Dr J Needs Help Again - De Atramentis Pearlescent Inks

[lgsoltek]

I've just received the inks. I don't have an empty pen for them yet, but I made my splash cards. It was a terrible experience: the particles frequently turn into a tiny blob and clog my needle, which I never encountered with Herbin or Diamine shimmer inks:

 

 

And gosh that feathering and bleedthrough are horrible!

[Morbus Curiositas]

I've just received the inks. I don't have an empty pen for them yet, but I made my splash cards. It was a terrible experience: the particles frequently turn into a tiny blob and clog my needle, which I never encountered with Herbin or Diamine shimmer inks:

 

 

And gosh that feathering and bleedthrough are horrible!

 

That is strange

 

Must look into that tomorrow. Funnily Vorpal mentioned that the Violet and Helion green inks where to wet... But in my test which I posted elsewhere here ... I did not notic any bleeding

 

Will Keep you informed

 

 

BTW MR Jie.... Welcome In Europe

[lgsoltek]

Thank you Peter! Hope to meet you someday!

[amberleadavis]

LG, I love the picture.

[Morbus Curiositas]

I've just received the inks. I don't have an empty pen for them yet, but I made my splash cards. It was a terrible experience: the particles frequently turn into a tiny blob and clog my needle, which I never encountered with Herbin or Diamine shimmer inks:

 

 

And gosh that feathering and bleedthrough are horrible!

 

Hi Jie

 

Please check here

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/314536-de-atramentis-sparkly-camelien-red/?do=findComment&comment=3723340

 

Reaction 13

 

Dear Jie would be glad too meet you too

Well I am Dutch but Live in Austria in Tyrol

mMany Chinese Tourist visit Tyrol and the City of Innsbruck If you decide to do so too I will be glad to welcome you

 

The Alpine World is lovely here and I live at only 3 hours driving frm Beautiful Lake Garda (Italy) I visit Holland 3 tie a year... And I love France

 

 

So there is a world or... or at least a whole continent of Opportunies

 

But Again Welcom to Tyrol and Welcom to my place dear Jie

Edited November 1, 2016 by Morbus Curiositas

[sunlance]

Thank you all for posting the samples so far! Out of curiosity, is anyone yet to post pictures of either the Columbia Blue or Velvet Black?

[alc3261]

Thank you all for posting the samples so far! Out of curiosity, is anyone yet to post pictures of either the Columbia Blue or Velvet Black?

Mine didn't show up well - re-trying!!

[friskyvegan]

Thank you all for posting the samples so far! Out of curiosity, is anyone yet to post pictures of either the Columbia Blue or Velvet Black?

 

 

 

I've been SLOWLY working on my reviews. I wanted to have a few days with each ink to really get a feel for them.

[Taiin]

So will the inks being sent out in the Massdrop be as wet as people have been finding these samples to be?

[vorpal]

So will the inks being sent out in the Massdrop be as wet as people have been finding these samples to be?

If they are, I will be selling my Massdrop inks. I can't really use anything that wet with the pens I have here, sigh.

[Taiin]

If they are, I will be selling my Massdrop inks. I can't really use anything that wet with the pens I have here, sigh.

 

I like wet, but not sopping wet. I don't have anything extra that would work with such wet inks, either. So I hope the formula is tweaked a little.

[wijko]

I received my package last week, the same day I also received a new journal that I still haven't tried yet.

 

 

Since I was busy finding a new job (my current one ends December 1st) I am not online enough lately.

Well the good news is I found a new job, and I don't have a day off in between.

 

On topic again, my package contained nine colors with two finishes each. I'll do a small comparison of one color per day in the same format, with my quick findings and the preferred ink of the two will be announced. I'll use the same two pens daily to have a fair comparison overall (both are Edison Colliers with a steel B nib). After the comparisons, I'll do a more in depth drawing and text sample. In the first comparisons I'll use Tomoe River white paper.

 

Day 01: Columbia Blue (Silver vs Gold):

 

 

 

A closer look at the silver version:

 

 

And the same for the gold version:

 

 

My findings:

 

Both inks flow very well, but they do take some time to dry as well, not the most convenient inks for the office! (as if I would use Pearlescent inks at work....)

 

The silver ink shows more of the sparkling effect than the gold one does, but the gold one is a bit darker, which is a bit more to my liking.

 

Where the darkness in the blue is in favor for the gold version, it kind of lacks the power to shade, while the silver does a better job there.

 

Silver is like a gel pen ink, it lays down a nice 3D line on the paper and when dry looks really fabulous.

 

If I have to choose a winner out of these two, it will definitely be the silver, since it has more sparkles; better shading and a gel like line of ink.

 

Tomorrow will be Ultra Black.

[wijko]

Thank you all for posting the samples so far! Out of curiosity, is anyone yet to post pictures of either the Columbia Blue or Velvet Black?

I just posted my first comparison, which in fact is one of your requests, Columbia Blue. Velvet Black doesn't sound familiar, so I hope you meant Ultra Black, which will be posted tomorrow.

[sunlance]

I just posted my first comparison, which in fact is one of your requests, Columbia Blue. Velvet Black doesn't sound familiar, so I hope you meant Ultra Black, which will be posted tomorrow.

 

Thank you! Yes, that is what I meant - I was just directly translating from the German from the bottles in the first post ("Samt Schwartz"), so perhaps the official name will be Ultra Black? Anyways, I appreciate your thorough impressions!

[friskyvegan]

 

Thank you! Yes, that is what I meant - I was just directly translating from the German from the bottles in the first post ("Samt Schwartz"), so perhaps the official name will be Ultra Black? Anyways, I appreciate your thorough impressions!

Amber mentioned that the sample vials for the Black got incorrectly labelled.

 

Official name is supposed to be Velvet Black

[wijko]

Day 2 of my de Atramentis Pearlescent ink comparisons:

 

Today is the day of the Black Velvet inks. Thank you friskyvegan for pointing out the correct name and sunlance for the explanation of the translation.

 

The two inks looked as follows in their sample tube:

 

 

The gold is already claiming the attention it craves, but will it be the winner today?

 

In the overview the comparison looks like this:

 

 

The first impression is that the gold looks a bit lighter than the silver. In fact both are more like a dark grey than a pure black, Maybe the Velvet Black has been chosen because of this.

 

The close-ups (silver and than gold):

 

 

 

and a comparison close-up (a bit out of focus unfortunately):

 

In the last picture you can clearly see that the ink is grey, and not black.

 

Overall the inks behaved better than the Columbia Blue in terms of wetness. The lines are a bit more crisp and the ink doesn't look like a gelpen ink. Still the flow was very good, and the time to dry was an average 5 to 10 seconds. In this time you see the particle surface.

 

The particles in the silver version are more different colors, than in the gold. It almost looks like a raden effect. The gold is more in the foreground.

 

On shading these inks let me down a bit. Where you expect the shading, the particles accumulate instead, which is satisfying enough.

 

For me the winner of today's comparison is the gold version, since the silver just doesn't wow me enough. Maybe because in my IG inkchallenge I used Diamine's Night Sky today that is nearly the same, only a bit darker.

 

Tomorrow will be the day for the Amber Yellow. The reason for that is that I can then conclude the silver vs. gold comparisons.

[swanjun]

My Velvet Black-Gold is also lighter and more grey. However, the Black-Copper is a real stunner. I've not tried the silver and bronze yet; will take pics when I do.

[wijko]

Day 2 of my de Atramentis Pearlescent ink comparisons:

Today is the day of the Amber Yellow inks. I've got the Silver and Gold versions to compare.

Before shaking the bottles, or after resting them for a bit, you can see the clear yellow ink on top and the particles as a sediment at the bottom. It is nice to see it this clearly.

After turning a tube around, you see the particles in full glory:

And after a good shake the inks look really different from one another:

The dark one on the left is the gold edition, the sample on the right is silver. In the next picture (the overview) they are in opposite order.

In the picture above the gold version looks a bit darker and reflecting the light a bit less. This helps the readability of the ink.

The detailed shot per version, silver first:

followed by the gold:

and a detailed shot next to one another:

My findings are as follows:

the silver shows more glitter, but in such a rate, that you get to much reflection of light to make it difficult to read. The gold version is a bit darker, and has the advantage here.

Color wise both look a lot alike in the glitter, with this I mean that you don't really get a different feel of color, only a change of intensity.

Once again, don't look for shading with these inks, since it is hard to find any.

The flow doesn't differ all to much between the two, and it is on the wet side of average, but not in a disturbing way. the dry time is reasonable, and no obvious difference between the two was noted by me.

The verdict: I prefer the gold version here. It suits the yellow better, and classifies as a real yellow gold ink.

A suggestion that I have to improve this ink is to go to a different base ink. I would suggest the Mahatma Ghandi, which has a darker shade (a bit of orange) that would make the ink a lot easier to read, and thereby enhancing the usability of the ink in daily use.

Tomorrow will be the India Blue comparison.

[HalloweenHJB]

Wijko: Thanks for your insightful reviews. The majority of us who have tried the "Amber" ink agree with you that it is simply too light to be readable. Although pretty with the gold sparkles, the base color needs to be deeper and richer.

[wijko]

Day 4 of my de Atramentis Pearlescent ink comparisons:

Today is the day of the India Blue inks. I've got the Bronze and Gold versions to compare.

 

 

 

In the picture above, you can clearly see that the bronze looks brownish and the gold a bit more yellow, now what difference will we see in written format?

 

 

and in detail it looks like this, bronze first and then gold:

 

The bronze looks a bit darker, and the sparkles are more clear. for a good comparison the blocks are zoomed in:

 

I prefer the bronze above the gold because of the darker shade of blue, and the better sparkling effect. This ink (in both colors) dried in about 10 to 15 seconds, which is reasonable if you don't have to turn your pages immediately after writing.

 

The next comparison will be Brilliant Violet.