EFNIR: PenBBS #274 Obsidian

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: PenBBS #274 Obsidian

This is review #302 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This is what I consider a true blue-black - enough black to really darken and de-saturate the blue.  Unfortunately, I can't find it for sale at any of the US stores I generally use. Though it's a dry ink, I think if you want to see the blue and shading, you need a drier pen with a wider nib. I might try it in a stub.

Also unfortunately, the ink is so dark that the cameras really didn't pick up what color there is.  I did my best to capture the blue. I was most surprised to see coppery sheen under the microscope!  I don't see any from the pen, so I guess you need a very wet pen to see it.

Cleaning was easy and fairly quick, but it's pretty concentrated, so you may need a few extra flushes.

Zoomed in photo (Fairly close to what my eyes see. Maybe a little too black.)

Screenshot (A little too dark.)

Scan of Completed Review (Maybe not quite enough blue, but close.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Both close. Copy paper seems to "eat" the blue, showing only grey.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 267µm. With 302 inks measured, the average line width is 297µm.) (You can barely see color, but also little bits of sheen.)

Microscope image (100x. Cell phone.)

Microscope image (100x. More fun stuff.)

Previous Review: Noodler's Polar Purple.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

Thanks for such a blue black review @LizEF 👍With a name like that I'm back in Deep Space 9 and the Obsidian order. I'd be curious to see a sample writing (read: a word or line 😊), to.appreciate the color. Ironically, what I first saw was a tinge of purple, much like R&K Ebony.

Return of the Green Squirrel, seems like an apt name for a children/horror flick 

Thank for bring light to shadows.on Tuesdays 🙏

[LizEF]

34 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for such a blue black review @LizEF 👍

You're most welcome!

 

34 minutes ago, yazeh said:

With a name like that I'm back in Deep Space 9 and the Obsidian order.

Didn't watch it enough to know the term.  When @A Smug Dill first introduced this ink, I was surprised it wasn't as black as I always thought the rock was...

 

36 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I'd be curious to see a sample writing (read: a word or line 😊), to.appreciate the color.

You mean in person?    That can be arranged!  I finally finished book 3 yesterday, so now my letter-writing can continue.

 

38 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Ironically, what I first saw was a tinge of purple, much like R&K Ebony.

Yeah, that's probably the digital image process at work...

 

39 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Return of the Green Squirrel, seems like an apt name for a children/horror flick 

 

39 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thank for bring light to shadows.on Tuesdays 🙏

Gladly!

[yazeh]

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Didn't watch it enough to know the term.

Obsidian order is the CIA/KGB of the Cardassian Empire. DS9 is quite dark, but it has some of the most complex characters, especially the evil ones.

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

When @A Smug Dill first introduced this ink, I was surprised it wasn't as black as I always thought the rock was...

Well apparently it's not always pure.black, but it can be brown black. That the fun thing with gems stones. I've seen Lapis Lazuli that is.dark navy, almost black in certain lights.

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

You mean in person?   

A scan/ photo for the benefit of the community

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

That can be arranged!

 

45 minutes ago, LizEF said:

  I finally finished book 3 yesterday, so now my letter-writing can continue.

Bravo. So did book 3 redeem itself?

[LizEF]

17 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Obsidian order is the CIA/KGB of the Cardassian Empire. DS9 is quite dark, but it has some of the most complex characters, especially the evil ones.

It always struck me as too soap-opera-like to enjoy....

 

14 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Well apparently it's not always pure.black, but it can be brown black. That the fun thing with gems stones. I've seen Lapis Lazuli that is.dark navy, almost black in certain lights.

Yes, that was what I learned after seeing his presentation of this ink. This article has good images (I note that none of them looks blue-black, though the "rainbow" version kinda allows for anything goes...).

 

17 minutes ago, yazeh said:

A scan/ photo for the benefit of the community

Now I'm confused.  Isn't that what my review contains?  What am I misunderstanding here?

 

18 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Bravo. So did book 3 redeem itself?

Mostly.  I think the ending could have been better, but it worked out better than many of her novels - for the characters, I mean.  She tends to be brutal on her characters, often leaving them broken and alone at the end, to scrape together whatever they can with the rest of their lives.  The characters in this one had happier endings.  My overall impression is that she didn't have enough story left after book 2 ended to fill 700+ pages, so she added stuff in just to lengthen the book - yeah, it was storyline and it moved the characters toward their goals, but it still seemed like filler...  (Maybe I'd just had enough - it's been a long time since I read three ~800 page books in a row!)

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

It always struck me as too soap-opera-like to enjoy....

Maybe the first two seasons, but as soon as the Dominion materializes boy it becomes dark, the Cardassians sneakier, the Klingons bloodthirsty and the Federation at the edge of collapse.   

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Yes, that was what I learned after seeing his presentation of this ink. This article has good images (I note that none of them looks blue-black, though the "rainbow" version kinda allows for anything goes...).

Wow, such gorgeous samples  

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Now I'm confused.  Isn't that what my review contains?  What am I misunderstanding here?

I meant for the stub nib pen, you were planning to fill  

3 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Mostly.  I think the ending could have been better, but it worked out better than many of her novels - for the characters, I mean.  She tends to be brutal on her characters, often leaving them broken and alone at the end, to scrape together whatever they can with the rest of their lives.  The characters in this one had happier endings.  My overall impression is that she didn't have enough story left after book 2 ended to fill 700+ pages, so she added stuff in just to lengthen the book - yeah, it was storyline and it moved the characters toward their goals, but it still seemed like filler...  (Maybe I'd just had enough - it's been a long time since I read three ~800 page books in a row!)

Yeah, I get that. When the author has to chug a long to fill a contract. It happens a lot with TV shows, when the writer/ writers/ change or the producer(s) decide to kill some character off, or add some new character to have better ratings

[Sailor Kenshin]

A coral reef casts its shadow against a background of brains...while in the background a green squirrel groans and moans...

 

Of your comparison inks, I have the Sailor BB (and like it quite a bit). I also have, not shown in your review, some MV Blue Black that's darkity-dark and gravel-dry.  So there's that!

 

I am happy to see how the story's moving along, and that Quin is in touch with family.  @LizEF, these ink reviews are so entertaining that I always look forward to them, Unobtainiums or no.  Keep 'em flying!  💝 👏🏻 🥂 And thanks!

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Maybe the first two seasons, but as soon as the Dominion materializes boy it becomes dark, the Cardassians sneakier, the Klingons bloodthirsty and the Federation at the edge of collapse.   

OK.  Maybe one day I'll try it again.

 

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

I meant for the stub nib pen, you were planning to fill  

Ah.  Got it.  I'll try to remember to post a picture here, too.

 

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Yeah, I get that. When the author has to chug a long to fill a contract. It happens a lot with TV shows, when the writer/ writers/ change or the producer(s) decide to kill some character off, or add some new character to have better ratings

Curse reality for getting in the way of a good story!    (Another Castle memory: "Stop ruining my story with your facts.")

[LizEF]

16 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

A coral reef casts its shadow against a background of brains...while in the background a green squirrel groans and moans...

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Of your comparison inks, I have the Sailor BB (and like it quite a bit). I also have, not shown in your review, some MV Blue Black that's darkity-dark and gravel-dry.  So there's that!

  Maybe if I can't find another ridiculously dry ink for my Visconti, I'll get a sample of the Monteverde...

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I am happy to see how the story's moving along, and that Quin is in touch with family.

Yes, nothing quite like a deadly mold plague to humble you enough to accept some of Mom's message paper.

 

18 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@LizEF, these ink reviews are so entertaining that I always look forward to them, Unobtainiums or no.  Keep 'em flying!  💝 👏🏻 🥂

Thank you!!  Will do.

 

18 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

And thanks!

You're very welcome!

[LizEF]

And, just in case anyone seeing this is the person(s) up-voting Diamine Onyx Black, I went to ink my pen with it today, and it's bad.  The sample was a gift, so I don't know enough about it to go forward.  It seems to have suffered pretty badly from evaporation.  Since I don't know how much should have been left, I can't just add water.  It's gone down the drain and I'm picking another ink for #307.

[yazeh]

2 minutes ago, LizEF said:

OK.  Maybe one day I'll try it again.

Sometimes the best way, Is to read a synopsis 

2 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Ah.  Got it.  I'll try to remember to post a picture here, too.

Neat  

2 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Curse reality for getting in the way of a good story!    (Another Castle memory: "Stop ruining my story with your facts.")

[Mercian]

59 minutes ago, LizEF said:

And, just in case anyone seeing this is the person(s) up-voting Diamine Onyx Black, I went to ink my pen with it today, and it's bad.  The sample was a gift, so I don't know enough about it to go forward.  It seems to have suffered pretty badly from evaporation.  Since I don't know how much should have been left, I can't just add water.  It's gone down the drain…

Not that I’m the Onyx upvoter, but…

😢

Sic transit gloria mundi 😔

 

59 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

…and I'm picking another ink for #307.

Well, FWIW, I have always been keen to see what you make of Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite.
It’s another blue-black that can tend more to black than other blue-blacks do. And which, from wet pens, can give a bit of red sheen.

 

Keen enough that, if you don’t have any of it, I’m happy to send a sample ‘over the pond’.

[LizEF]

22 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Not that I’m the Onyx upvoter, but…

😢

Sic transit gloria mundi 😔

Or something like that.

 

23 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Well, FWIW, I have always been keen to see what you make of Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite.
It’s another blue-black that can tend more to black than other blue-blacks do. And which, from wet pens, can give a bit of red sheen.

Since I don't have any Tanzanite, I predict it will be something like 3 years before you find out...

 

23 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Keen enough that, if you don’t have any of it, I’m happy to send a sample ‘over the pond’.

Or....  If you must.   (And thank you!)  I'll add it to the poll and then you can vote for it 20 times in a row.  If you like, I'll give you a heads up when I'm ready to pick new inks, so you can make sure it stays at the top.    (Or I can just cheat... )

[InesF]

Biological weapons do not need to be of microscopic scale, they can also be green and sit in trees ...  

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for introducing this extremely good looking blue-black PBS ink, which seems to be multi-talented for writing story parts, for ink documentation and for building stunning microscopic patterns.  A pleasure to follow the story, each episode has its drama, emotions and surprises!

 

Sorry to read about the unobtanium status of the ink. Luckily, I found a (neutral) blue-black that works for me in the Scribo Blue Cosmico. It was almost an easy find, requiring only two and a half years search. 

R&K Verdigris is another candidate, while a beautiful petrol-black, it is more dry and does not always result in these very dark ink lines.

 

Looking forward to next week's episode!  

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Biological weapons do not need to be of microscopic scale, they can also be green and sit in trees ...  

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for introducing this extremely good looking blue-black PBS ink, which seems to be multi-talented for writing story parts, for ink documentation and for building stunning microscopic patterns. 

You're most welcome!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

A pleasure to follow the story, each episode has its drama, emotions and surprises!

Thank you!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Sorry to read about the unobtanium status of the ink. Luckily, I found a (neutral) blue-black that works for me in the Scribo Blue Cosmico. It was almost an easy find, requiring only two and a half years search. 

Congratulations!  Very glad you found one you like, and so quickly!  For me, it looks too blue and too sheeny.

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

R&K Verdigris is another candidate, while a beautiful petrol-black, it is more dry and does not always result in these very dark ink lines.

I love this ink!  No idea why, except that it leans more to the green side.  Am pondering a bottle of this and R&K Sepia.

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Looking forward to next week's episode!  

Thanks!