Giveaway: Noodler's & Diamine Inks, Tons of Ink Samples & Nock Co. Notebooks!

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The Desk is getting a little cluttered, and what better way to remedy that than to do a giveaway to all you readers!  I have a few bottles of ink that I am not really using and a TON of ink samples in various volumes that I've reviewed and now do not need.  To put the icing on the cake, I've thrown in some Nock Co. notebooks - a 3 pack of the yellow, and a single book of the new super fountain pen friendly black.

Bottled Inks:
Diamine Grey
Noodler's Antietam
Noodler's Gruene Cactus

Ink Samples:
De Atramentis Charles Dickens
Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun - you'll probably get 1-2 converter fills with this one
Caran d'Ache Magnetic Blue
Diamine Twilight
J. Herbin Gris Nuage
Sheaffer Blue-Black
Waterman Intense Black
Diamine Safari
Noodler's Bad Green Gator
Noodler's Army Green
De Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi
Rohrer & Klingner Lepziger Schwarz
Noodler's Socrates
Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher
Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black

So what do you have to do?  Enter using the Rafflecopter widget above - the only requirement is that you answer the question "What is your favorite fountain pen?" If you would like an additional 2 entries, follow @thedeskoflori on Twitter, and for an additional 2 entries per day, tweet about the contest.

Fine Print: Contest will end May 11 at 12:00AM EST. Open to US Residents only - unfortunately shipping ink bottles outside the US is insanely expensive, and since this is out of my own pocket, it's not practical for me to ship overseas. My sincerest apologies for this - I do plan on doing a giveaway in the future for smaller items that will be more practical for overseas shipping, so stay tuned!  This giveaway covers USPS Flat-Rate shipping, so if you require additional shipping options or insurance, those will be covered by you, the winner.  Please provide a valid email address for your entry so that I may contact you if you win - I assure you that your email address will not be sold, traded, given away or used in any way other than to notify you that you've won.  If I do not receive a response in 1 week, I will draw a new winner.  Thanks for entering!

Ink Review: De Atramentis Charles Dickens

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De Atramentis Charles Dickens
Pen: Lamy Safari EF
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm

Number 5 in the Perfect Grey Ink coundown is De Atramentis Charles Dickens.  Charles Dickens is part of the Great Writers collection and is classified as "Cement Grey." Even though this was my least favorite of the grey inks that I tried, that's not to say that it's not a great ink.  My reasoning for its place in the list is that it is the least grey of the 5 inks.  Charles Dickens has a very prominent shade of green in it, that almost makes it a dusty green rather than a grey.  Despite that, I still am a fan of it, just not as a grey.  It's a remarkably well-behaved ink, no feathering even on cheap paper.  There was considerable bleedthrough from the ink splatter compared to the other inks, but the regular text produced none.  There is very minimal shading with an EF nib, but there is enough to make me believe that with a wider nib, there would be more.  Dry time was spectacular, at around 5 seconds with my EF nib.

All in all, Charles Dickens is another great ink from De Atramentis.  Since it's not the shade of grey that I'm looking for, the search continues.  Keep an eye out for #4 in the countdown tomorrow!

You can pick up a bottle of De Atramentis Charles Dickens at Goulet or a similar retailer for $12.95.

Ink Review: De Atramentis Pigeon Blue

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De Atramentis Pigeon Blue Goulet Ink Drop - March 2015
Pen: Lamy Safari EF
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm

I received my first batch of Goulet Pens' Ink Drop samples about a week ago.  The theme is Birds of a Feather, and the first ink in the list was De Atramentis Pigeon Blue.

De Atramentis is handmade in Germany by Dr. Franz Josef Jansen.  They carry quite an array of colors and ink properties - one of their most well-known lines is their Document Inks.  They also carry some really cool scented inks which is something you don't see often amongst ink retailers.

This is my first experience with De Atramentis ink, and I have to say that I am really liking it so far.  I'm not typically a blue ink person - especially royal blues - but Pigeon Blue is more of a dark turquoise with a tiny hint of some grey overtones here and there.  Shading is moderate, though not crazy.  Feathering is non-existent and there is no ghosting or bleedthrough on the Rhodia pad.  I could definitely see myself using this on occasion.

Keep an eye out for the other 4 ink reviews this week from the March 2015 Ink Drop!

De Atramentis Pigeon Blue is $12.50 for 35ml from Goulet Pens