Read the full Colorverse USA Special Long Trail (Vermont) Ink Review to see what it has to offer your fountain pen! Hopefully, you’re ready to find out everything you’ve ever wanted to know about this Vermont-themed ink in Colorverse’s USA Special Ink Series.
All About the Ink Maker: Colorverse
Colorverse, a Korean company that began in 2017 (and started stepping out of the country a year after), has since become renowned worldwide for their fountain pen ink. They take inspiration from the universe – hence their motto of “colorize your universe” – and science in general, along with other aspects of the natural world. Recently, they have begun expanding into other themes such as their “Office” line and location-specific collections.
All About the Ink Series: Colorverse USA Special Ink Collection
In today’s Colorverse USA Special Long Trail (Vermont) ink review, you’ll get to know one of Colorverse’s recently introduced ink collections, the Colorverse USA Special Ink Collection. For this location-specific ink collection, the popular Korean ink company plans to release one ink for each of the 50 U.S. States. As of now, they have had 2 releases in this ink collection for a total of 20 inks currently available.
All About this Week’s Featured Ink: Colorverse USA Special Long Trail Ink Review
This week’s featured ink is the Colorverse USA Special Long Trail ink, inspired by the state of Vermont. Coloverse USA Special Long Trail is a very deep, teal-leaning green. I haven’t been to this hiking trail before, so I cannot comment on how accurate a representation the ink is. At a glance, it’s quite dark but with further study, you can catch glimpses of the base color behind a lovely mostly-red sheen. For a sheening ink, it had an average flow, though the pens had more resistance writing on Rhodia paper, so it wrote slightly drier on it. Though the water play on Strathmore paper didn’t show much chromatography, if any, you can see a Spring-like green and blue that bled out on copy paper when water was introduced.
What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Colorverse Use for its USA Special Inks?
The USA Special inks come in small, 15ml glass bottles in the trademark shape of most all of Colorverse ink bottles. The mouth to the bottle is a little on the small side, though. You wouldn’t be able to dip a Col-o-Ring Dipper directly into the bottle without seriously bending it. It is packaged securely in a box that showcases the ink and what it’s about. Colorverse Long Trail was released under the second set of inks in the USA Special series.
***Wondering where to find the giveaway for the inks in our weekly ink reviews? We used to run a weekly giveaway featuring each week’s ink, but now we have a monthly giveaway day that includes the inks featured in past reviews! ALL of the inks featured in our weekly ink reviews are listed as giveaway prizes during 15 on the 15th: GIVEAWAY DAY with Pen Chalet.
Meet Your Guest Reviewer: Iris Tu
This week’s Colorverse USA Special Long Trail ink review is coming to you from one of our guest reviewers, Iris Tu. Iris is a wanderer, an adventurer, a forever student, a mom of 2, and a huge fan of all things fountain pen and ink! We also find that she is very thorough when she’s checking out a new ink, and we thought you’d appreciate her approach to tackling the get to know you process between an ink and a writing enthusiast/artist.
What Other Products Were Used During This Week’s Ink Review?
- Tomoe River 68 gsm White Paper bound in an A5 notebook, dotted
- Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm Paper bound in an A5 notebook, dotted
- Clairefontaine Triomphe A5 Paper Pad, blank
- Generic Copy Paper, cut in half
- Strathmore Writing Paper 90 gsm in a Passport sized notebook, 25% Cotton blend, blank
- Col-o-Ring
- Calligraphy Dip Pen Holder
- Zebra G Nib
- Moonman Glass Dip Pen with fude nib
- TWSBI Eco Gray (F)
- OPUS 88 Mini Pocket Pen Dots (M)
- Glass rod
- Eyedropper
- Cotton swab
- Watercolor brush
- A small cup of water
Iris’s Testing Method:
During the Colorverse USA Special Long Trail (Vermont) ink review, Iris’s ink swabs on the Col-o-Ring, and different papers were made with a cotton swab. The ink name was written with a dip pen fitted with a Zebra G nib. Ink swabs for comparisons were made with a glass rod. Ink drops were made with an eyedropper dropped from a height of at least 3 inches.
Trying the Ink Out on Different Types and Brands of Paper:
The ink was used on 4 different papers to test various properties of the ink: Tomoe River (68 gsm), Clairefontaine Triomphe (90 gsm), Cosmo Air Light (75 gsm), and generic copy paper.
Testing the Ink Out with Different Pens and Nib Sizes:
The long writing sample was taken directly from a passage on The Green Mountain Club’s website regarding The Long Trail and written with an Opus 88 Mini Pocket Pen in Dots with a medium nib. Water was then dripped on it once dried and blotted off after at least 1 minute had passed. The shorter writing sample was made with the fine and medium nibbed fountain pens, along with a Moonman glass dip pen with a fude-style writing tip, meant to mimic a broad/wet nib.
Writing Samples:
What Was Colorverse Long Trail Ink’s Dry Time?
The dry test was performed in 10 second intervals, making the 5 strokes, starting the timer, then smearing with the clean end of a Q-tip as soon as the timer went off. It was repeated until nothing smeared. Pens with a fine and medium nib were used to test and compare dry times.
The dry time range was different from paper to paper, ranging from 30 to 80 seconds. Tomoe River had dry times at 45 seconds in both the fine and medium nibs. On Cosmo Air Light, dry time was also the same between the two pens, at 80 seconds. I suspect that the ink base dried faster and what I was waiting on was for the sheen to dry as well. I didn’t observe any smearing after the ink dried fully the handful of times my fingers ran over the text, but I didn’t specifically test for that. On Rhodia, we finally see a difference in dry times: 30 seconds for fine nib and a minute for medium. On copy paper, the ink absorbed immediately and dried within 10 seconds.
Did You See Any Shading During Your Colorverse USA Special Long Trail Ink Review?
Shading was low. I couldn’t see much of it while testing or in writing. Instead, the wet parts of the writing had sheen whereas the drier sections showed green.
How Did Colorverse USA Special Long Trail (Vermont) Ink Respond to Water?
Long Trail has low to medium water resistance. As soon as water makes contact, a green-teal color begins washing out immediately, but it leaves the words behind in black. Water resistance was best on Rhodia and, interestingly enough, copy paper.
Does Vermont Ink Have Any Sheen?
There is medium red sheen, but I sometimes spot a bronze-like sheen in large swatches along with the red, though the latter isn’t visible in writing. The sheen is best seen on Cosmo Air Light, followed by Tomoe River. It’s subtle on Rhodia and completely absent on copy paper. Sheen was observed in both fine and medium nibs on both Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River papers, but it was faint on Rhodia.
Does the Ink Bleed Through?
There is medium ghosting, or show through on the back of the page, except for copy paper, where it bled to the point you probably can’t use the opposite side of the paper.
Did You See Any Feathering During the Long Trail (Vermont) Ink Review?
Feathering was low. None was seen in the fountain pen-friendly papers and minimal on the copy paper. In fact, I was surprised at how well Long Trail performed on copy paper; just stick with smaller nibs as there is minor feathering with larger ones. To be honest, the feathering seen in the flex nib wasn’t even that bad.
Comparing Long Trail (Vermont) Ink with Other Popular Green Inks:
Long Trail wasn’t a perfect match for any of the inks I chose, but the shade of green was between Monteverde Jade Noir and 3 Oysters Namsan. It wasn’t as vibrant as Namsan nor was it as dark as Jade Noir.
Colorverse Long Trail (Vermont) Ink Review Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this ink! It’s a lovely color with beautiful sheen, has a chance against water and performs well beyond expectations (not that I had much) on copy paper. I wish the dry time was more stable, but it’s the price you pay for sheen. In regards to cost, it’s on the mid to high end for fountain pen ink (currently retailing for $13.50 a bottle ($0.90/ml). Though at the time of writing, it’s on sale at PenChalet for $10.80 a bottle ($0.72/ml)). It’s definitely on the mid-to-high end of fountain pen ink pricing, but we’re talking about Colorverse. You’re buying a distinct design, beautiful (and effective) packaging, and reliable inks. I thoroughly recommend this ink. Many thanks to PenChalet for opening my eyes to Long Trail!
Thank You for the Colorverse Long Trail (Vermont) Ink Review, Iris!
Thanks so much for reviewing this beauty, Iris. We love how thorough you are at testing out your fountain pen inks. Check back soon for more ink reviews, pen features, and other fountain pen fun. And, as always, shop for all your favorite pens and inks at PenChalet.com.
