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De Atramentis

So far as I can discover, de Atramentis is a relative new-comer to the ink business; I can’t find any references to them pre-dating 2005.  They seem a rough German equivalent to Noodler’s, although slightly less whimiscal in their packaging.  They produce a slightly bewildering assortment of inks in an equally dizzying range of themes, and while I have limited experience with their products, I want to warn that in addition to the inks meant for and apparently quite benign in fountain pens, one can also find some of their products which are to be avoided except with dip pens or brushes– these are their “Historic” inks and of course their line of India inks.

In broad terms, these inks are very well behaved, showing little inclination towards feathering.

Gold: somewhat on the green end of golds.  In a very wet pen, this ink comes across as somewhat brown, in the warm, toasted sense of brown.

Mahatma Gandhi: Saffron.  One of the themes de Atramentis has is People, and Gandhi is in the Politics sub-set

Oriental Red:  The name more than the colour suggests the cinnabar paste used with “chop” seals; that paste is generally somewhat more vivid than this.  That being said, this is a red one can easily live with.  My scan is making it look far too close to a purple.

Elderberry: An extremely pleasant purple with a burgundy tone.  This is one of the company’s scented inks, although unlike the scented inks of J. Herbin, they appear to be aimed at pleasing the writer of a letter rather than the recipient; the smell is quite restrained, and far more pleasant than the insult spoken in Month Python and the Holy Grail would lead one to believe.  I would, however, suggested that anyone with a fragrance sensitivity give it a fairly wide berth.

Dianthus: One of the Flower theme inks, this is an extremely bright colour that I don’t find myself able to use with a straight face.  It is very close in tone to Chelpark crimson violet and also to Wancher Ebine (although that is somewhat darker than the de Atramentis colour), suggesting that I may be in the minority in my opinion.

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