Fountain pen Ink review ~ Montegrappa Violet
This ink was one of the first inks I purchased when I got into Kalamology (the fountain pen hobby). I’ve been using it intermittently for about a year now and I still really enjoy it. It’s a staple in my desk drawer at work and it’s still one I reach for all the time.
If you want to know a little more about the pens in this ink sample — check out my Pilot Custom 74, Benu 2021 LE and Leonardo Furore reviews — I have more ink samples there too.
Firstly let take a closer look at the ink on nice Clairefontaine paper:
This ink is a gorgeous deep purple ink. The more ink you place on the page the darker the ink gets. With broader nibs it has some beautiful shading too — as you can see with the Benu. To be honest even close ups with my Custom 74 there was some shading I could appreciate.
On decent paper there’s no feathering and only slight ghosting through to the back of the page. A little more ghosting with thicker nibs.
I did my swatch, half with 3 passes (Right side of swatch) and half with 2 passes (left side of swatch) and the depth change in the colour is dramatic on “nice” paper! Ink blobs are deep and rich in colour and do not feather but bleed insanely through to the other side of the page.
This ink dries fast too so it’s perfect for busy days of signing tons of scripts.
Overall, it behaves well, except for the ghosting and bleeding through depending on which nib/how much ink you put on “nice paper”.
Now lets get a close up on “crappy” 90gsm copy paper:
This test was a total disaster! Once I did this test, I felt sorry for the “nice” paper — this ink must have been pushing it to its limits! On crap paper all the beauty falls apart!
It feathers all over the place, ghosts and bleeds like hell and even has next to no shading! I was gobsmacked at the difference!
It’s hard to see in my awful pics but the depth of colour is poorer here too. The ink blobs look terrible and the swatch hardly shows the qualities of the ink irrespective of the number of passes I did.
Overall, this isn’t an ink I use when writing long form on crap paper. If this is inked in my EDC then I have a second EDC for form filling and making paper notes.
Chromatography
Looking at the chromatography you can easily see there are 2 colours here. Maybe on quality paper this is what gives it depth? Again, this paper was fast to travel — I think this is reflected in the other properties of the ink. Namely, that it’s super easy to clean and really isn’t water resistant at all. On quality paper it’s slower to dry than on more absorbent crappy paper but quick nonetheless.
Why is this ink in my collection?
I think this ink is fantastic! I love the colour and it behaves well on quality paper. I use it mostly for signing scripts and forms, but not much else at work as we use crap copy paper all day. It’s not so crazy that patients/colleagues look at you strange but unique enough that to a trained eye it’s appreciated.
At home, I’ve used it for hours and hours of writing in my journal (which has Tomoe River 68 paper) and It’s gorgeous! Its super easy to clean, didn’t clog up any of my pens and it’s one I’m going to keep using.
Is this a ink fit for a GP?
I think it’s a good addition to any doctor’s collection but be aware of it’s limitations based on paper type and nib size. It’s definitely not a universal ink for all uses, so it means carrying more than one pen — which let’s face it, none of us are complaining about!
Thanks so much for reading and remember no matter who you are, “first, do no harm.”
