inkophile
(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
As soon as Lauren Elliott, AKA FlygirlElliott and Lucky Star Pens posted about the latest addition to the Lucky Star Colorverse lineup, I knew I had to buy one, which is exactly what I did at the recent Baltimore Pen Show. Colorverse Lucky Galaxy is the third exclusive release for Lucky Star Pens and was created to celebrate its 3rd anniversary. The prior two releases were Lucky Star and Lucky Star II. Like the other two before it, Lucky Galaxy is a shimmer ink, or what Colorverse calls โGlisteningโ. The ink comes in a 30ml glass bottle and sells for $20.
The 3 Colorverse x Lucky Star Pens inks: Lucky Star, Lucky Star II and Lucky Galaxy.
I inked up my trusty TWSBI Go with a Medium nib and used that for the writing samples on the Col-O-Ring cards. For the other writing samples, I used the Kakimori steel dip nib with 52 gsm and 68 gsm Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm papers.
In large swatches, Lucky Galaxy leans more red than pink.
Writing sample on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper.
68 gsm TR.
Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm paper.
In the writing samples, the pink is more pronounced.
The shimmer is there but not in-your-face, which I like.
The turquoise/blue shimmer can make it look kind of blurple but what you see near the nib is the real ink color.
Lucky Star Galaxy had an average flow when writing but definitely took a while to dry on 68gsm TR. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light or with drier or finer nibs. The ink has blue/turquoise shimmer, minimal shading and no sheen.
Inks similar to Lucky Galaxy are Diamine Pink Glitz (gold shimmer), Diamine 2019 Inkvent (Blue Edition) Candy Cane (no shimmer), Sailor Ink Studio 731 (no shimmer but gold sheen), Colorverse #49 Felicette (no shimmer), and Diamine 2021 Inkvent (Red Edition) Pink Ice (silver shimmer.)
While I have similarly colored inks in my collection, itโs not often that non-gold or silver shimmer is used so Iโm glad that Lucky Galaxy has a different shimmer. This ink sells for $20 per 30ml bottle on the Lucky Star Pens website, which is about the perfect amount for a bottle of ink.
BUT WAIT! Thereโs more!! Just when you thought this article was over, itโs not over!! I thought Iโd share something new that I decided to do for ink reviews - chromatography! Basically, chromatography is a way to show the various components of a mixture (in this case, ink) as different parts get drawn up the strip via capillary action at different rates. As it relates to ink, this means chromatography allows you to see the colors that make up the ink.
What you need to do ink chromatography
Wine glass (cuz Iโm bougie that way), binder clip, chromatography strip, paintbrush.
Strip is on the outside of the glass so I can see if it will touch the water.
Testing this outside the glass so I can add/remove water as needed.
You can see the ink line is above the water line and is already beginning to โmove up.โ
Roughly 4 minutes in.
I waited until 5 minutes when the ink โstopped movingโ before removing it from the glass. Duration of wait time will vary based on how quickly the ink is separating up the strip. If you wait too long, the colors may get too diluted and be harder to detect.
Letting the strip dry on a paper towel (no, those arenโt blood stains, just Lucky Galaxy!)
Closeup reveals a hint of shimmer at the base where I drew the line and basically pink ink throughout.
Contrast that with a multi-shading ink (or chromashader) like Sailor Manyo Fuji which shows shades of magenta/pink and blue, with a bit of yellow above the pink.
While chromatography isnโt necessary to enjoy inks, it is a fun way to see how similarly colored inks may have underlying differences that arenโt as noticeable in writing samples or ink swatches. I canโt wait to see my future ink chromatographies.
(Disclaimer: I purchased Lucky Galaxy ink at regular price from Lauren Elliott at the 2023 Baltimore Pen Show.)
ColorVerse has released an amazing variety of ink over the last year. One of the most recent inks is ColorVerse 2023 New Year.ย A big thank you to Dromgooleโs for sending this ink for this review!
2023 New Year is a fabulous bright green ink with lots of sparkle โ the closest I have in my collection is Anderillium Spirula green although 2023 New Year is darker.
2023 New Year surprised me with the amount of shading โ that isnโt something I usually expect with sparkling inks.
The sparkle is a bit wild โ both gold and silver particles. I had no issues with 2023 New Year clogging or even hard starts โ ColorVerse uses a small enough particulate that the ink flows well.
Now for the paper. The first paper here is Tomoe River paper (TR7). Lots of shading on TR paper and a bit of a black halo sheen as well.
Iโve angled the same swatch so you can get an idea of the sparkle!
Cosmo Air Light paper, as usual, brings out the blue undertones of the ink, making it more of an emerald green
Sparkling inks have a great time on Cosmo Air Light paper, although the sparkle has the tendency to drift across the page.
Midori MD paper shows ColorVerse 2023 New Year much closer to a true green.
However, the sparkling characteristics of the ink are wasted on Midori MD.
2023 New Year is a 30mL bottle and is priced at $24 MSRP which works out to $0.80 per mL. While not as expensive as Sailorโs small bottles, it is a bit pricey, but I do think the novelty of both silver and gold sparkle makes this ink worth grabbing while it is around.
DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge by Dromgooleโs for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
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