Ink Flight #16 Reveal + Giveaway
Hello, Ink Travelers!
This month, we return to Germany for one of the world’s largest catalogs of fountain pen ink. De Atramentis has it all: shimmering, sheening, waterproof, and scented inks. With hundreds of colors, it was difficult to select seven, but we did!
De Atramentis inks are handcrafted by Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen. They are provided in cylindrical, glass bottles and are available in a wide array of colors. Besides their standard line of ink colors, De Atramentis has a line of influential figures from history, Dokument ink (water resistant), fairytale inks, zodiac inks, pearlescent inks, and scented inks that have fruit, flower, epicurean, alcoholic spirits and plant smells. Phew, that is a lot!
To curate all of these colors into a selection of 7 was almost impossible! After throwing darts against a board with the color list, we decided that a more sensible approach was necessary. We picked a couple of standard colors, a couple scented, one "document" style water-resistant ink, and two shimmering inks.
Document Fog Grey (Blue-Grey)
A rich, dark blue-grey ink that has a smooth flow and is waterproof once it dries on paper.
Cookie (Scented)
I'm always a bit leery about scented inks. Sometimes, they can have a small hint of a pleasant scent. Other times, they can completely miss the mark of the scent they are trying to emulate. Cookie has a light hint of delicious cookie that wafts from the bottle (or vial) when you open it. The light, tan brown color has some shading quality.
Apple Blossom (Scented)
A plum, dusty pink that has a slight bit of shading and a lovely, sweet floral scent. A bit stronger than the cookie smell, but in a nice way.
Petrol
This verdant green has a bit of blue with shading and sheen, especially on Tomoe River Paper.
Alexander Hamilton (Aubergine)
Good ol' Hamilton is having a bit of a renaissance with a hit Broadway play and an awesome purple ink named after him. This dark purple is one of the inks that's closest to the highly valuable Lamy Dark Lilac.
Pearlescent Whiskey Copper
Bottom's up! Shaking up the ink flight is a couple of shimmery inks. Most manufacturers will make a shimmer ink with either a gold or silver shimmer. De Atramentis ups the ante by offering a copper shimmer. Pearlescent Whiskey Copper is a light ochre ink with shading and a vibrant copper shimmer that is almost too much to handle!
Pearlescent Cyan Gold
This bright, cerulean ink has a glittering gold personality. Throwing it in a Lamy 1.9 calligraphy nib, I was able to paint on the shimmer.
To show off the entire box contents, we have a little help from a fellow Ink Flight subscriber and YouTube creator, Chris Saenz. Watch the video below for the full unboxing.
Thank you, Chris, for doing a great job with this video. If you enjoyed watching her video and swatching all the inks, please do subscribe to her channel on YouTube so you can see more pen reviews and unboxings.
Box Extras: E+M Dip Pen, Maruman Notebook
In this month’s Ink Flight Box extras, we equipped you with the tools to sample and create your own “currently inked” page on the exceptional paper of the Maruman spiral-bound notebook. Have a cup of water handy and a paper towel if you would like to dip sample all your inks in one sitting.
E+M Dip Pen. Made in Germany from FSC-certified wood, these nib holders have a variety of colorful styles, of which were picked at random during shipment. They have a semi-flexible steel nib installed and ready-to-ink.
Maruman Mnemosyne A6 Notebook. For to-do lists or “currently inked” lists of pen and ink combinations, the Japanese-made Maruman Mnemosyne produce exceptional books for fountain pen enthusiasts. The spiral binding and micro-perforated pages make this notebook especially useful for a variety of purposes.
Pepin Japanese Watercolor Postcard. For Ink Flight frequent flyers, you might remember the Pepin postcard we included in the Krishna Box back in December. This time around, we put in Japanese designs, attached with an adorable Midori airplane paperclip. You’ll find the 250 gsm weight paper to be suitable to play with your inks if you please.
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Previous Ink Flights (Ink Flight #1 - Noodler's, Ink Flight #2 - Robert Oster Signature, Ink Flight #3 - KWZ, Ink Flight #4 - J. Herbin, Ink Flight #5 - P.W. Akkerman, Ink Flight #6 - Papier Plume, Ink Flight #7 - Platinum Mix-Free, Ink Flight #8 - Franklin-Christoph, Ink Flight #9 - Organics Studio, Ink Flight #10 - Monteverde, Ink Flight #11 - Krishna, Ink Flight #12 - Caran d'Ache, Ink Flight #13 - Rohrer & Klingner, Ink Flight #14 - Blackstone, Ink Flight #15 - Colorverse)
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GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY (USA shipping addresses only)
Leave a comment below to let us know what you think about May 2018's Ink Flight, De Atramentis inks or the box extras. We will pick one random commenter to win an upcoming June 2018's Flight Box on Tuesday, May 22nd at 8:00 pm. My sincere apologies to our international friends, we will only ship this giveaway to USA addresses.