This week’s Monday Matchup featured De Atramentis Jasmine, a bright orange ink that is lightly scented. Since I was the artist, I got to spend a lot of enjoyable time working with this gorgeous ink. I love the color, the scent, and the flow of this ink!

 

Supplies Used:

Smear Test (Dry Time):

  • Slow– It takes 30+ seconds on Rhodia paper for this ink to dry. This is definitely one you’ll want to put to the side to dry.
  • This is a decidedly wet writing ink. You’ll want to use fountain pen friendly paper to avoid feathering and bleed through. If that isn’t an option, go for an Extra-Fine or Fine nib.

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

  • Low– You can still see the color, but the lines basically disappear when it’s wet. When using it in an ink wash it looks great!

Saturation:

  • High– This is a highly pigmented ink!

Ease of Cleaning:

  • Easy– This ink will wash away without a lot of trouble.

Shading:

  • Medium– You can see some variation in the color, but not the intense color variation seen in some other orange inks.

Flow:

  • Medium– This is a wet wet ink! You can see on the Moleskine paper just how much feathering happens with this one. I personally love a wet ink, so it worked well for me.

Unique Characteristics

  • Scent– This ink has a light floral scent. I loved it- not overpowering and virtually disappears after it’s dry. I could smell it while writing, however, which was a pleasant experience.

Packaging and Aesthetics:

  • 35ml bottle with Jasmine flowers on the label.
  • Utilitarian. It is a stand alone bottle with no box.
  • Wide necked bottle making it really easy to refill your pen.

Inks similar in color:

Summary
I’m a huge fan of this ink. Orange is one of my favorite colors and the fact that this ink flows wet and has a lovely scent as well just added to the appeal. If you are using this for writing, not drawing, I’d say stick with a smaller nib on good paper and allow for a good amount of dry time. If you’ve ever been interested in trying a scented ink, I think this would be a great one to start with! Its lovely scent is calming and not at all overpowering.
You can find a 35ml bottle of De Atramentis Jasmine for $11 (currently on sale!) or a 2ml sample for $1.25 at Gouletpens.com. Have you used De Atramentis Jasmine? What do you think of scented inks?
Write on,
Madigan