Attending the Orlando Pen Show in September marked the start of an unexpected but thrilling journey into the rabbit hole of fountain pens. One of the highlights was discovering Anderillium Inks and their bold, nature-inspired colors that have since become a staple in my day-to-day writing.
About Anderillium
Anderillium Inks is a small family-owned business, and they make all their inks out of a lab in Tampa, Florida. They are eco-friendly and water-based, and they do not use any animal products in their inks.
What drew me to Anderillium Inks was their setup at the pen show. They had all their colors out with pens and paper to test them out on. The jars reminded me of little jam jars that you get at Crackerbarrel with a simple presentation and neat artwork on the label. The names are taken from nature.
First Impressions
For the testing, I used my Lamy AL-Star and Lamy Safari pens with medium tips. Samples were taken on Masters Touch Fine Arts Studio Mixed Media paper.
The first thing I noticed about the Anderillium inks was the brightness of the colors. There was minimal shading and no sheen on the Banded King Butterfly Blue or the Vampire Squid Red. While writing with them, they felt like they had a wet flow. I’ve written with other inks that had a dry, scratchy feel to them as I wrote, and I much prefer these inks for that reason alone.
Banded King Butterfly Blue isn’t just a standard blue. Its subtle teal undertones give it a depth that makes it pop off the page. It reminds me of a butterfly’s wings shimmering in the sunlight. Vampire Squid Red, on the other hand, is a rich and intense red with hints of orange and pink that pay tribute to the creature it’s named after.
With these brilliant first impressions in mind, it’s time to move on to testing them on my favorite papers and see how the inks hold up.
Testing the Inks
When I tested these inks on Tomoe River, Rhodia, and standard copy paper, I was impressed by how well the inks held up, even on thinner papers. The dry time on most of the paper was around 20 seconds, but on regular copy paper, it was nearly instant. The inks didn’t feather, ghost, or bleed, except for lighter sheets like the Tomoe River, which I honestly expected. My favorite test was on my Michael’s Artist Loft dotted journal. There was no bleed-through and it dried in seconds, making it a reliable choice for my everyday use.
The ink flowed nicely from my pen, which felt like it was skating on ice. The smooth glide of the pen across the page was a nice change compared to other inks I’ve tried, which felt like work to get them on the paper.
Final Thoughts
Vampire Squid Red and the Banded King Butterfly Blue are both worthy colors for your ink collection. The Banded King Butterfly Blue has become my go-to color for day-to-day writing because I know I can trust it on all the paper I use without worry.
Anderillium’s commitment to eco-friendly practices makes me happy knowing I’m supporting not only a small business but one that cares about the world we live in.
It writes consistently and flows nicely through my pens. For the price, you can’t beat the quality and quantity of ink you receive. Anderillium Inks sell for $14.50 per bottle (1.5 ounces) and come in a wide variety of colors.
You can purchase Anderillium inks on their website or at select stores.
