It’s October, and Halloween is almost upon us. And Van Dieman’s Midnight Series Eclipse ink is the perfect ink to get in the mood. If you follow us on social media, you may have already seen one of Van Dieman’s Midnight Series inks featured in our 1st “spooky” pen and ink pairing gearing up for Halloween 2020. We’re continuing with the All Hallow’s Eve vibe and getting you a full review of this dark and lovely fountain pen ink because when Halloween is looming, there’s no better ink to review than a Van Dieman’s Midnight Series ink.

All About the Ink Maker: Van Dieman’s

Van Dieman’s is an ink company out of Australia passionate about nature, the environment, and the colors of their local region of Tasmania. The popular ink company mixes all their fountain pen inks, shimmer inks, and pigment inks locally in Launceston, Tasmania. Van Dieman’s produces a wide variety of inks in different ink series. You can find four different Van Dieman’s ink series at PenChalet.com:

• Van Dieman’s Original Fourteen Colours of Tasmania
• Van Dieman’s Tassie Seasons Series
• Van Dieman’s Midnight Series
• Van Dieman’s Wilderness Series

While many ink makers separate their shimmering inks into separate ink series, Van Dieman’s prefers to sprinkle them throughout all their ink series. The shimming inks in the Midnight Series are Bonfire Night, Twilight Mist, and Howl at the Moon.

Van Dieman’s is a new brand that Pen Chalet introduced in 2020. As an Authorized Dealer of Van Dieman’s fountain pen inks, Pen Chalet carries a wide variety of Van Dieman’s colors, now numbered at 48 ink colors. Whether you are looking to add a new Van Dieman’s ink to your collection, or you are trying one of the popular inks for the first time, you can find excellent options at great prices at PenChalet.com.

All About the Ink Series: Van Dieman’s Midnight Ink Series

The Midnight ink series includes eight different ink colors, all inspired by the colors after dark:

• Midnight Sky
• Blackened Seas
• Enchanted Woods
• Sailor’s Delight
• Twilight Mist
• Howl at the Moon
• Bonfire Night
• Eclipse

Featured Ink: Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink

Van Dieman’s Eclipse fountain pen ink is a soft, dusty grey-purple color inspired by the dreamlike state of midnight during the day phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. The fountain pen ink shows up well on paper due to the darker undertones. Like other Van Dieman’s inks we carry at PenChalet.com, the Midnight Eclipse ink has been very popular in the short time we have sold them.

*** Are you ready for this? Let’s get on to the ink review results. You know you’re ready to get things rolling. Read the full review to get all the details. And if you don’t want all the details or if you just don’t have the patience to sit and read the full review right this second, you can skip to the bottom and enter to win the bottle of ink we used for this week’s review. We’ll forgive you – as long as you come back and read the full review later, of course.

It’s Time: Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink Review

This week we put Van Dieman’s Eclipse fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. Read on to see what we found out!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

For this week’s review, we used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper.

What Ink Bottle Does Van Dieman’s Use?

Van Dieman’s Eclipse ink comes in the new standard Van Dieman’s 30 ml. ink glass bottle. The round, basic medicine style bottle has a large wide mouth lid that offers easy access when filling your fountain pen. The packaging is simple and straightforward, with the ink color indicated on the packaging both in color and in print. The packaging’s artwork is in the color of the ink inside the bottle – which we think is a nice touch.

How Much Does Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink Cost?

Van Dieman’s Eclipse fountain pen ink is a reasonably priced fountain pen ink – mainly since it’s a direct import from Australia. Check for the latest discounted price at PenChalet.com.

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

We conducted the 1-dip test using a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen, Rhodia dot pad paper, and this week’s featured ink, Van Dieman’s Eclipse. We dipped the pen in ink once for each writing sample shown above (“S,” “X,” and scribble lines), and Eclipse wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with the color remaining strong to the end.

How Fast Does the Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink Dry?

Van Dieman’s Eclipse fountain pen ink showed a dry time of about 7-8 seconds with medium saturation. We feel this is quick enough for use as an everyday ink color.

Does Eclipse Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use, although we did see some very slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use on Rhodia paper, and we saw almost no additional feathering during the water 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 is not designed to be waterproof or advertised as a waterproof ink, so the results are not surprising or particularly negative. We saw light color smearing (due to the lighter color). However, the lines were very legible with almost imperceptible feathering and some slight fading after the water test.

Does Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

Van Dieman’s Midnight Series Eclipse ink offers shading possibilities depending on your penmanship, the nib you’re using, and the overall writing style you indulge. Look for a dark purple-grey color to a light dusty grey-purple color with slight brown undertones.

Final Conclusion on Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink:

Midnight Series Eclipse ink is another popular ink from prolific ink company, Van Dieman’s, from Down Under in Australia. This week’s Van Dieman’s ink is very reasonably priced and comes in a smaller, 30 ml. bottle. It’s a great ink color for home, office, notes, journals, letters, or special projects. Van Dieman’s features cool packaging and names, but the Van Dieman’s Midnight Series is incredibly fun around this time of year. Van Dieman’s Midnight Series Eclipse ink shows up well on paper (even though it’s a lighter color) and has a quick dry time of 7-8 seconds. Happy writing from Australia!

Enter to Win Van Dieman’s Eclipse Ink:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Van Dieman’s Eclipse ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

a Rafflecopter giveaway