Ink Of The Month – February ‘20 – Ferris Wheel Press Candy Marsala

I recently reviewed Tanzanite Sky by Ferris Wheel Press and ai was very impressed by it; so for this month I have decided to try a bottle of Candy Marsala.

If you’re not familiar with Ferris Wheel Press inks, then you are in for one of those ‘wow’ moments when you finally buy a bottle. The packaging is something else; it’s beautifully designed and finished and when you open the round tub you look down on velvet pouch and all you can see of the bottle is the hexagonal brass nut that forms the cap. 

Then when you lift it out, you’ll see the pouch has the company name in gold and when you extract the spherical bottle it too has the company name and Canadian Maple Leaf printed on it. All in all, Ferris Wheel Press have set out to create something special that gives the end user a real luxury product.

Now before I go any further there’s no nice way of saying this; Ferris Wheel Press inks are expensive at £32.00GBP/$36.00USD per bottle this is an ink you want to be sure you want before taking the plunge. 

To that end Ferris Wheel Press have created several Charger Sets that cover the range, each set contains three 15ml samples and are very reasonably priced at £11.99GBP/$15.00USD. Offering an excellent way to try their inks without the financial commitment of buying full bottles. Plus, the glass sample bottles are reusable, so if you do or don’t like the ink you get three very portable little inkwells.

So, what did I think of Candy Marsala? 

As you can see from the ink test, it’s a nice red with pink undertones that dried quite quickly but not being a highly saturated ink the final colour is quite flat. 

I was using a Fine nib and I don’t think I got the best results; it’s an ink that I think is best suited to a wet Medium or Broad nib; either of which would out down a sufficient amount of ink to achieve a good colour.

The Q-Tip test showed the ink developing a stronger colour as the layers increased and I think this might also be an ink that would be well suited to dip pens or drawing; overall, I found the ink was well behaved, flowed well and whilst not a bright red it is still a very nice colour.

Is it worth your pennies?

Yes, but my advice is buy a Charger Set or two first, test out the colours you like before making the commitment to a full bottle.

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.