Ink Review: Mystery Ink - Scribes Black?

[rickygene]

I was given this ink as a free sample from FPN when I received my order of FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown last week. Amber described it as Scribes (not Scribal) ink and it was in a sample bottle marked 12B - very mysterious.

My review is in the attached images. (Note that I erroneously called it Scribal black on the Rhodia and Tomoe River images)

 

The ink has some nice properties. It is very wet and has medium saturation and a little shading is evident. Quite good lubrication and sticks very well to a dip nib. There was only some very minor feathering in the most saturated parts of the dip lettering on the 80 gsm laser printer paper I used for the main part of the review. No problems on the Rhodia or Tomoe River paper. It is not quite as black to my eye as Noodler's or Aurora, but then few inks are. There is a faint aubergine colour as the ink is laid down which disappears when dry so it might be a very dark purplish black.

 

The ink appears to have a faint silvery gold sheen. I took a photo on the Tomoe River paper at an angle to maximise it. I also put a couple of well known 'sheeners' next to the Scribes Ink as a comparison. It's quite subtle compared to the insanely red sheen of Iroshizuku Shin Kai and the beautiful silvery outline of Sailor Kobe Minatogawa Lime.

 

PS: I just realised I forgot to do the water resistance test It's getting late now so I'll report later on that.

 

PPS: I've just noticed the images are quite compressed on the website. The originals look much better on my phone. I'll try and fix that too.

Edited April 6, 2015 by rickygene

[amberleadavis]

I'm glad you tried it out and I hope you enjoyed it. John Marks of Scribes Ink is the maker. He does look at these reviews and adjust his recipe as he garners feedback.

[rickygene]

Thanks Amber. I was happy to try it out. Overall it's a nice ink with some good properties. Very wet and lubricating but fast drying and minimal feathering. Good adherence to the dip nib. Not as dark as some but definitely a black.

Good work from John. He is up against some tough competition but as most discussions on FPN indicate, there is always room for another black ink!

Edited April 9, 2015 by rickygene