Paris (Maroon) - De Atramentis Ink Review

[visvamitra]

De Atramentis fountain pen inks are hand made in Germany by Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen, and come in a 35ml glass bottle. The company has been producing inks for about 30 years so there is a proven track record here. These inks are said to be hand made - the entire production process is done manually in the manufacturing center. The thing that influence their quality and, sadly, price is the fact that Dr. jansen uses only dyes from well established german companies like BASF.

De Atramentis inks are sold in 35 ml glass bottles. I enjoy the way this bottle look and I find them practical. Some of DA inks come in black glass that's supposed to protect the ink from light.

I enjoy trying products of smaller companies, especially the ones that creators put a lot of heart and energy in developing their business and products. I believe Dr. Jansen is such a person. He's developed literally hundreds of inks indifferent categories. I've tried just a small quantity of his inks. I've enjoyed some and disliked some. It's normal. I'm still eager to get to know most of DA inks.

De Atramentis inks are grouped into categories like Sstandard inks, Document inks, Black Edition inks. Also on De ATramentis website you can find a lot of topic related inks (places, signs of zodiac, history, business, music, literature etc.). Most of them are renamed standard inks.

So Paris from Places series (Paris, London, New York) is actually Maroon. It gets more complicated though Allow me to use screenprint from De Atramentis Twitter to explain things

So Paris (Maroon) used to be called Sepia Brown for long time. The ink however didn't look like sepia so the changes were made. So to sum things up the ink can be found in different De Atramentis series as:

1. Maroon - Standard inks
   
2. Sepia Brown - old stocks of Maroon from Standard series
   
3. Paris in places inks
   
4. Beethoven in Famous Composers series
   

To be honest I don't like the color but my cryticism ends here. Paris is excellent ink.

It's rather wet, defionitely wetter than Waterman inks and it provides superb flow in all pens I've filled with it. It has some water resistance - after exposure to water the reddish color will be gone but the text will remain on the page. It'll be black then. Apart from great flow, the ink lubricates nicely the nib so the writing is smooth. The thing that I find most enjoyable about this ink though is something else. You may leave the pen uncapped for half an hour and once you come back, it'll start to write wiyhout any skipping. I've done it accidentally with lamy Al-Star (fine nib) filled with Paris. After an hour long meeting I came back to my room, noticed I left the pen uncapped and expected I would need to flush it, but, to my surprise the pen simply started to write.

For this Paris scores 10 out of 10 on my scale. I won't buy a bottle because I'm not that keen on the color. Apart from that it's excellent ink.

Mmg122 - thank you for sending me sample of this ink.

Ink splash

Ink on kitchen towel

Software ID

Tomoe River, kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

Lyreco budget 60 mgsm, Lamy Al-Star, fine nib

Copy paper, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib

Water resistance

Edited August 14, 2016 by visvamitra

[Cyber6]

I LIKE the color!!!!.... :wub:

 

But the whole name confusion is just silly.... I just happen to have a bottle of Sepia Brown (gifted by a friend) and is this exact color.

 

So.. I am glad I don't have to chase a bottle of this... I wouldn't know what name to look for..

 

 

Thanks for the AWESOME review Vis!!

 

 

 

C.

[fugel]

maybe I should try this to get rid of the bad impression i have had so far with the De Atramentis inks i have tried.

I think Casanova is this ink too. Beethoven, Casanova, Paris, ... :-) I certainly don't see the relation but maybe Dr.Jensen does.

Thanks Vis for another great review.

Edited August 14, 2016 by ubezahn

[gylyf]

That looks really nice. Thanks for the review, Vis!

[swanjun]

To add to the confusion, there is a brown called Maron and I begin to wonder if *that* is the one now being called Sepia Brown!

[visvamitra]

Yes, that was the one It seems on some labels it was written with two oo (Maroon) and on some with one o (Maron). Funny

 

@Cyber6 - soon I'll post London review and I have to count things but it seems this ink can be found under at least seven names (!).

[Cyber6]

@Cyber6 - soon I'll post London review and I have to count things but it seems this ink can be found under at least seven names (!).

 

 

OK.. is it me only?.. or anyone else feel this is the "silliest" thing an ink maker can do with ink. Release the same ink under different names, way to confuse your customers. Honestly.. I am using the word "silly".. but a stronger word will fit better.

 

 

C.

[Nikaa]

However would not call it, this is cool color!

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. And the info about the name changes. Yes, "Maron" is a different ink (I think it means "chestnut", but looked like sepia to me -- haven't tried it, though).

Really liking the look of Maroon. Reminds me of D'A Patchouli, but a little richer and pinker (I loved the color of that ink, but it was one of the scented ones and when I tried a sample of it, it just smelled nasty and not at all like patchouli is supposed to smell -- and I couldn't figure out if there was a non-scented equivalent). Of course, I haven't yet tried all of the *last* couple of batches of samples I ordered -- and now you've got me wanting another one....

@ ubezahn -- what is it that you haven't liked about the De Atramentis inks you've tried? I've liked most of the ones I've gotten samples of, except for the Document line (with which I had spread and bleedthough issues). Mind you, most of their regular inks tend to run on the wet side, so I wouldn't recommend them in a pen that's a gusher.... My favorites are Red Roses (the only scented one I've tried that really smelled "right"), Tchaikowsky/Silver Grey (a beautiful color that reminds me of silverpoint drawings), Apple Blossom (a pretty medium/light pink) and Dante Alighieri/Ruby Red (a rich pinkish red). I like Robert Louis Stevenson (South Seas Blue) too, but I already have a lot of similar looking blue inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Old_Inkyhand]

Thank you! I would name this ink in a very poetic way - Beetroot... I always get a little bit lost when I look at their site, many colours look very similar and now I see why.

The Horses and Steam Locomotive inks are tempting I wonder if they have the right smells.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Old_Inkyhand

[Barkingpig]

I agree the subject of names is very confusing with DA inks. "Bookworm" is Jane Austen, with scent, but I don't think there is any place to confirm this "on the official DA site. For even further confusion, consider DA's "ARCHITEKT," line of ink,made & bottled by DA, yet labelled with different names & yet equivalent colors have been identified by many members. Adding to the mix would be the DA color, "Sahara Grey," which is closer to J. Herbin's "Vert Olive" than any other ink called "grey" by other manufacturers.

 

I just discovered another ink with the "maroon" confusion; Anderson Pen's site shows a Papier Plume ink, named Maroon, yet their swab clearly does not resemble a "burgundy" colored ink. I called the nice folk @ PP & found that indeed the ink's name was the translation from french, MARRON; a term in France that can encompass differing shades of brown, which clearly this ink does, in addition to the DA's ink, EL GRECO which is described as "Maron," listed for sale @ Vanness.

 

It is ALL confusing to me, but I suppose because I love ink I treat it as MY form of the daily crossword puzzle; my parents felt the working of the puzzle "kept their brain sharp," an activity I prefer to achieve trying to make sense out of ink's names, descriptions, etc.

 

The ink is nice, I buy, use & like it; I don't understand Dr. Joseph's confusing system of choosing the names, but there are so many things I don't understand the longer I live, I just try to enjoy them despite their ambiguity.

 

Just for fun, check the Vanness listings for DA ink; I have not seen a larger selection offered for sale any where; Mr Vanness recently said, "there were even MORE, on the WAY!" I do think it is pretty cool for a German ink maker to offer a line of inks named for "American Gangsters, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker Steel Blue," or "Business ink for Successful Ladies," with others I presume intended to either achieve, retain or further success in various fields.

[fugel]

@ inkstainedruth --- I just have tried three of them (I am a newbbie, only three years on this): Ebony, Cemented Grey (Charles Dickens) and Document Black. Ebony is simply horrible: it feathers and it spreads a lot, and the color is dull, really boring. For me this ink is unusable on a fountain pen, so I use it for calligraphy practice with a dip pen. Document Black is similar, horrible behavior. Cemented Grey is a bit better than the others but it spreads too and the color, again is not much exiting I would say. I love murky greens but Cemented Grey is not one of my favs. I use to write with Pelikan EFs and Pilot-Namiki Fs, so, not exactly gushers. And usually on Tomoe River and Rhodia papers.

Vis commented in a post that some of De Atramentis inks work well and some others not. I read in the past some complaints of some users with some De Atramentis inks too. I think my experience so far has been with the ones of the group that don't work well. So maybe in a future I will try some more, maybe this Maroon. I usually trust Vis and other reviewers opinions concerning with the behavior of the inks.

Edited August 14, 2016 by ubezahn

[visvamitra]

@ubezahn - it's interesting. While I agree that DA Document inks aren't the pinacle of ink engineering (too much blledthrough and feathering), I've tried Cement Grey and I find this ink enjoyable. As for Ebony - I havem't tried it.

[fugel]

@ visvamitra -- Cemented Grey is not totally bad but I enjoy much more other murky greens as Kobe #45 or KWZI Rotten Green. They behave better in my pens. I would love to try Bungbox Dadyism, but ... too expensive.

Edited August 15, 2016 by ubezahn

[lgsoltek]

Seems DA likes to use the same ink in different series and give it different names. I have Myrrhe and Forget-me-not and they are exactly the same ink only with different scents.

[mmg122]

Seems like only yesterday (but in reality, 50's - 60's) that the only inks I could buy were blue, black and blue black. I'm like a kid in a candy shop with all the color choices today...and so beautifully enabled by Visvamitra, Cyber6, Chrissy, Lgsoltek, Michael, Amberleedavis and so many others. What a great time to be a pen & ink lover!

 

[i can't close without giving a shoutout to Barkingpig...sweet Jack...my brother from another mother who tempts me all the time with his suggestions for brown, red and orange inks that he knows I'll love. My chief enabler!]

[amberleadavis]

Thanks MMG for the shout out.

 

Vis, another great review, this is so not the color I think of as Paris. Though it is interesting. I liked the name beetroot for it. I thought Paris should be mysterious and if I were going to reuse a color for it, it would have been the Black Red because that color is purple on cream paper, dark red on white paper and absolutely sophisticated.