Mini review - Colorverse α And

[mizgeorge]

Following on from Yazeh, this is a quick review of Colorverse's α And, from the most recent Project series.

I've never been a huge fan of Colorverse inks, not because they're bad, but because of their peculiar packaging and pricing. All the colours I've ever seemed to want have been the small bottle in the very expensive two-ink sets, or available only in (again very pricey) three pack bottles. The only exception to this has previously been the Joy in the Ordinary inks (which I like a lot) and the Office series, which tend for some reason to be largely overlooked.

This one came as a surprise. It's definitely in my favoured 'pale and interesting', multichromatic colour range that I love for both drawing and writing. I have no qualms about using pale inks as most of my writing is in short messages rather than extended pages where a darker ink may be more practical.

This photo is a little too light (there's not been a lot of daylight around recently)

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As for behaviour - I can't think of anything I'd complain about. I was writing with a TWSBI Swipe with a 1.1 stub, so I'd have been surprised to have problems with dryness, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well lubricated it is - unusual for this type of ink - but I didn't have any problems with showthrough, even on TR52gsm, apart from with the very heavy blob of ink, which I'd expect to bleed through at least a bit.

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In terms of comparisons to other inks, there are a number that come close - it's definitely a blue grey rather than a grey blue, and there's far less green than I originally thought.

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It's probably closest to Vinta Armada, but is wetter, and certainly better value (here in the UK at least). I paid £17 (about US$22.60 at today's rate) for a 65ml bottle from Cult Pens, which is a fair bit less than it seems to be at other retailers.

Lastly, I had a bit of fun with a quick Nick Stewart style inkwash landscape, which clearly shows an interesting chroma, and a little part dry, part wet-in-wet thing.

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Written samples: TR 52gsm
Swatches: Exacomta Card 205gsm
Watercolours: Seawhite 350gsm cold press medium
Pen: TWSBI Swipe 1.1mm stub

[Yazeh]

Love your "mini" review. Quite complex and delightful to the eyes. I don't like to write with faded inks, but I enjoy seeing reviews of them