Callifolio Inks Crv

[birchtine]

Lgsoltek suggested earlier a CRV to compare some of our inks. There is a fear that some might been mislabeled in the past. Let's try to get to the bottom together.

 

My samples of Bleu Méditerranée, Atlantique and Equinoxe 6 on Leuchtturm and Clairefountaine with relatively similar broad and wet nibs. The colours are consistent with the samples I received earlier. On Clairefountaine it's somehow hard to tell the difference between the BM and BA, but I can assure you that in reality the differences are striking. Now I can understand my constant fear that I filled a pen with the wrong ink whenever I reach for the Méditerranée. These are relatively fresh samples and I noticed there is some colour shift while the inks mature on paper.

 

ORF RAW exported through the Lightroom, no adjustments.

Edited July 5, 2017 by birchtine

[birchtine]

Samples from the ink samples I received at the beginning. Later, I ordered Mediterranee, Atlantique, Azure and Equinoxe 6 directly from the L'Artisan Pastellier and the colours seem identical.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by birchtine

[lgsoltek]

Apparently I'll never know what my "equinoxe 6" really is!

[Chrissy]

Apparently I'll never know what my "equinoxe 6" really is!

 

I saw your thread. Could it be Equinox #5 do you think?

[birchtine]

I can send you the samples of my inks so you could compare them to your E6. My guess is either the Méditerranée or the Azure.

Edited July 7, 2017 by birchtine

[lgsoltek]

I can send you the samples of my inks so you could compare them to your E6. My guess is either the Méditerranée or the Azure.

 

 

Shall I send you a letter written with my ink? You could show me what you have!

[lgsoltek]

 

I saw your thread. Could it be Equinox #5 do you think?

 

Vis's review of #5 looks like a blue black to me.

[birchtine]

I don't have E#5 but from what I've seen on the stylo-plume.org both E5 and E6 are blue blacks or actually very saturated dark blues. E5 is rather blue while E6 is referred to as green-blue (teal?). As far as I can remember Didier called it green-blue himself.

Edited July 7, 2017 by birchtine

[birchtine]

Anyway, I'll try to prepare a short review of my Equinoxe 6 tomorrow.

[amberleadavis]

Well, I do like the looks of Ultramarine, and your #6 is beautiful.

[Ian the Jock]

I just got some ultramarine and some inca sol, but I'm on my hols and won't get to try them until I get back home.

 

Ian

[Chrissy]

I can confirm that I love my sample of Equinox No6. I may have to buy a bottle, even though it's a colour that I don't normally use. I think it's more of a blue-green than a green-blue if you see what I mean.

[birchtine]

I had some mixed feelings about the E6 and stopped using it recently. However, I decided to try it again today in a different pen and I think it will stay in the rotation.

 

Chrissy, it's funny that you called it a blue-green just now. I had exactly the same thought doodling today. Although I prefer purer blues I'm rather fond of murky, dirty and strange greens. I wonder what inspired the name. For me it's a colour of a lake or a sea in cloudy weather.

[Chrissy]

I had some mixed feelings about the E6 and stopped using it recently. However, I decided to try it again today in a different pen and I think it will stay in the rotation.

 

Chrissy, it's funny that you called it a blue-green just now. I had exactly the same thought doodling today. Although I prefer purer blues I'm rather fond of murky, dirty and strange greens. I wonder what inspired the name. For me it's a colour of a lake or a sea in cloudy weather.

 

I just happened to have a bottle of Montblanc Meisterstück Blue Hour Twilight Blue on the table so I compared them next to each other. Equinox No 6 is definitely more blue.

 

[birchtine]

Thanks Chrissy, lovely samples! Here is my comparison with Pelikan Royal Blue

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by birchtine

[birchtine]

Well, I do like the looks of Ultramarine, and your #6 is beautiful.

Ultramarine is indeed fantastic. It's a deep and glowing elegant blue. Unfortunately, similarly to lively Azure, it seems to feather slightly more than Méditerranée and Atlantique.

[birchtine]

Funny, I still fail the blind test of Méditerranée and Atlantique. I can't say which is which until the inks dried and matured for several minutes when the differences are the most striking. I guess it's something to do with the psychology of seeing colours and my limited ability to distinguish them.

[Chrissy]

Ultramarine looks excellent, but I've never had an opportunity to try that one. My friend didn't have a sample to send me.

[birchtine]

I'd send you a sample Chrissy but I'm still missing Aquamarine in my ink collection.

Edited July 21, 2017 by birchtine

[birchtine]

I hope you will forgive me for keeping banging about the confusion while using Atlantique and Méditerranée. I've thought that someone may find it interesting.

 

Part of the problem is that I have similar pens inked with both inks. Also, I tend to rotate inks in all my daily pens and because I'm a messy person I forget which pen is filled with which ink. In the result, I write a note with Atlantique and wake up next morning discovering Méditerranée on paper.

 

I decided to investigated the issue and share some thoughts.

 

The letters and the second row samples are 12 hours older than the first row fresh swatches (2-3 minutes old). The inks haven't dried properly yet. You can see from the picture that guessing whether a sample is freshly written with Méditerranée or Atlantique can be tricky.

 

 

After 4-5 minutes inks are dry but still there is a huge difference in colours of the Méditerranée swatches. Several days ago I undertook some additional observations and the ink takes approximately about 10-15 minutes to darken and to reach final colour maturity. Atlantique stays relatively unchanged.

 

Azure is also interesting. With time it develops a dusty appearance and in this respect it reminds me Pelikan Royal Blue.

 

 

The close-up of Méditerranée: after 5 minutes and 12 hours, respectively.

 

 

 

Another close-up: after around 5 minutes and 12 hours.

 

The colour shift isn't an uncommon phenomenon. However, apart from iron gall inks, colours seem to settle when inks settle dry on paper. In the case of Méditerranée the time extends to over 12 minutes which I find rather fascinating. Also, most inks tend to lighten up rather than getting darker with time. I wish Didier never changes the formulation. I absolutely love this ink.

 

Edit: Follow up: After 3 hours the fresh sample is now even darker than the older one (possibly a bit more ink was laid).

Edited July 21, 2017 by birchtine