New Inks: The Wet Pen Ochre Sea Star and Penn Cove Mussel

The first time The Wet Pen released Ochre Sea Star, I just opted to buy a sample from someone because I wasn't sure if I needed a full bottle (I have way too many inks!). But when I tried the sample, I instantly regretted not getting the bottle, because it's such a cool chromoshader. It has a violet base and yellow-brown shading. I know that doesn't really sound like a good combination, but in reality, it looks pretty cool:

P.S. I'm still experimenting with doing swatches with the L'il Dipper and am trying not to go over an area of the swatch more than once because it slightly roughs up the paper when I do that. So I did a spiral swirl from the middle, resulting in some blank spots, which look kind of cool. Also, try as I might, I could not get the L'il Dipper to write any finer with this ink, so I guess it's on the wet side (appropriate to the brand).

When I first tried Ochre Sea Star, it reminded me of Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro, but Date Gokoro is way more saturated and a cooler purple compared to the base of Ochre Sea Star, which is definitely more reddish violet. But Date Gokoro, on certain papers has a similar yellow-brown shading or sheen, which is why my mind harkened to it upon seeing Ochre Sea Star.

I like that Ochre Sea Star is less saturated and more easily shows off its shading. I'm all about shading these days. In regular writing, I don't see too much of the ochre shading; it's more of a less saturated, dusky violet with shading. Really dark, saturated inks are not my thing at the moment, but we are heading into fall, so that may change a bit.

Of course, since I couldn't just buy one ink, I picked up a bottle of Penn Cove Mussel, which I think I also got a sample of previously. This is a nice, cool, dusky purple. Now that I think about it, this seems like a less saturated version of the Sailor Date Gokoro base. I also think it's similar to another ink I already have from Birmingham Pen Company called Mountain Thistle. It's fine, though, I'm happy to share samples with other people. And it'll be a good ink for any drier nibs I have.

This ink felt drier than Ochre Sea Star. I was able to write thinner lines with it.

For a long time I'd been trying not to buy up every purple ink, lest I accumulate too many, but I guess it was unavoidable. 😅 If you're interested in samples, I'm happy to do a swap or sell a 5 mL vial's worth. Let's talk.