This ink battle is between Taccia Light Washed Jeans and Colorverse αCnc. Both inks are in a pens fitted with a Jowo #6 M nib. The paper is Muji loose leaf dot grid A5 paper.
Today’s ink battle is another bout of bottle versus sample. It determined if my sample of αCnC got to stay in use, or get relegated to the “for dupes” baskets. Were I to keep it in use and go through the whole sample, then I’d consider getting a bottle.
I love pale, desaturated blue inks, but they have to be bright/dark enough to read easily, even in F and EF nibs.
Ink Battles Explained
Between myself and Jim buying inks, we own far too many. This means I have some inks that are incredibly similar in color. And, because of that, I need to figure out which inks to keep and which to dispose of. Sometimes, I have samples of two or more similar inks that I'm trying to decide which to buy, or if I should buy one ink when I already own a bottle of a similar one.
Enter ink battles. I put the similar inks into pens with the same nibs (two Jowo #6 M, two TWSBI F, etc.), or I create ink splats and doodles, to test them out to see which I like better. Or, I may find out that they’re sufficiently different to keep.
You can assume I have no problems with any ink that appears in an ink battle. I may find, when using the inks side-by-side, that there are performance differences, but the point of the battle is to choose a favorite ink, a "winner". These choices are often subjective, and you may disagree with me.
An ink battle — unlike ink dupes — is between inks I like. I enjoy using them enough to have them in my "for use" ink collection — as opposed to my repository of inks for testing dupes. If an ink performed poorly or caused problems, I wouldn’t keep it. And, if that were the case, an ink battle would be unnecessary.
Reminder: You can find all of the ink battle posts on the tag page.
On this line (top), representing Taccia and weighing in at 30ml, we have Light Washed from the 2020 Jeans collection. And on this line (bottom) weighing in at 65ml, representing Colorverse, we have αCnc from the Project Constellation collection.
They both come out strong, evenly matched in hue, but αCnc quickly loses steam, dropping to a pale imitation of Light Washed. But, while αCnc is not as punchy, it goes toe-to-toe with its rival in saturation.
Both Light Washed and αCnc stumble as they get to the water test, exhibiting zero complexity. Light Washed recovers nicely with some water resistance. αCnc fights its way back with some shading, but will it be enough to win over the judge?
The bell is rung and the decision is in! αCnc fought hard and performed well, but Light Washed takes home the win!
Scorecard
If you were to use αCnc in a very wet pen, it would likely be closer to Light Washed, as you see in the title writing, when both pens were both freshly primed. They’re about even on hue and saturation, but αCnc is dangerously close to hard-to-read territory with how light it is. αCnc earned a bonus point for shading, but Light Washed won its own for water resistance.
I really like αCnc, but I’m comfortable with relegating it to the “For Dupes” bin.
| Trait | Light Washed | αCnc |
|---|---|---|
| Hue | 10 | 10 |
| Saturation | 10 | 10 |
| Lightness | 10 | 9 |
| Complexity | — | — |
| Bonus Points | 1 | 1 |
What do you think of this more playful format? Should I keep it, or go back to the more formal writing? And which ink is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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