Sunday, September 2, 2018

Ink Review Koh-I-Noor blue

The fountain pen ink is produced by Koh-I-Noor in the Czech Republic.
It comes in a plastic bottle, 50 g (or roughly 50 ml) like in the picture. The ink doesn't come in any kind of additional packaging, it has no additional box. All this I imagine is to reduce the cost and offer the best possible price to the consumer.
It comes in just 3 colors, blue, black and red (edit: I also found green recently), so a rather limited selection, but the ink is marketed towards students who need a no fuss, inexpensive ink.
And when it comes to price, it is a fantastic one. It is available in about every shop and costs between 1.1 - 1.4 Euro (average of 1.5 USD).
Another cheap contender would be Hero, but the price for a bottle of 60 ml is about 4.8 - 5 USD
Another comparison could be done with Pelikan 4001 blue 1000 ml (which is cheaper than black). The price on Amazon.de for 1000 ml is 26.59 euro, which translates into 0.03 euro/ml or 1.5 euro for 50 ml.
This makes the Koh-I-Noor ink to be more cost-effective even compared to Hero ink. Yes, the Hero comes in a glass bottle and has a box.

Koh-i-Noor is a well-known brand of artists' supplies, and their ink is considered to be of high quality. Their ink is often used by calligraphers, illustrators and artists due to its rich, vibrant color and smooth flow. Some of their inks are also waterproof, lightfast and pH neutral which is great for artists who want to create long lasting works. Many artists and calligraphers also appreciate the fact that Koh-i-Noor inks are made with natural pigments, which can give their work a unique and organic feel. In addition, Koh-i-Noor ink is also used for technical drawings and is suitable for use with fountain pens and dip pens. 

So the ink comes in an unimpressive plastic bottle, the label is in Czech and English and this is about it. The top colored band from the label represents the color of the ink.
It is a light blue, not too saturated, but I like the look. The color and saturation is in between the Faber Castell Royal Blue and the Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. The Pelikan 4001 has a little more of an indigo color in it.


As I stated before, the ink is marketed for students, so this is a no fuss ink. It does not shine and it doesn't shade. But it flows well, hasn't been able to clog a pen so far, it dries reasonably fast, and does not bleed.
There is an area where it doesn't do very well, and that is water. Running water over a piece of paper almost erased the entire Koh-I-Noor ink. It was hardly visible after. The Pelikan is not a lot better, but I would grade it a little higher.
Off course, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as people who use fountain pens tend to have inky fingers. So it will be easy to clean off in case of an accident.

To conclude, I give it a thumbs up. It is a great value ink. 

The company also produces a document ink. "Ink suitable for fountain pens, light and moisture-resistant, cannot be removed from paper without damaging the paper. For use in archives, for writing documents and at registry offices." They offer it in 50 g plastic bottle and 30 ml in a glass bottle, available in blue and black
 

If you are interested in Koh-I-Noor's offer for document ink, you can check the following link:
Koh-I-Noor document blue ink in glass bottle

2 comments:

  1. Hello,
    Thank you for a nice review. As a keen KOH-I-NOOR blue ink user I would recommend you to buy a 1 liter bottle for about 5 EUR (probably the cheapest ink in the world). If you like more indigo, let it partly evaporate (50 % is the best).
    https://www.papirnictvidaubner.cz/detail/1929/inkoust-141506-modry-1000g.html

    Greeting from Prague
    M.

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  2. Thank you for sharing. It is the first time I see such an ink bottle from Koh I Noor. I haven't seen in any shop or on their site
    Very good price

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