Ink Review #61

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

Overview

The color/properties:

Wearingeul Captain Hook is a deep, rich red with a mild purple undertone. It shades with a soft cut, and in some cases a soft gradient between light and slightly darker tones in areas where the ink pools. There can also be some light edging around the letters depending on the paper and pen used. The shading however does not create a high level of tonal variation but instead helps to give this ink a deeper, almost velvety appearance on paper. When I was doing my tests I noticed a light sheen on the Midori MD paper. It wasn’t easily visible and I only noticed in low light, and at an awkward angle, but it did appear. There was also a slight green-black sheen that appeared in the droplets. Captain Hook isn’t a sheening ink though, and despite my findings, I wouldn’t expect any notable sheen out of this ink in normal writing circumstances.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

There was the usual bleed-through on the Kokuyo paper with all of the nib units, but otherwise, there wasn’t any bleeding or feathering on the other papers. Most fountain pen-friendly papers should be able to handle this ink without much trouble. The dry times were okay, but not great. They felt somewhat inconsistent with the finer nibs and while they never actually went past the 20-second mark, I have a hard time trusting that they would always dry in that time. There’s a feeling that even if this ink seems “dry,” it might still smudge for some time afterward if you’re not careful with it, or you might close your notebook on it and still find a red spot on the opposite page. The water resistance wasn’t all that great either. There was enough retention that it leaves behind a purple shadow of what was written on the paper that might still be readable, but there’s also a lot of clouding and the legibility isn’t great.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Captain Hook is very well-behaved (hah). It has a consistent medium-wet flow and is very well-lubricated. In fact, the first thing I noticed upon inking a pen with Captain Hook was how silky the ink felt to write with. It’s not too much to take away any tactility, but the writing experience was very pleasant, and a highlight of this ink. I didn’t experience any hard starts or skips during my tests either and cleaning was easy. A single flush and soak had the water running clear from each of the test nibs and there wasn’t any color or residue left behind in the pen, although I suspect that cleaning could become an issue if this ink is left in the pen for too long.

• Performance in a pen: 10/10

• Performance on paper: 9/10

• Color saturation: 8/10

• Sheening: 1/10

• Shading: 6/10

• Dry time: 6.5/10

• Water resistance: 3/10

• Ease of cleaning: 8/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

I could barely hold in my excitement when I found out that Wearingeul was coming out with a Peter Pan ink set, and it’s finally here! As a long-time fan of all things pirate, Captain Hook was the one I was the most excited for, and I’m not disappointed — it’s an awesome red ink. The connection here is pretty clear: red coat = red ink. Judging from the artwork on the bottle, I would be shocked if the inspiration for the label design wasn’t the iconic Disney version of the character. If you compare the ink to the color of Captain Hook's red coat from the animation, you might notice that this ink is slightly darker with more depth. The deeper, full-bodied red brings it to life from the flatter, more uniform colors used in the old animated movie. It’s rich and distinctive on just about any paper. If you’re in the market for a bright red ink that still offers a lot of dimension in normal writing, this could be a good option.

Other inks in this set:

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