Blackstone - Wild Orange

Blackstone Wild Orange - deep, orange, ink drop

Wild Orange was probably my favorite from Blackstone Inks’ Colours of Australia series. It’s a scented ink, but to be honest, it doesn’t smell much like orange to me. It isn’t unpleasant, it just isn’t particularly orange.

Don’t worry about the smell, because this is one wild, wild, wild orange! I love it! It’s a deep, saturated, dark, reddish orange. It’s very intense, and it grabs your attention in a good way. It’s also a very nice shading ink. From that reddish orange, the lighter shades range from an orange soda orange to a vibrant, cream orange. The splatter reveals a dark, crunchy, black cherry sheen surrounding areas of pooling. This same dark edge can be seen in the edging on some written strokes. This is really quite a nice orange.

Blackstone Wild Orange - swatch card

As a writing ink, Wild Orange was brilliant on Rhodia and Kokuyo. Strokes were sharp with no feather. Both showed shading and halo, with drying times from 15-20 seconds. It wasn’t quite as sharp on Mnemosyne, Apica, or office copy paper, but it was still good. Apica and office copy produced the most shading, but little halo. It was usable on all test papers.

I’m sorry to report that as of Aug. 2020, Blackstone Inks appears to have ceased operations. There was no official announcement, but supplies are dwindling worldwide, and their website is dead. It’s sad to see Blackstone go. I’ve tried a number of their inks and liked them all. I highly recommend Wild Orange. If you like this, or any other Blackstone Ink, and you’re lucky enough to find some available, grab it! Good luck and enjoy!

Oct 2020