This ink battle is between Van Dieman’s Feline Collection Catnip and Wearingeul Vayu. Both inks are in a pen fitted with an unaltered Jowo #6 Medium nib. The paper is blank Muji loose leaf A5 paper.
For this particular Ink Battle, I’m comparing two ink samples, trying to decide which to purchase. Catnip and Vayu are both seafoam green
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.
I knew the two of these were similar before this battle, but they are just one step removed from being dupes. Catnip and Vayu are the same hue, but Vayu is lighter, slightly less saturated, and doesn’t shade as much.
As you can see from both the title and the scribble section photos, Catnip can shade quite dark, which would make it interesting in a flexible nib. Vayu, however, hardly shades at all.
Vayu does, however, show some complexity in the square swatch and the water test, although it’s minimal, and the water test doesn’t so much spread the color as erase the green.
Scorecard
Although Vayu wins on complexity, and the two colors tie for hue, Catnip easily wins both saturation and lightness, earning it the higher score
Unless you prefer pale colors, I’d suggest you go with Catnip. It can easily be watered down to match Vayu, and the bit of complexity that Vayu exhibits isn’t enough of a reason to get it.
My decision is easy. Vayu will be relegated to the “for dupes” bin. However, I have a bottle of Anderillium Luna Moth Green on its way to me that I’ll compare to Catnip once it arrives. Depending on their similarity, I may or may not buy Catnip.
| Trait | Catnip | Vayu |
|---|---|---|
| Hue | 10 | 10 |
| Saturation | 10 | 9 |
| Lightness | 10 | 9 |
| Complexity | 9 | 10 |
| Bonus Points | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 39 | 38 |
What do you think? Would you call these dupes? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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