thINKthursday
Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green

The first press of this olive-colored ink is sure to delight!

thINKthursday – Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green

Olive Green is part of the Graf von Faber-Castell line, a moniker which is reserved for their higher-end products. In the past year, they’ve added several colors to their lineup of ink and they’ve chosen some excellent hues. Olive Green is, well, an olive-green-colored ink that shades and behaves well. It comes in a 75ml glass bottle that is one of the prettier bottles on the market. This review was done with a Pilot Explorer F, Faber-Castell Loom B and on Rhodia blank No.18 paper.

Olive Green shades well in both a fine and broad nib and produces large spectrum of colors. At its lightest, the ink is a pear color. From there, it shades to a traditional olive green. The dark hues range from a piney moss to a dark seaweed green. The ink is very matte, and doesn’t have any sheening properties.

Not only because of its price, but also because of its consistent properties I would categorize Faber-Castell inks as a premium ink. Olive Green had good flow with no feathering or bleedthrough on Rhodia paper. Its dry times were good at 20-30 seconds. While not water proof, the ink did resist water enough to easily make out the writing after the water test. Graf von Faber-Castell also claims the ink is smudge resistant, reproducible, light-fast and can’t be erased with chemical solvents. I don’t necessarily think all of these are accurate, but the ink is marketed as such.

I’m a sucker for mossy green inks, so I enjoyed Olive Green a lot. Extreme shading makes this ink stand out from other olive-colored inks. It is easily legible, and its color has a timeless quality about it.

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 one for you.

Ink it Up!
Chris

New to thINKthursday?  No problem – I explain the formatting of my reviews here.