I admit it. I made you wait for this review. I couldn’t help myself. I was saving these for the end of the the Series One and Two colors (that I currently own — but I’m headed to Little Rock and will be attempting to replenish my stock. I made Lisa promise not to sell me any more ink from LA to LR because I needed to “dry out” for a bit).
So onwards to Colorverse Andromeda #16 and Red Shift #19 ($36 for 2 bottles, 65ml and 15ml of same color ink per package). These are more of the red/magenta/pink inks but in Series Two: Astrophysics line. The previous inks reviewed were from Series One: Spaceward (plus Andromeda — I am getting seriously spacey with my reviews!)
So, here are all the swatches together. The Colorverse ink colors range from reddish brown to a deep purple. The colors earlier in the range have more shading and the ones later in the range seem to feature more sheen. Red Shift does not, however have much sheen but is a lovely cool red magenta. Andromeda is the sheen queen with a clear golden sheen.
I loaded both Andromeda and Red Shift in color coordinated Jinhao Shark Pens and took them for test drives. They have been in the pens for going on two weeks now for testing purposes and have been performing very well. They have been tossed around on a daily basis in a zip pencil case so they have been upright, upside down and all-around. Occasionally, there have been some hard starting issues but that may have been a result of being upside down for a day or so more than anything or not having the caps screwed down tightly. Overall though, the ink flow has been excellent.
I have been testing all the Colorverse inks in a variety of these shark pens on a range of papers in this same method to get a good sense of daily, long use abuse. So far, the only issues I’ve had is with dry times on some papers with Quasar and Black Hole. They were very specific cases though.
In swatch comparisons, Andromeda falls in between Kobe #41 Sumakikuyu Rose which is a bit lighter but has similar sheen and Colorverse #4 Einstein Ring which is a little darker but does not have any sheen.
Colorverse #19 Red Shift has more inks that are similar to it. Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline is probably the closest and it has some sheen too but it was a color of the year for 2012 so its a bit harder to come by now. Caran d’Ache Divine Pink is a bit lighter but is similarly priced for less volume so you might as well buy the Colorverse ink if that’s what you want. Lights on Ceres #5 is a little more pinky.
Overall, if I haven’t made it abundantly clear by accidentally reviewing it twice, you need to buy Andromeda if you like magenta/purple/pink ink. I do like Red Shift too. So there. My inkpinions have been made as clear as possible.
TOOLS
- Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
- Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic nib pen (Approx. $15), Jinhao Shark Pens ($17 for dozen pens)
- Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
- Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
- Ink: Colorverse Andromeda #16 and Colorverse Red Shift #19 ($36 for two bottles 65ml and 15ml each with same color ink in both bottles)
DISCLAIMER: These items were sent to me by Vanness Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Are all the sharks inked up with matching inks?? I think that would be the only reason to buy the whole set — and now I’m tempted!
Yep. That’s the only way to shark.
How different is Andromeda from Callifolio Andrinople? More sheen?
Andrinople does not sheen. But otherwise, I always forget to swatch it because it is in a special bottle in my shelf! Doh!!! I’ll check.