thINKthursday
Blackstone Golden Wattle

Blackstone Golden Wattle is one of the new offerings in the Inks of Australia line. Blackstone is produced in-house by Just Write of Australia. Their first inks debuted in June of 2015, and since then they have expanded their Inks of Australia line and added two waterproof inks. Like their other inks, Golden Wattle is packaged in a 30ml Nalgene bottle that is nearly indestructible – and reusable. This review was done with a Monteverde Limonada M, a Noodler’s Konrad with an Anderson 1.1 stub and on Rhodia no.18 blank paper.

Blackstone Golden Wattle

Golden Wattle is the common name for a tree native to southeastern Australia. Its name comes form the bright fragrant flowers that occur in bunches around new growth. I wasn’t familiar with the tree until this review and it’s really cool looking – you should check it out.

Golden Wattle is a bright yellow ink that has some stunning properties. In a medium nib, the ink is a fairly monochrome yellow, with a slight hint of a honey color. The stub nib brought out what makes this ink so neat. With a broader nib the ink transforms into a yellow orange – the center of the letters are the same bright yellow, but there is a beautiful orange halo that surrounds each letter. I haven’t seen any other inks halo this consistently; this isn’t shading, instead, the outside of each letter is evenly traced with a vibrant tangerine orange. This effect becomes even more pronounced the more ink is pooled in a concentrated area.

The flow is excellent, and the saturation is on the low to moderate side. Dry times were higher at 25-35 seconds, but there was little feathering or bleed-through.

Water resistance was very low, and there wasn’t much shading, but a ton of halo-ing.

There is one oddity worth mentioning with the ink. In certain pens the ink has some sort of reaction where it produces tiny crystal-like structures around the feed and nib. I’m sure it has something to do with whatever makes the ink halo so beautifully, but it is a trait to be aware of. I’ve talk with the manufacturers and they think it might have to do with the type of nib material. Whatever the case, it in no way poses a risk to your pen – it cleans up easily with water and it does not harden. This occurs in a minority of pens, so it shouldn’t keep you from giving Golden Wattle a try.

For me Golden Wattle is to light to be an everyday ink, but it is so much fun to play around with. If you like using stub nibs you could use it for general writing without having to worry about readability.

As with any ink review, the pen, paper and person doing the writing will influence the way the ink looks. If you’re not sure about a color, try a sample to see if it’s the color for you.

Ink it Up!
Chris

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