Ink Review: TWSBI 1791 Emerald Green

Today I'm reviewing TWSBI 1791 Emerald Green ink. This is one of the TWSBI special edition inks that is available either in single 18ml bottles or as a set of 6 x 18ml bottles of different coloured inks.

"The 1791 series comes from a book written in China in the year 1791 called “Dream of Red Chambers”. It’s one of China’s 4 great classical novels and TWSBI picked colours out of the buildings and descriptions within this book for this series of inks."

TWSBI Emerald Green is an unsaturated blue leaning jade green dye based ink that flowed nicely and felt quite wet through my pens. Lubrication across the paper was smooth. I experienced no start-up problems even after leaving the cap off while I was doing dry times and comparison ink tests. I saw some nice shading but no sheen. I saw show-through on some of my papers especially when using broader and wetter nibs.

The main pen used for this review is a TWSBI Eco with 1.1mm stub nib as I wanted to check how well the ink would clean out of TWSBI piston filling pens. I found that the ink cleaned out easily and it washed off of my hands easily.

Thanks to The Writing Desk for supplying this sample for review purposes.

• Flow Rate: Very good. Felt quite wet
• Lubrication: Good. Smooth across the page.
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: Unsaturated ink.
• Shading:Some shading seen.
• Sheen: None seen.
• Show-Through/Bleed-Through: Seen on Rhodia papers, Maruman Mnemosyne and Tomoe River 52gsm.
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after several days in the pen.
• Staining (pen): Not seen - easy clean-up with water.
• Staining (hands): Easy to wash off hands.
• Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
• Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof and has low water resistance.
• Availability: Available in 18ml bottles and as a combo pack of 6 bottles from The Writing Desk and several other outlets.

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Great review Chrissy. This reminds me a lot of R&K Sketchink Klara :)

Thank you Chrissy - I have this set and have enjoyed all the colours (the pink's perhaps a little bit pale for anything other than pretty chunky nibs), though I did find them a little bit on the watery side - not a problem for me but might be for pens needing dryer inks. I found the Emerald pretty close in colour, albeit a little bit greener, to my beloved Montblanc Emerald, which was probably why I liked it so much!

Nice review :) I find these so useful.

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Originally Posted by Yazeh

Great review Chrissy. This reminds me a lot of R&K Sketchink Klara :)

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You're welcome. :) Yes when I was considering comparison inks R&K Smaragdgrun and Klara were the first inks I thought of that would be similar. :)

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Originally Posted by mizgeorge

Thank you Chrissy - I have this set and have enjoyed all the colours (the pink's perhaps a little bit pale for anything other than pretty chunky nibs), though I did find them a little bit on the watery side - not a problem for me but might be for pens needing dryer inks. I found the Emerald pretty close in colour, albeit a little bit greener, to my beloved Montblanc Emerald, which was probably why I liked it so much!

Nice review :) I find these so useful.

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You're welcome. :) I like the look of these small bottles and am wondering if I will end up buying some or all of them. I also love Montblanc Emerald and have a couple of bottles left but decided against using it as a comparison ink here because it's so hard for anyone to find if they wanted to.

I'm enjoying using my first ever TWSBI pen with these inks. :)

Pretty color! I wonder how JHerbin's Diabolo Menthe compares.

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Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin

Pretty color! I wonder how JHerbin's Diabolo Menthe compares.

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The Diabolo Menthe is much, much lighter, as well as being less green (or mine certainly is anyway!) It's a pretty colour, but I find it too light to be practical in anything other than a very, very broad nib.

These TWSBI are extremely pretty and lively, and a huuuge temptation. But I swore off new ink. And I would absolutely need to buy the entire set.

Thanks for the review. I haven't looked into TWSBIs inks, and maybe I should have. This color is the most not-me it can possibly get, but I would like to ask; are TWSBI inks a little "diluted" looking, or is it just me?

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Originally Posted by adhoc

Thanks for the review. I haven't looked into TWSBIs inks, and maybe I should have. This color is the most not-me it can possibly get, but I would like to ask; are TWSBI inks a little "diluted" looking, or is it just me?

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You're welcome. :) These TWSBI inks aren't very saturated so if you're used to using highly saturated inks then these could look more diluted than you're used to.

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Originally Posted by adhoc

Thanks for the review. I haven't looked into TWSBIs inks, and maybe I should have. This color is the most not-me it can possibly get, but I would like to ask; are TWSBI inks a little "diluted" looking, or is it just me?

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I think that's why I like them - I have super saturated versions of most of these colours and they can be just a bit too in your face bright. These have just a little bit of subtlety, and write very nicely. I bought the set (it was on offer at the time) and I'm pleased I did.