Vinta Sea Kelp Leyte
Ink Review #66
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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Overview
The Color and Properties
Vinta Sea Kelp Leyte is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a medium, earthy green that reflects the color of sea kelp. This ink shades with a soft cut between light and darker tones in areas where the ink pools. While there isn’t a lot of tonal variation with standard nib sizes, the more I look at this ink, the more I see hints of yellow in areas where the ink didn’t lay down as heavily. Larger nib sizes bring out the yellow tones even more.
Ink Splat
Ink Droplets
Chromatography
Performance on Paper | Dry Times | Water Resistance
This ink is mostly well-behaved. Most of the test papers showed no signs of bleeding or feathering, but there was significant bleeding on the Kokuyo sheet. It should still be fine on more ink-resistant papers, but you may have issues on papers that are prone to bleeding, especially using wetter nibs.
Rhodia
Leuchtturm1917
The dry times were mixed and overall inconsistent. For the most part, the dry times remained under 20 seconds, but the finer nibs often showed longer-than-average dry times.
There wasn’t a lot of water resistance. There are yellow traces left behind of what was written, but they’re faded and cloudy. Readability may vary.
More Pages
Performance in the Pen | Cleaning
The first thing I noticed when writing with this ink was how slick it feels to write with. It was a notably enjoyable writing experience. It has a mostly consistent medium-wet flow, but for some reason, the flow was noticeably heavier than normal with the broad nib. During extended writing, there’s a small drop-off in flow after a few lines, but it doesn’t have a noticeable effect on the writing experience, and there’s no further decrease in flow afterwards. I didn’t run into any hard starts or skips while writing with this ink either.
Cleaning was easy, as well, and the nibs were clear of any ink or residue in a single soak and flush with a bulb syringe (although the soak hardly felt necessary).
Writing Samples
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 5mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with an extra fine nib.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 7mm ruling) with a Franklin-Christoph S.I.G. double-broad nib.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 10mm ruling) with a Franklin-Christoph 1.9mm music nib.
Written on Clairfontaine paper (white, 10mm ruling) with a Franklin-Christoph 1.9mm music nib.
Performance in a pen: 10/10
Performance on paper: 7.5/10
Color saturation: 6/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 5.5/10
Dry time: 6.5/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 9/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts...
As Vinta describes it, the name Sea Kelp Leyte 1944 is in reference to the 1944 Battle of the Leyte Gulf, but also refers to the kelp production industry in Leyte. I think this ink does justice to its namesake. I love it when inks (and especially green inks) take on a more earthy and natural appearance, and Sea Kelp Leyte does that wonderfully. It’s very satisfying to watch the color dry from a more vibrant green as it comes out of the pen into its deeper, more subdued shade. It’s not just the color that’s great though: this is probably one of the smoothest green inks I’ve ever had in the test pen, and I don’t say that lightly. It was shockingly enjoyable to write with this ink, and I would absolutely recommend it.
Written in a 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook with a medium nib.
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Vinta Sea Kelp Leyte 1944
Franklin-Christoph Model 20 “Autumn Oak” (medium, S.I.G Broad, Music nibs)
68 gsm Tomoe River notebook by GoodINKPressions
52 gsm B6 Tomoe River notebook insert by Galen Leather
Clairefontaine Notebook
Midori MD B6 Slim lined notebook — Amazon
ANATTASOUL Cat Brass Clip — Amazon
Traveler’s Company brass clip —Endless Pens | Amazon
Tim Holtz mini bulldog clips — Amazon
Endless Explorer Notebook Cover — Endless Pens
Pen rest and bottle holder by Fountain PENdulum
Current text: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (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 68 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook