I’ve expanded ink battles to include inks that I’m considering buying, and this is what you’ll find this time.
You can assume I have no problems with any ink that appears in an ink battle. The point of the battle is to choose a winner of the two colors. I use a pair of similar inks in pens with the same nib, then test them out to see which I like better. Generally, I’m trying to decide which ink to keep, but sometimes I’m trying to decide which to buy, or if I should buy one ink when I already have a similar one.
I may find out that, when used with the same nib, they’re sufficiently different to own them both. Depending on how these battles turn out, I may tag some of the posts as ink dupes as well. You can find all of the ink battles posts on the tag page.
This ink battle is between Diamine Deep Dark Orange and Colorverse αTau. Both inks are in a TWSBI Mini with a F nib. The paper is Kokuyo A5 Campus Loose Leaf, plain.
I already own a bottle of Deep Dark Orange. I only have a sample of αTau. At first glance in my swatch book, and even when I tested the two inks together with a dip pen, they looked similar enough to warrant an ink battle.
However, as you can clearly see below, they are significantly different. I’m still not 100% sure if I want a full bottle of αTau. I need to use it a bit more, but owning Deep Dark Orange won’t stop me from getting it, if I decide I want to.
Since these are orangeish inks — they have a lot of red — it was a bit difficult to get the full-page picture to appear true-to-life. These close-up images are generally more correct.
This battle is a draw, with both combatants leaving the ring with respect for the other.
What do you think? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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I love Deep Dark Orange and have you tried Monteverde Copper Noir?
I haven’t. I’ve had some bad experiences with Monteverde inks.