Last year, when the pandemic was still new and the lockdown was driving everyone crazy, I came upon a new brand of fountain pen inks that offers a fantastic array of colors.
Krishna Inks has so many rich, vivid, and happy ink colors inspired by nature and the Indian culture and I instantly fell in love with a number of dark blues and deep reds. I liked
Sindhoor,
After Dark, and
Night Before Christmas, all saturated inks from the Super Rich Series. I have used these inks for regular writing and have made a number of ink art pieces with them.
I read about the brand after I received my initial batch of inks for review and I was surprised to learn that Krishna Inks are all handmade by a medical practitioner in India.
Krishna Inks are made by the famous anesthetist Dr. Sreekumar Neethu Maruvancherry in Kerala. Inspired by his master Ramachandran of Calicut, Dr. Sreekumar started mixing fountain pen inks in 2010, turning his hobby into a passion. I read somewhere that despite his intense hospital schedule, Dr. Sreekumar never fails to devote a few hours a day to mixing inks.
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| Krishna Inks Super Rich Series Sindhoor |
Krishna Inks Sindhoor is a bright, happy red fountain pen ink from Krishna Inks Super Rich Series. It is packaged in a 20ml glass bottle and presented in a white box with an icon of the ink color's inspiration which is the traditional vermilion red cosmetic worn by married women in India at the beginning or completely along the parting-line of their hair or as a dot on the forehead.
I love the red color of Sindhoor. Its brightness gives a page a happy vibe. Sindhoor is a saturated ink with some shading, and it has excellent flow and wetness, which makes writing very smooth. I have tried writing with it using two fountain pens on different paper types and both pens wrote smoothly. Krishna Inks are non-toxic and are safely formulated so they will not clog pens. I am not so sure yet if it stains pens, but I did not experience staining in the two pens that I have filled with Sindhoor. It also has very low water resistance.
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| Sindhoor is a bright, happy red fountain pen ink. |
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| All bright and happy like Sindhoor. Of all my red fountain pen inks, these are the ones closest to Sindhoor: Camel Scarlet Red, Diamine Poppy Red, Robert Oster Fire Engine Red, and Monteverde Valentine Red. |
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| This is Sindhoor from a Lamy Al-star Ruby Red with a wet 1.1 nib. It took around 25-30 seconds to dry, but ink drying times vary depending on nib width, wetness, paper quality, and hand stroke. Sindhoor will definitely dry faster in a Fine or Medium nib. |
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| In my writing sample on the Endless Works Recorder Notebook, Sindhoor doesn't show that much shading or sheen, but it has a consistent beautiful color and excellent flow. |
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| Sindhoor is perfect for wider and wet nibs such as the Lamy 1.1 as it shows the depth and richness of this red ink. |
Krishna Inks have four series, including the following:
- RC series, comprising inks with sheening characteristics. They can be used for regular writing and art. Sea At Night is a bestseller.
- Super Rich series have saturated ink colors that are bold, vivid, and happy. After Dark and Brown Pink are crowd favorites.
- Kot-Massi series, a special series of document inks made in the traditional Indian methods. These inks cannot be rubbed or washed out.
- Lyrebird series have the safest inks for fountain pens. They are available in waterproof versions.
Rants of The Archer thanks Krishna Inks for providing the fountain pen ink in this review. For more details on how to get their inks, visit their website: https://krishnainks.com/ or follow them on social media:
I would like to get some of their inks. How do you suggest I buy them? Direct from their website. I really wanted to get like 3 bottles of Krishna Pencil ink (Super Rich series). Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi! There are international sellers of Krishna Inks, but they may not have the complete selection of ink colors. Try messaging Krishna on their website to check availability and shipping options. Thank you!
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