This week’s ink review and giveaway features Devil Black ink from Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania Series. Pen Chalet just added this brand in 2020, and our customers have been very excited about the new fountain pen ink options they offer. Read on for all the details (and don’t forget to enter to win the bottle of fountain pen ink used for this week’s fountain pen ink review).

All About the Ink Maker: Van Dieman’s

Van Dieman’s is an Australian ink company that produces a wide variety of inks in various series. The small family business located in Launceston, Tasmania, combines their love of creating quality ink with a passion for the environment. You’ll notice that their ink series and ink colors are inspired by nature, particularly natural beauty found right in their local area, Tasmania.

Van Dieman’s is a husband and wife team, Peter and Belinda Rix, who design and mix their own bottles of fountain inks and shimmering fountain pen inks in Launceston Tasmania. Their high-quality fountain pen inks are tested for viscosity and flow quality and are designed for use with fountain pens, dip pens, or brushwork.

You can now find four Van Dieman’s ink series in the Pen Chalet inventory. (We’ll be reviewing an ink soon from the recently added Van Dieman’s Tassie Seasons Series added to inventory this month). See what’s in stock at Pen Chalet:

• Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania
• Van Dieman’s Wilderness Series
• Van Dieman’s Midnight Series
• Van Dieman’s Tassie Seasons Series (added May 2020)

We added a wide variety (30+) of Van Dieman’s inks to inventory earlier this year, and our recent addition of the Tassie Seasons Ink Series this month brings the total number of Van Dieman’s inks available in stock to over 40 colors. From classic to unique, and with shimmering fountain pen inks sprinkled into each ink series, it’s no wonder our customers can’t keep their hands off them. While we just restocked earlier this month, a new shipment is already on the way to keep ink fans in their favorite Van Dieman’s ink colors.

This week’s featured ink, Devil Black fountain pen ink, is from Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania Ink Series.

All About the Ink Series: Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania Ink Series

This week’s featured ink is from the Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania Ink Series. This line reflects the Van Dieman’s duo’s love of their great state of Tasmania, with each of the colors in the ink series encapsulating an element of the land’s natural beauty. The Original Colours of Tasmania inks are inspired by and named after locations, natural aspects of products of Tasmania. Check out all fourteen inks included in this ink series:

• Apple Island Green
• Bass Strait Cobalt Blue
• Bay of Fires Red
• Cradle Mountain Grey
• Devil Black
• Freycinet Aquamarine
• Leatherwood Honey Amber
• Oakwood Brown
• Styx Valley Forest Green
• Tamar Pinot Noir Wine Red
• Devil Black
• Tasmanian Robin Pink
• Wattle Yellow
• West Coast Sunset Tangerine

To learn more about the different Van Dieman’s inks currently available at Pen Chalet or to see what Van Dieman’s ink sample sizes are now available, visit PenChalet.com.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink

Van Dieman’s best-selling Devil Black fountain pen ink is an aggressive, dark, opaque black ink (with an equally notorious namesake, the Tasmanian Devil). With only a handful of really opaque black inks available in the industry, this rich midnight black ink is hard to keep on the shelf. Most black fountain pen inks are a lighter shade of black or black with gray hues. The color of Van Dieman’s Devil Black ink is comparable to Aurora Black, Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi, or Pelikan Edelstein Onyx. The scarcity of opaque black ink options may be one of the reasons this down under ink has been so popular in the short time we’ve had them in stock.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for your chance to win the bottle of Van Dieman’s Devil Black fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (And for the less patient ones in the bunch, you CAN scroll directly to the bottom of the review and go ahead and click on the link to enter this week’s ink giveaway. We’ll allow it).

Read the full review of Van Dieman’s Original Colours of Tasmania Devil Black fountain pen ink.

It’s Time: Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink Review

We got to know Van Dieman’s Devil Black fountain pen ink for this week’s ink review. We ran it through all our typical tests to find the different characteristics and traits that you need to know before adding a new ink to your collection. Continue reading to get all the vital details.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

Each week we products we used during our ink review here. During this week’s review, we used a J Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. It’s important to remember that different papers and nib sizes may produce different results!

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Van Dieman’s Use?

Van Dieman’s Devil Black ink comes in their standard 30 ml. bottle. The front of the pear-shaped, glass ink bottle design juts out so you can get to those last few drops of ink. Van Dieman’s packaging is simple but nice, with the ink color clearly labeled (visually and in print), and the ink bottle is both functional and unique.

How Much Does Van Dieman’s Ink Cost?

For an ink directly imported from Australia, Van Dieman’s ink is a reasonably priced 30 ml. fountain pen ink. Even better? You can find discounted pricing at Pen Chalet.

How Did Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink Handle the 1 Dip Test?

The one dip test shows how far one dip can write on paper. Van Dieman’s Devil Black fountain pen ink performed well. During the 1 Dip Test, we dip the pen into the ink one time before writing. With Van Dieman’s Devil Black, one dip wrote across the paper on all three writing samples very easily. (We used one dip per writing sample). We included three writing samples: S, X, and scribble lines (shown in the review photo).

How Fast Does Devil Black Ink Dry?

Van Dieman’s Devil Black fountain pen ink had a dry time of approximately 10-11 seconds with medium to high saturation. This dry time was right on the cusp of what we consider reasonable for an everyday ink option. (We generally consider any dry time under 10 seconds to be reasonably fast).

Does Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink Bleed Through?

During normal use of Devil Black fountain pen ink, we found zero bleed through. Even during the heavy saturated cotton swab test, we saw zero bleeding, which is different than the other Van Dieman’s inks we’ve reviewed, which showed some slight bleeding.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Devil Black Ink?

During normal use on Rhodia paper, we saw no feathering. We saw almost no additional feathering during the water test.

How Does Devil Black Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not a waterproof fountain pen ink. However, we always include a water test in the review. (For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). After putting Devil Black ink to the water test, we saw heavy color smearing, which is very reasonable for a dark black ink color. The lines were still legible, but there was additional distortion and feathering after our water test.

Does Devil Black Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

Due to the very dark opaque ink color, Van Dieman’s Devil Black doesn’t offer much in the way of shading.

Final Conclusion on Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink:

While Van Dieman’s is new to Pen Chalet, these inks from Down Under are a popular choice for fountain pen fans. The Australian manufacturer is well-known in the industry with a respectable variety of popular fountain pen inks available. This week’s ink from their Original Colours of Tasmania Ink Series, Devil Black, has enjoyed extensive popularity during its short time on Pen Chalet shelves and is touted as a “best-selling” ink by the company, as well.

Available in the smaller, 30 ml. bottle, this reasonably priced ink is a nice, dark, opaque black ink color with an acceptable dry time (10-11 seconds) that makes it appropriate for the home or office. Happy writing from Australia!

Enter to Win Van Dieman’s Devil Black Ink from the Original Colours of Tasmania Ink Series:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Devil Black fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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