish. The ink appears made of an orange, yellow, and a black. This could account for the greenish tone as yellow+black => green.

Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of Cyan Blue with each of the four "shimmer-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue, dip pen, Clairfontaine photos taken with iPhone, no color correction For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a dip pen and a Jinhao 450 with 1.1 stub nib. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper. Overall, the ink flow was excellent. In addition to the lovely shimmery effect, the ink shaded nicely. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the shimmers. Of the four "shimmer-effects", the most pronounced effect came from the copper sample. I preferred, however, the more subtle effect of the silver shimmers. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, Jinhao 450 with stub nib, Tomoe River cream paper DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, Jinhao 450 with stub nib, Tomoe River cream paper I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the shimmer particles. I also discovered that this ink does have some water resistant properties. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, dip pen on Clairfontaine paper, submerged in water for 10 seconds I do like the color of the ink and the silver shimmers compliment the ink very nicely. The ink does stain, however, and took a bit more effort to clean my pen afterward. But, the lovely effect is worth the little extra effort. This ink is made by DeAtramentis, and is worthy of that illustrious name.

Do you ever visit those inks that you have hidden away in some drawer for a long time? Has your opinion changed? I have traveled back to my home after been gone for many months, and have been reunited with my ink collection here. I had forgotten, however, my ink sample collection here. I decided to fill my fountain pens with the ink samples that I had left here and compare my thoughts recorded in my "ink journal" from the first time I sampled the ink with my thoughts today. For the sake of brevity, I will omit pens and papers used, since they are the same for both samples. I also rate my inks on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. For my first batch, I compared five J. Herbin inks: J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche: First Sample: April 2013: Wonderful ink with fantastic flow in all pens used. Moderate drying time. Little water resistance. Great shading and has a lovely red sheen to it. Love the color! Rating: 7 Today's Sample: Wonderful flow in this medium point on both papers. The color is very nice and is definitely one of my favorites. I love the shading and sheen, especially on Tomoe River paper. I am ordering a bottle today! Rating: 8 J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen: First Sample: February 2015: Vibrant but pretty pink. Flows nicely. Moderate dry time, no water resistance. Doesn't shade much. Rating: 7 Today's Sample: Nice flow in this medium point on both papers. The purply-pink is almost eye searing, and would be great for markups and writing cards. I have other inks near this shade so I don't need a bottle of this now, but will consider for the future. Rating: 7 J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir: First Sample: February 2015: Nice blue with a purple tone - definately my kind of blue. Moderate dry time, no water resistance. Rating: 8 Today's Sample: How have I overlooked this ink? I love it! The color is brilliant, yet elegant. While I have other blues in this shade, I am ordering a bottle of this today! Rating: 9 J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne: First Sample: August 2014: Nice red with blue undertone. It dries fairly fast, with no smearing. I like the way it shades. It flows well through this nib. Rating: 7 Today's Sample: Nice red with lovely shading. No sheen, however. While I like the red, I have others that I prefer but I may reconsider when I buy my next red. Ratiing: 7 J. Herbin Terre de Feu: First Sample: June 2015: Fascinating color - fire earth. Love the rusty brown hue. Has some shading, but no sheen. I do like the way this flows through my pen. I'm not a huge brown fan, but I like this. Rating: 8 Today's Sample: Wow! I had forgotten all about this ink. This is an unusual color with a warm feel to it. I like the way it writes best, though. Most browns are a bit dry, but this seems to flow easily through my nib. I don't need a brown in this shade right now, but this one will top the list for my next brown. Rating: 8 More to come!

De Atramentis is german manufacturer of calligraphy and writing ink. The inks are hand made (the entire production process is done manually in their manufacturing center) by i's founder - Dr. Franz-Josef Jensen. I believe he uses high quality dyes from well established European companies like BASF and Bayer. Cucumber is part of DA's line of scented inks. It doesn't resemble cucumber at all though. The color is bright without being gaudy or neon. It's legible and if you enjoy the hue it shouldn't disappoint you. Ink splash Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Tomoe River, Kaweco Sport, B Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, B

De Atramentis is german manufacturer of calligraphy and writing ink. The inks are hand made (the entire production process is done manually in their manufacturing center) by i's founder - Dr. Franz-Josef Jensen. I believe he uses high quality dyes from well established European companies like BASF and Bayer. Pine Green is a classy green ink. I rather like the dark green shade that is actually prestty similar to the green of pine needles. This color seems appropriate enough for business use (not too in-your-face different) yet it is different enough to add a bit of personality beyond just black or blue. In broader nibs it can cause feathering on cheaper papers. Ink splash Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Tomoe River, Kaweco Sport, B Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, B

DeAtramentis makes some interesting inks, and usually they have good behavior and handling characteristics. This ink conforms in that regard. This is a very reddish-brown, it's almost to my eyes more reddish than brown. I find it hard to define as sepia, but that's what the maker calls it. I'm not much for red or reddish inks as I personally have little use for them, while brown is an ink color whose appeal is hard to deny. You may personally really like this color. But not for me, so it's hard for me to get excited about the ink. I think the color is appearing a bit dark for the actual ink, as it seems lighter on the paper compared to the screen. But it handles quite well. Somewhat water resistant, in that the red washes away, leaving some of the brown behind. The usual papers appear here: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, Hij=Hammermill 28lb inkjet.

This is one of the DeAtramentis inks I purchased as a sample. Again, it was different on two different web sites online shops. I kind of thought it would be a very blackish brown, and it appears to be more of a deep burgundy. In person, you'd never think of this as a black, though the iPhotos may give that impression. This ink gave me some trouble on one paper, but I'm not sure if my altered fill technique was a factor. Usually I'd just dip the nib in the sample vial and fill as best as one can do. But I saw a mention by someone who simply filled a syringe and used that to directly fill a converter, or in my case, the ink chamber of a Pelikan. Then turn the piston down to force ink to fill the feed. Seemed brilliant to me. But I don't know if this was a factor in the odd performance. But it did seem that it was one sheet of the MvL that had the problem while another did not. So it could be a bad sheet of paper too. MvL = Mohawk via Linen. Not really black as in this pic. Washes dirty red-violet. Somewhat water resistant. The black mostly stays behind.

De Atramentis is german manufacturer of calligraphy and writing ink. The inks are hand made (the entire production process is done manually in their manufacturing center) by i's founder - Dr. Franz-Josef Jensen. I believe he uses high quality dyes from well established European companies like BASF and Bayer. COpper Brown is another reddish brown. It's well behaved and rather nice in general, however I'm not crazy about the color. Sample of this ink was kindly sent to me by Michael R. - Thank you! Ink splash http://imageshack.com/a/img908/7347/dqb10F.jpg Drops of ink on kitchen towel http://imageshack.com/a/img905/5044/wKBEw2.jpg Software ID http://imageshack.com/a/img910/9813/8oMRTT.jpg Tomoe River - Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img633/2882/dnK8eE.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img903/1253/gJKI4e.jpg Leuchtturm, Kaweco Sport Classic, B http://imageshack.com/a/img909/2962/JzuEj5.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img910/6928/FNldHB.jpg Comparison http://imageshack.com/a/img909/9347/mt4Vyn.jpg

Really like this one.

Here is a little review of DeAtramentis Dianthus! Thank you to my friend Elle who gave me this ink sample! In short: It is a fun, bright ink with bright saturation. However, it does tend to feather and bleed on less than the best papers. I even had some feathering on Rhodia Premium Ivory - yikes! Overall, while I love the color, the feathering bugs me. And since I already have some very similar colors I opted to not purchase this one. Still a fun color to check out!