Octopus Write and Draw - Polar White Bear

[yazeh]

Octopus Write and Draw – White Polar Bear

I was really excited trying this ink, hoping that it’ll be better than the ever clogging De Atramentis Document white. 

 

Unfortunately, as you will see in the writing sample it became invisible after a while, and I couldn’t write anymore. I could see a wet, bluish tinge on the black paper. Thinking maybe, I had not cleaned my pen correctly, I tested the pen on normal paper, and it was still invisible. 

 

I contacted Octopus but they didn’t say anything concrete only about shaking the bottle and using dip pens

So, I'm hoping that maybe my sample wasn't well shaken or stirred, but I doubt it as you'll see further on  If anyone has had a better experience I'm curious to know.

 

Writing Samples:

It's very difficult to photograph clearly this page. The paper is a pure black. I didn't colour correct, as I wanted to show off the blue tinge of the ink. 

And finally you can see how I couldn't finish the last line but you might be able to discern a bit of invisible ink. 

 

Comparison:

 Note how pale it is compared to the De Atramentis Document White:

 

 

I finally did a sketch with a Prismacolor white pencil. I used a water-colour brush directly in the sample bottle for the White Polar Bear. Then I used a water brush to drag some ink from the fountain pen. You can see the blush wet tinge of the cat's body. When it dried it was invisible. 

 

This is the final work, when I finally emptied the pen on the"cat's" body and spread it with the water brush, and the mouse. As you can see it's quite pale compared to the bear

 

 

 

·      Pens used: Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B) 

·      What I liked: Using a brush to “paint” on the black paper.

·      What I did not like: I couldn’t sketch with it. 

·       What some might not like: Same as above.

·      Shading: n/a 

·      Ghosting: n/a 

·      Bleed through: n/a

·      Flow Rate: wet 

·      Lubrication: Does it really matter?

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Ok

·      Saturation:  Non-existent.

·      Shading Potential: n/a

·      Sheen: n/a

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: n/a

·      Nib Creep / “Crud”: n/a

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: It seems easier than the Document White. 

·      Water resistance: There was nothing in the first place. 

·      Availability: 50 m

 

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

 

 

[LizEF]

Hooray, more chalkboard! Bummer about the white pigment declining to flow after a while....  And oh my, way paler than DADWhite!  That's disappointing.  It would be enough to make you think someone forgot to shake the bottle before making your sample.

 

Love the polar bear drawing!!  All aboard!

 

Thanks for taking another hit for the team.  At least it wasn't quite as bad cleaning...

[yazeh]

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Hooray, more chalkboard!  Bummer about the white pigment declining to flow after a while....  And oh my, way paler than DADWhite! 

It flowed. There wasn't any pigment left

 

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

That's disappointing.  It would be enough to make you think someone forgot to shake the bottle before making your sample.

Maybe, maybe not! As you can see there was enough pigment for the Polar bear

 

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Love the polar bear drawing!!  All aboard!

 

🙏

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks for taking another hit for the team.  At least it wasn't quite as bad cleaning...

A pleasure

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

@yazeh, I am glad you used black paper! (Still haven't found mine).

 

The Polar Bear Express drawings are adorable.  I can't decide what I feel about white inks; the only one in my ink collection is Noodler's… which also makes a black light ink I have, too.  
 

White gel pens are not very robust in that they refuse to write after a month or so.  But white on black art can be amazing, as you displayed

 

Thanks again for an unusual ink review!  

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh, I am glad you used black paper! (Still haven't found mine).

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

The Polar Bear Express drawings are adorable.  

Thank you@

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I can't decide what I feel about white inks; the only one in my ink collection is Noodler's… which also makes a black light ink I have, too.  

They are quirky
 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

White gel pens are not very robust in that they refuse to write after a month or so.  But white on black art can be amazing, as you displayed

I've seen. much better

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Thanks again for an unusual ink review!  

A pleasure!

 

[fireant]

On 4/5/2024 at 9:07 AM, yazeh said:

 

Octopus Write and Draw – White Polar Bear

I was really excited trying this ink, hoping that it’ll be better than the ever clogging De Atramentis Document white. 

 

I finally did a sketch with a Prismacolor white pencil. I used a water-colour brush directly in the sample bottle for the White Polar Bear. Then I used a water brush to drag some ink from the fountain pen. You can see the blush wet tinge of the cat's body. When it dried it was invisible. 

 

 

 

 

 I just wanted to tell you how delightful your drawing is to me!

 

 

[yazeh]

@fireant Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏

[PithyProlix]

As LizEF wrote ...

 

On 4/5/2024 at 11:54 PM, LizEF said:

Thanks for taking another hit for the team. 

 

I was curious if your sample might be an anomaly and the only example I could find, outside of the ink-maker's, is in this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/CE5L7Renz8k?si=3NelfzY4N4x4Mmk4&t=215. The link advances you to where White Polar Bear makes an appearance, which is on black paper. Note that the reviewer says that the bottom right corner of his sample is with the ink diluted. My first reaction was to think that it's still a bit pale but it could also be considered 'shading' though sort of in reverse since the black paper shows through a bit on the [EDIT] lighter less opaque parts of the ink.

And here's the White Polar Bear drawn on top of the black ink: https://youtu.be/CE5L7Renz8k?si=MfYJc4UuF__SsR_7&t=423 It looks much more opaque. (Perhaps because the dried black ink does not absorb any of the ink that is put on top of it?)

 

Unlike other inks, I don't think I'd buy white ink unless/until I had a specific purpose for it. Maybe that will change when I get more into drawing and sketching?

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

As LizEF wrote ...

 

 

I was curious if your sample might be an anomaly and the only example I could find, outside of the ink-maker's, is in this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/CE5L7Renz8k?si=3NelfzY4N4x4Mmk4&t=215. The link advances you to where White Polar Bear makes an appearance, which is on black paper. Note that the reviewer says that the bottom right corner of his sample is with the ink diluted. My first reaction was to think that it's still a bit pale but it could also be considered 'shading' though sort of in reverse since the black paper shows through a bit on the [EDIT] lighter less opaque parts of the ink.

And here's the White Polar Bear drawn on top of the black ink: https://youtu.be/CE5L7Renz8k?si=MfYJc4UuF__SsR_7&t=423 It looks much more opaque. (Perhaps because the dried black ink does not absorb any of the ink that is put on top of it?)

 

Unlike other inks, I don't think I'd buy white ink unless/until I had a specific purpose for it. Maybe that will change when I get more into drawing and sketching?

Thanks for sharing that much appreciated. I wouldn't know unless, I buy a full bottle. Octopus wanted to refund me, if the ink is not to my satisfaction. So the jury is still out there, for this ink. I tried using the last of my sample on a drawing and it just lightened the colour

 

 

[InesF]

Thank you, @yazeh, for the effort with reviewing a white ink! 

 

You managed to write some lines of text with good intensity and good readability. I guess, it should not be impossible. Maybe the white pigment behaves quite similar to some glitter and settles comparably fast. Shaking the pen after writing some words is not the most exciting perspective, but maybe unavoidable?

 

However, I love how bear, cat and mouse make friends and hope very much that bear is not too hungry ... please inspect the scene after a while and make sure cat and mouse are still OK!    I would not be pleased loosing the main characters of your always entertaining ink reviews! 

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

please inspect the scene after a while and make sure cat and mouse are still OK!    I would not be pleased loosing the main characters of your always entertaining ink reviews! 

[yazeh]

8 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for the effort with reviewing a white ink! 

🙏

8 hours ago, InesF said:

 

You managed to write some lines of text with good intensity and good readability. I guess, it should not be impossible. Maybe the white pigment behaves quite similar to some glitter and settles comparably fast. Shaking the pen after writing some words is not the most exciting perspective, but maybe unavoidable?

Yes. But I didn't have the same problem with De Atramentis

8 hours ago, InesF said:

 

However, I love how bear, cat and mouse make friends and hope very much that bear is not too hungry ... please inspect the scene after a while and make sure cat and mouse are still OK!   

Same as @LizEF

8 hours ago, InesF said:

 

I would not be pleased loosing the main characters of your always entertaining ink reviews! 

They won't. They're eternal 👼 

[namrehsnoom]

@yazeh thanks for this wonderful review of an exotic ink. I can’t think of a good use-case for writing with such an ink, but it sure is amazing for drawing, as you illustrate so well with your polar bear pics.  The effect you get is something like a cyanotype drawing … quite lovely!

 

In this case I would definitely choose the DA ink … much whiter (unless there was indeed something wrong with your sample). 

 

[yazeh]

17 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

@yazeh thanks for this wonderful review of an exotic ink.

Thanks a lot 🙏

17 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

 

I can’t think of a good use-case for writing with such an ink, but it sure is amazing for drawing, as you illustrate so well with your polar bear pics.  The effect you get is something like a cyanotype drawing … quite lovely!

Thanks!

 

17 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

 

In this case I would definitely choose the DA ink … much whiter (unless there was indeed something wrong with your sample). 

I'm seriously thinking of giving this ink another chance. Maybe I'lll do a redux, just to make sure