INK REVIEWS
Caran d'Ache
Colours: Saffron, Grand Canyon, Sunset, Storm, Blue Night, Blue Sky, Caribbean Sea, Amazon, Carbon
I have had limited opportunity to try their ink and no opportunity to try their new line of colours. One of the members of the Vancouver Pen Club is a big fan of Amazon, and I must admit, that is a very appealing green.
I am keeping eyes out for the chance to try the ink, and I say try it because at over $16 US for a 34 ml a bottle this is a pricey product. (Private Reserver and Waterman, for example, are 50 ml.)
With this price you are paying for the bottle, and the bottle form my look at it is a problem. Great appearance but poor design for ink. A substantial weight to give a feel of something substantial. But it is simply too small for large nib pens. Your first two fills will be fine, but from then, won't you want the multi- sided Waterman ink bottle that safely sits on its side and allows you to fill up as the level of ink goes down.
- Amazon - (Green) - described by some as a bright green with no yellow or blue tones. Good flow and good concentrated colour. Marcel wrote me to say that it has a "flow that brings a pen alive." Glenn Clark at one time tested this ink and gave it a 3.2 pH level. The image to the right shows a sample of the ink, very nice green. At one of our Vancouver Pen Club meetings I had the opportunity to try writing with a pen loaded with Amazon Green. Nice colour I must admit.
- Night - (Dark Blue Black) - In the Feb/Mar 2007 issue of Stylus, Greg Clark tested this ink and found it to be excellent in terms of water resistance and have a 5.5.pH level.
- Sky - (Blue) - this is described as a medium royal blue.
- Grand Canyon - (Brown) this is said to be a rich dark brown without the red tones that often are found in the brown ink. A little less depth in colour tone.
- Carbon - (Black) - this is the black for the Caran d'Ache line. Black ink typically has some colour tone and this one has shades of dark purple.
- Caribbean Sea - (Turquoise) its bright, but will disappear if you spill water on it.
- Saffron - (Orange) this is being described as a colour that jumps off the page, maybe a bit strong for a full page of text. (Thanks Marcel). Greg Clark's water test found this to all but disappeared when placed in water.
- Storm - (Violette) - kind of like a burgundy wine colour but as the sample in the image above/right shows, it is really a purple tone with black/grey. I have only had the opportunity to do some limited writing with the ink, so I can't really say that I have tested this colour, but, from what I saw, I liked it.