Inkvent 2019 – Day 25: Happy Holidays (shimmer & sheen)

Merry Christmas everyone! We’re between the morning excitement of gifts followed by breakfast, and the main family dinner, so…..

Today brings us to the end, with Happy Holidays. The label doesn’t state standard, shimmer, or sheen on this final bottle. Initially I thought it was just a shimmer ink from the first touch on paper, but when it hit the Rhodia paper, that changed in a hurry.

I also assumed it was blue looking at the label, and having peeked into the bottle. But after the first pass on the Pelikan Pad, I thought maybe it was a deep green. Then I got some on my finger – definitely blue for the base. Another complex colour with a lot of range.

Definitely not your run of the mill inks in this set. I will likely follow this up with some final thoughts, but it’s time to get ready to go. Happy Holidays everyone!

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Inkvent 2019 – Day 24: Purple Bow (standard)

Well, turns out Sugar Plums are a vague sort of treat, that are not necessarily purple. Originally in the 17th century they were a small sugar candy. The seed used in the center included caraway, fennel, coriander, and cardamom seeds, almonds, walnuts, ginger, cinnamon and aniseed coated with a layer of hard sugar. Today they tend to be a mixture of finely chopped fruit and nuts that have been spiced.

But it is the long awaited purple…. Initially I thought ‘Royal Purple’, then I thought it was a bit more blue than that, so I looked at colour swatches named Royal Purple. Looks like just about anything goes, so that’ll teach me.

I’m used to Irishuzuku Yama Budo for my purple, so I find this one a bit darker, and more toward the blue side in comparison. (Depending on the paper – As Rhodia is the paper I tend to use the most, those samples are what I will likely go by.)

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  Pelikan/HP/Rhodia Paper

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  HP/Rhodia (blue comparisons)

Inkvent 2019 – Day 23: Roasted Chestnut (standard)

This is a lovely, deep, warm brown the colour of… well…. anyway. Warmer than Triple chocolate, lighter and warmer than Nutcracker, but more of a red brown instead of the warmer yellow brown of Gingerbread. Nice shading – I think this would look outstanding with an italic nib.

I dug out the section of Rhodia that had some additional (non-Diamine) browns for comparison, and have taken some liberties with photoshop to rearrange the placement in one of the images just to make comparison easier.

So… I don’t know about you, but I am still waiting for a purple. I’m wondering if they did something kitschy & clever like saving it for tomorrow… while dreams of sugar plums dance through our heads. Two more sleeps until Christmas!

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Inkvent 2019 – Day 22: Solstice (shimmer)

When I first saw this colour, I wasn’t sure what it was. I’m still not sure. The label looked almost black, so I opened it, and still wasn’t sure… so I dipped a toothpick and smeared a little on a nearby sheet of paper – black with some green shimmer, I thought to myself.

So I took it to the writing desk, gave it another good shake, and grabbed the glass dip pen. Surprise, surprise, surprise… I’m still not sure what it is. One paper makes it look like the green equivalent of the Jack Frost – a deep metallic green. The Rhodia makes it look like black with green shimmer. The HP paper is somewhere in-between.

When I rinsed the pen to clean it, the water running off looked like dilute black. So between the label colour, the first impression, and the diluted colour I’m going to stick to my initial impression of green shimmer on a black base, although it could be almost anywhere between those depending on the paper and how the light is hitting it.

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I’d be interested to hear how others who have the calendar see this colour, and how they are calling this one.

Inkvent 2019 – Day 21: Fire Embers (standard)

It’s been a busy day, so this will be a quick, short post due to the lateness of the hour…. but I really wanted to see what this ink looked like after seeing the name when I opened it up today. Fire Embers is a very accurate name, and I think they really nailed it – like the Gingerbread a couple days ago.

The paper really affects the colour for how orange/red it is. And it reminds me of the first ink I ever purchased when I discovered the vast array of colours available outside the traditional black or blue – Noodler’s Habanero, although this has a much deeper, jewel like tone to it.

It also reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite shows…. “Fire bad, tree pretty.”

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Inkvent 2019 – Day 20: Midnight Hour (sheen)

Busy days at the moment, so the next couple of entries will be late and short. But hey… saw The Rise of Skywalker this morning, so there’s that 😉

Midnight Hour is a deep blue – similar in tone to Winter Miracle, except Winter Miracle is about the shimmer while Midnight Hour is all about the sheen (especially on that Rhodia). The colour patch on the Rhodia was still drying, so you only catch sheen in the small centre spot where it has mostly dried, but it sure shows in the written portion.

On the one paper sample I’ve moved the two colours next to each other for easier comparison – I think today’s colour isn’t as dark as Winter Miracle (where the shimmer really offsets that blue-black).

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Tomorrow is another dawn to dusk sort of day so it will either be posted late with luck , or Sunday with apologies.

Inkvent 2019 – Day 19: Gingerbread (standard) & a paper correction….

First, apologies and a correction – the pad I thought was bagesse and providing the gorgeous sheen is in fact Rhodia. I was running out of space and finally found the pad I had pulled it from – which is good news to me, as I have tons of Rhodia on hand. (If you weren’t aware, Michael’s craft stores started carrying Rhodia pads about a year ago, and you can get a 40-50% off coupon most weeks.)

Today’s ink is Gingerbread. A sweet, warm, delicious, golden brown, tasty… nevermind, that was the comparison cookie. Although the colour today is a warm, delicious brown that pretty much nails the colour of Gingerbread. As shown below with a fresh baked cookie* for comparison. Handles well, shades a bit, and looks delicious.

Sorry, no extra cookies available.

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*We add extra ginger to our cookies, but I doubt that changes the colour much.

And just to correctly re-identify the paper/s being used: Pelikan Hub 2019 pad, Rhodia lined pad (not a bagesse paper), and HP Premium LaserJet (32lb).

Inkvent 2019 – Day 18: Holly (sheen)

Holly – this ink is aptly named. Not only is it a beautifully dark green ink, but it sheens red. I think this one would pair well with yesterday’s Poinsettia. Definitely on the blue side of the Green spectrum – when I rinsed the dip pen the water was teal.

As dark as it is, it’s definitely brighter than the Seasons Greetings from a couple days ago, although looks to share the same sheen characteristics. I can imagine some interesting results based on the nib and paper combinations with these two.

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Inkvent 2019 – Day 17: Poinsetta (standard)

Well, first I have to say… All those years, and not only did I have no idea how to spell it but I’ve probably been pronouncing the name incorrectly as well. Poinsetta is a red. A real red – not light, or a bit orange, or a bit brown but a nice solid, serious red (just a touch toward the bluer end of the spectrum perhaps). It compares closely to my favourite red.

I spent a long time going through every red our local Stationer Reid’s had, and Caran d’Ache Sunset was the only one I found to be neutral and liked. Widow maker has become my favourite red, and is quite close. Diamine’s Poinsetta is right in this range when I compare writing samples of Caran d’Ache Sunset, and Noodler’s Widow Maker side by side with it – so if you like a red that is almost the colour of blood, this one might be of interest.

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Inkvent 2019 – Day 16: Festive Cheer (sheen)

The calendar is beginning to run out of doors to open as we hit day 16. After opening today’s, I wasn’t sure what to expect – the label looked more charcoal, when I opened the top I thought the ink in the bottle might be another dark blue but the ink on the white lid looked like a deep green.

Writing with it though, reveals it to be a deep, malachite green (says swiataaboc) and looking at the darker end of the colour range of malachite photos I would agree. This is a beautiful colour on all of the papers, with a crimson red sheen (on the bagesse at least).

I’m really starting to wonder what colour the larger bottle on the 25th will be. So far we’ve had: 5 blues, 4 reds, 1 silver/grey, 2 browns, 3 greens, and Gold Star (to be honest, I’m not quite sure how to call that one). You might also be able to argue Noel & Mulled Wine are red-browns, rather than brown-reds but I see them closer to the former option.

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