Ink Review #113

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

Overview

The color/properties:

Wearingeul Frankenstein is a shimmering ink. The base color is a rich dark purple with minor shading — it’s more of a light gradient effect if you get any shading at all. Wearingeul claims that the shimmer is a “murky green” but in any lighting I look at it (including the bottom of the bottle if I flip it over) the particulates are a pearl blue. The shimmer contrasts the base color nicely, distributes well, and is easy to see in most lighting. It’s not the shimmeriest ink out there, but it looks great. Wearingeul also claims there’s a copper sheen, and it does have that, but it’s so minor I could barely notice it until I was looking at the macro images (below).

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

I think most fountain pen-friendly papers will be able to handle this ink. Outside of the standard light bleeding on Kokuyo, there were some tiny spots on the Leuchtturm page where it didn’t quite bleed through but came close. A wetter pen or heavier-handed writing might push some papers to their limits when using this ink.

The dry times were below average, especially with finer nib sizes taking up to 10 seconds (and more) to dry, but the larger nibs still never took longer than 20 seconds, which is less than I expected.

The water resistance isn’t the best. There’s some retention after water exposure, but it’s extremely hazy and the readability isn’t the best. Finer nibs that lay less of the ink down might have better results.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Frankenstein has a medium-wet flow, and overall it’s very consistent and smooth. The shimmer flows well through the nib and I didn’t experience any clogs. There were a few minor hard starts while writing the name of the ink at the top of the pages, but it was otherwise very pleasant and well-behaved.

The cleaning experience was also surprisingly good. The color washed out in a single soak and flush, but so did the shimmer. I was shocked to see that there was no shimmer or residue left in the pen after releasing the water inside. I probably wouldn’t let this sit untended in a pen for too long since it’s a saturated purple and the cleaning experience could become a hassle, but still, I’m impressed.

• Performance in a pen: 9/10

• Performance on paper: 7.5/10

• Color saturation: 8/10

• Sheening: 1/10

• Shading: 3/10

• Dry time: 7/10

• Water resistance: 2/10

• Ease of cleaning: 9/10

• Shimmer: Medium, pearl blue (supposedly murky green)

My personal thoughts...

Frankenstein is one of those inks I had to have as soon as I saw it — it’s so cool. And I haven’t been disappointed: it’s a nice performing and unique shimmer. However, I want to focus on the ink’s inspiration: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s kind of clear that Wearingeul took some influences from the common depictions of Frankenstein’s creation in popular culture, and that’s totally fine, but it leaves me conflicted. As I mentioned earlier, Wearingeul mentions in their own descriptions of the ink that the shimmer is a murky green. Now, I went around and asked a good handful of people what color they saw and the results were all the same — it’s blue. I suppose if you look really hard you might start to see some green, but honestly, I think I prefer blue. See, I took one look at this ink and thought that it was a stroke of genius. The purple base color takes an element from the popular depictions of Frankenstein’s monster, while the blue shimmer alludes to the convergence of science, horror, and philosophy all present in Mary Shelley’s classic. And it’s supposed to be a murky green? I’m glad it isn’t because I’ve become so fond of this ink the way it is.

More images/info:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

• A TWSBI Diamond 580 with 5 nib units including an EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and semiflex, All nibs are tuned to perform at the same 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