Things I have a weakness for: anything space-themed and ink sets. Who never disappoints in fulfilling my inky dreams? Colorverse. Do you expect this to be an unbiased review? Nope. Not gonna happen today.
Colorverse put together another wonderful collection of inks, the New Horizons set ($60), themed around the New Horizons spacecraft that has explored our heavens as far as Arrokoth 2014 MU69, the most distant object ever seen up close.
The set of four 15ml bottles of ink come in a round box and includes a beautifully designed package with stickers, information sheet and a limited edition card with the number of the kit.
The four colors included in the set are Pioneer Container, Kuiper Belt, Pluto and Beyond, and Arrokoth. Kuiper Belt is where the Arrokoth 2014 MU69 object exists. Pluto’s orbit crosses the Kuiper Belt at some points is often far outside the Belt. So I understand where the naming for all but the Pioneer Container ink came from. Pioneer was the name for probes that were sent beyond our known solar system and carried the Golden Record so I sort of see the thematic relationship. As for the actual colors I compared them with images from NASA’s website.
I don’t agree with the colors that Colorverse chose for each element of the New Horizon voyage. I think I would have chosen a warm grey for Pluto & Beyond. I would have made the Kuiper Belt ink the color they chose for the Pioneer Container. Since I am not sure what the Pioneer Container is supposed to be, I am not sure what color that should be instead. The Arrokoth color seems spot-on for the images on NASA site.
Regardless of whether I think the ink colors are accurate representations of the heavenly bodies, let’s talk about the actual ink colors.
First up, is Pluto and Beyond. While I didn’t think it was an accurate color for Pluto and Beyond, it is a yellow-green so it’s going to be close to the top of my list of favorite colors in the set.
Its not as yellow as Robert Oster Saguaro Green but not as green J. Herbin Vert Olive, Robert Oster Redwood Forest or Pennonia Green Finch. I’m always looking for another citrus green and this is a perfect addition to my collection.
Years ago, I went on a mission (pun intended) to find a smoky purple. If Pioneer Container had been available then, it may have topped my list.
While Robert Oster’s Summer Storm and Sydney Lavender are more violet and Pen BBS #346 and 270 are more red, Pioneer Container is squarely between them — perfect smoky purple, not too bright and not too grey. I want one of those big 60ml bottles of this ink.
Arrokoth is a warm reddish brown. The closest match I had was Diamine Triple Chocolate. Colorverse Soul and Monteverde Brown Sugar were both slightly more reddish. When I’m looking for a brown ink, I tend to prefer these warmer hot chocolate-y browns so I will definitely put this ink to use.
The final ink in the set is Kuiper Belt which I initially thought was a black bit when I started comparing it to other swatches, I realized it is a very dark blue black. Taccia Aogura is probably the closest in color. But you can see that Kuiper Belt is not black but blue.
Is this set a cost effective way to satisfy your ink inklings? Probably not, but it is a delightful set that celebrates another great NASA voyage while also providing me with yet more bottles of ink.
DISCLAIMER: Items in this review were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.
I have the same weakness for space themed pens and ink. Sometimes my budget doesn’t let me buy them all. I like the Pioneer ink. Great post.