Ink Review: Van Dieman's Blackened Seas Midnight Series

[Chrissy]

Van Dieman’s fountain pen ink from Tasmania is made in Launceston and is inspired by the rich and majestic colours of Tasmania.

Blackened Seas is an ink from The Midnight series. According to the manufacturer:
“These are inspired by the dark and sombre hues that come out when the sun has gone away.”

Blackened Seas is a saturated, slightly green toned, blue-black ink. It has a dark red sheen that I didn’t see much on my papers although there was some around my nib. The depth of blue depends on how much ink you lay down on the paper. The wetter the writing the more blue it looks.

It flowed well through my pens and didn’t suffer from any hard starts or non-starts when I put the uncapped pen down to do swab tests, dry times and water resistance.

It washed off of my hands after one wash and easily flushed out of my converters and pens just using warm water.

Thanks to junglejim for sending me this sample. This ink was MI#35 in our Mystery Ink series.



Flow Rate: Good. No problems.
Lubrication: OK. Fairly smooth across the papers I used.
Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
Start-up: Immediate.
Saturation: Saturated ink.
Shading Potential: Some shading with fine nibs or dryer writing pens.
Sheen: None noticed when I wrote with my sample.
Show-Through:

Basildon Bond
Tomoe River 52gsm
Whitelines


Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.
Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen.
Staining (pen): Not seen after weeks in the pen - easy clean-up with water.
Staining (hands): Clean hands after one wash
Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof but has some water resistance.
Availability: In Australia this ink comes in boxed 30ml or 50ml glass bottles priced at AUS $13.95 or $19.95 plus shipping. Some stockists outside of Australia are listed on the web-site.

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[mizgeorge]

Excellent review Chris - I'm especially impressed by the water resistance - I'm intrigued whether this is the case for the rest of the Midnight series now - I'll have to try out the couple I have.

I like the colour a lot - not, perhaps, for this time of year (well not for me anyway), but definitely a contender for later in the year, and perhaps an alternative for some of the Callifolio inks. I suspect it might be one that would perform well in very fine nibs as well.

Thank you :)

[Chrissy]

Excellent review Chris - I'm especially impressed by the water resistance - I'm intrigued whether this is the case for the rest of the Midnight series now - I'll have to try out the couple I have.

I like the colour a lot - not, perhaps, for this time of year (well not for me anyway), but definitely a contender for later in the year, and perhaps an alternative for some of the Callifolio inks. I suspect it might be one that would perform well in very fine nibs as well.

Thank you :)
You're welcome. :) I think it's quite close to L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Equinoxe No. 6 and that's an ink I use regularly. Like you it's an ink I'd tend to use later in the year.

[penwash]

You're welcome. :) I think it's quite close to L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Equinoxe No. 6 and that's an ink I use regularly. Like you it's an ink I'd tend to use later in the year.

Agreed. The Equinoxe no.6 is one of my favorite blue ink and this one really resembles it.

I often think about this particular variation of blue as a really dark teal.

[Chrissy]

Agreed. The Equinoxe no.6 is one of my favorite blue ink and this one really resembles it.

I often think about this particular variation of blue as a really dark teal.
I originally decided it was blue-black then started to wonder about some of the drier swabs looking a bit more dark teal. In the end I went onto the Van Dieman's web-site to see what they call it. Blue-black it is. :)