Monteverde Copper Noir

Ink Reviews
Written By Julian

Ink Review #159

 

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

 

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Overview

The color/properties

Monteverde Copper Noir is a bold orange that shades with a soft gradient in cursive and a slightly more pronounced soft cut when writing in print. The shaded areas have a nice contrast between a bright medium orange and a nearly red tone where the ink pools. If you’re familiar with Diamine Ancient Copper, Copper Noir is similar; however, Copper Noir leans more orange (I’ve included a comparison at the end of the review).

Ink splat

Ink droplets

 

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

 

Performance on paper:

You may have noticed that the ink droplets above are extremely feathery, and that translates to the writing experience on many papers. I experienced feathering and minor bleed-through on the Kokuyo, Maruman, Leuchtturm, and Tomoe River (52 gsm) papers. This ink will be okay with some fountain pen-friendly papers (for instance, it worked well with Midori MD paper), but I recommend trying on a test page before committing to writing with it if feathering or bleed-through is a problem.

The dry times were also below average and often took between 20 and 30 seconds to dry with both the finer and broader nib sizes.

Water exposure leaves behind shadows that are surprisingly dark and crisp, but the color quickly clouds over, leaving results that are legible but messy.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Water resistance

Chromatography

Performance in the pen:

Copper Noir has a wet flow and enough lubrication to make for a very comfortable writing experience. I didn’t experience any hard starts, skips, or stops during my tests, and the ink kept up well during my extended writing tests without any noticeable drops in flow.

The cleaning experience was easy, and the color washed out quickly in a single soak and flush without any visible residue left in the test pen or nib units.

 

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 6mm ruling) with a medium nib.

Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.

Written on Endless Regalia paper (white, 5mm ruling) with a medium nib.

  • Performance in a pen: 10/10

  • Performance on paper: 6/10

  • Color saturation: 7/10

  • Sheening: 0/10

  • Shading: 6/10

  • Dry time: 6.5/10

  • Water resistance: 3/10

  • Ease of cleaning: 10/10

  • Shimmer: None

My Personal Thoughts…

Alright, I’ve been waiting patiently to get to some of the more interesting colors in the Noir Collection that make good on their overall concept, and I think we’re finally here. Monteverde claims it to be a bright orange mixed with black, and the final result is both bold and striking. If nothing else, I love the color, and I would almost be willing to recommend this ink on that alone. It’s also quite pleasant to write with, and I think a lot of people will be happy with the overall flow and feel of this ink — I myself enjoyed it quite a lot. The issue for me here is how prone it is to feathering. Personally, I think it just barely crosses the line where it’ll feather a bit too easily on the papers that I like to write on. That’s to say, Copper Noir is far from the worst offender when it comes to feathery inks, and overall, it’s still usable, but as much as I like to think I’ll want to use this more in the future, I know that I’ll think twice every time because of the feathering. On the other hand, if you’re not terribly bothered by the feathering or have just the right pen/paper combination to use it with, this could be the orange ink for you.

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River Paper with a Pelikan M600 “Tortoiseshell Red” (medium nib).

More images/info:

 

Featured in the photography and writing samples:

Current text: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (Amazon)

 

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 52gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

  • A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

  • A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook

 
Julian
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