Most of us lead our daily inky lives in black or blue. These colors are the safe choices for everyday use, but I find them less and less appealing as my pen and ink collection grows. A week with Iroshizuku Tsukushi in my Lamy 2000 has opened my eyes to the world of non-traditional ink colors. Why use blue or black when you can use a lovely shade of brown or green? The trick to using these colors in everyday writers is to find inks that are dark enough to read easily but have just enough shading ability to make things interesting. While Tsukushi lives on as my daily ink for now, there's room for more than one in my growing Penventory. This week, I'm taking a look at another vivid beauty, Caran d'Ache Vibrant Green.
Vibrant Green is the most vivid of the green inks that I own. The color varies greatly, depending on the amount of ink that the nib lays on the paper. My J. Herbin Glass Dip Pen lays a deep forest green line on the page after a fresh dip, but the color lightens dramatically as the nib's ink channels empty of ink. The ink dries very quickly, which makes it a viable everyday ink.
Caran d' Ache Vibrant Green offers a significant amount of shade variation for such a dark ink. Shading is subtle in fine-nib pens, but the ink really shines in my Pilot Parallel Calligraphy Pen. The ink's fast dry time, vivid color, and significant shading ability make it an easy recommendation.
Stats
- Dry Time: Less than 20 seconds
- Wetness: Medium
- Shading: Medium
- Feathering: Low
- Saturation: High
Tools
- J. Herbin Glass Dip Pen
- Noodler's Ahab - Flex nib
- Pilot Parallel - 6mm nib
- Rhodia DotPad
