on saleMonteverde Moonstone - Ink Sample

Instant favorite. A perfect sepia-like taupe for an antique look. Very well behaved ink. Will be buying a bottle for sure.

I received Moonstone as a random sample, chosen by Brenda. Moonstone looked rather unassuming in the vial but what a lovely surprise it was when I inked my pen and began writing. A smooth-flowing medium dark brown, it doesn't clog my TWSBI GO with EF nib. At first, I considered it a nice change of pace from the standard blue and black inks I use at work. Now it is a favorite and a 30ml bottle will soon be purchased. Thank you, Goulet Pens, for offering the "test drive" size, and thank you Brenda for choosing it as my random sample. :-)

This is a very interesting ink - I found that it has lovely shading and the color is quite dynamic when writing with a broad or stub nib. I had the ink sit a bit once and I ended up with some pretty interesting green sheen, which was pretty neat.However, in an extra-fine nib (my usual go-to, I have tiny writing), the color is quite light and actually the ink sort of beads up in the line. So in very fine nibs it's not my favorite. For broader nibs it's quite lovely.

I'm not a huge fan of brown inks in general, but this is one that has really caught my eye. It reminds me a bit of Pilot's Ina-ho, though the colors are not especially similar, it has a similar quality, if that makes any sense. The color swab on this page is pretty accurate, but it doesn't quite convey the depth and complexity of it. I can't believe I'm waxing poetic about a brown, but it has a dreamy quality. The color changes as it dries and can range from something like a warm gray, to a deep neutral brown. Very hard to capture an accurate picture! I currently have it in a very wet writing pen and a pen of average to slightly higher wetness. I believe the color would come out lighter in a finer or dryer nib.

I purchased this ink to see if I could use it as an accent for note taking. The ink is smooth and flows nicely from the pen. I don't see much shading as I end up using cheap paper, but do see nice variance when I go over something I've written again.