Robert Oster Signature Ink - Deep Sea - A Short Review

May 21, 2016

Robert Oster Signature Inks are a new line coming out of South Australia and are making enthusiasts sit up and take notice! They are very competitively priced too.

So, I acquired a handful of these, thus:

Moss
Emerald Green
Deep Sea
Bondi Blue
Fire Engine Red
Yellow Sunset

In the following short reviews the writing samples are created using an Osmiroid B4 italic nib and an Esterbrook 2048 fitted to a standard XT Esterbrook dip-less pen holder.

All writing is by dipping. More time is needed to discover how these inks behave in cartridges, converters or eyedroppers.

Swabs and comparisons with other inks will be provided later in the week – I’m all out of Q-tips!

Time to brave the deep, deep oceans with...

Simply lovely! The seas around New Zealand often adopt this exact colour. This is very much a blue-green. Some very decent shading but again no noticeable sheen. Others are seeing sheen so perhaps it may simply be a lighting problem here.

Drying times were better with this one, completely dry somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Paper is again Rhodia.

May 21, 2016

I agree completely. It really is a lovely ink! This is my favourite of all the Oster inks I've tried. The shading is really superb, from a light, shallow-shoreline blue-green, through turquoise to that rich dark deep sea green. It's not the sheeniest of inks but I have had a fair bit of red sheen from some pens.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on one of the best new inks I've tried this year.

May 21, 2016

I was going to compare it to Iroshizuku Shin Kai, but apart from the names that's where the similarity ends. The Pilot ink is more blue, Oster Deep Sea more green. I really like both. This one here is very appealing to me.