Monteverde Ocean Noir

Ink Reviews
Written By Julian

Ink Review #166

 

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

 

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The Color | Properties

Monteverde Ocean Noir is a deep, highly saturated, and bold blue ink. It’s quite dark, though, I wouldn’t quite call it a blue-black. There’s not a lot of shading, but you may notice a soft gradient on the insides of letters, especially when writing in cursive. On more ink-resistant papers that allow the ink to pool more (such as Tomoe River), you may notice a light red sheen around the edges or the letters, and where the ink pools the most.

Ink droplets

Ink splat

 

Chromatography

 

Performance on Paper | Dry Times | Water Resistance

You may have noticed some light feathering on the ink droplets above, and that generally translates into writing as well. In the case of Ocean Noir, it wasn’t as bad as expected. There was very light feathering (almost unnoticeable) in the Leuchtturm1917 notebook, but outside of that, there was only the typical feathering in the Kokuyo Campus notebook. For bleedthrough, there were only small (again, almost unnoticeable) traces of bleeding on the Leuchtturm1917 and Maruman Mnemosyne papers. This ink should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers, but based on my results, it may not do as well when used with wetter-tuned nibs. I recommend trying this ink on a test page first.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

The dry times were average. On the more absorbent papers (Rhodia, Leuchtturm, Maruman, Kokuyo), the dry times were better, mostly drying between 10 and 15 seconds across all the nib sizes. On the more ink-resistant papers (Tomoe River, Midori), the dry times were unsurprisingly worse, but it was mostly due to the sheen the ink begins to take on. The sheen can make the ink very smudgy, and it can still smudge long after it’s dried from residual hand moisture.

 
 

When exposed to water, the color quickly clouds over the writing. There are still some dark blue traces of the writing left over, but it’s very messy, and the legibility isn’t the best.

More Pages

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the Pen | Cleaning

Ocean Noir has wet flow and excellent lubrication. The writing experience is pleasant overall, and the ink performed well with all of the test nibs, and exceptionally well with the needlepoint. There weren’t any drops in flow during my extended writing tests, and overall, the experience was excellent.

The cleaning experience was also good. The ink took a few sets of soaking and flushing to fully clean out, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary for a more saturated ink. More importantly, there weren’t any visible stains or traces of residue left over in the pen or nib units after basic cleaning.

 
 

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

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

 
 

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

Written in a Traveler’s Company 026 notebook insert (white, 5mm ruling) with a fine nib.

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

  • Performance in a pen: 10/10

  • Performance on paper: 8/10

  • Color saturation: 8/10

  • Sheening: 5/10

  • Shading: 2/10

  • Dry time: 710

  • Water resistance: 1/10

  • Ease of cleaning: 8/10

  • Shimmer: None

My Personal Thoughts…

Being that the Noir Collection is an extended take on the classic blue-black shade of inks, Ocean Noir isn’t necessarily the most inspired ink in the set. With that said, it’s a lot brighter and bolder than I expected it to be (though it’s still quite dark). While the color doesn’t break new ground like some other inks in the set, it still looks great, and if you ask me, it’s easily the better of the two blues that the Noir Collection has to offer in both performance and behavior. This is an easy ink to recommend, especially for very fine (such as needlepoints) or drier-tuned nibs.

 

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Pelikan M800 (fine nib).

 

More images/info:

 

Featured in the photography and writing samples:

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

 

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 52 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

  • A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

  • A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook

 
Julian
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Monteverde Mulberry Noir