What’s more exciting than doing the first post of the year on inks?

In my short career as a pen addict (1 1/2 precisely), I realised that half, if not more, of the fun is pursuing your inky passions, especially if you’re broke (like me).

I first heard of Robert Oster inks from reddit, but since they are situated in Australia, not many people knew them. They seemed like Organic Studios, but with a more appealing (to me) range. Recently iZods (UK) became the an official retailer of their inks.

To be honest, the ink bottles they come in look pretty appealing, especially with that gold sticker. Looks like a vitamin bottle.

iZods pens don’t have the full range of these inks in stock, but a quick search shows about 43 inks. From the samples and reviews online, they have very nice shading and some unique colours, such as Grün Schwarz and Yellow Sunset.

Grün Schwarz

German for green-ish black. Quite a serious colour, could be suitable for work situation. Almost military. Pleasing red sheen that could be fun in a wet pen.

Doesn’t have the most exciting shading though.

Average dry times with this ink, about 20 seconds. Looking at similar inks, Noodler’s Zhivago and Diamine Evergreen.

Direct Sun

Rad red. What can I say? I’m quite biased towards sheening red inks. A lively red, I spilled some onto my hand and ended up looking sunburnt…

A reflective sort of sheen, unlike the obvious yellowness of Pilot Mixable Red’s sheen. Nevertheless, rather delicious shading.

A different sort of sunny colour. Kaweco’s Sunrise Orange seems brown when compared to this. Colour surprisingly close to that of Diamine Pink Glitz. It’s quite orange!

The dry times are minimal, only 15 seconds. Some similar inks are Sheaffer Skrip Red, Herbin Rouge Hematite (under the sparkles).

Both these inks are available from iZods at £14.95 a 50ml bottle. Around that price range are Edelstein (50ml) inks and Platinum Mix Free (60ml). Oh, and also the rarer Sailor Jentle (5oml). I wouldn’t compare them to Herbin’s 1670 inks or KWZ’s Iron Gall since these have special characteristics.

For a pen ink this is a solid choice. It’d be really great if iZods could stock a wider range of these inks!