Fountain Pen Ink Review: Scribe x Troublemaker Inks Tarsier

They did it again! Our favorite local creative team has just launched a new limited edition ink, and everyone's excited about it. After the successful launches of Salomé (2019), Butanding (2020), and Pawikan, ScribePh has again partnered with Cebu-based Troublemaker Inks for their fourth and latest limited edition fountain pen ink showcasing the Tarsier, a small primate living in the islands of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. This collaboration also includes JIM Weaver Design, a local shop that sells silk scarves, reusable fabric face masks, and other home products, with a new offering of a Tarsier-designed pen cleaning cloth. This collaboration is inspired by ScribePh's "support local businesses" initiative, and the ink and pen cloth set is proudly made in the Philippines.

Scribe x Troublemaker Inks x JIM Weaver Design in one package!

JIM Weaver is a business in the Philippines led by four women who share the same passion to make art wearable through fashion. Their products range from silk scarves to reusable/reversible fabric face masks. Butanding and Pawikan were accompanied by reusable fabric face masks, but Tarsier has a green pen cleaning cloth designed with small tarsiers.

Limited edition Tarsier is a rich, dark fountain pen ink with green and gold sheen.

The 6" x 7" Tarsier pen cleaning cloth by JIM Weaver Design accompanies the ink from Troublemaker Inks.

Tarsier is my fourth Troublemaker ink after Butanding, Pawikan, and Blue Guitar. This rich, dark, saturated, and sheening fountain pen ink has a green-gold sheen that also gives it a matte look. Tarsier leans towards the russet-brown ink group. While wet, it is dark brown but dries reddish-brown with a unique sheen. Like Pawikan and Butanding, Tarsier is a wet ink with excellent flow and consistency.

Amazing monster sheen on Tarsier!

Tarsier looks even darker because of its sheen, but without it, it looks a dark russet brown ink similar to Edelstein Smoky Quartz and Laban Demeter Brown. It is darker than the light russet browns of Pelikan, J. Herbin, and Robert Oster. These swatches were done on 90gsm Canson sketch paper. 

For my Tarsier writing test, I used PenGallery's A5 LiveNotes notebook with white Tomoe River Paper. There is nice shading in this paper.

This is Tarsier in Tomoe River Paper.

Project Butanding is an excellent example of brands working together to produce something beautiful and meaningful.

Tarsier is a beautiful fountain pen ink and an excellent product from a collaboration of local brands. It has a lovely shading ink and a unique color to add to one's collection. Get one for your pens now!

Rants of The Archer thanks ScribePH for providing the fountain pen ink in this review. Visit the Scribe.ph website to learn more about their products, promos, and new brand offerings. Scribe.ph now offers worldwide shipping. Follow them on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScribePH/

Instagram: https://https://www.instagram.com/scribe.ph/

Fountain Pen Ink Review: Scribe x Troublemaker Inks Pawikan

Oh, they did it again! It's the beginning of the year, our favorite pen store has just launched a new limited edition ink, and we are all excited about it. Our "ink inner peace" is officially disturbed. After the successful launch of Butanding ink in October last year, ScribePh has partnered with Cebu-based Troublemaker Inks once again for a new limited edition ink, Pawikan (sea turtle). This collaboration also includes JIM Weaver, a local shop selling scarves and reusable masks. The Scribe x TMKR Inks x JIM Weaver project is inspired by Scribe's "support local businesses" initiative and the set is proudly made in the Philippines.

The Pawikan project, another of Scribe.ph's Support Local initiatives bring us the Scribe x TMKR Inks x JIM Weaver Pawikan Set that includes a limited edition Troublemaker Pawikan fountain ink and JIM Weaver Pawikan reusable face mask.

JIM Weaver is a business in the Philippines led by four women who share the same passion to make art wearable through fashion. Their products range from silk scarves to reusable/reversible masks. The reusable mask in this limited edition set is again very timely as wearing face masks in public is now a mandatory practice in the Philippines. Called "Pawikan," the mask is an original JIM Weaver design by Isabelle Ocier in an exclusive colorway that matches the olive green Pawikan ink.

Limited edition Scribe x Troublemaker Inks Pawikan fountain pen ink.

JIM Weaver's "Pawikan" mask is an original design and exclusive colorway that matches Pawikan ink.

Pawikan is my second Troublemaker ink after Butanding. This shading ink, inspired by the sea turtle, is dark green when wet and dries a charming combination of light olive green, some bluish-green, brown, and orange. Pawikan, like Butanding, is a wet ink with excellent flow and consistency. I'm also happy to report that it does not stain or clog pens.

Pawikan is a charming shading ink with a combination of light olive green, some bluish-green, brown, and orange.

I do not have any similar ink colors, but Vinta Inks Serena is close to Pawikan, while the other ink colors in this sampler are darker.

Pawikan sample from a Lamy Al-star with a 1.1 nib. It took around 25-30 seconds to dry, but ink drying times vary depending on nib wetness, paper quality, and hand stroke. Pawikan could have dried faster if it was written using a fine or medium nib.

In my writing sample, Pawikan's beautiful shading is seen in the Canson 90gsm sketchbook paper. I tried Pawikan on Tomoe River Paper, Traveler's Notebook, and other 160gsm paper sheets, but it was in this Canson sketchpad that the shading is very prominent.

Pawikan's shading is prominent in wider and wet nibs. This writing sample was written using a Lamy Al-star with 1.1 nib.

Pawikan looks good in wider nibs. It only appears as dark green ink in the EF and F nibs, but the shading showed in wider nibs.

Project Pawikan is an excellent example of brands working together to produce something beautiful and meaningful amidst these trying times.

Pawikan is a beautiful fountain pen ink and an excellent product from a collaboration of local brands. It's a unique shading ink and a must-have in one's ink collection. This lovely green ink is available for a short period of time only, so get one for your pens now!

Rants of The Archer thanks Scribe for providing the fountain pen ink in this review. Visit the ScribePh website to learn more about their products, promos, and new brand offerings. ScribePh now offers worldwide shipping. Follow them on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScribePH/
• Instagram: https://https://www.instagram.com/scribe.ph/

Fountain Pen Ink Review: Scribe x Troublemaker Inks Butanding

When I joined Fountain Pen Network Philippines in 2008, it was a challenging time for fountain pen enthusiasts. Quink black or blue-black was the only fountain pen ink available, there were no local paper brands that could handle fountain pen inks, and most of us had to buy our ink and paper supplies abroad. Luckily for us, a specialty store in Eastwood City, Scribe Writing Essentials sold their own notebook brand that was fountain pen friendly. Shortly after their introduction to the group, they stocked their shelves with J. Herbin inks. Then they brought in Pelikan, Platinum, Sailor, Noodlers, and Private Reserve. Nowadays, Scribe carries around 35 brands and more than 100 fountain pen inks in a wide array of colors.

In 2019, renamed Scribe.ph introduced us to their very first collaboration with Cebu-based Troublemaker Inks. The project brought us Salomé, a sheening green-blue fountain pen ink, done for Scribe's 10th anniversary. This year, Scribe collaborated with Troublemaker Inks once again and brought JIM Weaver into the project to produce a limited edition set of matching fountain pen ink and reusable/reversible face mask. The JIM Weaver x Scribe x Troublemaker project is inspired by Scribe's 'support local businesses initiative and the set is proudly made in the Philippines.

JIM Weaver is a business in the Philippines led by four women who share the same passion to make art wearable through fashion. Their products range from silk scarves to reusable/reversible masks. The reusable mask in this limited edition set is very timely as wearing face masks in public is now a mandatory practice in most areas in the Philippines. Called "Whale of A Time," the mask is an original JIM Weaver design by Isabelle Ocier in an exclusive colorway that matches the bluish-gray Butanding ink.

Scribe x Troublemaker Butanding fountain pen ink.

"A Whale of A Time," the mask is an original JIM Weaver design in an exclusive colorway that matches Butanding ink.

Butanding is my first Troublemaker ink, so this review is another first for Rants of The Archer. Butanding, inspired by the whale shark, is a charming shading ink with a bluish/greenish-gray color with pink to purple shading. This ink's shading property is best seen in wide and wet nibs. It starts as a dark gray when wet, but dries a beautiful combination of blue, green, gray, and purple. It's a wet ink with excellent flow and consistency.

Butanding is a beautiful combination of blue, green, gray, and purple. 

I do not have any similar ink colors, but Butanding's gray is close to J. Herbin Gris Nuage. 

Butanding writing sample from a TWSBI ECO with a 1.1 nib. It took around 18 seconds to dry, but ink drying times vary depending on nib wetness, paper quality, and hand stroke. Butanding could have dried faster if it was written using a fine or medium nib.

In my writing tests, Butanding's beautiful shading is best seen in Canson 90gsm sketchbook paper. I tried Tomoe River Paper, Traveler's Notebook, and 160gsm paper, but it was Canson that showed the beautiful shading.

This ink's shading is also best seen written using wider and wet nibs. This was written using a TWSBI ECO 1.1.

Project Butanding is an excellent example of brands working together to produce something beautiful and meaningful.

Butanding is a beautiful fountain pen ink and an excellent product from a collaboration of local brands. It's a lovely shading ink and a unique color to add to one's collection. Get one for your pens now!

It's November — my birth month! During this special month of the year, you will see exciting features in Rants of The Archer! Several Filipino products will be featured, beginning with this week's fountain pen ink, Butanding. I will also feature my old favorites and some new brands. Stay tuned and enjoy our weekly features!

Rants of The Archer thanks Scribe for providing the fountain pen ink in this review. Visit the Scribe.ph website to learn more about their products, promos, and new brand offerings. Scribe.ph now offers worldwide shipping. Follow them on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScribePH/
• Instagram: https://https://www.instagram.com/scribe.ph/