Blackstone - Australian Bush

Blackstone Australian Bush - rich, green, ink drop

Blackstone Australian Bush is (or was, sadly) from the Colours of Australia series. This is a beautiful ink, that I wish I’d have gotten to earlier. In August 2020, Blackstone ceased operations. There wasn’t any communication or announcement. They just silently shut down. They were a pioneer in the Australian ink world, and their inks inspired many.

Visually, this is a delicious ink. The green is vibrant, lush, and vegetal, which matches well with its name. There’s a nice texture both in look, and in feel. A crunchy, blackened sheen edging can be seen in the splatter, but nothing appears in writing. This ink isn’t an aggressive shader in most situations, but when it does, it really turns on the charm! Light areas show flashes of a gorgeous olive-line green that scream beautifully against the rich base color. Shading or not, this ink looks great on paper!

Blackstone Australian Bush - swatch card

As a writing ink, Australian Bush is consistently sharp and well-defined on premium papers. Shading was shy, but there are always teases of variation. Drying was fastest on uncoated papers at 10-20 seconds, and between 15-30 seconds on coated papers. I really like it on premiums, but it doesn’t do as well on office copy. In finer nibs, stroke profiles are clean, but there’s significant feather in larger nibs. Shading is very strong on office copy, which was a nice surprise. As usual, drying was under 5 seconds.

Blackstone Australian Bush is a lovely green. If you can somehow find some, grab it! Keep it on premium papers or stick to finer nibs. I think this ink deserved more attention, than it possibly got. It’s a real winner! Fingers crossed that Blackstone will be back, but if not, they will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

December 2020