(I C U) Ink Review - Susemai - Red Cashmere

[amberleadavis]

Vis - you make even pipettes look pretty. And this looks great in a demonstrator. It didn't stain the demonstrators I tried it in.

[Ted A]

Here are some thoughts of mine on the Red Cashmere.

First this ink is pure fun. Depending on the amount of dilution it can go from a very dark red, almost red/brown, to a pink, with a fairly pure red in between. It behaves well in every pen and on all papers. I generally don't like reds for large quantities of writing, but this one works really well.

It isn't waterproof and the drying time is a bit slow.

 

 

[amberleadavis]

Great stuff! Thank you!

 

Did you notice at the extreme dilution it matches MB Red Chalk?

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Edited October 10, 2014 by TheRealScubaSteve

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Did you notice at the extreme dilution it matches MB Red Chalk?

 

Not sure what MB Chalk looks like, but high dilutions look terribly chalky and ugly. I noted that descriptor on one or two of my sheets.

[mhguda]

Here are my two cents about Red Cashmere. I do think mine was 13.3% concentration, however after seeing these scans I am not so sure anymore... it may be 16%? It's very dark, although I do think the scan makes it a little too dark. Sorry about that.

I only tried one other dilution, extremely diluted (my estimate is 2%).

 

 

I love the saturated color; the diluted one, not so much.

It's a very well-behaved ink at both concentrations though: immediate startup, good flow, no bleeding, feathering, or ghosting. A bit slow to dry but not enough to bother me.

I would like to get especially this ink in powder form, so I could explore the higher concentrations, where it almost does not look red. I normally do not like a whole lot of red, but for attention-getting, it works very well, and I find the dark, red-brown? color more inviting...

Plus, it seems to make a difference on what paper you use it. I like it even more on Tomoe River...

Edited October 10, 2014 by mhguda

[TheRealScubaSteve]

If your scans are remotely close to true color, it looks like it is indeed not 13%. While in person it looks almost black, there's no doubt that there's another shade in there. Your scan looks completely black - very cool. I'm with you - not much of a red fan, but I loved the higher concentration of this ink. The sheen with 13.67% was ridiculous and still extremely visible at 8.2%.

[Cyber6]

Yeah... this one is a "Sheen Monster"... you almost can't see the red through all that sheen....

 

 

I had my Red Cashmere @16% in my pen for more than 2 months... No issues. Starts every time... and I have honestly not seen any nib crud.

 

 

A winner in my books...

[mhguda]

The paper looks browner than the scan on here... I tried a little color correction, but I could not match what I saw on screen with what I saw before me.

Maybe when Amber gets the originals - I am mailing them soon, the envelope is ready to go - she might do a correct scan for me...

[vossad01]

 

Other than the dry out issue this is probably one that interests me the most color wise. I am hoping the dry out issue can be fixed with some glycerine.

[amberleadavis]

When you get the powdered ink samples, let us know if the problem is fixed.

[DaveBj]

Here (hopefully) are my two test sheets for Red Cashmere at full strength. I'm not going to forward the bleed-thru on the cheap paper any more. There is some, but it's really not worth the trouble, especially with the increased hassle connected with putting photos on a post.

 

 

 

Edit: Whew! It worked!

Edited October 25, 2014 by DaveBj

[amberleadavis]

What is the story you are writing?

[DaveBj]

Here are my test sheets for the Red Cashmere powder, diluted by half (6.5%). It's still a well behaved, well saturated ink, and the color is a little closer to actually being red.

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

Wow, that looks RED.

[DaveBj]

Wow, that looks RED.

 

No kidding! The 3.7% dilution also looks really good; I'll scan and post those sheets later today.

 

I think when I'm done testing this sample, I'm gonna dilute all of what's left (almost all of the original sample) to the 6.5% shown above, pour it into a nice bottle, and put it in my ink rotation. I think it's awesome!

[amberleadavis]

Try one super diluted. It looks like red chalk. You can't believe it.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Around 6% it is a really nice deep red, but I prefer the cutoff to be somewhere around 8% since I could not see any sheen with a higher dilution. Chalky dilutions could still make for a pretty nice (and not so in your face) correction ink, though.

[DaveBj]

Here are the test sheets for Red Cashmere diluted to about 3.7%, roughly the equivalent of putting the original packet of powder in 120ml of water. As you can see, the color is still quite gorgeous, and the ink is still quite well behaved.

 

 

 

[mhguda]

Here is my review of powdered Red Cashmere. I've only tested at 13.33..% since I liked the saturation so much.

On the paper it looks reddish brown - not sure why the uploaded scan is so different.