TUI BLACK Ink Cartridge Review/Test

When I put this ink in a pen and started writing with it the first thing that came to mind was, "this is not black ink!" For me black ink needs to be black. Dark, saturated, no shading, no colour aspects. It's supposed to be a boring, candle soot black. That's just me. Black ink is an official purpose, registration type of ink. The idea then of Tui ink was taken from a bird's feather. The colour in feathers are delightful tricks of prism effect in the fiber. When I wrote with this, I saw green in flow and that was not what I expected with a black ink! There is no green in the dry colour, but look at the Chromatography test strip ... there is that spectrum of the prism. A lot of hidden colours in that dye mixture! Down at the bottom we see the original line of ink where it was applied to the strip, flowing up from that dark grey base. We see some blue-grey, magenta, dark umber and then at the top a brilliant teal with a final line of indigo. No wonder my eye said this isn't black.

This ink shades. For that reason, it's more of a dark grey. Look at the ink smear, it will appear black, but I get the sense of a calligraphy ink. With subtle tones and shading in the text strokes. This is more of and artist's black. After my initial surprise I got to rather like this ink. Put this is a broader nib and you can really have fun with it. The other black I use is no nonsense and it's a permanent ink. You put it down and it stays. There is no shading or variation. Tui Black will give you more variables. This is why there are so many different inks. They all fit their own purpose. While this black has some water resistance and will battle against the wet. It still retains the easy to clean aspect. And it's kind of alchemical colour, not a primary dye, but a mixture unto itself.

ABOUT THE INK and International Short Cartridges

These inks are acid free & archival safe. They dry quickly & are only slightly water resistant. (You trade water resistance with a dye that is easy to clean and water-based.) Dyes are non-toxic, pH neutral & Light-fast. All the ink colours are very kind to pens and easy to clean after use. They will store up to three years without any problems. The ink cartridge are European.

These international Short Cartridges are about 38mm long & 8mm in diameter. Most pen bodies will hold one inserted into the pen feeder/section and then one extra spare reversed behind that in the tail of the pen's body.

The short carts fit all the pens I sell which have removable converter pumps. (A long International Cartridge is about the same length as an ink converter. While it holds more, you can't store a spare like with the short.)