Get ready for a Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink review. Whether you’re one of the customers who asked for more reviews of interesting, dark inks, one of the customers who asked for a review of an ink brand you may not know yet, or one of the customers who requested a review of Abyss ink specifically, it’s time. And for those of you who have never heard of Van Dieman’s or their Abyss ink – you’re about to be in the know.

All About the Ink Maker: Van Dieman’s

One of the more recent additions to the ink shelves here at Pen Chalet, Van Dieman’s inks come to you all the way from Australia. This fairly young ink company has a number of different ink series:

• Hollywood Series
• Wilderness Series
• Original Colors of Tasmania Series
• Midnight Series
• Tassie Seasons Series
• Harvest Series
• Underwater Series

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

The Underwater Ink Series is the 7th series released by Van Dieman’s and it’s considered to be their most ambitious series to date. The Underwater ink series includes 16 unique colors (some shimmer, some high sheen, and some high saturation). Pen Chalet has over 70 colors of Van Dieman’s inks available. This week’s ink happens to be Van Dieman’s Abyss ink from the Underwater ink series.

This Week’s Featured Ink: Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss Ink

In today’s review, we’ll get a good look at Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink. Abyss ink is a very dark opaque black ink (appropriate since its apparently inspired by the ocean’s deep, dark abyss). While many assume black is black when it comes to ink, there are actually a lot of variations out there. Some black inks are blacker than others with no grey tones. Van Dieman’s Abyss falls in the blackest of black category in our opinion. Abyss ink is one of those consistently black inks that is great for use as an everyday black ink.

***Looking for the giveaway that usually accompanies our weekly ink reviews? As always, we’ll forgive you if you skip straight to the bottom of the page and enter to win, but the ink winners won’t be picked weekly anymore. Instead we will be including ALL of the inks featured in our weekly ink reviews as giveaway prizes during our NEW monthly 15 on the 15th: GIVEAWAY DAY with Pen Chalet. So if you’re eyeing this week’s ink and wanting a chance to win it, check out the 15 on the 15th fun – you’re going to love it.

It’s Time: Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss Ink Review

This week we put Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss fountain pen ink through our standard review tests. And it’s time to share the results!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

For our review of Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink we used a French made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on French made Rhodia paper (dot pad). The dip pen has a tip similar to a medium-fine fountain pen nib.

Let’s Talk About the Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss Ink Bottle

Van Dieman’s Abyss ink comes in the original Van Dieman’s 30 ml. glass ink bottle. The bottle is a unique pear shape with the front of the bottle jutting out to make it easier to get to the last few drops of ink. The packaging and labeling is colorful and has a unique, ocean theme.

How Much Does Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss Fountain Pen Ink Cost?

This week’s ink is reasonably priced for the 30 ml. of ink directly imported from Australia. The prices vary a bit depending on the traits associated with the ink (basic, high saturation, or shimmer).

How Fast Does this Week’s Featured Ink Dry?

Van Dieman’s Abyss ink had a dry time of approximately 6-7 seconds with medium saturation. We consider the dry time quick enough to quality Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink as a solid everyday black ink choice.

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

We applied a one dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper (dipping the pen into the ink only one time). This week’s ink was able to write across the paper on all three writing samples and the color remained strong all the way to the end. (One dip per writing sample: “S” “X” and scribble lines, seen above).

Does Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use on Rhodia dot pad paper. We didn’t even see any bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test. These test results only support our previously stated opinion that Abyss ink is a good everyday black ink at home or at the office.

Was There Any Feathering During the Review?

We saw no feathering during normal use of Abyss ink on Rhodia paper, and only very slight additional feathering during the water test.

How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?

Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink is not waterproof, and we saw heavy color smearing typical for a black ink. However, even with the heavy color smearing, the lines were still legible (with some very slight feathering and slight line fading after the water test).

What About Shading Traits?

We didn’t notice much shading – Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink is what we’d generally refer to as an ultra-black ink.

Final Conclusion on this Week’s Featured Van Dieman’s Ink:

Van Dieman’s Underwater Abyss ink is a very reasonably priced, nice, (very dark) black color appropriate for home, office, notes, journals, letters, or special projects. For such a dark black ink, it had a reasonably quick dry time around 6 seconds, and many will appreciate the smaller 30 ml. bottle size, and the interesting shape seen in this glass bottle. Leave a comment and let us know what ink you’d like to see reviewed. Happy writing from Australia!

Enter to Win This Week’s Ink, Next Week’s Ink & More

Entering to win the bottle of ink used in one of our weekly ink reviews has never been more fun because each of them is included as a giveaway prize in out new 15 on the 15th: Giveaway Day with Pen Chalet! On the 15th of every month, we’ll be giving away 15 prizes (including the inks featured in each of our weekly ink reviews). Enter to win today:

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