Waterman Tender Purple
Ink Review #16
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
Waterman Tender Purple is a soft medium purple. This ink is actually capable of a brilliant green sheen. It’s unfortunate because it can come through in writing, but I didn’t encounter any during my tests. Still, the nibs in my tests are only tuned for medium wetness, and I want to make it clear that this isn’t supposed to be a sheening ink. However, with a wet enough pen, you should be able to get a green sheen where the ink pools with relative ease. Good luck!
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
Tender Purple generally performs well. There was minor bleeding on the Kokuyo paper with the larger nibs on the Kokuyo paper, but otherwise, the rest of the test sheets produced no feathering or bleed-through. Their dry times were average, often drying within 20 seconds, but the finer nibs took just slightly longer than usual. Water resistance was poor. There was some retention, but a significant portion of what was written washed away completely, and what remained was still difficult to read due to clouding.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Waterman Tender Purple has a medium-dry flow that felt consistent across all of the test nibs. The flow is reasonable enough that I didn’t experience any hard starts or stops writing with this ink, but the lubrication was lacking. It’s sufficient enough to write with, but at least to me, it’s just barely slick enough to stop the experience from being unpleasant. I imagine that this could be an issue with drier-tuned nibs.
Tender Purple has a high saturation, but cleaning was easier than expected. The water flowed clear with a simple flush, and there wasn’t any staining or residue left in the pen. Still, I don’t recommend leaving this ink in a pen without cleaning for too long.
Performance in a pen: 8.5/10
Performance on paper: 9/10
Color saturation: 7/10
Sheening: 3/10
Shading: 4/10
Dry time: 7.5/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 8.5/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts…
At a time when there are literally thousands of inks out there, I think it can be a common thing to overlook many of the inks produced by legacy pen brands. I don’t often hear others mention Waterman inks outside of Serenity Blue. Tender Purple, however, is one of the more memorable colors in Waterman’s lineup. I find myself using it often during the fall and winter in a particular Retro 51 pen. It’s a rich and pleasant color that I particularly enjoy chasing the sheen out of. Give it a try.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Retro 51 Tornado “The Raven”
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 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook