Ink Review: Monteverde Mandarin Orange

In the last few months, after a lifetime of eschewing the color orange, I’ve been adding more of it to my stash of yarns and inks.  Given this, I insisted that The Desk try Monteverde’s Mandarin Orange as part of it’s inkapalooza.

Mandarin Orange is a good, solid orange ink.  The orange is dark and vibrant, but doesn’t fall into pumpkin or highlighter orange shades.  It is a true, rich, deep orange.

As you can see, with different nibs and applications I can coax a variety of shades out of this one. In its deepest application, there is definite shading but I don’t get sheen of any other color but that glorious orange.

Unfortunately, like many of the other Monteverde inks I sampled, this one isn’t water resistant at all so you won’t be able to keep your written word on the page if it gets wet. That said, I’m tempted to paint with it because the water creates such a lovely orange wash.

Apparently I’m a lover of opposites on the color wheel, so I filled my Platinum 3776 Chartres Blue (soft fine nib) with some Mandarin Orange and away we went.

I’m also squealing with glee because I have now sampled enough inks to be able to provide some color comparisons. I’d say that Mandarin Orange falls in the same intensity level as Diamine Ancient Copper and Kobe #8 Arima Amber, but leans more towards true orange, whereas those two lean more brown. It is also much deeper and more nuanced than Mont Blanc Lucky Orange or Sailor Jentle Apricot.

Mandarin Orange gets two thumbs up from this orange convert.

Tools:

• Paper: Baron Fig Mastermind ($15) and Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
• Pens: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80) and Platinum 3776 Chartres Blue ($150)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10)
• Ink: Monteverde Mandarin Orange (30ml bottle for $8)
  

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Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.

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DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.