Ink Review: Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink - Ink Drop — **Banmi - Gray (Penguin)** - **Ink Drop**

This is Gray from Banmi’s animal-themed series of standard inks. They appropriately chose a penguin for the label of this color’s bottle. It’s a twelve-ink series, but 15 ml bottles are individually available, as well. You can find them at various online shopping sites. I picked it up on AliExpress for a little over US$4, including shipping.

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink on Cosmo Air Light Paper — **Swatch and Strokes on Cosmo Air Light**

This is a fairly standard grey ink in color, something like a 2B or 3B pencil. It’s a pure, smoky white grey with no hidden colors. There’s a tiny whisp of blue on the chromatography, but in use, it’s a blend of pure greys. If you like a clean grey, you’ll be pleased.

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink Color Range — **Color Range**

What it lacks in variety of hues, it makes up for in shading. This is a strong shading ink! Each stroke gives us lights, midtones, and darks. I found nice shading on all seven of the papers I used for testing. This is the dominant characteristic of the ink, and it adds excitement and personality.

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink on Cosmo Air Snow Paper — **Writing Sample on Cosmo Air Snow Paper**

Writing performance was again consistent and reliable. That’s been true for all of the Banmi inks that I’ve tried. Flow was wet, but controlled. The inks that I reviewed in Banmi’s numbered series leaned slightly dry, but both of the inks in this animal-themed series have been wet.

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink Writing Samples — **Banmi Gray (Penguin) Writing Samples**

I didn’t have any problems with feathering, but it wasn’t as clean on either Mnemosyne or Rhodia papers, as it was on the others. There was the usual micro spreading on copy paper, but overall, it performed well there, too. Show-through was absent or very light on all papers. In terms of drying time, it was about average or faster, as well. No problems.

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink Swatch Card — **Ink Swatch Card**

I like these Banmi inks. Gray (Penguin) is a very impressive shading ink, and it performed well on a wide range of papers. If you like grey inks, you can’t go wrong with this one. At $4 a bottle, you can try a bunch of colors without spending much at all!

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink Swatch Comparisons — **Ink Swatch Comparisons**

Banmi Gray (Penguin) Fountain Pen Ink in the 15 ml Bottle — **Banmi Gray in the 15 ml Bottle**

Banmi - Gray (Penguin)

Kala Ink - Milk Tea

Banmi - Red (Monkey)