Franklin-Christoph Midnight Emerald
Ink Review #18
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
Franklin-Christoph Midnight Emerald is a deep aqua green that has a slightly flat look to it. There’s some shading, especially when writing in print, with a soft cut between light and dark intensities of the color — there’s not a lot of contrast, but it’s distinct. In cursive, the shading comes through as a softer, more solid gradient. Depending on the wetness of the pen and paper used, you might see a slight red sheen between the shading areas of the ink as well.
Ink Splat
Ink Droplets
Performance on paper:
Midnight Emerald had a mixed performance. During my tests, I experienced the typical minor bleed-through on the Kokuyo paper, but I also had some feathering on both the Leuchtturm paper, as well as the 68 gsm Tomoe River paper that I had originally planned to use for my writing samples. The other paper test pages held up, but I expect the user experience will vary a lot, especially on more absorbent papers.
The dry times mostly fell into the standard range of 10-20 seconds, but I did find that there was a slight degree of inconsistency. Despite this, I generally found the dry times to be lower on the Rhodia, Kokuyo, and Leuchtturm papers (Although the latter pair don’t support the ink as well).
The water resistance is good, although from looking at the sizeable grey patch on the chromatography, I expected that it would be better. Still, the water resistance is passable, leaving light grey shadows behind wherever the water washes the color away that are dark and crisp enough to be readable in the case of an emergency spill.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Midnight Emerald had mixed performance. Generally, the ink performed well. I didn’t experience any hard starts, skips, or stops during my tests. The problem was the flow — it was highly inconsistent. I initially experienced a medium flow in the finer nibs, but the broad nib had a notably wetter flow, and then both the stub and architect nibs followed up with an overly dry flow. Excluding the stub and architect nibs, the ink felt well-lubricated, and the writing experience was great when flowing properly.
Cleaning was painless, and the water ran clear with a single soak and flush without leaving any residue or stains in the pen.
Written on Oxford Optik paper (white) with a Franklin-Christoph SIG Broad nib
Written on Midori MD (cream) with a Franklin-Christoph SIG Broad nib
A closeup of the feathering on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper.
Performance in a pen: 6.5/10
Performance on paper: 6.5/10
Color saturation: 7/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 5/10
Dry time: 7.5/10
Water resistance: 6/10
Ease of cleaning: 9/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts…
I’ll admit that I feel a little bit disappointed with the results I got. After purchasing this ink at the Franklin-Christoph booth, I was met with a lot of excitement from the others that I was with about Midnight Emerald. I wasn’t surprised — that was me too. It’s a very appealing color. It just sounds like it’s going to be good. And to be fair, the color isn’t even the problem.
If you want to enjoy Midnight Emerald, you certainly can — and there’s a strong possibility that it will be just fine. It’s a nice color. But I hate to recommend something when I know there can be so much variability in the experience.
Written on Oxford Optik paper with a Franklin-Christoph Model 40 (SIG Broad)
More images/info:
Color comparisons:
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