Wearingeul Dracula
Ink Review #153
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.
Overview
The color/properties:
Wearingeul Dracula is a shimmering ink. The base color is a bright red with heavy pink undertones. There’s not a lot of shading but it shows with a soft gradient in cursive and a soft cut when writing in print, with slight dark edges. The shimmer is a bright and pearly purple-ish blue that creates a beautiful contrast with the base color. It’s not the heaviest shimmer, but it’s very easy to see, especially when writing in print.
Ink Splat
Ink Droplets
Performance on paper:
This ink is well-behaved. There was some bleed-through on both the Tomoe River and Maruman sheets, however, it was only in two spots when using the semi-flex nib, which lays down more ink than average. In all other instances, there were no visible traces of bleed-through or feathering. This ink should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers.
The dry times are slightly below average. The large nib sizes mostly dried within 15-20 seconds, but with the broad nib, the dry times could take as long as 30 seconds. The finer nib also took a longer average of 15 seconds.
When exposed to water, the ink quickly clouds over, but it leaves heavy pink shadows of the writing that are surprisingly legible.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Dracula has a dry-medium flow and enough lubrication to provide an average writing experience. The ink needs light agitation to keep the shimmer flowing, but I never ran into any clogs during my tests, and there’s no feeling of sandiness. There is, however, a slight drop off in flow during extended writing, especially when writing in cursive. It’s not that noticeable visually, but you can easily feel it as the lubrication goes away. The lower flow also means that it didn’t work well when used with the semi-flex nib, which resulted in a lot of railroading. I think in most cases, the flow isn’t a huge problem, especially when writing in print, but I do wish it were just slightly flowier.
The base color cleaned out of the pen surprisingly quickly, only needing a single soak and flush; however, there was a (rather difficult to see) blue haze left over along the barrel of the pen and piston crown that required disassembly to swab clean. This is typical for most shimmering inks, but requires mentioning nonetheless.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 7mm ruling).
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 5mm ruling).
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm Ruling).
Taken in indirect lighting to better showcase the shimmer.
Performance in a pen: 7/10
Performance on paper: 9/10
Color saturation: 6/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 4/10
Dry time: 6/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 6.5/10
Shimmer: Pearl Blue, Medium
My personal thoughts (and spoilers, probably)...
In all honesty, I imagine that as a concept, a Dracula-themed ink would be an easy thing to lazily put together and get right — make it blood red and you’re done. The thing is, I think that would also do a great injustice to a story that is so much more than what popular culture makes it out to be. That’s what makes Wearingeul’s Dracula so special: it’s that step further. It reminds me of a moonlit night over a cloudy red sky. Or maybe the glow of blue lights along the dark, desolate road to Dracula’s castle. It reflects the feelings of tension, dread, isolation, and unease in Jonathan Harker’s journal entries, but also the overarching atmosphere of the eerie and the mysterious that is ever-present in Bram Stoker’s novel. I still wish that it were just that little bit more flowy, but I still absolutely recommend this ink, because if you ask me, this is the perfect ink to complement the book.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Relic Pens custom pen (medium nib).
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Wearingeul Dracula
Custom Pen by Relic Pens
52 gsm Tomoe River notebook by Galen Leather
Endless Explorer notebook cover
Midori A6 lined notebook (Amazon) — My write-up on customizing the notebooks here.
Traveler’s Company Brass Clip (Amazon)
Current text: Dracula by Bram Stoker (Amazon)
More images/info:
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 52 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook