Anderillium Viceroy Butterfly Orange
Ink Review #8
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
Viceroy Butterfly Orange is a deep blood-orange that shades with a soft gradient between varying tones of orange that have the potential to give it an almost reflective appearance (though not to be confused with sheen). Depending on the nib though, it’s possible that the ink will come out too wet on the paper and the deeper tones will become overpowering, causing the shading to be difficult to see.
When viewing the dried droplets during the ink test, I noticed that they formed a slight golden crust in the areas where the ink pooled. It wasn’t a reflective sheen exactly, but I suspect that there’s a slight possibility that in just the right conditions you may notice a minor sheen.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
During my tests, Anderillium Viceroy Butterfly Orange performed well. I didn’t notice any detectable bleed-through or feathering on any of the test pages. The dry times were just below average, mostly drying within 20 seconds, although the finer nibs experienced dry times slightly longer than normal. Unfortunately, the water resistance is lacking. There’s some retention, but the saturated ink produces a cloudy haze that is by and large illegible.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
The performance was mixed. There’s a medium-wet flow, but it didn’t feel consistent across all of the test nibs. The ink outright refused to write from the needlepoint on both the Tomoe River and Midori MD papers and had difficulties with the others. The other nibs didn’t have any difficulties writing through the other nibs, but there was a noticeable feeling of dryness through the broad, tub, and architect nibs. Otherwise, the finer nibs felt lubricated enough to write comfortably, but I would still suggest pairing this ink with a wetter pen.
Value/cost per ml:
At the time of writing, Anderillium Viceroy Butterfly Orange is available for $14.50 for a 45ml bottle from select US retailers, making this ink $0.32 per ml.
The bottle/packaging:
Anderillium Viceroy Butterfly Orange comes in a great hexagonal jam jar-style bottle with a gold cap that not only looks good but is very functional as well. The bottle has a nice wide opening that will fit just about any pen (and syringe or pipette when the ink level gets too low), and the bottle feels very stable for filling.
The outer packaging is a basic white box with the same artwork from the bottle depicting a Viceroy Butterfly.
Score: 58.5/70
Price per ml: 7/10
Performance in a pen: 6.5/10
Performance on paper: 10/10
Color saturation: 7/10
Sheening: 1/10
Shading: 5/10
Dry time: 5.5/10
Water resistance: 1/10
Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10
Bottle form: 4/5
Bottle function: 4/5
*Only 70 of the 100 available points are required for an outstanding score.My personal thoughts...
This is an exceptionally deep orange. When comparing the swatches I actually had a difficult time discerning it from a dark red. Thankfully, when applied in writing the color appears more distinctly as an orange (although, a rich blood orange). I think this one has the tendency to appear considerably darker than the desired effect, but the shading in just the right circumstances is still quite beautiful.
I was somewhat disappointed in the way that this ink performed compared to other Anderillium inks that I’ve tried. I ran it through several different pens and achieved similar results. It should still be more than usable in most pens, but depending on what you want from it, this one may require some extra effort to tame.
Written in a Leuchtturm1917 notebook with a Carolina Pen Company Charleston “Fire Opal” (Fine)
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 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook
Other inks in the Lepidopteran Series:
