Holly is another traditional Christmas icon that I don’t really get. It was ever-present when I was growing up, to the point that I learned to draw it, but I never actually questioned it before now. Funny what fountain pen inks can do to you.
Day eighteen’s ink is called Holly, and it’s a welcome addition to the green inks of Inkvent, because I think there needs to be more. But then, I like green inks. It obviously takes inspiration from the holly plant, though I had trouble seeing the berries in it.A per usual, I’ve tested it was a Kaweco Sport extra-fine nib and using a Rhodia Webnotebook.
Let’s talk colour. Holly is a dark green that leans blue. It’s a unique colour, and I enjoyed writing with it because it goes down really dark, but doesn’t lose it’s colour. However, it also has some nice shading. It’s a rich colour, arguably the richest green we’ve seen, and that’s a big positive. I tend to prefer Elf’s green as a hue, but I think that this a a pretty good colour as well.
Holly is a fairly saturated ink, but not as much as others. It doesn’t bleed through the page, but ghosts just a bit. It doesn’t hold up well against water at all; though it doesn’t smear too much, writing is pretty much washed out and unreadable. The dry time is notable as it is a bit shorter than a lot of Diamine’s inks. It was completely dry after ten seconds, but I had to strain to see how much is smudged after five. It wasn’t bad at all, and I think left-handers like me can be really comfortable using this ink.
The writing experience was standard, with some but not too much feedback off the page, good ink flow that caused dark but crisp lines. It even performed well on office paper. I enjoyed using this ink and it did everything I asked of it.
Overall, I’m really happy to have another green option. It’s not the best, and it probably won’t make my list a favourites in the series, but it’s solid and likely to see a bit more use from me.
The Pen Lover's Nook 