Difference In Color In R&k Scabiosa Batches?

[Intensity]

I had a bottle of R&K Scabiosa 2 years ago which I liked, but didn't use enough, so it ended up going away in a trade for other inks. Recently I was looking through my old writing and felt regret for giving away the Scabiosa. So I reordered and received my new bottle from La Couronne du Comte.

 

Oddly enough, the new ink looks different from my previous bottle. It is more dusty blue-purple with a kind of yellow aura. The original looked more like J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune and was a warmer dusty red-purple with just a hint of brown. The difference between the two is not strong, but nonetheless it's very noticeable in person. There's nothing wrong with the new ink, so I wonder if there was a slight reformulation at some point that changed the end result. Or if perhaps I got a batch that's different for whatever reason.

 

Has anyone else here notice a change in the hue of this ink from earlier purchases to most recent ones.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Intensity

[ENewton]

Oooh, I would love to see an image of the dusty blue purple with yellow aura!

 

Unfortunately, I cannot offer any insight into your question. My bottle of Scabiosa is five years old.

[Intensity]

I will try to get a scan and/or photograph that illustrates the difference. Because the hues are subtle, it might be difficult, but I'll see what I can do.

By "aura" I do not mean literal halo/outlining effect. It's more of a look like it has a wash of cream, which my original bottle did not have.

 

edit: here is a scan. Old bottle on top to the right (from about 2-3 years ago), new bottle underneath to the left (from a couple months ago). I also wrote with the newer ink on the old review, you can see it as the "Written with Sailor..." part to the bottom right. The paper is the same Fabriano Bioprima: only one is lined, the other has dot grid.

 

While the scans may not accurately represent the colors on your screen, you can hopefully still see that there is a color difference between these inks. The new ink has a yellow element that separates in the wash and in chromatography, a yellow-cream halo on the base of dusty blue-purple. The old ink was less complex, more of a warm dusty red-purple with a hint of brown. You can see the wash differs between the two versions on the drawings, and overall the writing color looks quite different.

 

 

New Scabiosa, on dry and damp paper towel--note the creamy yellowish element mixed into the base of cool-toned blue-purple:

Edited February 27, 2020 by Intensity

[inkstainedruth]

Could the difference just be something as simple as the older ink having oxidized more on the page? It is an iron gall ink, after all.

It might also be slight variations in the paper, even though it's the same brand.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[silverlifter]

The sample I purchased a month ago looks more like the image on the right.

[Intensity]

Could the difference just be something as simple as the older ink having oxidized more on the page? It is an iron gall ink, after all.

It might also be slight variations in the paper, even though it's the same brand.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I did consider oxidation being the answer, but I think it's only part of the answer. I'm pretty sure my original Scabiosa writing did not change from the same base color as my new bottle. I've compared it to other inks I have and knew its character then. The new one immediately writes differently--a more murky blue-violet than the 2-month-old sample I posted. My original bottle of Scabiosa wrote more like Poussiere de Lune and over time got a bit more red-brown.

 

Here's an old photograph I took to show a quick water resistance test I did on fresh writing made with dip pens a few years back, using my original Scabiosa bottle--the photograph is dark, but you can see the wash is a warm pinky-burgundy color, unlike the new bottle where the wash is a mix of that cream color and murky blue-violet:

Edited February 27, 2020 by Intensity

[ENewton]

I will try to get a scan and/or photograph that illustrates the difference. Because the hues are subtle, it might be difficult, but I'll see what I can do.

By "aura" I do not mean literal halo/outlining effect. It's more of a look like it has a wash of cream, which my original bottle did not have.

 

edit: here is a scan. Old bottle on top to the right (from about 2-3 years ago), new bottle underneath to the left (from a couple months ago). I also wrote with the newer ink on the old review, you can see it as the "Written with Sailor..." part to the bottom right. The paper is the same Fabriano Bioprima: only one is lined, the other has dot grid.

 

While the scans may not accurately represent the colors on your screen, you can hopefully still see that there is a color difference between these inks. The new ink has a yellow element that separates in the wash and in chromatography, a yellow-cream halo on the base of dusty blue-purple. The old ink was less complex, more of a warm dusty red-purple with a hint of brown. You can see the wash differs between the two versions on the drawings, and overall the writing color looks quite different.

 

 

New Scabiosa, on dry and damp paper towel--note the creamy yellowish element mixed into the base of cool-toned blue-purple:

 

 

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post a comparison.