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Another one of eight new ink colours Sailor introduced in the second release of its “overseas exclusive” Manyo line of inks. Close-up: Colour: dark khaki / olive / murky green Flow: moderate Feathering: Not observed on Rhodia Dotpad 80g/m² paper, looking closely at the thinnest hatching lines, and words/glyphs ‘reverse-written’ with the nib upside-down (i.e. the bottom of the feed facing up) Show-through: Low to nil Bleed-through: Not observed Drying time: 18–20 seconds Smudging after fully dry: Didn't happen when I rubbed my thumb over the hatching/stippling panel and the largest Chinese hanzi chharacters Water resistance: Good, as far as retaining legibility in the face of a spill or a dunking goes Shading: Moderate, without having too drastic a delineation between lighter parts and darker parts along the same pen stroke; can be seen even in very narrow ink marks (i.e. when writing with the equivalent of an Extra Fine nib) Sheen: None observed Shimmer: None My thoughts: I like its desaturated colour, and that it's a largely sheen-free ink good for where distractions from the written content is undesirable, but for the market price I don't know whether it stands head and shoulders above other murky green inks I have to compel me to buy more.

I have been trying to figure out the De Atramentis Brown Inks (especially the cooler end) for a while. An earlier thread is here. Having added a few more since, including, to me, a couple of real winners, and having found it impossible to find reviews for some of these elsewhere, I thought it worth making an updated record here. The De Atramentis inks are numbered, the marginalia are for reference. Being De Atramentis, each of these may be available under a variety of names, and some of the names may even get switched around - my only goal here is to provide a "first taste"!

There was a big splashdown earlier this year with the Robert Oster Signature inks from Australia. Both Vanness and Anderson Pens carry the inks and Goulet Pens has the inks listed, but all out of stock, so they may well be waiting on their shipment to arrive. A number of people tried them and seemed to like them. Certainly it's a great boon for fountain pen users in Australia and Middle Earth (NZ) to have inks made right there in-country rather than expensively shipping them from the far corners of the world. I wasn't able to dive in with these inks since I already have many inks I like and never get enough pen time as it is, but recently I got a few as part of any inky swap. Khaki was one of those inks. The ink reminds me a bit of the Bungbox 88 Green Tea or Shoshikhan "Deep in the Mountains" or even KWZ Old Gold, but it's not as bright as those inks, and it has more of a brown look in natural light, and more green in artificial light. It has absolutely no water resistance at all. I didn't do as extensive writing about the ink as I just wasn't sure whether I really knew what to say. It seems like a perfectly decent ink. Maybe in a different pen this ink would have shined.

I am sure you've seen several Robert Oster Signature Inks reviews... This one is more a drawing review. Khaki is a lovely color, and it washes beautifully... The line work was done with G nib (dip pen) and the paper is Bristol (Vellum finish). The ink is not waterproof, but is saturated enough to provide great shading. Dries quickly and overall is very easy to work with. The author of the drawing below is my artist-in-residence. DISCLAIMER: The portrait is not representative of Robert Oster's good looks... We haven't met the man. ................ (yet!!)