Ferris Wheel Press April Showers

Ink Reviews
Written By Julian

Ink Review #130

 

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

 

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Overview

The color/properties:

April Showers is a shimmering ink. The base color is a light grey with just a hint of blue undertone. It shades with a crisp cut between its lighter and darker tones in both cursive and print, but it’s more distinct in print.

The shimmer is silver, and while there’s not a ton of it, it’s well-distributed in writing. There’s little contrast between the particulates and the base color as well, and that can make it difficult to see, especially in cursive, where the ink pools less. Still, it’s just visible enough to give the color an appropriately pleasant but light sparkle.

The color is on the lighter side, but I didn’t have any difficulties with legibility. Even on thinner paper, it’s easy enough to read over the show-through from the opposite side of the page.

Ink splat

Ink droplets

 

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

 

Performance on paper:

April Showers behaves well — there was a tiny spot of bleed-through on the Kokuyo sheet when using the flex nib, but otherwise there weren’t any signs of bleeding or feathering on the other test sheets. This ink should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers in most conditions.

The dry times weren’t as good as I was expecting them to be, sometimes taking as long as 20-25 seconds with the larger nib sizes.

The water resistance, however, was surprisingly good! There was slight fading after water exposure, but there are still crisp and clear shadows left over from what was written.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Water resistance

Chromatography

Performance in the pen:

April Showers’ performance was good. It has a dry-medium flow, although it struggled with the fine and extra fine nibs. I didn’t experience any clogs with them, but they wrote dry, and the experience wasn’t great. With the medium nib and up, on the other hand, it was fine. I didn’t have any clogs, hard starts, skips, or drop-offs in flow during my tests. The lubrication isn’t the best, and if you like your inks to be slick, I would warn against this one, but in my opinion, it’s still very usable.

When it comes to cleaning, the color washes out quickly. There weren’t any traces of color or inky residue left in the pen or nib units, however, there was still a tiny ring of particulates left over in the barrel. I was able to get it out easily with a twisted paper towel, but it may be more difficult in some pens. Still, it’s way better than a shimmery haze along the barrel.

 

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white)

Written on Leuchtturm1917 paper (cream)

Written with a 5.5 Fountain Pen Revolution Ultraflex nib on Franklin-Christoph paper (white)

  • Performance in a pen: 7/10

  • Performance on paper: 9.5/10

  • Color saturation: 4/10

  • Sheening: 0/10

  • Shading: 5.5/10

  • Dry time: 6.5/10

  • Water resistance: 4/10

  • Ease of cleaning: 6.5/10

  • Shimmer: Silver, Light

My personal thoughts…

While spring might not be my absolute favorite time of year (that’s an honor that goes to Autumn), if I had to choose a close second, the early stages of spring would be the easy choice. Among many things, those early spring showers are a huge part of it — I love them, and I think April showers does a great job of bringing it to life on paper. Of course, there are plenty of great rainy day inks to choose from already, and they all have a unique approach to the concept, but I tend to think of them as moody colors. April Showers is different: this feels like a happy grey. A refreshing and gentle reminder that winter is finally over. It’s raining, but instead of a dreary overcast, the sunlight is still glistening off the wet ground. The air is fresh, and maybe I’ll take my camera out for a day at the lake.
If you ask me, this is a perfect example of a spring ink.

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Franklin-Christoph Model 31 (medium)

More images/info:

 

Featured in the photography and writing samples:

More rainy day-themed inks:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

  • A TWSBI Diamond 580 with 5 nib units including an EF, F, M, B, and 1.1mm stub, 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 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

  • A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

  • A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook

 
Julian
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