In Ink Review

Inkmas Day 11 – Robert Oster Santa’s Hangover and Elf’s Cap

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment
Inkmas Day 11 – Robert Oster Santa’s Hangover and Elf’s Cap

For my final contribution to Inkmas I wanted to do something fun. When I spotted this duo of Robert Oster inks at Vanness I knew they needed to be an entry.

First off, I just love the names and how playful they are! Santa’s Hangover (50mL for $19) is an orangey red. If I’m honest I’m a bit disappointed in this one, only because it isn’t the rich luxurious red I think of when I think of Santa (and his suit and hat). On the other hand, maybe after criss-crossing the globe all night long, the man is tired and hungover, so he’s a little peaky?

Santa’s Hangover immediately made me link of Papier Plume Heart of Gold, but that is definitely more orange. I think it fits in with some of the more coral inks, and comes closest to either PenBBS #140 Bloom or Kobe Ink #12 Okamoto Pink.

Now Elf’s Cap (50mL for $19) I seriously love. It is a bright, cheerful green with a little bit of blue in it. And I don’t think it matches anything I have in the ink stash! Pennonia Almazold is too light, and Mont Blanc Irish Green and Papier Plume Ivy Green are too dark. I feel very Goldilocks about this ink – it’s JUST right and nothing quite compares to it (side note: Sailor Manyo Ukikusa from earlier Inkmas is WAY too yellow).

I guess when it comes down to it, this pair just means mischief?

In any case, Happy Holidays!

DISCLAIMER: These inks were purchased with my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Inkmas Day 10: Robert Oster Sinner’s Weed

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Inkmas Day 10: Robert Oster Sinner’s Weed

I picked a bunch of different green inks for Inkmas  (Earth Green and Kelp Forest) this year because, in case you didn’t know, green is my favorite color, particularly mossy, yellow-y greens. So, I was excited to get a sample of Robert Oster Sinner’s Green. Its one of five inks in the Oster “Sinner” series which includes Sinner’s Blood, Sinner’s Heart, Sinner’s Poison and Sinner’s Dream which are all quite lovely colors and I may need to get samples of the rest of the collection.

Sinner’s Weed is a vivid green that reminds me of fresh clover fields. There is a little shading but no hint of sheen.

 

When compared to other inks, Sinner’s Weed is a little darker hued “grassy green” that bright, springy color that looks similar to Bungubox Sunlight Raindrops and Kobe #67 Oga Farm Green. The Birminghm Pen Co. Field Tourniquet is probably the most similar but is not currently available.

Of the three greens I selected for Inkmas this year, I am not sure which one I would pick as my favorite. I love Kelp Forest but it is quite light. Sinner’s Green, in comparison to Earth Green is a bit vivid and bright. I think if I had to pick just one, Earth Green would be my favorite. But I love seeing the three together.

Tools:

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.

In Ink Review

Inkmas Day 9: Kobe Lampwork Museum Maroon

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Inkmas Day 9: Kobe Lampwork Museum Maroon

I love that Kobe Nagasawa has been creating inks inspired by places in Kobe like the Chocolate Museum and this most recent release: Kobe Lampwork Museum Maroon. Many of their ink colors are inspired by plants, places and other elements that are in the Kobe area. I think its a great way to create and theme inks and it let’s us as ink users to be desktop tourists every time we open a bottle and fill one of our pens.

Lampwork Museum Maroon is a low saturation burgundy color with shading. On Col-o-ring paper, there is evident of some yellow-green sheen so YMMV with the overall color. At its highest density, the Lampwork Museum Maroon can look almost like a deep brown. The ink may not always look the same since the paper and nib width will influence the final outcome.

 

 

On Tomoe River 68gsm paper, Lampwork Museum Maroon looks like a beautiful wine-y burgundy color and depending on pressure, nib width and density, the ink will sway between a lighter raspberry pink to a deep burgundy. I quite like the range.

When compared with other burgundy ink colors, Penlux Rouge is probably the closest but does feel a bit more red with less sheen. Bungubox Tears of a Clown has sheen too but is more reddish pink in the undertones. Oster Frankly Walnut is similarvalue but a little more magenta-purple as a base color.

So once again, I’ve found an ink that is unique in my collection. I like the low saturation quality of Lampwork Museum Maroon and the differing color depending on pen nib and how much ink goes down on the page. I do think this is another color that’s going to be regularly used in the coming year.

What’s your favorite burgundy ink color?

Tools:

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.

In Ink Review

Inkmas Day 8: Diamine Lady Grey (Reddit Edition)

Author Laura CameronPosted on 2 Comments
Inkmas Day 8: Diamine Lady Grey (Reddit Edition)

I was excited to get a suggestion to review the new Diamine Lady Grey (Reddit Edition). I love Diamine’s Earl Grey ink  (not to mention I love Earl Grey and Lady Grey tea too) so I was curious to see how different the Lady Grey ink would be.

Lady Grey ink is a more purple-y grey color and its also a multichromatic ink. It looks more bluish grey when wet and then dries to a more purple grey with a hint of pink. As a result of the multichromatic effect, Lady Grey can be a little light depending on pressure, nib width and density. This is more of a stylized, special ink. The color is lovely but as a user of fine Japanese nibs, this ink may be too light for long hand writing for me but I will definitely give it a try in 2026.

Comparisons:

When compared to Earl Grey the lightness of Lady Grey is more evident. Early Grey is a darker, richer bluish-purple grey. The similarity between Lady Grey and Early Grey is most evident in the swatch cards. On paper, Earl Grey is more dark grey while the purply hue of Lady Grey stand out more.

When compared to other grey inks, I didn’t have anything besides Earl Grey that was close in hue. I even browsed some of my more violet and purple category and there were no close matches. Sailor’s multichromatic inks are more vivid and bright so were not good comps.

Dominant Industry Allegory is a lighter grey but a much more neutral grey. Lamy Crystal Agate is more greenish grey. Colorverse Anti-Matter is probably the cosest in hue but is closer to Earl Grey than Lady Grey.

From the perspective of similar inks, I did not find a lot of close matches making Lady Grey feel like a unique addition. I am glad I grabbed a full bottle and will definitely use it more in the coming year.

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were purchased at Dromgoole’s with funds provided by our Patrons. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: A Week Without Pens? NAH!!!

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: A Week Without Pens? NAH!!!

As we approach the end of the year, there are lots of wrap-ups and faves of the year but not a lot of new pen news or reviews. All the focus is on reflecting on the past and planning for the coming year. So check out the posts below about ideas for new planner and journal options as well as following along with the Inkvent unveilings around the internet. Thanks for reading!

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Year End Wrap-Ups:

Other Interesting Things:

If you enjoy Link Love, you might love TL:DR an exclusive podcast available to Patrons. Every other week, I talk about new releases news, and topics related to our pen hobbies. TL:DR is ad-free and is one of many extras Patrons have available. Thank you to all our current subscribers and welcome to new Patrons. We couldn’t do this without you.

In Ink Review

Inkmas Day 7 – Laura’s 2025 Top Inks

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Inkmas Day 7 – Laura’s 2025 Top Inks

As I have been thinking about this post for the past several days, I realized that I am no where near as organized as Thien Kim was about her review. I ended up going more by gut feel, which means I probably have some recency bias (more inclination towards what I have been using more recently). I also discovered a flaw in my re-inking notes – I don’t always mark the pen as re-inked if I refill it with the same ink. That said there are a few inks I put the same pen repeatedly, or multiple pens this year.

Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-rin

This is one of the first inks that I reviewed for the Desk way back in 2018. I re-discovered it this year when I pulled out my Pilot Metropolitans and wanted to go matchy matchy. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about this green! It’s the perfect springy limey green, with just a hint of yellow/chartreuse. It’s not just that it matches my pen, it’s that it makes me happy to see full pages of text in it. You can tell it’s gotta be good because the bottle is almost half gone!

Dominant Industry Periwinkle Twinkle

This was an ink I discovered back in 2022, during the Veri Peri Pantone Color of the Year reviews (we’re still not talking about the new Pantone color of the year yet – I have feelings!). With this ink it’s definitely a combo of the ink and the pen I have it in . The pen is a Jinhao 82 and there is something I ABSOLUTELY love about the wet nib + this ink. The Twinkle is supposed to have a bit of silvery pearl and I don’t always get that, but the blue just has a hint of lavender that I love. I don’t think this pen had any other ink in it this year!

Diamine 150th Anniversary Purple Dream

Apparently this one was another Pantone acquisition in 2018 (the year of Ultra Violet). Ultra violet it is not, but I swear it went into almost every pen I wanted to fill with a purple ink this year. And it’s not like I don’t have other purple inks. Something about it is rich and regal, with just a hit of red at the end.

So somehow I ended up at the cool end of the rainbow, revisiting lovely inks from years past. So what inks were new (or new to me) in 2025?

Again I end up back at Pantone. This year was my Brown Year (sorry, my Mocha Mousse year!). The ink that intrigued me the most out of all of them was the Vinta Sepia Isabella. This ink has so many beautiful colors in it that it’s amazing. Except that when I put it into a pen to use it, I just didn’t get what I wanted. It came out looking vaguely brown/pink. I need to try a few more pens.

The rest of the browns? They were lovely, but I just don’t find myself reaching for brown inks that often. So I know they’ll get into the rotation eventually, but I can’t give them a top spot.

What were your favorite inks of 2025?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the inks shown here have been purchased with my own funds, others were received as review samples. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Inkmas Day 6: Taccia Roughna Sketch Ink – Earth Green

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Inkmas Day 6: Taccia Roughna Sketch Ink – Earth Green

Taccia makes some unique inks, very much influenced by Japanese history and culture with deep, complex colors. Their line of Roughna Sketch Inks are no different. I picked up a sample of the Earth Green ($32 for a 40ml bottle) which is a sheening olive-y green. And if you’ve been around this site for very long, you’ll know that yellow-y greens are some of my favorite colors and the most difficult to find a usable ink that keeps its yellowy tones while being visible to the human eye.

It appears that the Roughna Sketch Ink collection includes four colors: Woody Brown, Earth Blue, Rose Pink and the aforementioned Earth Green. The naming is a little odd, I think there could have been a whole elements concept here with earth, air, fire and water or something like that but instead there are two “earth” colors and Woody Brown and Rose Pink. Maybe its a translation issue. Anyway, back to the topic at hand….

As a sketch ink, the description said that this ink had “medium” water resistance. I am not sure how useful that will be for mixed media drawing but I was willing to give it a try.

Nope. On Col-0-ring paper, that dried for over 24 hours, the ink was not water resistant. On Tomoe River, the ink was slightly resistant but not enough to use it for drawing and then painting over it with other materials.

If you consider it a standard water-soluble fountain pen ink, the color is fabulous. I love it and I think its a great shading ink in fine nibs. It gives enough shading and even a little sheening in fine and extra fine in ways that other medium range yellow greens do.

I thought for sure that Earth Green would be similar to my beloved PenBBS greens (no longer available so I won’t even tempt you with swatches of them) but I discovered that Earth Green is closer to Pennonia Zoldike Greenfinch and Colorverse #56 Redwood Forest. The Sailor 50 States Wyoming is more yellowy and lighter as well as the J. Herbin Vert Olive. I love how Vert Olive and Wyoming look but it can be too light for fine nibs.

The slight reddish sheen on Green Earth makes it so unique. It has the density for finer nibs while keeping the pleasing mossy quality.

This is definitely a candidate for “full bottle status” in my collection for 2026. Have any samples you’ve purchased reached “full bottle status” for you?

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.