Review: Franklin-Christoph Black Magic Writing Fluid @PiperFC

Scott at Franklin-Christoph was so kind as to send me samples of the new Franklin-Christoph Writing Fluids - a.k.a fountain pen inks - to try out and review. First up is the Black Magic ink!

Cute sample bottle!

ABOUT

Top - one line from a Pilot Parallel 6.0mm. Bottom; three lines from the same pen.

Color: Black
Bottle: 59 ml
Price: $12.50
Price/ml: $0.21/ml
Where to buy: Franklin-Christoph

The first thing I noticed - and I mean the second the nib hit the page - is how fast this ink dries. Even on the Rhodia dot pad I was using. It was dry in a split second, even in broad nibs and wet nibs. It's like the paper just sucked the ink up and it was gone. This certainly caused the bleed through and feathering that is obviously visible, but it also means it's pretty water resistant. Besides, sometimes you just need an ink that dries darned fast, don't you? The hilarious thing about the water test is that I usually test dried ink and wet ink (just to see how much it will smear when wet) and I could NOT get it to stay wet in time for me to smear a brush over it.

I tested the ink on Franklin-Christoph's own sugarcane paper (more details on this paper in a future post at FPGeeks), which the ink was formulated to perform best on. It did perform a little better - slightly less bleed through but more than enough to deter a lot of users.

PROS

• Dries in a split second!
• Deep, solid black. 
• Water resistant. 
• High saturation but was easy to clean from my pens. 

CONS

• Bleeds through paper that is typically fountain pen friendly (including Franklin-Christoph's own paper).
• Shows through paper that is typically fountain pen friendly (including Franklin-Christoph's own paper). 
• Feathers where ink pools or where the pen pauses in writing. 

OVERALL

Well this is a finicky ink, there's no doubt about that. It bleeds through what is otherwise fountain pen friendly paper, there is show through, and there is feathering, even with fine nibs. However, I was completely fascinated by how fast it dries, how jet black it is, and I was pleased that it was water resistant (at least in the water brush and water dripping test. I make no guarantees it'll survive being tossed in a river.). I have been using it to address the outsides of my envelopes to pen pals lately.

I received this sample free of charge from Franklin-Christoph to review and enjoy. My opinions are 100% my own and completely honest. I was not compensated monetarily to write this review.