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Ink flow: Tending towards the drier side of moderate in my otherwise wet-flowing Platinum #3776 pen. Drying time: ≤20 seconds, including for wet writing; but it surprised me that both the dot atop the minuscule ‘j’ and where the pen strokes intersected in the minuscule ‘t’ still smudged after 18 seconds, even though I didn't deliberately made the strokes all that wet with my Pilot steel nib (acting as a dip pen nib). Smudging after drying initially: Not observed. Water resistance: moderate; the bright violet marks left after the blue has run off tend to be legible, if the blue has indeed run off (or otherwise been soaked up) sufficiently not to obscure the remnants of the marks Feathering; Not observed on Rhodia DotPad 80g/m² paper Show-through: Minimal to nil; only observed where the ring made by the rim of the ink bottle is on the page Bleed-through: Not observed, even where that ring of colour is, or in the square area where I have shaded entirely twice over Shading: See below. More observable in drier writing; usually quite well-blended, but more apt to show starker delineation between lighter and darker shades in short, disjointed, emphatic pen strokes. Sheen: Sheens red but not readily when using a finer nib, even when writing slowly/wetly; the sheen doesn't stand out that much against the dark blue.

The main event is the site-wide discount(s): 10% off the total for orders of value £40 or more¹, and 15% off the total for orders of value £75 or more². The respective discount codes expire on 26 May. Then there are selected items specially discounted, including Faber-Castell Essentio Carbon fountain pens (all nib sizes) for £13.33 ex VAT each — before applying a site-wide discount code! They're probably worth buying at that price for the excellent steel nib alone, never mind whether you may be apprehensive about (numerous) anecdotal reports that their gripping sections cracking. Buy three or more of them, or two pens and a handful of Faber-Castell (‘international standard’) converters, and qualify³ to get, free of charge⁴, a Faber-Castell pencil case filled with a Pitt Artists Drawing Pen, a 2B pencil, an Apollo mechanical pencil, an eraser-tipped Grip pencil, a fineliner and a kneadable eraser as well. 75ml bottles of Graf von Faber-Castell ink are also £13.33 ex VAT each. I think the pens are regularly priced at £25 ex VAT, and the inks £20.83 ex VAT. — ¹ The actual eligibility criterion is order total value of £33.33 or more excluding VAT and shipping. Apply discount code BIRTHDAY10. ² The actual eligibility criterion is order total value of £62.50 or more excluding VAT and shipping. Apply discount code BIRTHDAY15. ³ With eligible Faber-Castell (not GvFC) products in the shopping cart totalling £33.33 or more excluding VAT. ⁴ If the item is in stock at the time for you to add, and you in deed (remember to) add it to your shopping cart before checking out.

Good news! The new Graf von Faber-Castell bottled ink range is now in stock. “Great, more ink in fancy bottles” you might say. This ink is different though. It certainly does come in a very fancy bottle, with a nice, heavy, stable base, but it’s what’s inside that counts. Six colours: Carbon Black, Cobalt Blue, Garnet Red, Hazelnut Brown, Stone Grey and Moss Green. The most interesting part though is that Graf von Faber-Castell say four of the colours are document proof and the other two are light-fast. We’ve taken the liberty of testing the inks for you so you can see just what they have been able to achieve. Carbon Black, normally a good solid black, remains perfectly legible even after a proper soaking. Cobalt Blue, instead of retaining its normal royal blue hue becomes a vibrant purple colour when wetted. Stone Grey, much like Carbon Black, stays on the page just as it was written, perhaps some reduction in saturation, but legible nonetheless. Moss Green, whilst not as legible as the other colours is still recognisable and perfectly readable. Moving on from the document proof colours to the light-fast colours, we had a pleasant surprise. Garnet Red remains legible too but does lose much of its vibrancy, dulling down to an almost plum red. Hazelnut Brown did surprisingly well too in the waterproof test. We haven't had the time yet (or the weather) to see how these inks perform when subjected to plenty of sunlight, but they do behave well when subjected to plenty of water! All ink colours are available now from Cult Pens. We're not sure just how Graf have managed to make these inks permanent, so don't know if they are pigment inks, or if there is some other witchcraft going on, we've asked though and hope to have a definitive answer for you soon. http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/gvfc-ink-perm.jpg