Read today’s Krishna Sunburst ink review to find out all about this popular ink, and why you may need to add it to your ink collection. You’ll also get to know the Krishna brand a little bit, enjoy an introduction to one of our guest reviewers, and learn how to enter to win inks featured in our ink reviews during 15 on the 15th, Giveaway Day with Pen Chalet!
Today’s Guest Reviewer: Iris Tu
Today’s guest reviewer is Iris! In addition to being an ink reviewer, she’s a wanderer, an adventurer, a forever student, a mom of 2, and a huge fan of all things fountain pen and ink! In our experience, she’s also very thorough when she’s getting to know a new fountain pen ink. And that’s an approach we thought you could really support. Enjoy!
•The ink review below is in our guest reviewer, Iris Tu’s, own words.
All About the Ink Maker: Krishna
Krishna inks is based and founded in India in 2010 by anesthesiologist Dr. Sreekumar, who is also the same person who manufactures the ink in small batches. Krishna Inks are known to be saturated and vibrant, often with sheening properties.
All About this Week’s Featured Ink: Krishna Sunburst Ink
Krishna Inks Sunburst ink is from their Super Rich line, packaged in 20 ml glass bottles. It is a deep golden-yellow color.
Products Used During the Krishna Sunburst 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
- Sailor Professional Gear Slim Fire (MF)
- TWISBI Eco Yellow (M)
- Glass rod
- Eyedropper
- Cotton swab
- Watercolor brush
- A small cup of water
Iris’s Review Testing Method: Ink Swabs
Ink swabs on the Col-o-Ring and papers were made with a cotton swab and ink name with a dip pen 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.
Iris’s Review Testing Method: Different Papers
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. A “swatch” of the ink with water added was made on Strathmore Writing Paper (90 gsm).
Iris’s Review Testing Method: Writing Samples
The long writing sample was taken directly from a passage on Part 1, page 3, in They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera and written with a TWSBI Eco Yellow fountain pen 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 aforementioned pen, along with a Sailor Pro Gear Slim with a medium-fine nib, and a Moonman glass dip pen with a fude-style writing tip, meant to mimic a broad/wet nib.
Iris’s Review Testing Method: Dry Test
The dry test was performed in 10-second intervals, making the five strokes, starting the timer, then smeared with the clean end of a Q-tip as soon as the timer went off. It was repeated until nothing smeared. The fountain pen and glass dip pen were used to test and compare dry times.
What Did Iris Think of Krishna Sunburst Ink?
Krishna Sunburst is a golden yellow that is a little bit yellow, a little bit orange, and a smidge of amber brown – making it perfectly legible in all nib sizes. The flow was average overall, though it wrote a little more dry on Clairefontaine, which is common. The separation of orange and a halo of yellow can be seen when dropped on a paper towel, though it is primarily on the lighter yellow side when used as a watercolor.
Was There Any Sheening?
There was a minute hint of… something that could be sheen in drops and at a strange angle with a flashlight – but so brief I’m still not sure I saw it. In drops, if seen, it looks more of a pewter silver. In writing, it looks more of a gold. Either way, I can’t get a good look at it to be sure, so I would say there’s little to no sheen.
What’s the Dry Time?
Dry time was within 40 seconds but there was an unexpected occurrence during this test. On both Tomoe River and Clairefontaine, the medium nib dried within 30 seconds whereas the medium-fine Japanese required an additional 10 seconds to dry. On Cosmo Air Light paper, both nibs dried in 40 seconds. On copy paper, the ink was absorbed almost immediately and dried well within 10 seconds, as was expected.
Are There Any Shading Possibilities with Krishna Sunburst Ink?
There was very little shading with this ink, though some can be seen every so often. I would call this a low-shading ink for the most part.
How Did Sunburst Ink Hold Up to Water?
Sunburst has low water resistance. A hint of the original writing might remain on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River, but I wouldn’t depend my life on it. Most all of the ink washed away with the introduction of water.
Was There Any Ghosting?
There is medium ghosting, or show through on the back of the page, except for copy paper, where the ink bled through on all nibs. Sunburst did not bleed through on the other papers. You can see a hint of the writing but nowhere near to the point where you cannot write on the back side of the paper. Clairefontaine performed the best in this category.
Did Krishna Sunburst Ink Feather?
Feathering was only seen on copy paper. The bigger nibs performed the worst, but still remained legible, and it spread a small amount in writing, with it increasing the more wet your writing is.
Comparing Krishna Sunburst to Similar Inks:
This ink was in the same family to the inks I chose to compare with. It’s not a perfect match to any one ink, though if I had to pick, it’s in between Diamine Golden Honey and J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie.
Final Conclusion: Krishna Sunburst Ink Review
This was a happy ink that reminded me of summer! It is the perfect yellow that I had no problems reading, which is sometimes harder to find than you’d think, especially if you put it in a finer nibbed pen. It retails at $8.00 ($0.40/ml) at the time of writing this review, which makes it similar in cost to Golden Honey ($0.398/ml for a 40 ml bottle) and Ambre de Birmanie ($0.389/ml for a 30 ml bottle). Sunburst does write drier than the other two inks, so if you don’t mind that and prefer smaller bottles, this may be the one for you! I do prefer more lubricated inks, but I always welcome another legible, yellow ink to my collection.
Thank you to PenChalet for sending the ink to review!
Thank you for the ink review, Iris!
Thank you for the Krishna Sunburst ink review, Iris. We still love how thorough you are when you’re studying a new ink. And if any of our readers are looking for more – discover other popular pens and fountain pen inks on our recently reviewed pens and ink page. If you need more info on Krishna inks or any other inks, pens, or writing accessories, make your first stop PenChalet.com.
