Review of Elixir Ink Company Fountain Pen Ink: River Safari

Enter my Stipula Passaporto, a pre-loved fountain pen. A gift from a friend. Fountain pen people are lovely people. Most importantly, it’s empty. Full of possibilities.

Potions, alchemy, glass flasks and cauldrons? For such a cool name, the bottle’s rather plain. I’m not very fond of the shape of this bottle as I’m the sort to knock things over. Bottles with smaller necks are my friends. Maybe Elixir can consider a different type of bottle for their inks? It’s got such an awesome name after all!

A small tummy full of ink

Can there be anything cuter?

Out, trying to blend in with nature.

It looks almost black, and i spent a good 15 minutes trying to swish the ink around to get a hint of green for pictures. I need strong sunlight for it, but it’s been overcast in Singapore for days now. Guess i need a better camera :O

I got my hands on two inks from Elixir Ink Company for review through Maybelline recently and couldn’t be more pleased. The Elixir Ink Company is from Singapore, and their inks are produced locally. Support local? Yes! The one I’m reviewing today is the River Safari ink.

It’s always nice to try items that are locally made. I explored Elixir’s website and found out that the two inks I received were their limited Edition Inks specially made for Singapore Fountain Pen Lover’s (SFPL) 2017 Pen Show. Unfortunately, according to Elixir’s website, they’re currently out of stock. Anyone knows if they will be producing more stock?

Performance

The writing sample above is written on a Maruman Spiral notebook, and I had no problems with bleed-through and feathering. The ink is almost pH neutral at 7.5. It writes a little dry for me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the nib. Others had provided feedback, saying the inks were a little on the wet side.

Pros

Their River Safari is a pretty, dark olive green with a little bit of shading. Olive Greens had never been a personal favourite, but i’ve grown to like them recently as I’ve taken up watercolour painting. It’s such a versatile colour and moody enough to be taken seriously.

Cons

Drying time may be a concern for some people, especially left handed writers. From above, it takes around 30 seconds for my writing sample to have minimal smudging. It’s not a problem for me, I practice western calligraphy and we do work with even less time-friendly mediums so i’m careful where I rest my arm.

Dupes

I can’t think of another ink that’s an exact dupe for River Safari. It’s similar to Noodler’s Zhivago and Sailor Tokiwa Matsu. In fact, it’s more like a cross between both.

Closing thoughts

It’s great that my introduction to these inks started with the LEs. I’m not that interested in the normal range but the LEs are fun.

Has anyone else tried these inks? What are your thoughts? I still have Siloso with me and will be doing another write up on it soon. Midnite Marina is right up my alley, but it’s the ink I didn’t get! It’s such a pity. I’ll be asking around to see if anyone else has it and can offer me a little.

Thanks to Elixir Ink Company for sponsoring this ink! All opinions in this article are my own. More information on Elixir Ink Company can be found on: http://www.elixirinkco.com/