Inklings - Some Troublemakers

[DrDebG]

Troublemaker Inks

Troublemaker Inks is a small ink manufacturer in the Philippines. Their website indicates that their inks are 100% handmade, and "offer a personal and artisanal alternative to contemporary fountain pen inks. Everything from the mixing, bottling, and packaging is done by hand." They state that their inks are "Honestly-priced - Show your support for the little guys! Our inks maintain an economic price-to-mL ratio because we don't put a premium on them. 100% of your purchase goes to the materials, transport, and directly supporting the people creating your ink." They also offer free shipping, shipping worldwide for free with no minimums.

 

I was first introduced to Troublemaker inks by our fellow FPNer, herrjaeger, who kindly sent me a sample of Troublemaker Abalone. I fell in love with the color and wanted to try some of the other colors. I also read Nick Stewart's ink comparison (.https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/349449-painting-with-troublemaker-inks/?hl=%2Bnick+%2Bstewart).

 

Unfortunately, Troublemaker Inks are a small operation and limited in their sales. I have tried for several months to order from them, but they were not accepting orders. Finally, I heard that Shigure Inks were selling Troublemaker Inks, but they were sold out. Then, out of the blue one day I went to Shigure's website and they had new stock. I immediately ordered a bottle of Abalone, Petrichor, Milky Ocean and Grape Vine. I have been using the inks now for a couple of weeks, in several different pens and on several different kinds of paper. My overall impression is positive.

 

 

Troublemaker Petrichor in TWSBI Eco with 1.1 stub nib

Troublemaker Abalone in Leonardo Momento Zero with stub nib

Troublemaker Milky Ocean in TWSBI Eco with 1.1 stub nib

Troublemaker Grape Vine in Leonardo Momento Zero with Fine nib

Troublemaker Petrichor in Nemosine Fission .8 stub nib

Paper: Tomoe River 65 gsm

Abalone, Petrichor and Milky Ocean all have a watercolor effect, with nice shading and haloing. Abalone is a medium blue with green, gray and pink undertones. Petrichor is gray with subtle shades of green and pink undertones. Milky Ocean is a light to medium blue with pink undertones. Grape Vine is a fairly saturated dark lavender with a forest green sheen to it. All of these color variations depend upon the nib and especially the paper used.

Troublemaker Petrichor in TWSBI Eco with 1.1 stub nib

Troublemaker Petrichor in Nemosine Fission .6 stub nib

Troublemaker Milky Ocean in TWSBI Eco with 1.1 stub nib

Troublemaker Milky Ocean in Nemosine Fission .6 stub nib

Troublemaker Grape Vine in Leonardo Momento Zero with Fine nib

Paper: Clairfontaine Classic Hardbound Notebook - Blank

All of the inks behaved fairly well on all the papers used with minimal showthrough. Milky Ocean seems to have some bleedthrough on Clairfontaine paper, but not Tomoe River. I also used them on HP All-in-One 22 lb copy paper and was very impressed with minor feathering, bleedthrough and showthrough. I was not given a choice of "wetness" which the Troublemaker Ink website advertises. I believe that I was sent the "standard" version which is supposed to be "wet". I found all of the inks to be moderately wet with some lubrication. They behaved well, even in my Nemosine pens which seem to be fairly dry pens. Petrichor is probably the driest ink of the four and Grape Vine seems to be the wettest ink.

 

Of the four inks, my personal favorite is Abalone. I love the color and the variations particularly with a 1.1 stub nib.

 

Troublemaker Abalone in Pilot Metropolitan with fine nib

Troublemaker Abalone in Nemosine Fission with medium nib

Troublemaker Abalone in Leonardo Momento Zero with 1.1 stub

Paper: Clairfontaine Classic Hardbound Notebook - Blank

 

Overall, I really like these inks, particularly the watercolor effect of Abalone, Petrichor and Milky Ocean. While Nick Stewart thinks they are great for inks their artistic value, I am convinced that they are great inks for everyday journal writing and doodling.

 

 

[Tas]

Thanks for sharing your review.
It warms my heart to know that we - as a worldwide community of pen, ink & paper lovers - are taking a chance and helping out a "couple" of until recently unknown fellas making inks for us.

Organics Studio, KWZ, are two more success stories that come to mind

I love my three Troublemakers Kelp Tea, Petrichor and Abalone. Like you, Abalone is my favourite. To me, it is everything I wanted Kyonooto Aonibi to be but wasn't.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Tas

[Intensity]

My personal favorites are so far Milky Ocean, Kelp Tea, and Hanging Rice. I find that to get the most color variation in the polychromatic range, a fresh fill is best, or a lot of writing. Once the ink concentrates in a pen, theres less variation.

[migo984]

I’ve been using Troublemaker inks since August 2018, when it was comparatively easy to get hold of them. I chose their standard wetness level (3), and I’ve been very impressed with them. My favourite is Hanging Rice. It shades beautifully.

 

I think it’s better to restrict sales than to overpromise on delivery, as many smaller companies tend to do (looking at Namisu, for example). I hope Troublemaker overcome and survive their capacity issues and continue to sell interesting inks.

[Carrau]

Thanks for the demonstrations-some of these , like Grape Vine and Copper Patina, are definitely more saturated than the other more subtle colors.

[DrDebG]

Thanks for sharing your review.

It warms my heart to know that we - as a worldwide community of pen, ink & paper lovers - are taking a chance and helping out a "couple" of until recently unknown fellas making inks for us.

 

Organics Studio, KWZ, are two more success stories that come to mind

 

I love my three Troublemakers Kelp Tea, Petrichor and Abalone. Like you, Abalone is my favourite. To me, it is everything I wanted Kyonooto Aonibi to be but wasn't.

 

 

 

 

I would agree. . . .even if it is a bit more "trouble". I remember when I first started my business. I am certain that my "product" was not always reliable, consistent and in a time frame that the client wanted. But thankfully, it did become just that, as I know that Troublemaker Inks will become much more available and reliable. Thank you for the great comment.

[DrDebG]

My personal favorites are so far Milky Ocean, Kelp Tea, and Hanging Rice. I find that to get the most color variation in the polychromatic range, a fresh fill is best, or a lot of writing. Once the ink concentrates in a pen, theres less variation.

 

Thank you for your great comment. I haven't found that to be the case yet, but then again, I have been writing a lot lately. I will put one of my pens aside and see if what happens when the ink does concentrate.

[DrDebG]

I’ve been using Troublemaker inks since August 2018, when it was comparatively easy to get hold of them. I chose their standard wetness level (3), and I’ve been very impressed with them. My favourite is Hanging Rice. It shades beautifully.

 

I think it’s better to restrict sales than to overpromise on delivery, as many smaller companies tend to do (looking at Namisu, for example). I hope Troublemaker overcome and survive their capacity issues and continue to sell interesting inks.

 

Thank you for your great comment. One of the things I am impressed with, even though it is somewhat annoying, is that they are working very hard to fill their orders. That says something for their popularity. I do believe that with proper planning and strategy they can overcome their current issues. But it is going to take time. This is an issue that most new businesses face at some time or other.

[DrDebG]

Thanks for the demonstrations-some of these , like Grape Vine and Copper Patina, are definitely more saturated than the other more subtle colors.

 

 

Thank you for your very kind comment. Yes, Grape Vine is much more saturated and likely better for those with finer nibs. I am also found that the ink sheen on Grape Vine is seen best on Clairfontaine paper rather than Tomoe River which is a bit of surprise to me. Yes, I do see it on TR, but not as much.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for doing this. I had seen a review of Petrichor a couple of days ago, but wasn't familiar with the other colors. Grape Vine looks (at least on my screen) to be a lot like Iroshizuku Yama-budo in color, so I may be able to pass on that one. Milky Ocean, OTOH, looks... interesting.... That's one I'd have to see in person, like Petrichor, but both certainly are going on the "maybe" list for me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Intensity]

 

Thank you for your great comment. I haven't found that to be the case yet, but then again, I have been writing a lot lately. I will put one of my pens aside and see if what happens when the ink does concentrate.

 

It's also demonstrated and discussed in this review ("theory 2"):

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/350391-troublemaker-petrichor/

and is consistent with what I see. The ink needs to remain low concentration and dry to display broad range of color variation, otherwise you just get the look of the most concentrated color and not the highlights of a different hue in low concentration areas. Out of the inks I've tried so far, this restriction is most pronounced with Milky Ocean, which can go from high hue variation (light cool blue to lavender to dark purple)--to mostly uniform lavender-tinged blue.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Intensity

[DrDebG]

 

It's also demonstrated and discussed in this review ("theory 2"):

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/350391-troublemaker-petrichor/

and is consistent with what I see. The ink needs to remain low concentration and dry to display broad range of color variation, otherwise you just get the look of the most concentrated color and not the highlights of a different hue in low concentration areas. Out of the inks I've tried so far, this restriction is most pronounced with Milky Ocean, which can go from high hue variation (light cool blue to lavender to dark purple)--to mostly uniform lavender-tinged blue.

 

 

Thank you for sharing this. As I said, I haven't seen this yet, but I will let them sit in the pen to low concentration as you suggest and see what happens.

Edited November 22, 2019 by 5Cavaliers

[DrDebG]

Thanks for doing this. I had seen a review of Petrichor a couple of days ago, but wasn't familiar with the other colors. Grape Vine looks (at least on my screen) to be a lot like Iroshizuku Yama-budo in color, so I may be able to pass on that one. Milky Ocean, OTOH, looks... interesting.... That's one I'd have to see in person, like Petrichor, but both certainly are going on the "maybe" list for me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Thank you for your comment. Below I compared Troublemaker Grape Vine with Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo and Montblanc Lavender Purple (not Lavender Violet). To my eye, Grape Vine leans more purple than Yama Budo.

 

[Joe124013]

Thanks for the writeup. I had kinda given myself a moratorium on buying new inks and pens until I use some more of what I have, but after seeing them I decided to make an exception for the troublemaker inks. I just keep missing the windows when they have sales .

[DrDebG]

Thank you for your comment. I do understand about missing the windows of when they sell ink. That is why I went to Shigure Ink (https://shigureinks.com/collections/troublemaker-inks/) that someone else on on FPN suggested. But even they have difficulty. Right now they still have some colors.

 

And just to fully disclose, I did buy my inks from Shigure Inks, but I am not affiliated with them.

[DrDebG]

When I received these inks, I also decided to check out their colorfastness when exposed to direct sunlight of a period of time. It appears that they are NOT very colorfast. The first photo shows the written sheet made on November 15. The second photo shows the Light Exposed side scanned on November 24. The Light Exposed side of the page was placed in a south facing window on November 15 and has had direct sunlight for 10 hours for 9 days. Both of the photos were made using the same scanner, 9 days apart. It appears that the "blue" component fades very quickly. A picture is worth a 1000 words:

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by 5Cavaliers

[Intensity]

I have found the same : 3rd scan in this post:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347819-new-batch-of-ink-fading-comparisons-ongoing/?p=4258588

 

The brown portion fades from Kelp Tea. Coincidentally, the brown portion is the water resistant one for that ink. So altogether it's very impermanent and care is needed when preserving art or writing made with these inks.

[DrDebG]

I have found the same : 3rd scan in this post:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347819-new-batch-of-ink-fading-comparisons-ongoing/?p=4258588

 

The brown portion fades from Kelp Tea. Coincidentally, the brown portion is the water resistant one for that ink. So altogether it's very impermanent and care is needed when preserving art or writing made with these inks.

 

 

Thank you so much for your comment and your post! Your post is the reason I chose to do this fading test - to confirm your findings.

 

Yes, I agree. These inks are NOT permanent - neither water resistant nor fade resistant. Thankfully, however, most of my notes are made within a notebook that stays closed most of the time.

[amberleadavis]

Wonderful discussion of the inks and I love the fade test.