Franklin Christoph Swatch Tests

Franklin Christoph have been producing writing accessories in North Carolina since 2001. Here are 16 swatch tests from their current range:

The range is predominantly red, brown, green, blue and black. So if you’re looking for any brighter colours in the grass greens, yellows, oranges, magentas, pinks and purples don’t look here. The inks that are available are quality writing inks but as you’ll see from the swatches, these are quite rich liquids and don’t gush when dropped onto the wetted surface. And as such, the inks remain very dense with evidence of sheening easily visible. There is also evidence of some chromatography among the blacks and greens with that bright turquoise present. All of them loved the bleach, and when not applied directly onto a sheened area, allowed me to achieve some finely detailed neon gold patterning. Compared to some Franklin Christoph tests which I’ve seen on the Fountain Pen Network site, these colours seem to be a lot more vibrant. The black cherry here, actually looks like black cherry, whereas on the test I saw, it was a dull flat purple. Paper quality and surfaces really do play a major part in the final swatch outcomes and the colours do vary!.

These are a nice group of ink colours. Nothing dramatically new here but nothing distressing either. Loved the Tenebris Purpuratum purely for the name!

Inks swatch tested: Loden, Black Forest, Emerald 375, Midnight Emerald, Classic Black, Noir et Bleu, Blue 72, Spanish Blue, Dark Chocolate, Brown 732, Black Cherry, Tenebris Purpuratum, Terra Forma, Sweet Maroon, Urushi Red and Red 187.

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I also have a portfolio of test art pieces at: www.behance.net/Nick_Stewart