De Atramentis Maron

[white_lotus]

De Atramentis makes a fairly extensive collection of inks. They are handmade in Germany by Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen. I think "maron" is supposed to mean brown. Maybe someone will confirm that, or correct me. But this is an unusual ink color. Different web sites show a different color: some a grey-green, some a more brownish color. I don't know how much variation there may be in the production of this inks, but this ink is quite paper dependent as to the color. I have gotten both, but may photographic attempts have not gone well in capturing these nuances. The waterfastness test sheet may actually most closely capture the color.

 

With those caveats in mind, here are the pictures. As always, MvL stands for Mohawk via Linen paper, Hammermill is the 28 lb inkjet paper.

 

 

Sadly the image capture here simply makes the ink look black which is very far from truth.

 

 

 

In the converter, the ink looks brownish, but on MvL the ink looks distinctly gray-green. Same on the inkjet paper. But under certain light, the ink looks more brownish. The ink appears made of an orange, yellow, and a black. This could account for the greenish tone as yellow+black => green.

[cleosmama]

Thank you for the Yeats poem and the ink review.

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for your review of this ink. As always your reviews make the ink more interesting because of the thoroughness of the review offered in such enjoyable style. I recently purchased this ink and agree with all you say & especially enjoy the "duplicity" of the color. It reminds me of Noodler's El Lawrence or Zhivago & I appreciate that unique characteristic of the color. I have another "marron" ink; a Louis Vuitton brown that was available a few years ago. It more closely resembles it's namesake, the European Chestnut than this ink. However I like them both & was happy to find this ink as distinctive as it appeared in use.

[white_lotus]

Thanks so much Barkingpig!

[Tas]

Ooo, this looks lovely & murky with a hint of complexity.

 

Thank you.

[visvamitra]

Nice one.

[white_lotus]

Ooo, this looks lovely & murky with a hint of complexity.

 

Thank you.

But I don't think it is as dark in reality as it came out in the pics. My suggestion is get a sample first, just in case.

[Tas]

But I don't think it is as dark in reality as it came out in the pics. My suggestion is get a sample first, just in case.

 

Ha.

 

I worked that out after seeing three COMPLETELY different depictions of the same ink on a Google search.

[77kath]

I have some of this and I like it. You are right. It is a chameleon.

[amberleadavis]

How does it compare to the PPM? This one looks like it isn't red.

[white_lotus]

Not even close. Shows as grey-green on my papers, but a check I wrote it was brown.

[Tas]

Not even close. Shows as grey-green on my papers, but a check I wrote it was brown.

 

Right that's it then! It's now officially on "The List".

 

I LOVE rebellious inks that do what they want on different papers. Salamander, Cigar, BUPA etc.

[white_lotus]

Just call me Inky Enabler!

[Tas]

You're trouble you are . . .

[Misfit]

Thank you for this review white_lotus. Maron is the color listed for Wilhelm Richard Wagner, and Massdrop has an offer for De Atramentis People inks.

 

My brother and I are going to Das Rheingold in October, and if the ink arrives in time, I'll take it along. The color changing sounds intriguing.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I had been curious about this one, but at the moment I have too many other inks to try. I am going to keep it in mind for sometime in the future, though.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mmg122]

Thanks so much for this thorough review, white_lotus! Excellent ink which I like quite a bit.

[amberleadavis]

Just call me Inky Enabler!

 

That's just one of the things that I love about you!

[white_lotus]

[Misfit]

My brother finally got half our order (long, miserable story). Unlike the Richard Wagner ink on the De Atramentis site which gives the color as Marone, the bottle he got had the color as silver gray. The background of the photo was different also. Very strange. I wanted it to be Marone which my translator app calls chestnut.