Blackbird Ink make up a small but notable corner of my ever-growing ink collection; ever-growing being a polite way of saying I have stopped counting conventionally and adopted a similar approach to that of Sgt Detritus’s (from the Discworld’s Ankh Morpork City Watch) e.g. one, two, three, many…….
It seemed the less complicated way to take a view of the collection; anyway, the collection has a fair number of inks that are either orange or orange in origin amongst its ranks so when I saw this one, I just had to add it to the collection.
Now I have a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for the Blackbird range it comes in old style cardboard boxes designed to look like they stepped right out of the past. However, unlike my previous order which was sealed with sticky tape the latest bottles are sealed with a clear plastic collar that is shrunk to fit and easily removable which is a big improvement.
The bottle is a basic 30ml bottle with a simple black cap on which is printed “Blackbird Ink Puffin Orange” and even though the typeface used is very small (at a guess around 6pt) it is still legible. The really nice thing about this bottle is that it is made from clear glass which means when the light hits it you get a lovely orange/red glow throughout the ink.
Although I’ve read a few reviews saying this ink leans towards the dry side I did not find that to be the case, when using my dip pen, it flowed well and produced nice evenly coloured text.
As you can see when I did the Q-Tip test the swab produced a pretty even colour and it was only when building up the layers on the stripe test did the reddish edge to the ink start to become really apparent.
At £5.95GBP for a 30ml bottle this is, in my opinion, a reasonably priced ink that delivers a good orange colour; and if you like this one then I would suggest exploring the Blackbird Ink range.
They have a good selection of colours (all named after wild birds), and offer bundle deals on packs of four bottles and sample sizes on some of the other inks so you can take it for a test drive before taking the plunge and buying a full bottle.
I’m happy to recommend Puffin Orange and the Blackbird Ink range as a whole and the next one in the collection due for review, later in the year, is Magpie Blue/Black.
Think of it from this point of view, a bottle of Blackbird Ink is the healthy alternative to an Easter egg.
Disclaimer: This 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.
The Indian Marmalade Company 