Bookbinders Blue Coral Snake Ink Revisited And Re-Reviewed

[visvamitra]

A while ago I've reviewed Bookbinders Blue Coral Snake Ink. The sample I've received was unusable - it contained some sediment and because of oily consistency it wouldn't flow at all in any of the pens I've risked to fill with it. My review wasn't - as you may guess and see - favorable. Actually I warned others against using this ink. After I've published the review folks from Bookbinders contacted me and offered to send me a bottle of Blue Coral Snake ink so that I could test it once again in any way imaginable.

 

I've received the ink two weeks ago and I'm ready to share my thoughts on the experience. It won't be muy typical image-dominated review. I want to describe precisely my experience.

 

Customer Service

I don't know many companies interested that much in anonymous reviewers opiniomns and thoughts. Of course FPN is big and significant source of information about fountain pens and inks and each maker should take a look at it from time to time. Bookbinders is small business, I do understand that negative reviews can be harmful to their development. Still I appreciate their willingness to communicate and to offeir their product to discriminate customer and his tests. Guys - you rock and your customer service is stellar!

 

Packaging

The packaging and care for detail are fantastic. The bottle isn't made of premium glass and can't be discribed as work of art. It's small, simple and made of rather cheap glass. However Bookbinder's managed to make it look great by vintage label and fabriccover offered with their inks. Believe me - in person it looks even better than on great photos seen on Bookbinders website.

Test

After I've received the ink I've filled five pens (actually six) with this ink. Here they are - pieces from different price/quality segments.

Left to right: Graf von Faber-Castell Tamitio( , Caran d'Ache Leman (B grinded to stub), Pilot CH 92 (M), Jinhao 599 (F/M), FPR Dilhi (F/M)

On first two days I used every single pen. On third day I started to use only one of them daily and then I've left the pens unused, posted in the drawer. I've tried them on variety od papers. I'll start with positives.

 

The ink doesn't feather. It doesn't cause bleedthrough. It has reasonable drying time. All of that when it happens to write. Sadly oftentimes it doesn't.

 

Blue Coral Snake ink dries out very fast and caused hard start in every single pen I've uesd. After two days of not using the pen only Pilot CH 92 started immediately. Three pens didn't write at all - I had to soak them in water. FPR Dilhi started after two minutes of scratching the paper but the flow wasn't good. This ink cuases strong clogging - probably because of it being prone to cause precipitation.

 

Some sediment is seen on the bottle:

 

And on the feeds (here GvFC Tamitio)

Conclusion

Sadly I didn't change my mind. I can't recommend this ink to anyone. The color has potential, some properties are nice but good flow is my priority. I believe that inks that clog pens are a waste of time and money. I don't want to clean pen every day or to soak the nib in water before I'll be able to enjoy the color. I want the ink to flow well immediatelly. Sure - after a month in unused pens I would expect dome hard starts. But not after a day or two. I'm sorry guys - I wanted this review to be positive because of your generosity and great communication. But it won't. In my opinion Blue Coral Snake has potential but it needs to be reformulated so that it doesn't precipitate too soon or leave sediment.

 

And now writing samples:

 

Lyreco Budget 60g - Pilot CH92, M

Moleskine - Pilot CH92, M and Jinhao 599, Kaweco Sport broad nib below

Oxford notebook

Graf von Faber-CVastell Tamitio, B

Tomoe River

Rhodia - FPR Dilhi

Rhodia - Jinhao 599

Rhodia - GvFC Tamitio, B

Ink splash (some sediment visible)

Ink on kitchen towel

[Uncial]

Pity, as it's a rather nice colour.

I'm very tempted by their Emerald.

[T4TEXAS]

Thanks for another fine review, errr re-review. The label, color and shading are all likeable. Hope they get the sticky sediment figured out.

[visvamitra]

Emerald works fine. Actually all of their inks - except for this one - behave well.

[T4TEXAS]

Ah, that's good to know.

[Tas]

I'm sure being honest is all anyone asks of a reviewer, and of that we trust you implicitly

[lgsoltek]

I kinda like the sediment-ridden splash. It looks cool. But I like it as an image only, not as something to put in my pen.

Maybe it will work well with dip pens.

[Cyber6]

The Blue was the only one that feathered in Tomoe River. I never seen an ink to feather in Tomoe.

 

I flushed it out of my pen, this is another ink delegated to my artist in residence to use.

 

 

C.

[Markol]

I like inks with a short time of drying, but this one has definitely too short time .

It's a pity because the colour of this ink seems to be nice. Let's hope the producer will improve his formula soon.

Thanks for your review Łukasz

[amberleadavis]

Well, I inked it up Parker Facet by filling a cartridge. 3 hours later, nib down, the ink still won't flow. I can confirm, the pen was perfectly clean and the last fill, Berning Red, flowed quite nicely. I'll keep you informed.

[lapis]

Thanks for the hard but fair "remake" here. And all of the experience others (like Amber) have just made. I hope that somebody from Bookbinders is keeping an eye on these notes....

 

Mike

[dcwaites]

Well, it's too bad about the Blue Coral Snake. Fortunately, we still have some other very attractive Australian Blues, such as Blackstone Sydney Harbour and Barrier Reef Blues, and the newcomer Robert Oster, with his School and Bondi Blues.

[amberleadavis]

Day 2 it's too finicky for use. This one won't last a full fill in my pen.

[HollyGolightly]

Such a shame, as I glanced at their colors, the blue stood out to me the most. Thank you for such a thorough and honest review!

[justaninker]

What a shame, I really love the color and shading. Hopefully the manufacturer is aware and will improve the behavior of the ink to make it usable.