Cult Pens Colosseum - New Wonders of the World series - Diamine Exclusive

[Chrissy]

Today I'm reviewing Cult Pens Colosseum ink, one of their latest Diamine Inks exclusive inks. It is the first of a new series of inks inspired by modern Wonders of the World and by 'modern' they mean still in existence. This is what Cult Pens says about this ink:

“The Colosseum in Rome is a lot older, having been built in the 1st century by order of the Emperor Vespasian. It was capable of holding up to 80,000 spectators, who gathered to watch the gladiators, animal hunts and mock battles, and is the largest amphitheatre ever built. Our ink is a pale ochre, the colour of the travertine limestone and volcanic rock form which the Colosseum was constructed.”

Colosseum is an unsaturated, sandy brown ink that resembles the colour of the original amphitheatre. It’s a pale ink that initially felt a bit dry to write with but flow improved during writing and was markedly better with broader nibs. Lubrication across the page was OK.

It 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 dried quickly on most papers and once dry it didn’t smudge or smear.

I found no start-up problems after leaving the pens overnight. In fact I deliberately left one of my caps very loose to see if the colour slightly darkened and not only did it darken, it still started up immediately.

I saw hardly any showthrough and no bleedthrough on any of the papers I used. I deliberately used the very lightweight Eaton's Erasable Bond USA paper to see if writing on the back was possible.

I saw some shading but no sheen.

• Flow Rate: A bit dry at the start but improved with writing.
• Lubrication: OK
• Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.
• Start-up: Immediate.
• Saturation: Unsaturated ink.
• Shading Potential: Some shading seen.
• Sheen: No sheen seen.
• Show-Through: Hardly any seen on most papers.
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen.
• Staining (pen): Not seen after several days in the pen. Very easy clean-up.
• Staining (hands): Clean after one wash.
• Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.
• Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof but exhibits surprising water resistance.
• Availability: 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottles exclusively available from Cult Pens, UK.

My thanks to Cult Pens for sending me this sample to review.

Cult Pens Colosseum M.jpg