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A few weeks ago now, I noticed that the folks at JustWrite Pens / Blackstone Inks had released a new line of mixable inks - available in 30 ml dropper bottles. The four base colours - cyan, magenta, yellow and black - are sold together, at this stage they're not available for individual purchase. I purchased a Mixing Kit (which includes the four inks, plus vials, bottles, syringes etc) with my own funds, and have not been compensated in any way for this series of reviews. I do receive sample and prototype inks and pens from JustWrite/Blackstone from time to time, but I didn't get a preview set of these inks, so this is the first I've seen of them. So far I've tested three of the four inks - I've only just inked up a pen with Black, so that'll come a little further down the track. Three of the four base inks I believe can be used as inks in their own right - Cyan (see below) is a pleasant, moderately-saturated turquoise colour, magenta is quite a vibrant reddish-pink, and on first inspection the black looks fairly black! Yellow, on the other hand... you can wait for the review to see how that looks! These inks have all of the characteristics I appreciate in the other three Blackstone ranges (the Barrister inks, Colours of Australia, and Scents of Australia): they have smooth flow and good lubrication, and are completely trouble-free in my pens. They are formulated from a completely different set of dyes, though, to facilitate their mixing qualities - I didn't ask for more detail than that, but it goes without saying, you mix *between* the colour ranges at your own risk. These inks are highly water soluble, and therefore not very waterfast. In every other respect I think they're great - and I'll look forward to experimenting with mixing colours down the track. In the meantime, and without further ado, here's Cyan - a scan (which on my screen is just a bit more "true to life"), and a photo taken with my Sony xPeria: Congratulations to the Blackstone team on this new line of inks - feel free to ask any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them!

This is my second review in the new line of Blackstone CMYK Fountain Pen line of inks, that are designed for mixing - and to date it's probably my favourite (unmixed, i.e. base) ink in the range. Magenta is a strong, reddish-pink colour that's clearly visible on the page. It's a smooth, lubricated ink that's very well behaved in the pen and on the page. For more information on the ink range, and full disclaimers (I bought these inks with my own money!), see my earlier review of the Cyan ink at https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/327635-blackstone-cmyk-inks-cyan/ - or you can check out the product range at the Blackstone Inks website (http://www.blackstone.ink/index.php/blackstone-cmyk-ink-mixing-set). Here's a scan and a photo of my written review - I think the scan is a little more accurate for colours.

This is the 3rd of 4 inks that make up the Blackstone CMYK Ink kit - designed so you can mix your own custom colours. At the moment I'm just reviewing the 4 base colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black)... Maybe later I'll mix some custom colours and post on the 'Inky Recipes' forum (?). Yellow is the least usable of the base colour inks - for obvious reasons. I'd call this a 'pure' yellow, as compared with the stronger, slightly orange yellows I've compared it to (Blakcstone Golden Wattle and Diamine Sunshine Yellow). I'm sure it'll mix in a treat with the other colours - just don't expect to get much use of this ink on its own, unless you're wanting to cause eye strain! [To be fair, it dries a little darker than it appears while writing - though this means it's harder to see what you're writing than to read what you've written, which causes some hassles of its own...] These are not my first mixable inks - I bought the whole Toucan range when Kevin from Just Write Pens (and now also Blackstone Inks) first started spruiking them. The Toucan inks are highly mixable, but aren't the most lubricated of inks - they tend to need a fairly wet pen to get reasonable flow and saturation. These inks, by contrast, have excellent 'inky' qualities, and play very nicely with my 'regular' pens. By way of disclaimer, I purchased the CMYK mixing kit with my own funds, but have received complimentary ink samples (and prototype pens) from the manufacturer in the past. I have not received any financial compensation for putting up this review - it's entirely my own initiative. For more comments , see my first review of the range (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/327635-blackstone-cmyk-inks-cyan/). You can check out the manufacturer's summary at http://www.blackstone.ink/index.php/blackstone-cmyk-ink-mixing-set. A scan and a photo (please forgive the inconsistent lighting for the latter):