Ink Of The Month – April ’19 – Mango By Troublemaker Inks

For April I have chosen Mango from Troublemaker Inks. Troublemaker are a relatively new company producing very reasonably priced inks in the Philippines and sending them around the world.

Since I ordered they have expanded their range and I would encourage you to visit their site and take a look. They now have two ranges; the standard 50ml ($10 USD) plastic bottle range and 30ml glass bottle range ($17 USD) the latter being named after different streets and places in the Philippines and they all come with free shipping.

What makes these inks very different is that when you place an order you get to choose the flow of the ink; your options are:

• Dry
• Moderate
• Wet (standard Troublemaker)
• Extra-wet

I ordered both Mango and Basilica Red (Wet), from the 50ml range, and after a couple of weeks they arrived. The bottles come well packaged and inside this each bottle is gift wrapped in Troublemaker paper; the bottles themselves are a thin flexible plastic with a small metal cap, and a handwritten note which is a very nice touch.

My only criticism of the bottles I received is the neck of the bottle is too small to take an average fountain pen so these inks would need to be decanted into another container; I would have preferred to pay a couple of dollars towards shipping and have the inks in a standard glass bottle I could get a pen in.

On to the ink. Mango is awesome; the colour is absolutely spot on. It really is exactly the same colour as a mango when it’s sliced, the flow is excellent, the text sample is a little heavy in places only because my dip pen went a little wild with the new ink.

I would definitely recommend Troublemaker Inks; their range of colours fantastic and is increasing (35 and counting) and the value for money speaks for itself, my only problem is which one to choose next.

Disclaimer: The ink was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.

And one last thing – Basilica Red