The latest edition of the Colorverse inks have been released, Season 4 Trailblazers in Space ($36 per 2-bottle set). As the home of all things space (Skylab Letterpress being our printer of choice, of course, and R2-D2 being our patron traveling companion), I couldn’t wait to get a hold of this new collection. These inks feature many of the first travelers into space, many of them animals. Sadly, not all of them survived but their contributions are commemorated in ink.
But rather than get too morbid, let me talk about some technical issues that Colorverse addressed in regards to the packaging of their ink products instead.
They continue to package two bottles of ink in each box – one 65ml bottle and one 15ml bottle and that remains the same in Season 4. This collection features different colors in each bottle and, of the seven sets, four include a standard ink and three feature a shimmering ink in the smaller bottle. What was updated was the addition of a foam liner in each box to protect the bottles and provide stability in transport.
I keep my bottles in the boxes after use because they stack easier and the graphics are so nice I can’t bring myself to throw them away anyway so I’m glad for the added stability. As you can see from the first photo, the piles of Colorverse ink is getting pretty tall.
Inside the box, Colorverse is still including extras like stickers, a brochure and a napkin to wipe off your nib.
Inside, of course, is the real treasures. Fourteen delicious colors! First thing to note is that the Felicette shimmering really shimmers as does the Ham #65 shimmering. Thank you! Previous shimmering colors from Colorverse have been a bit underwhelming but these two have some kick. Able and Miss Baker are two of the prettiest colors I’ve seen from Colorverse and JFK’s Dog Pushinka is a lovely brown.
Here’s a close-up of the Hayabusa Shimmer. Can you see the green sheen and the gold sparkle?
This is Ham #65 Shimmering. There is a noticeable reddish sheen to the sparkle. Pretty cool!
And would you look at that?!?! Felicette Shimmering! I have almost used up the whole bottle already. So cool! It’s a warm reddish orange with golden shimmer.
Now a quick close-up of some of my favorite sets: Able and Miss Baker. Able is a forest green and Miss Baker is raspberry cool pink. Great shading with both colors but no sheen.
Ah, Albert and V2 Rocket! I think of them as Well-Appointed Desk Green and Pen Addict Orange. Of course, the green is in the larger bottle because I win! Again.
Strelka is a beautiful blue and JFK’s Dog Pushinka is a solid brown. Dare I call it Sepia? Whatever you call it, this set would be a perfect starter set for a new user. A good blue and a good brown in one set. Assuming you didn’t want the Desk & Pen Addict set instead.
Arabella and Anita is probably the set I’m the least excited about. Arabella is awfully Kelly green (Hello, Sea of Tranquility) for me and Anita is somewhere between Miss Baker and the burgundy magentas in Season 1 like Lights on Ceres and Andromeda.
But overall, I am really pleased with Season 4 and I’m looking forward to doing longer reviews of the whole set.
Tools:
- Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15)
- Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
- Brush: Princeton Neptune Synthetic Squirrel Brush #6 Round ($5.97)
- Ink: Colorverse Season 4 Trailblazers in Space ($17 for 50ml bottle)
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
