Krishna Njaval

[DrDebG]

Krishna Njaval

Thanks to amberleadavis for supplying this sample for review!!!

Krishna inks are created by Dr. Sreekumar, a medical doctor. Dr. Sreekumar started experimenting with ink making, and then began production in 2010. His passion is to make these handmade inks in his beloved India.

It appears that the color of the ink is inspired by the Njaval Pazham berry, also known as Java Plum, Black Plum and other names. The fruit is said to have both spiritual and health benefits.

Njaval is a moderately saturated burgundy red ink with lots of character.

Paper: Col-o-ring Ink Testing swatch

The chromatography reveals strong wine colors separating into reds and fuchsia leading to cooler pink and lavender as the blue components separate to the edge.

The ink shades very nicely even using an EF nib. But the inks really shows how well it shades in a broad or stub nib.

Paper: 68 gsm Tomoe River Paper in Endless Recorder notebook

As you can see above, the ink does take some time to dry. On 52 gsm Tomoe River paper, the ink takes even longer to dry. Unfortunately, it also smears several hours after writing.

It does dry a little faster on other more absorbent papers, but some shading is lost. Bleedthrough and showthrough are minimal, and only seen on less expensive papers. This ink does feather on less expensive papers as well.

Paper: HP All in One 22 lb copy paper

Paper: Engineer's Computation Pad (pale green paper)

There is little water resistance to this ink. Krishna does make a line of waterproof inks, but this is certainly not one of them. There is some pale outline left, but not enough to be readable.

Krishna Njaval is similar to J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne and is darker than L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Andrinople, but is significantly lighter and less purple in tone than Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo and Sailor Manyo Kuzu.

Paper: Midori MD Notebook

Pros:

Nice shading

Nice color

Good flow

Moderately wet

Cons:

Longer dry time

Smearing

No water resistance

Some feathering and bleedthrough on

Summary: Krishna Njaval fountain pen ink is a beautiful burgundy red. It flows nicely for all the pens I have used and is well behaved. It does take a long time to dry and smears in concentration. It has no water resistance. I like the ink, but it isn’t practical for daily use. I use Engineer’s Pads for my work which are made from a less expensive paper, but not as bad as notebook paper. Even on my Engineer’s Pads, this ink feathered and bled through the paper. As a result, I likely won't be using this for my work.

Thank you, Amberleadavis, for supplying this ink for this review!!!

My apologies for the poor photography. Red inks are notoriously difficult to capture correctly. Also, I used an iPhone for the photos for this review.

 

[yazeh]

Great and detailed review as usual. Like the new ink review format also. Very airy and easy to read.

I can live with bleed through and feathering but long dry times is a no no for me...

Keep up the good work

Edited May 12, 2020 by yazeh

[DrDebG]

Great and detailed review as usual. Like the new ink review format also. Very airy and easy to read.

I can live with bleed through and feathering but long dry times is a no no for me...

Keep up the good work

 

Thank you for the kind comments. I can certainly understand about the long dry times.

[TSherbs]

Wow, great review. And interesting ink color!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks for the review! I have a few Krishnas. This looks like a very pretty, very appealing ink....but yeah, long dry times...southpaw trouble.

[TSherbs]

I wanted to taste that berry.

[mhguda]

Thank you for the review, and thus reminding me of my Krishna inks, which have sat outside of any pen for too long... I am going to get something to put a little something in... and see what I think of the ones I have not even tried yet! This one is very very nice...

[inkstainedruth]

Pretty color, but the long dry times and smudging is definitely a problem.

Thanks for the review though.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DrDebG]

Wow, great review. And interesting ink color!

 

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[DrDebG]

Thanks for the review! I have a few Krishnas. This looks like a very pretty, very appealing ink....but yeah, long dry times...southpaw trouble.

 

Thank you for your comments. It is a nice color and I really enjoy it. As with a few other inks, I use a blotter sheet.

[DrDebG]

I wanted to taste that berry.

 

It does look appetizing. I also understand that it has many health benefits.

[DrDebG]

Thank you for the review, and thus reminding me of my Krishna inks, which have sat outside of any pen for too long... I am going to get something to put a little something in... and see what I think of the ones I have not even tried yet! This one is very very nice...

 

 

Thank you for your comment. This was my first trial of Krishna inks. I was very pleasantly surprised. I am definitely going to try others.

[DrDebG]

Pretty color, but the long dry times and smudging is definitely a problem.

Thanks for the review though.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Hi Ruth

 

Thank you for your comments. Yes, it does take a while to dry, but not as bad as many other inks I have used over the years. The one thing that does drive me nuts is smearing. I wrote with this ink this morning and several hours later it is still smearing. But I may try to thin it just a little bit and see if that helps. It will lighten the color a bit, though. I like the ink a lot, just not the dry time.

[cattar]

Thanks for the color comparisons. The subtle differences are so interesting.

I'm liking that Sailor Manyo Kuzu.

[TSherbs]

 

Hi Ruth

 

Thank you for your comments. Yes, it does take a while to dry, but not as bad as many other inks I have used over the years. The one thing that does drive me nuts is smearing. I wrote with this ink this morning and several hours later it is still smearing. But I may try to thin it just a little bit and see if that helps. It will lighten the color a bit, though. I like the ink a lot, just not the dry time.

Let us know how thinning it works out. I love that color. But I am messy and smearing is not cool. Edited May 12, 2020 by TSherbs

[amberleadavis]

Great Review! This ink is from HalloweenHJB.

[Eclipse157]

Thank you for your review! Not up my alley color-wise, but that's known to change with the seasons... Keep up the good job

[mhguda]

 

 

Thank you for your comment. This was my first trial of Krishna inks. I was very pleasantly surprised. I am definitely going to try others.

I have a number of them, I've tried mostly the murky ones, and love them. But also some bright ones. I do love them. The reason they're not in a pen right now is - well - abundance of choice... embarrassment of riches... we are really in the golden age of fountain pen ink.

[DrDebG]

Thanks for the color comparisons. The subtle differences are so interesting.

I'm liking that Sailor Manyo Kuzu.

 

Thanks you. I will be posting a quick comparison of some burgundy inks, including Kuzu, in Comparisons later today.

[DrDebG]

Let us know how thinning it works out. I love that color. But I am messy and smearing is not cool.

 

Well, thinning didn't really do anything except make the ink lighter. I will say that now, several days later, it only is slightly smeary on Tomoe River, but not on the other papers. And the only place that was still smearing was were the ink pooled.