De Atramentis Document Brown (cartridge)

[yazeh]

De Atramentis Document Brown 

 

Review #176

I was inspired by a video on 6 best brown inks for artist sto test this ink. You can find the De Atramentis review here:

 

 

I extracted the ink from the cartridges and filled the Safari. The first day, ink was slightly sluggish, lubrication below average. The 2^nd day the flow was better, and the lubrication excellent. The same was for the Kanwrite Desire with the Ultraflex FPR nib. 

It made a Pilot Kakuno scratchy nib sing. I liked it so much, that I am at my fourth cartridge now. If I were to buy a bottle, though, I would go for Document Sepia or maybe one of the Octopus inks. 

 

It was amazing on copy paper, even an ultra-wet Kanwrite didn’t bleed through.  There's some shading, with some nibs, though I won't award it any prizes  

 

Cleaning could be a pain. I had to soak it in cleaning solution, to make sure. I still have the Kanwrite and Lamy to clean. 

 

Chroma:

 

 

 

Writing Samples:

I reverse wrote with the Lamy Safari Ef nib to create an UEF (Ultra extra fine line) .

The UEF (Ultra-Extra fine] is reverse writing with Lamy Safari. 

 

There's no ghosting, the scanner is exaggerating

 

Photo:

 

 

Sheen and shading on Iroful under artificial LED light.

Comparison:

 

Water test:

Left side (10 seconds under running water. After 24 hours)

 

Art Work:

 

Stunt: Part of the inktober yearlong challenge. 

Paper is Talens Mixed Media Paper

Mousey does a stunt between the caracal's ears  

Mouse does a stint at the Opera, and cat a stunt on the Chandelier  

Another inktober challenge sketch

Legend of Arthur 

The blue ink is J Herbin Bleu Calanque...

Part of of @InesF monthly challenge thread

 

 

 

·      Pens used: Lamy (EF/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1) , Kanwrite with FPR ultra flex nib. 

·      What I liked: Writing /sketch especially with EF nib, and Ultraflex nib. 

·      What I did not like: It was a bit on reddish side.  

·       What some might not like: AFOPI (Abnormal Fear of Pigment inks  ), Cleaning  

·      Shading: It won’t win any prizes. 

·      Ghosting: None

·      Bleed through: None.

·      Flow Rate: Nice and wet after it settles down 

·      Lubrication: Good. 

·      Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

·      Start-up:  Ok

·      Saturation:  Reddish brown.

·      Shading Potential: Pen, paper dependant. 

·      Sheen: A bit with Iroful paper only, under artificial LED light.   

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. 

·      Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: It's a pigment ink. Kakuno went through multiple flushing, overnight soak and as as a safe measure, 30 minutes in cleaning solution. 

·      Water resistance: Excellent. 

·      Availability:  International short cartridges, 45 ml bottles, 

 

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

[lapis]

Nice! I'm not all that much into reddish browns, either, but... for a reddish brown, it isn't all that bad. Comparable IMO to FPN's Galileo Manuscript (which I've always somehow loved the heck out of) and for that matter, it (DeA's) is at least still available, also in bottles.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, lapis said:

Nice! I'm not all that much into reddish browns, either, but... for a reddish brown, it isn't all that bad.

It grew on me

 

1 hour ago, lapis said:

 

Comparable IMO to FPN's Galileo Manuscript (which I've always somehow loved the heck out of) and for that matter, it (DeA's) is at least still available, also in bottles.

I thought that Galileo was more on the grey brown spectrum. Pity it's out of stock 😊

[LizEF]

Thanks, @yazeh!  I do love a brown ink.

 

Sounds like it takes a while to saturate the feed, but once done, it works well.  While I've come to expect De Atramentis inks to be very wet, I suppose chemistry sometimes dictates otherwise.

 

I rather like the chroma - red heart and brown flame.

 

Not bad on paper - while it leans red, it's not the reddest brown I've seen...  (Like you, I'd prefer a greyish brown, greenish/murky brown, and/or a rather yellow brown.) Cool silvery sheen.

 

Good quotes!

 

Love the ink blotter seesaw on the swatch!

 

Does well in the water test.  Is our kitty wearing a fez?   Tight rope is still fun!  It ain't over 'til the fat mousey sings and the chandelier shatters and kitty comes tumbling down...

 

Absolutely love Legend of Arthur!  Tug, Mousey, tug!

 

Great review, Yazeh!  Fun as always.

[yazeh]

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, @yazeh!  I do love a brown ink.

 

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Sounds like it takes a while to saturate the feed, but once done, it works well.  While I've come to expect De Atramentis inks to be very wet, I suppose chemistry sometimes dictates otherwise.

It's all @InesF fault  

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

I rather like the chroma - red heart and brown flame.

You always see the best in all  🙏

 

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Not bad on paper - while it leans red, it's not the reddest brown I've seen...  (Like you, I'd prefer a greyish brown, greenish/murky brown, and/or a rather yellow brown.) Cool silvery sheen.

I think it's propriety of Iroful

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Good quotes!

Thanks!

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Love the ink blotter seesaw on the swatch!

 

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Does well in the water test.  Is our kitty wearing a fez?  

 Honestly I don't remember  

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Tight rope is still fun!  It ain't over 'til the fat mousey sings and the chandelier shatters and kitty comes tumbling down...

 

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Absolutely love Legend of Arthur!  Tug, Mousey, tug!

Thanks! @InesF was really inspired this month  

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Great review, Yazeh!  Fun as always.

Thanks!

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

It's all @InesF fault  

Yes!  Let's blame all flow issues on Ines!   (Of course, the next phase of our devolution will be offering sacrifices to the Goddess of Ink Flow, so maybe not...)

 

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Thanks! @InesF was really inspired this month  

Thanks to Ines!  She's canceled out that faulty ink flow by inspiring fun artwork!

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, LizEF said:

Yes!  Let's blame all flow issues on Ines!   (Of course, the next phase of our devolution will be offering sacrifices to the Goddess of Ink Flow, so maybe not...)

Boy, I'm going to lose all the point, I got from professor  

5 hours ago, LizEF said:

Thanks to Ines!  She's canceled out that faulty ink flow by inspiring fun artwork!

[InesF]

Oohaa!, students @LizEF and @yazeh, please come later to my consultation hour. We have to talk seriously about your exam ... 😜 ... and about the future of your study¹!   

 

1) Don't talk about the Ink Challenge Club!  

2) Don't talk about the Ink Challenge Club!  

3) In case the teacher made a mistake, the students are wrong! 

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for this exciting ink review and thank you both for so nicely contributing to the Ink Challenge Club!  

As another student already told, cat and mouse seem to be at their peak performance; I had a smile for the swatch drawing, a laugh for the Stunt, a ROFL for the Opera and, suddenly, was deeply impressed by the reference to Arthur! So well done!   

And, very important, you know: no cat and no mouse was harmed this time! 👍 (Cat looks a bit distorted - but seems OK, at least)

 

15 hours ago, yazeh said:

Cleaning could be a pain. I had to soak it in cleaning solution, to make sure.

Exactly that's the reason why I hesitate to use waterproof or document inks in pens I can't completely dismantle. Some ink cleaning solutions may work wonder, but the magic (tooth)brush is unrivalled and unbeatable! 👍

 

And, maybe still of interest: brown inks are a tiny bit more interesting than black inks.

 

 

^{1) But, I honour you for choosing the courage path! Comfort is for mollycoddles!}  

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Oohaa!, students @LizEF and @yazeh, please come later to my consultation hour. We have to talk seriously about your exam ... 😜 ... and about the future of your study¹!   

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

3) In case the teacher made a mistake, the students are wrong! 

"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." -- Voltaire

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

the magic (tooth)brush is unrivalled and unbeatable!

  Hmm.  How do wizards brush their teeth.....?

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

1) But, I honour you for choosing the courage path! Comfort is for mollycoddles!  

😊

[Sailor Kenshin]

The chroma looks like a falling dark star.  The illos are wonderful; that blue really stands out. Musical acrobatics=smile.  ☺️  
 

Ooo…Iroful sparkle!  Looks like a very waterproof ink, but if there's trouble cleaning it, not for me.

 

@yazeh, thanks once again for making life colorful with your detailed, entertaining InkSplorations!  Keep ‘em coming, I read each one even if the end result is a No Sale.

[yazeh]

10 hours ago, InesF said:

Oohaa!, students @LizEF and @yazeh, please come later to my consultation hour. We have to talk seriously about your exam ... 😜 ... and about the future of your study¹!   

Daydreaming at class 

 

 

10 hours ago, InesF said:

 

1) Don't talk about the Ink Challenge Club!  

2) Don't talk about the Ink Challenge Club!  

3) In case the teacher made a mistake, the students are wrong! 

 

10 hours ago, InesF said:

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for this exciting ink review and thank you both for so nicely contributing to the Ink Challenge Club!  

A pleasure

10 hours ago, InesF said:

As another student already told, cat and mouse seem to be at their peak performance; I had a smile for the swatch drawing, a laugh for the Stunt, a ROFL for the Opera and, suddenly, was deeply impressed by the reference to Arthur! So well done!   

That makes me so happy

10 hours ago, InesF said:

And, very important, you know: no cat and no mouse was harmed this time! 👍 (Cat looks a bit distorted - but seems OK, at least)

Because I did align the cut papers

 

10 hours ago, InesF said:

Exactly that's the reason why I hesitate to use waterproof or document inks in pens I can't completely dismantle. Some ink cleaning solutions may work wonder, but the magic (tooth)brush is unrivalled and unbeatable! 👍

I'll update when I clean the other 2 pens. Some saturated inks have the same are even worse. It could also be the red dye. Frankly, in all my years of fountain pen ink use, I have had no problem cleaning pens filled with pigment inks for 3 years

10 hours ago, InesF said:

And, maybe still of interest: brown inks are a tiny bit more interesting than black inks.

Fun for drawing, especially if you like to recreate old masters  

10 hours ago, InesF said:

^{1) But, I honour you for choosing the courage path! Comfort is for mollycoddles!}  

🙏

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." -- Voltaire

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Hmm.  How do wizards brush their teeth.....?

Withards  😛 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

The chroma looks like a falling dark star.

Poetic eye  

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

 The illos are wonderful; that blue really stands out. Musical acrobatics=smile.  ☺️  

🙏

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Ooo…Iroful sparkle!  Looks like a very waterproof ink, but if there's trouble cleaning it, not for me.

It's the same as saturated/ some red/pink/ purple inks  

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

@yazeh, thanks once again for making life colorful with your detailed, entertaining InkSplorations!  Keep ‘em coming, I read each one even if the end result is a No Sale.

Pleasure

[LizEF]

12 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Withards  😛 

[LizEF]

15 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Daydreaming at class 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

[InesF]

12 hours ago, yazeh said:

Daydreaming at class 

Early morning - and you already made my day!  

 

12 hours ago, yazeh said:

 

16 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Hmm.  How do wizards brush their teeth.....?

Withards  😛 

+1 👍 

[InesF]

16 hours ago, LizEF said:

"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." -- Voltaire

Oooh, yeees! 👍  It's commonly appreciated to stand on the established side. 🤔 But it's a common standstill. 🫢

Honor to Voltaire - and to @LizEF for bringing it up! 👍

[yazeh]

On 3/19/2025 at 2:55 AM, InesF said:

 

Early morning - and you already made my day!  

😊

I hope you got the allusion to malachite 😊

 

[yazeh]

Just wanted to post an update about the cleaning: 

Lamy Safari and Kanwrite were easier to clean. When I flushes the section, dark brown ink washed away. Afterwards when I sucked up water with the converter all that came up was the red dye.

I let it soak over night and after a few flushes, I did the tissue paper test and it was clear. However, because of the red dye, I suspect that maybe overtime cleaning might be more arduous.