This is Part One of Ink Comparison: Carpink set of five sheening inks. Please read Part Two here!

I was generously gifted a bottle of Carpink Prussian Blue and Shigoku in July last year. I knew nothing about the brand and I’d, in fact, never heard of them but the inks were super sheeny and that always piques my interest! In December last year I was gifted the full set for the purpose of review (the benefactor would like to remain anonymous but was a store; this store is not a sponsor of this nor do they sell these inks; I did purchase other inks from the store). It is a set of five inks: Black Square, a sheeny black; Deep Space Green, a sheeny teal; Electrooptic Violet, a pink violet; Prussian Blue, a super sheeny blue; and Shigoku, a sheeny dark purple.

The inks are Taiwanese in origin and the only place I know where they can be purchased (outside the region they are from) is Desk Bandit. The inks come in 20ml glass bottles (though they say 20±2ml which I don’t rightly understand). The boxes also say “change magically” which I assume is a reface to the sheen!

This overview or comparison is done with lite-reviews (serendipity pens rather than complete fountain pens) and there is no samples of the inks on many different paper types. The lite-reviews are still done on 80gsm white Rhodia paper and 52gsm Ivory (white) Tomoe River paper. This took a surprising amount of time to complete!

Carpink Black Square is surprisingly dark and black. It would give many of these black inks a run for their money! What is stopping it from being black, moreso on Tomoe River than Rhodia, is the massive amounts of mutes gold/silvery sheen. The ink is very wet and well lubricated and has no issues with bleeding or feathering.

There is no shading what ever (which I think is a good thing for a black ink, otherwise it’s really just a dark grey). There is, similarly, no halo.

The sheen is very high for Rhodia and also Tomoe River. The colour is a tan colour - somewhat in between gold and silver and also muted. It’s prevalent but not brilliant. In places where the ink pooled for a long time there is a silvery sheen with almost a blue tint to it.

The chromatography is uninteresting. There’s some green to the grey areas but mostly it’s a grey to black gradient. Dry Time is extremely slow on both Rhodia and Tomoe River. Two full minutes until dry on Rhodia and four on Tomoe River! Insane! Water Resistance isn’t too bad. The lines are still very visible even if the black washes everywhere.

Carpink Black Square is a little darker than on Tomoe River due to there being less sheen. The ink’s slight green tint is visible in the swatch. There isn’t much smearing.

• Diamine Quartz Black: is a lighter and bluer black but the sheen is very similar;

• Noodler’s Bernanke Black: is darker (mainly due to the lack of sheen), but a comparable hue if a little bluer;

• Aurora Black: the sheen only appears in the edges of where the ink pools but the hue is similar;

• Bungubox Black of Score: is much bluer and also darker due to a lack of sheen; and

• Sailor Kiwa-guro: is almost silver or grey due to it’s sheen.

The Green tint is a little less apparent on Tomoe River and the sheen make the ink seem less black. There is surprisingly little smearing!

• Diamine Quartz Black: the ink’s blue tint and lightness is more apparent here but the sheen is still very similar;

• Noodler’s Bernanke Black: There’s a bit of sheen here now but it’s more yellow and less gold/tan coloured;

• Aurora Black: the sheen is more apparent but still on the edge;

• Bungubox Black of Score: very similar sheen and similar all around; and

• Sailor Kiwa-guro: still just a silver ink for me!

Carpink Deep Space Green is a rich highly saturated teal that sits nicely in-between green and blue. The sheen is a pervasive bright red sheen on Tomoe River but there isn’t much of it on Rhodia. The ink is pretty wet and well lubricated (though not as much as Black Square) and has no issues with bleeding or feathering.

Shading is quite decent and pretty on the music nib but on the medium nib is somewhat low. There is no halo here.

The sheen is a vibrant pink-red and it covers most of the line (but the music nib and the medium) on Tomoe River but is barely there at all on Rhodia. It is there but you need to look for it.

Chromatography is as expected but still pretty; a blue that moves through green to a yellow- green. Daytime is not too bad on Rhodia - a little slow, maybe - but on Tomoe River it’s a very slow 2 minute wait. Water Resistance isn’t too bad but is a little worse on Tomoe River.

The ink is darker and a little greener on Rhodia. There’s very little smearing.

• Diamine Smoke on the Water: Darker and a touch bluer, with similar levels of sheen;

• Sailor Yama Dori: lighter and a touch less saturated but a similar hue and comparable sheen;

• Blackstone Blue Gum: bluer and flatter with even less sheen;

• Sailor Ink Studio 641: surprisingly flat and sheen-less; and

• Organics Studio Walden Pond Blue: more saturated (in the minority of the ink that’s visible past the sheen!) but the sheen is insanely high for Rhodia!

Carpink Deep Space Green is bluer, and lighter on Tomoe River. There is still not that much smearing.

• Diamine Smoke on the Water: is still la little bluer and with more sheen;

• Sailor Yama Dori: still less saturated and a comparable hue but the sheen is more muted;

• Blackstone Blue Gum: bluer still and the sheen is now very striking;

• Sailor Ink Studio 641: very muted sheen, and the ink is also a muted comparable hue; and

• Organics Studio Walden Pond Blue: is just all pink sheen…

Please continue to read this overview in Part Two here! Due to RSS feed limitations, I have needed to split this into two reviews rather than a single large one.

✒︎ ✑ ✒︎ ✑

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