Pióromaniak - Christmas Tree
This is Christmas Tree, from Pióromaniak’s Christmas 2020 special release. Working with Czech ink house, Inkebara, they developed three colors for the holidays. This is a limited release of 66 bottles of each color.
Visually, this is a beautiful British racing green. The name Christmas Tree matches well, as this is a good blend of pine, spruce, and fir tree greens. On uncoated papers like office copy, it has a slightly powdery, matte appearance that shows off the green very nicely. It’s darker on coated papers, but is well-defined and pops off the page. Shading was found on all six test papers, with nicely contrasting light accents. There is a decent halo, as well, which makes this a clear, reader-friendly ink.
As a writer, this is a solid performer. Strokes were razor-sharp on both coated and uncoated premiums. Office copy showed only slight feather, but bleed-through was a bit stronger than I’d like. Shading was strongest on premiums, but was seen on all. Halo was absent on office copy, but created nice profile clarity on other papers. Drying averaged 15-20 seconds on coated and uncoated premiums, but was 20-45 on Rhodia. Office copy was a quick 5 seconds.
This is a very peaceful, calming green, and a great holiday color. Christmas Tree writes well on premiums, but bleed-through was an annoyance on office copy. It’s exciting when pen and ink retailers offer their own brands. Pióromaniak have put out several lovely, limited releases now, and I think that’s something the community should be very excited about. Keep an eye on Pióromaniak!