Review: Caran d'Ache Saffron, Sunset and Grand Canyon inks

A few weeks ago, my friend Maybelline from onfountainpens.com asked if I was interested in test out some fountain pen inks for sketching. Sounds fun. Why not?

So I was sent some capsules containing several fountain pen inks. Three of the small capsules contained the Caran d'Ache inks from the Colors of the Earth series. I read that they have been discontinued already.

So I went ahead and loaded them into my fountain pens and drew a few sketches. They are lovely inks, but not enough to differentiate themselves from the Pilot Iroshizuku inks. Anyway, coloured inks of the same colours are difficult to compare or discern any differences, at least to me.

I love the shades of the ink. When you lay down a wet line, the colours will row back as you lift the pen. I like that effect as it gives the stroke more variety, character.

For this sketch, I've purposely picked the fountain pens with the thickest strokes, the Sailor Cross Emperor, Sailor Cross Music and Sailor Naginata Fude. The inks work beautifully with the pens. Ink flow is fantastic, generous but controlled. You can watch the video below to see how the inks come out.

I've taken some pictures with the camera so that you can compare with the scanned version.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring two more brands of fountain pen inks. So come back for more or visit fountain pen reviews tag.

And here are three more sketches that I drew with only one colour each.