Ink Review #86

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

Overview

The color/properties:

Robert Oster Yellow Sunset is a bright yellow that offers moderate shading in areas where the ink pools, and when laid down heavily enough it can bring out hints of orange around the edges of the shading areas. This color can be difficult to make out with the finer, and can easily be drowned out by graph papers, or anything written on a subsequent page with a darker ink. I didn’t think that larger nib sizes would bring out more visibility in the color, but as it turns out larger nib sizes go a long way in not just bringing out the best of the color, but the shading as well.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Yellow Sunset should be okay on most fountain pen-friendly papers. The bleed-through on Kokuyo was minimal and limited to the broad nib, and there were no other instances of feathering or bleeding on the other test pages. The dry times were average, but not as good as I expected for a drier ink. Through the large nib sizes the ink dried within 10-15 seconds, with a few cases where it took as long as 20, while the finer nib sizes managed to dry within 5-10 seconds. The water resistance is weak, and water exposure immediately washes most of the color away, with little to no legibility remaining.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Yellow Sunset has a dry flow and low lubrication, but the flow was at the very least consistent across all of the nib sizes, and while the flow was dry, it was still able to keep up with each of the test nibs. With that said the flow did pose some trouble while working on the writing sample for this review (using a broad-nibbed Epitome Spark). Even though the pen I used is generally a wet writer, it wasn’t able to keep up for more than a few words before the color would begin to lighten too much and I had to wait for the flow to catch back up. So, I would suggest a nib that’s broad, but not too wet, unless you have an appropriate feed that can flow the ink well enough. I wouldn’t expect this ink to keep up for long, fast writing sessions either. Surprisingly, I never ran into any hard starts or skips (on the test pages, or the writing sample), but the ink seemed to favor softer, spongier papers. Harder or waxy papers such as Rhodia, Maruman, or Midori MD seemed to worsen the feeling of dryness. The ink also tends to crust around the nib, but it doesn’t seem to make the flow any worse. Cleaning the ink was easy, and only required a simple flush and soak for the nib units to run clear of any color or residue. The crusting around the nib could become difficult to clean out if left unattended for too long, but I didn’t have any troubles removing it.

• Performance in a pen: 6/10

• Performance on paper: 9/10

• Color saturation: 4/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 6/10

• Dry time: 7.5/10

• Water resistance: 1/10

• Ease of cleaning: 8/10

• Shimmer: None

Sarah’s personal thoughts...

Yellow Sunset was one of my first yellow inks. It’s funny because I don’t normally like the color yellow and I don’t think I would use a yellow ink in my daily journals very often, but for some reason, the yellows keep calling to me.

I was on the hunt for summery-colored inks when I found Yellow Sunset a few years ago. I wanted a yellow that was bright, warm, yet still readable, and it ticked all of my boxes. What really sold it to me, however, was the beautiful shading, shifting from a solid bright yellow to a deeper, richer yellow that can appear orange at times. It’s a color that reminds me of late summer afternoons – warm breezes and bright sunlight filtering through the susurrating leaves; the sound of a neighbor mowing the lawn; the soft buzz of pollinators at work; the scent of fresh cut grass and all of nature in full bloom. My favorite things about one of my favorite seasons. Maybe that’s why I keep chasing the yellows: to me, summers always feel too short, and I can never get enough.

That said, I haven’t quite found the perfect pen/paper combination that makes this ink sing for me. As Julian mentioned above, it can feel quite dry, especially on smoother/coated papers like Rhodia, Midori, or Tomoe River. Surprisingly, I had the most satisfying result using this ink in a Fringe brand journal. I have no idea what kind of paper they use, but it had just enough tooth to counter the slightly unpleasant dryness of the ink that I experienced on most of the fountain pen-friendly papers I tried. It’s an ongoing struggle that I have with yellow inks, but I’m determined to find a combo that will allow me to fully enjoy this delightful ink.

More images/info:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

• A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.

• A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad

• A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook

• A Midori MD A5 Notebook

• A 52gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

• A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

• A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook