Inks & Impressions Archives > Makoba

LEONARDO FOUNTAIN PEN INKS

by Sripal Jain March 6, 2021

With so many brands of fountain pens around, the fleet of ink is growing too. Today let’s dive into a set of inks from a growing brand. Today we will be introducing Leonardo fountain pen inks. Off late, Leonardo has been doing a fabulous job by introducing unique pens on a frequency quicker than a bullet train. I mean, since Jan 2020 they have launched, Leonardo Musis, Leonardo Pura, Tredici, Momento Zero Grande #8Nib, Primary Manipulation 4, Golden Rule, and some new colors in Momento zero. That’s like a new collection every week. In the world of fountain pens, that’s super quick.

Leonardo fountain pen inks display different properties for different colors. Some took a few seconds more to dry compared to others and some have sheen. But most of the inks dried up pretty quickly. Just under 10 seconds. The most common feature among all the inks was the least ghosting and feathering.

Let’s understand the colors currently available in India. Below is the Ink Swab chart. The medium used was a 68 GSM Nakabayashi spiral notebook from Japan.

The standard colors available in Leonardo ink s are

Mediterraneo Blue – Blue
Nero Intenso – Black
Rosso Passione – Red
Sepia Classico – Brown
Turchese Hawaii – Turquoise Blue
Verde Foresta – Green

New Ink colors to be added soon by end of 2021 are

Noce Moscatta – red Brown
Taurasi Wine – Deep Red
Smeraldo Stone – Emerald Green
Deep Purple – Purple
Arancio Torraco – Orange

Leonardo Nero Intenso Black ink test sheet — Leonardo Black Ink

Leonardo Rosso passione deep red ink test sheet — Leonardo Black Ink

Herein are the writing samples of the Leonardo inks. The fountain Pen used is Pelikan M815 with an 18KT medium nib. The writing medium is the same as the Swab test i.e Nakabayashi spiral notebook. Nakabayashi from Japan is a fountain pen-friendly notebook.

Leonardo Fountain pen Inks writing samples — Writing on a Nakabayashi notebook

Leonardo Fountain pen Inks writing sample ON nAKABAYASHI NOTEBOOK — Writing on a Nakabayashi notebook

Leonardo Fountain pen Inks writing samples_Page Back side — Backside of the nakabayashi writing sample

As it appears. Leonardo Ink has a minimal ghosting effect on the Nakabayashi paper. When closely observed, there was no feathering either. Sheen in ink is a matter of expert usage I believe. Probably to get the sheen effect the use of the right tools and techniques is required.

Personally, I have liked their blue ink. It is bright and looks fabulous on paper. It is also comparable to Diamine Asa blue, and Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki. For a detailed ink review of blue ink check out “Mountain of Ink”.

RATE THIS POST

March 6, 2021 0 comment

Art with Ink & Pen

Doodling with a Fountain Pen

by Vishal Singhi June 28, 2020

The piano keys, a doodle using a pen and ink

Fountain pens are definitely something more than just for writing. I firmly believe that one can do much more than just signatures or little writing that we do in our daily lives. The way we communicate may have adapted to digital means by fountain pens are here to stay and still create the impact they used to. Fountain pens are back in vogue and not just for writing or for signatures, but in a completely new avatar. Doodle with a fountain pen is the next thing and a new form of art.

The Fountain pens in current times are not used much for writing letters but are definitely coming back for a variety of other reasons. Fountain pens today can be used for many things apart from just writing and one of them is using them for fun doodling. You can create masterpieces with fountain pen sketching and many are doing it, however, I personally prefer, making fun and quick doodles as I find them less time consuming and quick to complete. Ah, a sense of accomplishment engulfs me every time I finish one.

The flute, doodled with a fountain pen and krishna ink

Why do l like to draw/doodle with fountain pens?

I Love the way a fountain pen glides on paper which makes it fun
It enables me to test a new fountain pen with respect to the nib and ink flow
It helps to understand how different inks behave with different nibs.
I carry fountain pens on me all the time, so it’s handy.
I do not need to sharpen it like my pencil 😉
I can get different line variations depending upon the pen I am using or by holding it at different angles
Nowadays ink colors come in shades that are no less than any shade card of any wall painting company

I can use it as mixed media and add a combination of gel pen and ink pen, or use wash techniques with ink pens.
Using fountain pens over pencils or sketch pens for fun doodling gives me a feeling of safeguarding nature, as I do not have to add a lot of plastic waste or pencil shavings.
It is not expensive as now we can get fountain pens starting at 150 rupees that can easily last for years.

The harmonica, a fun doodle with a fountain pen

Scribbling or doodling with a fountain pen, in itself has many benefits with some of them researched and proven by studies. Some of the benefits of doodling include memory improvement, increased levels of brain activity, increased levels of creativity, focus and concentration and acts as a stress buster. Now that studies from researches are known, doodling for me becomes an even more satisfying experience.

I have been doodling for a long time; however, have now started posting some basic work with videos and some tutorials on my Instagram handle @fountainpendoodles. My latest contribution was 7days 7 doodles on music. I did this with Ranga Pens and inks from RobertOster, Krishna, Pelikan, and Monteverde.

View this post on Instagram

Calling all drummers today

A post shared by Vishal Singhi (@fountainpendoodles) on Jun 30, 2020 at 6:56am PDT

RATE THIS POST

June 28, 2020 0 comment

Art with Ink & Pen

FOUNTAIN PENS FOR DOODLING

by Sripal Jain June 22, 2020

You read it right. Fountain pens for doodling is a new art form. There was an era, where fountain pens were the preferred instrument for writing world over. A fountain pen was the medium to express, be it a poem or a love letter. It was a medium to communicate. From drafting letters to notices. From drafts to legal documents. Then there was a period when the fountain pen was left to the mere use of signatures.

Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, the fountain pen has found new meaning and use. Little did anybody guess that fountain pens one day would be used to create art and sketches. With the wide variety of inks available today creating art with pen & ink is picking up as a great hobby. There are 100’s of ink shades from various brands. Various ink types are available like Shimmer inks, Sheen inks, Permanent inks, Glow inks, Luminous inks, etc etc etc.

Today with fountain pen doodling, many art are created. Today, I will show how an art made from Pen & Ink art is use to illustrate an important day ” Fathers Day.

My dear friend Vishal Singhi, is one such Pen & Ink art enthusiast. On my request, he readily agreed and created a fountain pen doodle which illustrates the special relationship between father and son. Below is the original shared by Vishal.

The above work was created with over 8 different inks.

Private reserve buttercup
Krishna halloween orange
Pelikan Edelstein jade
Montblanc Irish green
Visconti black
Private reserve ebony purple
Robert Oster bondi blue
Iroshizuku tsukushi

For our fathers day marketing activity, we used this creative and promoted a 10% discount till July 30th. Below creative was the resulting output.

Art has always been known as a great stress buster. Now’s the time. If you are into fountain pens, do try your hands at some casual doodling. Don’t worry about the outcome. It will get better with time if you start enjoying it. Do lookout for some great art with pen & ink classes on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Will share more artworks and art forms in my upcoming posts. Untill then have a great day.

RATE THIS POST

June 22, 2020 0 comment