The Well-Appointed Desk

I’ve decided to dub this group of Colorverse inks the “goth collection”. When I started painting the names of the colors I realized that they all sounded like club nights or 90s goth clubs. I realize that’s totally dating me but what can I say? Out of context, Black Hole, Vortex Motion and Dark Energy all sound like the names of club nights — so does Sunspot now that I think about… Sunspot is definitely the trippy rave night though. “Bringing Ibiza to Inidianapolis… its Sunspot, every Wednesday night at Club Underground!” Black Hole is the goth night, Vortex Motion is the deep trance night and Dark Energy is the EBM night. C’mon, old timers, you know what I’m talking about…. now don’t you look at these ink colors in a totally different light?

(For full details about the Colorverse inks, check out my overview post.)

It totally makes sense now doesn’t it? Sunspot is the little black dress that goes to all the club nights. All purpose black. Works with everything. Black hole is epically, all-consuming, Morrissey level black. Dark Energy is tripped out, “did I take a bad tab of ectasy, is this ink black, green or red?” burgundy. And Vortex Motion is grey, no green, “no, don’t box me in, let me express myself!” free expression yet still art-school moody deep ink. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?!

All of these Colorverse inks come with two bottles of matching inks, a 65ml bottle and a 15ml bottle of the same color. Sunspot is from Series One: Spaceward while the other three inks are from Series Two: Astrophysics.

In my writing samples, I used the same Jinhao Shark Pens for the three samples above. I did use an acrylic dip pen and switch to my Esterbrook dip pen at the bottom to see some line variation.

In writing samples, the inks remain clear to their intransitive natures… or black as their deepest depression, whatever the case may be.

When compared to other whackadoo green/black or sheening greens its really hard to get a clesr bead on exactly how odd Vortex Motion really is in a photo. I’d have to say that Sailor Jentle Miruai is probably closest but its more green and Vortex Motion reacts more greyish in some light.

Finding something comparable to Dark Energy was an act of futility. The closest I could find was actually J. Herbin Rouge Hematite if you can believe it? Sailor Jentle Rikyu-Cha was a close second (or vice versa) but honestly, this is another weirdo color that doesn’t really have a comparable comparison – at least not in my collection.

As for the blacks, Bookbinders Red-Belly Black is the closest to the all-consuming deep black of Black Hole. But Black Hole has an actual sheen to it like india ink that I’ve not seen in other water-soluble inks. Sunspot is a good middle ground black like Kaweco Pearl Black which is a third of the price. It was probably foolish to pay $36 for a bottle of black ink but I now have an excuse to go find some new playlists on Spotify while using Spotspot. Hello, Electronic Circus!

Overall, Dark Energy and Black Hole were the surprise hits for me. Black Hole is one of the coolest black inks I’ve seen. And Dark Energy is just so unusual as to be something you want to add to your collection. I wasn’t initially inclined to purchase another black after buying Sunspot originally. Vortex Motion is interesting but its so unusual and I already own all the Sailor Jentle oddball colors like Rikyu-Cha and Miruai and Epinard which I don’t tend to use a lot. If those dark, murky colors are your wheelhouse, than definitely consider Vortex Motion. Sunspot is a solid black but as someone who already owns a handful of other black inks, it was probably not entirely necessary other than being a completionist and buying the entirety of the first series.

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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), Esterbrook #2442 falcon nib in a Shawn Newton nib holder
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards
• Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
• Ink:  Colorverse Sunspot #1 and Colorverse Dark Energy #18, Vortex Motion #17, and Black Hole #20 ($36 for two bottles 65ml and 15ml each with same color ink in both bottles)

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DISCLAIMER: These items were sent to me by Vanness Pens and Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

 

 

 

Colorverse Morning Star & Gravity Wave have to be two of the most anticipated ink colors in all of the colors offered in the line-up. Morning Star #11 is from Series One: Spaceward ($36 for two bottles 65ml and 15ml both the same colors) and Gravity Wave #15 is from Series Two: Astrophysics ($36 for two bottles 65ml and 15ml both the same colors). For full details on the packaging and details about the whole series, please refer to my overview post.

I gave Laura the little 15ml bottle of Morning Star because I’m nice. I bought 20 bottles of ink and I gave away one bottle of 15ml of ink – I am so stingy! Anyway, once the glow of the new wears off I will probably be more generous but right now, I’m very much Gollum about the Colorverse inks. “My Precious!”

Morning Star and Gravity Wave are similar. But different. In the swatches, they look almost the same, but in the writing samples, they look totally different. Gravity Wave is much darker with more evidence of red sheen. Morning Star is much lighter, especially in a finer nib and the distinct reddish/magenta sheen is all but lost in a fine nib.

When I used a brush, its easy to see a bit more difference in the color tones and in the longer writing samples, the subtle differences become more evident. I used the same size nib for both writing samples. I got more sheen in the Gravity Wave sample though it is not as easy to see in a still photo. The shading and luminous quality of Morning Star is also more evident in person than in a photograph. Both are beautiful but in their own ways.

Both colors are very saturated so they may have hard-starting issues as a result. I left them sit in my Shark Pens for over a week to see if there were any hard starting issues. The only problem I had was when I did not properly cap one of the pens thereby allowing too much air into the pen and causing it to dry out. A quick dip into a glass of water had it up and running again in a matter of seconds and the color was full strength in less than a word or two. I’m finding as ink manufacturers continue to try to outdo each other with even more saturated and sheening colors, we may find that inks may become more hard-starting on occasion as the pigment-to-liquid ratio becomes more extreme.

When compared to other inks, Monteverde California Teal is a very close companion at a very competitive price. The small 30ml bottle is just $8 and while its a shade or two darker than Gravity Wave, it is a similar hue with quite a bit of sheen as well. Robert Oster Marine ($17 for 50ml bottle) is similar in color to Morning Star and I suspect there is probably one or two other colors in the copious range of blues and teals in the Oster line that might appeal as well with some degree of sheen and shading.

That said, these are two of my favorite Colorverse inks thus far. But its so hard to pick favorites. Maybe when I finish my reviews I’ll do a top five list of the Colorverse inks.

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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 Morning Star #11 and Colorverse Gravity Wave #15 ($36 for two bottles 65ml and 15ml each with same color ink in both bottles)

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DISCLAIMER: These items were sent to me by Vanness Pens and Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.