Today’s ink, Sphalerite is from Tono & Lims’ Earth Contact series. The name relates to the rich color of the ink, and the metallic gold shimmer. Sphalerite is the main ore of zinc, and occurs in a variety of colors, from opaque black, to fiery red, to colorless, among others. Natural streaks are often iron-rich and can sometimes be reddish-brown like this ink. Crystals can also be metallic, and as a shimmer ink, this matches well.

Visually, Sphalerite is a lovely, rich, rusty reddish-brown. On uncoated papers, it has a chalky, pastel appearance. On coated papers, it’s brighter, more saturated, and more aggressive. It’s a moderate shading ink, with light areas adding pops of light peach stroke accents. This ink has a nice edge halo on all premiums, which adds definition and depth. The showstopper is a brilliant, gold shimmer. It looks great against the rich, red-brown backdrop.

As a writing ink, Sphalerite performs well. Tono & Lims makes beautiful, high-quality inks, and this one doesn’t disappoint. The ink flows well, and I didn’t have any problems with clogging or cleaning. Strokes were crisp on all papers, but the fairly strong edge halo seen on premium papers gives strokes a razor-sharp profile. Shading was seen on all papers, but again, it was slightly more prominent on coated papers. Both shading and halo were strongest on Kokuyo. Drying wasn’t bad, at 15-25 seconds on coated, 15 seconds on uncoated premiums, and 5 seconds on office copy.

Tono & Lims Sphalerite is a beautiful ink, and the shimmer makes it even more so. I can’t think of any reason you should hesitate with this one. Enjoy!