Here's another first for Rants of The Archer! This is the first review of the latest ink from Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy® line, Rose Gold Antiqua which is set for an international release on January 1, 2021.
Four years ago, I published my first review of Robert Oster Signature inks, Bondi Blue, and Australian Sky Blue. Robert Oster Signature Ink has just been launched then, and everyone was excited to try the new brand from Australia. Since then, Robert Oster has become the most prolific ink maker in the world, producing more than 170 ink colors inspired by the rich culture and scenery of Australia, reflecting the sun, sky, sea, earth, vines, and wines. Through the years, Robert Oster's inks have become very popular, including the standard and limited edition colors and the sheening and shimmer inks.
In early December, a Facebook conversation challenged Robert Oster to create a richer, purer rose gold shimmer ink. Robert has a series of inks with silver and gold shimmer called Shake'N'Shimmy® inks and a fan, Olga Nunez McLeod wondered if a true rose gold ink could become a possibility. Robert came up with Shake'N'Shimmy® Rose Gold Antiqua in less than three hours, and the whole fountain pen world exploded with the news of the new shimmer ink!
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| Robert Oster Signature inks are sold in tall, leak-proof, Australian-made 50ml PET bottles. Robert chose PET bottles for his ink because they are made from recycled chemical waste. The bottle shape helps in storage as they fit well in small drawers and cabinets. |
Shake'N'Shimmy® Rose Gold Antiqua is a lovely dusky pink ink with lots of rose gold shimmer, making it a true, purer rose gold fountain pen ink. It's darker and has more red than Rose Gilt Tynte which has silver flecks. The rose gold shimmer in Rose Gold Antiqua adds to its darker, richer color, and it is definitely one of the most beautiful shimmy inks that Robert Oster has ever produced.
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| Robert Oster Signature inks in pink. Rose Gold Antiqua is redder, darker, and richer than Rose Gilt Tynte, enhanced by the rose gold shimmer. This ink sampler is on 90gsm Canson sketch paper. |
I love matching fountain pens with inks, so I tested Rose Gold Antiqua using a Seashell Pink Otto Hutt design06 pen with a wet medium nib, and the 2018 Special Edition Lamy AL-star Vibrant Pink with a 1.5mm stub nib. I also tested the ink on three fountain pen friendly paper types, Tomoe River Paper (old 52gsm), Maruman, and Traveler's Notebook. For my long written review, I used the Otto Hutt design06 on the Recorder Notebook which has the new Tomoe River paper.
Despite its shimmer content, Rose Gold Antiqua has medium saturation and flow. It flows smoothly onto paper, and in both pens, ink flow to the nib was fast, steady, and consistent. However, to get a good amount of shimmer, I had to rotate the pen several times.
Rose Gold Antiqua is such a unique fountain pen shimmer ink as it changes shade on different paper types. On both Tomoe River paper sheets and Maruman paper, it is lighter and appeared more of dusky pink. On white Canson sketch paper, Traveler's Notebook, and VECO, it looked darker and redder.
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| In this long review, written on Recorder Notebook with the new Tomoe River paper, Rose Gold Atiqua is lighter and appears in its dusky pink rose gold color. (Click image to view.) |
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| This writing sample is on the old 52gsm Tomoe River paper, and it also appears lighter and more dusky pink. The rose gold shimmer is nicely distributed. (Click image to view.) |
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| Rose Gold Antiqua behaved similarly on Maruman paper as it did on Tomoe River paper. (Click image to view.) |
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| On Traveler's Notebook's MD paper, however, it looked darker. (Click image to view). |
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| Testing this ink using a 1.5mm stub/italic nib is the most amazing thing! I loved watching the shiny, shimmery ink as I wrote. This writing sample on VECO paper has the most rose gold shimmer. (Click image to view.) |
Before Rose Rold Antiqua, there was Rose Gilt Tynte, and it has been the only rose gold ink with silver shimmer in the Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy selection. Now, there are two rose gold inks with silver and rose gold shimmer.
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| Rose Gold Antiqua and Rose Gilt Tynte shimmer inks. Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy inks are marked by silver caps and labels. Standard inks have black caps and gold labels. |
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| Shimmer! The bottle on the left is Rose Gold Antiqua with rose gold shimmer. The bottle on the right is Rose Gilt Tynte with silver shimmer. |
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| Look closer and see the rose gold shimmer in this bottle of Rose Gold Antiqua. It's like magic! |
Clogging concerns from my previous experiences with other shimmer inks made me stay away from Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy inks. Now, I have two bottles of shiny, shimmy, glittery inks to enjoy and play with. I have cleaned the two pens I used in this review, and the shimmer particles were easy to take off from the feeds and nibs.
I'm totally smitten with Rose Gold Antiqua, and I would love to use it more for italic calligraphy. The rose gold shimmer is perfect in pink ink! It's a unique, versatile shimmer ink that writes smoothly and has excellent flow. Get it for your pens!
Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy Rose Gold Antiqua will be available in stores on January 1, 2021. For some sellers, calls for preorders have already been posted. Check this list for Robert Oster's worldwide retail partners.
For more information about Robert Oster Signature inks and how to download their swatches, visit the Robert Oster website or follow them on social media:
Great review -- Thanks! I am getting the Tynte first!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Tynte is also so nice!!!
DeleteThanks for the review! I have the Rose Gilt Tynte, which I love. Looking forward to trying Rose Gold Antiqua. Your review persuaded me that it's worth having both.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Love both inks! I also have Dusky Pink which I think is the base pink color of the two shimmer inks.
DeleteI recently tried Robert Oster Morning Shine and Blood Rose. I use them in my Pelikans without any clogging problems. Of course I clean them frequently, but they clean out easily. I really like his Shake 'N' Shimmy inks. They have a beautifully subtle shimmer. That subtlety hints to me that perhaps he uses a better quality, smaller shimmer particulate in his inks. With some other brands, it seems like there are large clumps of glitter. Not so with the Robert Oster inks. Rose Gold is one of my favorite metal colors; based on your excellent review, I have already ordered a bottle. Really looking forward to trying it out. Thanks for a very thorough review of this beautiful ink.
ReplyDelete