We’re looking at Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink in today’s review! And it’s exciting because 1) the name (Chameleon) implies some fun traits (or our imagination is just getting away from us), and 2) this is a brand new, just released ink series from well-loved Monteverde. Are you already a fan of Monteverde inks? Most people are. They make a great ink at a great price with a wide array of colors, and now…you’ve got new Monteverde ink options. And at a cursory glance, they look like a ton of fun. Let’s get a closer look at one and see just how much fun can be packed into one little ink bottle.

All About the Ink Maker: Monteverde

The Monteverde brand is well-known and well-regarded. Currently offering over 75 colors of fountain pen inks (all made in Europe), all Monteverde fountain pen inks use ITF Technology (European Ink Treatment Formula), which drastically improves the quality of ink flow, lengthens the time your inked fountain pen can hang around uncapped without drying out, and lubricates the pen’s feeding system (to protect it against clogging). All Monteverde inks are safe for fountain pens, including this week’s featured Chameleon ink. For this week’s ink review and giveaway, we’ll focus on an ink from Monteverde’s just released for 2021, Jungle Ink Series. Other Monteverde ink series include:

• Noir (black-based) Series
• Gemstone Series
• Core Series
• Emotions Series
• Sweet Life Series

All About The Ink Series: Monteverde Jungle Collection

This week’s ink review features an ink from the Monteverde Jungle Ink Series, just released for 2021 and added to inventory last week! The Monteverde Jungle Ink Collection includes 10 exotic new colors:

• Crocodile (Green)
• Elephant (Purple)
• Giraffe (Orange)
• Gorilla (Red)
• Hippo (Dark Blue)
• Lion (Yellow)
• Toucan (Black)
• Turtle (Turquoise)
• Zebra (Blue)
• Chameleon (Burgundy-Purple)

As always, Pen Chalet is excited to offer you a wide array of Monteverde inks, all quality, and all dependable, and including the latest additions from their Monteverde Jungle Collection! Check out the current inventory of Monteverde fountain pen ink at PenChalet.com.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Chameleon Ink

Monteverde Chameleon ink is a nice, dark plum purple ink color, which can be referred to as a dark burgundy as well, since you do notice a hint of red. Note it’s not a bright or vibrant purple – it’s a “dark” purple color; which means it shows up very well on paper – almost black.

*** Ready for this week’s full ink review? Or not really? We think you should read it, but sometimes that’s just not in the cards, and you just want to enter to win the ink. We got you. Go ahead and skip straight to the end, and you’ll see a link to enter to win. Good luck!

It’s Time: Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink Review
This week we put a review of one of the Just Released Monteverde Jungle Collection inks! Come along with us as we see what happened when we put Monteverde Jungle Chameleon ink through our standard ink review tests.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

This week we used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. As always, we want to remind you that different papers or different nib sizes may produce different results!

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Monteverde Use?

The Monteverde Jungle ink series comes in Monteverde’s standard, small 30 ml. glass square bottle. The Monteverde Jungle Series packaging is very clear about designating the color of the ink. Each ink in the Jungle series is named after a jungle animal, and the animal is featured (animation style) on the packaging. The color of the fountain pen ink is made extremely clear since the animated animals featured on the packaging are colored in the color of the ink. So for today’s ink review, the box (and ink bottle label) features a burgundy-purple chameleon.

How Much Do Monteverde Jungle Fountain Pen Inks Cost?

The Monteverde Jungle inks are very economically priced for the quantity of ink you receive. Check for the latest discounted price at PenChalet.com and see why this ink is often referred to as a great value ink.

How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?

We use the 1-dip test to see how far the ink can write on paper with “1 dip.” As usual, we conducted the 1-dip test using the same J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen and we’re still using Rhodia dot pad paper. We dipped the pen in the Chameleon ink once for each writing sample shown above (“S,” “X,” and scribble lines). As you can see, it performed very well – writing across the page easily on all three writing samples.

How Fast Does the Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink Dry?

How fast does the Monteverde Jungle Chameleon ink dry? Very fast. This ink dries undeniably very fast. (Calling all left-handers!) We marked the dry at approximately 3-4 seconds (and I can’t remember the last time one of the inks featured in our weekly ink reviews showed a dry time quite that quick). Obviously, we’d say this Monteverde Jungle ink dries quick enough to be used as an everyday ink.

Does This Week’s Fountain Pen Ink Bleed Through?

We saw very slight bleeding during normal use, and additional bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (at the wettest points).

Was There Any Feathering While Using Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use. We did see some feathering during the water test, and at the heaviest use during the cotton swab test.

How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?

For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. This week’s ink isn’t waterproof, and we saw significant dark color smearing when wet, but the lines were still very legible even at the wettest points.

Does Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

Yes, Monteverde Jungle Chameleon ink has lots of possible shading from Dark black purple to lighter shades of dusty plum purple (if you have a nib that will allow ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib). You may see some color variation, but not much during a typical writing session. However, some interesting traits do show themselves with heavier use of the ink. (For instance, in the Monteverde Jungle Chameleon ink splashes you can see blacks, grays, burgundies, purples, and greens.

Final Conclusion on Monteverde Jungle Chameleon Ink:

This week’s ink is a very economical ink purchase from a well-regarded ink company. Monteverde inks are made in Europe and their ITF Technology is very friendly to fountain pens. The Jungle Chameleon ink is a nice, dark plum purple with hints of burgundy red. This very fast-drying ink shows up dark on paper, and has nice shading traits. We recommend it as an everyday ink. The Monteverde Jungle Series (including this week’s Monteverde Jungle Chameleon ink) is a lot of fun with interesting names and packaging. Happy writing from Europe!

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