Octopus Fluids Sepia Schwarz (Black)

August 30, 2023

This ink belongs to the classic lineup of Octopus Fluids.

The brand from what I gather is specialized in making printer inks. They can be easily found in Europe and in US (Vanness) and Canada (Blesket)

While I gravitate mostly towards waterproof inks, I enjoy walking on the wild side with water loving inks

I have a soft spot for sepia/brown inks, and this one is no exception.

Let's start with the complex chroma : (look at the multitude of colours)

Writing Samples: (my apologies for misspelling Schwarz :blush:

It does like thin copy paper as you can see, but if you enjoy thick absorbent papers, it's well behaved

Photo (TR Paper)

Comparison:

Water test ( I choose my method this time, and simply poured some water with an eye dropper and dapped it off. As you can see quite a bit of ink was removed)

And finally an art work, it was inspired by the yearly inktober prompt Vampire.

Paper is Fabriano Sketchbook paper (Very absorbent paper)

Other inks are:

J Herbin Lierre Sauvage and De Atramentis Document Red

· Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef/ Stub, Kaweco (EF/F/M/B), Kanwrite Ultraflex

· What I liked: I loved almost everything about this ink. It’s slightly drier, at least in the Kaweco.

· What I did not like: No water resistance. If you're looking for a water-resistant ink there are many more options.

· What some might not like: No water resistance, dryness,

· Shading: Yes.

· Ghosting: On cheap paper

· Bleed through: On cheap paper

· Flow Rate: Good

· Lubrication: On the dry side.

· Nib Dry-out: Nope

· Start-up: None.

· Saturation: No.

· Shading Potential: Excellent

· Sheen: None.

· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: If the pen is wet, primed and you insist writing on copy paper.

· Nib Creep / “Crud”: a bit.

· Staining (pen): None.

· Clogging: No.

· Cleaning: Easy.

· Water resistance: Vaguely

· Availability: 30 ml

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

August 30, 2023

Thank you, @yazeh , for another review from this brand! Great chroma, as you noted. Very interesting color - I like it, especially in that photo! I may have to try a sample of this one. And, as always, love the kitty-mouse-art water test and your intriguing vampire trio... Not sure what's going on there, but I think it might end up with someone bleeding...

August 30, 2023

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Thank you, @yazeh , for another review from this brand!

🙏

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Great chroma, as you noted. Very interesting color - I like it, especially in that photo! I may have to try a sample of this one.

This one is really tempting I'm on a trio of sepia inks, I'll post another intriguing one on the weekend

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

And, as always, love the kitty-mouse-art water test and your intriguing vampire trio... Not sure what's going on there, but I think it might end up with someone bleeding...

You can say it's a nod to Shakespeare

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:

August 30, 2023

Thank you, @yazeh! Way cool chroma and I like dark brown inks. Kitteh grew quite a moustache and I love Mousie checking his reflection in the mirror to make sure he's not Undead! And holding out the rose of peace to the bat.

From the ink's name I thought this would be black; I am pleasantly surprised.

August 30, 2023

14 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thank you, @yazeh! Way cool chroma and I like dark brown inks. Kitteh grew quite a moustache and I love Mousie checking his reflection in the mirror to make sure he's not Undead! And holding out the rose of peace to the bat.

Thanks. It means a lot 🙏

14 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

From the ink's name I thought this would be black; I am pleasantly surprised.

Me too

August 30, 2023

Great review again! One of the most interesting things here IYAM is that the "fingerprinting" -- or, DNA, as we say today -- in the chromatogram is also revealed in the writing itself. Can't always say that for other blacks. E.g. as seen in my line-up of the dozen or so specimens.

August 30, 2023

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

You can say it's a nod to Shakespeare

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:

:wub:

August 30, 2023

44 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

From the ink's name I thought this would be black; I am pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for saying/writing that. I wanted to type something of that vein too (a few minutes ago) but didn't on purpose because I've already written that here a hundred times... "What I love most about some blacks is that there's something non-black in them". And now I see that this ink reviewed here actually isn't a sepia-ish black but rather a black-ish sepia.

Whew!

August 30, 2023

15 minutes ago, lapis said:

Great review again!

🙏

15 minutes ago, lapis said:

One of the most interesting things here IYAM is that the "fingerprinting" -- or, DNA, as we say today -- in the chromatogram is also revealed in the writing itself. Can't always say that for other blacks. E.g. as seen in my line-up of the dozen or so specimens.

I never saw it like that. Thanks for the illumination :thumbup:

August 30, 2023

3 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

From the ink's name I thought this would be black; I am pleasantly surprised.

I thought the same thing. I may have to see about trying a sample of this at some point, because I'm sort of a sucker for sepia toned inks to begin with.

@yazeh Thanks for the review. And, well, not... :headsmack: (I ALREADY have too many inks I haven't tried yet).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

August 31, 2023

12 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I thought the same thing. I may have to see about trying a sample of this at some point, because I'm sort of a sucker for sepia toned inks to begin with.

Me too