Ink Review #91

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

Overview

The color/properties:

Wearingeul Cheshire Cat is a medium magenta ink. It has a high degree of shading that’s especially noticeable with larger nib sizes. The pooled areas of the ink darken to take on a more purple tonality, and dark, crisp edges around the shaded areas in the writing.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

There was more bleed-through than I expected on the Kokuyo sheet, occurring with each nib size (even the needlepoint!). Still, none of the other papers showed any bleeding or feathering, nor was there any observable feathering on the ink droplets or ink splat. It should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers, especially those that are more ink-resistant. The dry times were average, but I expected better for a drier ink. The larger nib sizes still managed to dry within 20 seconds mostly, but the finer nib sizes took just slightly longer than their usual average. Based on the large grey spot in the chromatography, I expected the water resistance to be better. There were still some grey shadows left over after water exposure, but it’s fainter than I was hoping for and the legibility will vary.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Cheshire Cat has a dry flow, and while it could be slicker, it was still (mostly) lubricated enough for a comfortable writing experience. I experienced consistent dry starting while writing with the broad nib, and lubrication was notably worse. I didn’t experience any hard starting or stops with the other nibs, but I did notice a gradual drop in flow during extended writing (which was much more noticeable with large nib sizes). I had to periodically slow down to allow the flow to catch up again. This wouldn’t be the best choice of ink for fast writing sessions. I initially had some concerns that this ink might be difficult to clean out or cause staining in the barrel, but thankfully the ink cleaned out with a simple flush and soak.

• Performance in a pen: 8.5/10

• Performance on paper: 8.510

• Color saturation: 6/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 6/10

• Dry time: 7/10

• Water resistance: 2/10

• Ease of cleaning: 9/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

Wearingeul’s take on Cheshire Cat doesn’t stray too far from the typical interpretation of the character, and it’s pretty dead-on. I’ve heard it compared to Yama-budo (Iroshizuku), and at first, I was in agreement. After comparing them, Cheshire Cat is a lot brighter, and there’s no sheen here. In this case, I think that’s a good thing. It might mean that at a glance, it seems like a fairly basic magenta, but the lack of sheen emphasizes the shading, and with consideration of the concept, I love how the shading appears to imitate the pink/purple stripes on the Cheshire Cat. I don’t know if that was intentional (I’d like to think that it was), but either way, it’s so cool. I’ll admit, it could be wetter, but that would probably ruin what makes this color so spot-on. It’s not going to be an ink for everyone because of that, but I enjoyed my time with it.

More images/info:

Other inks in this set:

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