Octopus Write and Draw – White Polar Bear

[Yazeh]

Octopus Write and Draw – White Polar Bear
I was really excited trying this ink, hoping that it’ll be better than the ever clogging De Atramentis Document white.

Unfortunately, as you will see in the writing sample it became invisible after a while, and I couldn’t write anymore. I could see a wet, bluish tinge on the black paper. Thinking maybe, I had not cleaned my pen correctly, I tested the pen on normal paper, and it was still invisible.

I contacted Octopus but they didn’t say anything concrete only about shaking the bottle and using dip pens
So, I'm hoping that maybe my sample wasn't well shaken or stirred, but I doubt it as you'll see further on If anyone has had a better experience I'm curious to know.

Writing Samples:
It's very difficult to photograph clearly this page. The paper is a pure black. I didn't colour correct, as I wanted to show off the blue tinge of the ink.
And finally you can see how I couldn't finish the last line but you might be able to discern a bit of invisible ink.
20240405_082307.jpg
Comparison:
Note how pale it is compared to the De Atramentis Document White:
20240405_092721.jpg

I finally did a sketch with a Prismacolor white pencil. I used a water-colour brush directly in the sample bottle for the White Polar Bear. Then I used a water brush to drag some ink from the fountain pen. You can see the blush wet tinge of the cat's body. When it dried it was invisible.
20240404_172837.jpg

This is the final work, when I finally emptied the pen on the"cat's" body and spread it with the water brush, and the mouse. As you can see it's quite pale compared to the bear




· Pens used: Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B)
· What I liked: Using a brush to “paint” on the black paper.
· What I did not like: I couldn’t sketch with it.
· What some might not like: Same as above.
· Shading: n/a
· Ghosting: n/a
· Bleed through: n/a
· Flow Rate: wet
· Lubrication: Does it really matter?
· Nib Dry-out: Did not notice.
· Start-up: Ok
· Saturation: Non-existent.
· Shading Potential: n/a
· Sheen: n/a
· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: n/a
· Nib Creep / “Crud”: n/a
· Staining (pen): No.
· Clogging: Did not notice.
· Cleaning: It seems easier than the Document White.
· Water resistance: There was nothing in the first place.
· Availability: 50 m

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

[LizEF]

Love that chalkboard look! Whoa! Way paler than DAD White! That's disappointing. Did De Atramentis find a secret white pigment, or were the Octopus folk too scared to use enough of it for fear it would never come out of pens....? Or did someone forget to shake the bottle before making your sample? Regardless, I love that polar bear drawing!! All aboard!


Thanks for taking another hit for the team, Yazeh. At least it wasn't quite as bad cleaning...

[Yazeh]

Love that chalkboard look! Whoa! Way paler than DAD White! That's disappointing. Did De Atramentis find a secret white pigment, or were the Octopus folk too scared to use enough of it for fear it would never come out of pens....?

The Claire Fontaine paper is really nice Octopus folks are very very conservative.

Or did someone forget to shake the bottle before making your sample? Regardless, I love that polar bear drawing!! All aboard!

I don't know. Then how come it worked with a brush

Thanks for taking another hit for the team, Yazeh. At least it wasn't quite as bad cleaning...

Ironically these inks are more time consuming to review, as you need to try and test them more

[mizgeorge]

Oh! What a disappointment given how good most of these have been, I was expecting something at least comparable to the DeA version.

It clearly works well for drawing, but there are plenty of other white inks and paints for that - the nice thing about these was being able to use them in a fountain pen, even if only one I don't care about.

On the bright side, I love the artwork. I'd also love to know if a bigger bottle would make a difference - I might have to try one of the small ones just to see.

Thank you Yazeh, for bravely tackling this unrewarding task! It is very much appreciated

[Yazeh]

Oh! What a disappointment given how good most of these have been, I was expecting something at least comparable to the DeA version.

Same here!

It clearly works well for drawing, but there are plenty of other white inks and paints for that - the nice thing about these was being able to use them in a fountain pen, even if only one I don't care about.

Totally agree. If it were have been better behaved than the De Atramentis

On the bright side, I love the artwork. I'd also love to know if a bigger bottle would make a difference - I might have to try one of the small ones just to see.

If you do it, keep us posted

Thank you Yazeh, for bravely tackling this unrewarding task! It is very much appreciated

A pleasure!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Yazeh, I am glad you used black paper! (Still haven't found mine).

The Polar Bear Express drawings are adorable. I can't quite decide what I feel about white inks; the only one in my ink collection is Noodler's… which also makes that black light ink I have. It is still loaded in a cheep pen.

White gel pens are not very robust in that they refuse to write after a month or so, no matter what you do to them, even subjecting them to hammers and fire. But white on black art can be both spooky and amazing, as you displayed

Thanks again for an unusual ink review!