cimorene

Diamine Sargasso Sea on Tomoe River Paper, done with Shaeffer Pop M nib and Noodler’s Ahab flex nib and a detail brush dipped in water. Shown with the Shaeffer Pop Star Wars limited edition R2D2 fountain pen.

In short, this ink is a lovely color with pretty shading and the sheen, especially on Tomoe River paper but even on Rhodia, is stunning. But I still wouldn’t recommend it because it is inherently stinky.

Some other reviewers found through Google characterize the smell as “not unpleasant, just pungent” or “like old books” or “not like MILDEW, just musty”. I’m not a chemist, I’m just a person with a sensitive nose and a huge oversensitivity to mildew, possibly a minor allergy. It probably doesn’t contain any mildew, because it doesn’t give me the overwhelming choking feeling that mildew does, but yes, it certainly does smell like mildew. It has enough esters or whatever molecules - oils, free radicals, whatsits - in common with mildew to be highly reminiscent of mildew to this nose, and it doesn’t just smell like (non-mildewy) old books (certainly it does smell like mildewy ones). If you don’t have a sensitive nose, you might not notice; or you might not care; but if you don’t like the smell of mildew, there’s a strong risk that you will not like this ink. (Also, “musty” when not referring to mildew usually refers to mold, dust, and decay, so I’m not sure how that’s an improvement…?)

The smell of the bottle is strong and it’s even easily detectable just by uncapping the pen and waving it in front of my face. The smell gradually drifts up and slimily cozies up to me as I’m writing with it. I’m not going to refill these pens with it and will probably use it for art or find someone to give it to, in spite of its prettiness.

Now, back to the ink’s beauty: the reviews that mentioned the sheen were what tipped me over into buying it. The coppery magenta sheen on Tomoe River paper is so strong you can practically see it on every letter when you tilt the paper around, though it’s strongest where the ink is thick.

The ink blots (made by the Noodler’s Ahab, which blots incredibly readily) practically look like they’re on fire!

For comparison here’s a couple of photos of the ink on a Rhodia dotpad, which is anything but conducive to sheen:

As you can see, it’s not obvious at first glance, particularly the side written with the Shaeffer Pop, but from the right angle, the thicker strokes of the Ahab all have a faint metallic halo.

The writing experience is fine - smooth, wet but not too wet, generally lovely in every area except smell, though not the smoothest ink I’ve ever used.

If you’ve fallen for the sheen, check out people’s posts about the discontinued Sailor Jentle Sky High and Sailor Souten.

A note on the Shaeffer Pop Star Wars pen pictured in the cover image: in addition to the fantastic design and the happy confluence of the fact that R2D2's actual design maps so perfectly onto a pen, this pen is great. It has a lovely smooth nib that has worked well with every ink I've put in it so far and is in fact my favorite M nib.