Even though this project has been going nearly 2 years and attracting a substantial audience I very very rarely get asked to review ink product ahead of launch. So when Kevin Watson of Blackstone Inks contacted me to test some of his new products naturally I jumped to it. The last time I reviewed the initial range was back in February 2016. You can read the article here >> and see a great move forward.

So, first up are his new range of scented fountain pen inks. Now, he says the chemistry may well be similar to the current range, but the colours aren’t necessarily. The only real constant is Golden Wattle, all the others are new and they’re lovely. I’m not generally into the scented side of things but these are pungent! The Australian Bush is worth a good sniff. All of them are great bleeders and blend with water readily, they react with bleach and they blend together beautifully. From a chromatography angle, Wild Orange, Brown Boronia and Australian Bush all reveal hidden hues AND all of the colours are great for writing. But take a look at the test art below and see what you think?

The petal samples were created by painting the petal shapes with water and then flooding in the colours. I used Golden Wattle with Wild Orange, Blue Gum with Red Kunzel and Blue Gum with Australian Bush. The abstract alphabet featured all seven colours. Once again, I created the alphabet with water and then bled the colours in with a brush. This a lovely range of colours and as you can see, they’re not just good for writing either! Check out the the diverse range of other colours created through the blending of the core colours!

One of the other NEW products sent over is Ink Concentrate. This is a brand new product, not released as yet and grew out of the SuSeMai powdered ink odyssey on the Fountain Pen network some years ago. When testing the powdered inks Kevin was surprised to find so many fountain pen enthusiasts did not have a ready supply of empty ink bottles so this time he has packaged the conentrate in 30ml PP bottles, ready to just add water. The concentrates are primarily a way to adjust the wetness and saturation of fountain pen ink to personal preferences but spreading the concentrate directly with a palette knife and brushing a water wash over it gets some pretty amazing effects. Sheen freaks, please note the 3D sheen below! Tasty or what!

And finally, a little love. The love heart was created in the same way – painted with water and then flooding in Blue Gum with pure Blackstone Magenta and then adding a shake of Bronze powder. Pretty! Which leads me to sign off with a teaser for you. Pure Magenta? Oh yes! My next review, Blackstone again, is a real corker and the Magenta is a key part of it – so stay tuned!

If you’d like to buy any of the original art featured on my site please contact me direct. I will do my upmost to add value to your investment over time. I am also accepting commissions for swatch tests. So, if you have a favourite ink(s) and some words for someone special, or maybe just for yourself, drop me a line and we can discuss further.

If you’d like to know more about this project, please take a look at the Mission Statement.

All tests on Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper using brushes and a Noodler’s Ahab for the ink work.

Just for the record – I do this for myself, I receive no remuneration what-so-ever and I tell it exactly how I see it.

Of possible interest: if you are interested in my techniques and want to try them yourself – workshop details below: