Pomegranate, that sweet red fruit from around the Mediterranean, not just Southern Europe, but also North Africa and the Middle East. Mentioned through out history, its deep pink colour works well in the ScriBo line up who’s inks do not quite match the usual options provided as standard by other ink makers.

Initial Impressions

I don’t do pinks. I think it’s a Euro male thing. So I shall call this ink crimson. Yes that will do. Initial looks are of a pleasant, warm colour which makes me think of food. If only it was not called malograno/pomegranate. Initial writing does indicate it is well behaved, though right from the start I could see the ink sticking to the sides of the converter, so cleaning might be an issue.

Swabbing Impressions

The first pass does come across either as a darker pink or a lighter red and hints at this ink having a strong hue. The second pass confirms this and shows just how saturated Rosso Melograno is by the lack of difference between this and the following two swipes. There is some hints of shading where the edge of the cotton bud has moved across previously inked card with some hints of maroon or red.

Writing Impressions

All of the pens worked well on the Midori MD paper though there is a very obvious difference in resultant ink colour for the broad nibs, especially the wet OMAS, when compared to the other two. In some respects I expected the writing from the Pelikan to be darker. Interestingly, while there is some shading, the quantity does not seem to be affected by the end colour, ie the lighter writing only has a similar level of shading to the darker script.

All four pens worked well with the Oxford Optik paper producing dark writing with little shading. As with the Midori MD paper, the Pelikan Pelikano wrote a little lighter than expected when compared to the results of the other three nibs.

Shading and Sheen

This is a highly saturated ink with the result that while there is some shading it is not obvious unless you look closely at your writing. The darkness of the script does not seem to affect this, with even the lighter text showing little variation.

This is not a sheening ink.

Flow and Consistency

I must admit this ink does confuse me. It is highly saturated, which would normally affect flow, yet Rosso Melograno wrote with a wet line. There is an exception, hence my quandary, when you invert a converter the ink does drop to the bottom straight away, however it also leaves a smear along the sides that is very slow to dissipate. Additionally I did find this ink harder to clean out of the pens and converter than with most the other inks in the ScriBo range.

Drying Times

This is another area that surprised or confused me. Rosso Melograno acts like a wet ink when actually writing yet you can see from the above that it is very quick to dry. Possibly an option for left handers ?

Packaging

While I only have a sample vial of this ink you can see from the above picture that it normally comes in a four sided glass bottle which holds 90ml. Thought has obviously gone in to the design of these bottles with the view that the owners may keep them in boxes or draws for not only do the bottles neatly and safely stack upon one another but the cap comes with a label showing a good representation of the ink contained within. The front label also shows the colour, which could be useful once the bottle is near empty.

Swab Comparisons

This was interesting. Take a look at a pomegranate and try and work out the colour. Pull the fruit open to reveal the flesh and seeds and you see a dark glistening red, pull the seeds out and you have a dark pink or crimson, extract the juice and now you almost have a purple. It is no surprise that while I had only a few similar swab tests, some were pink tinged red, while one was the red side of pink.

Here we are comparing with three reds, all of which have pink tinges. It is interesting to note how similar the KWZ and Montegrappa inks are where saturated, and arguably the latter as a red is possibly pinker that the ScriBo ink. Remember however, here the cards have been scanned as opposed to being photographed under natural light. The side effect is more application of white from the illumination source .

Showing the contrasts of Rosso Melograno, having being compared to some red inks which are close, here is a pink, again with very similar shades.

Cost

At £35 for 90ml this is reasonably priced for a luxury ink. Slightly more expensive then Pelikan Edelstein, regular Montblanc, and Graf von Faber Castell, but also slightly cheaper than Pilot Iroshizuku and Sailor Manyo. Sailor Shikiori and non-base Montblanc inks are considerably more expensive.

Thing is, as with most 50ml+ size bottles, you are not going to run out of ink any time soon, in fact you will probably not be looking to replace a bottle of this size for years unless you are a prodigious writer with just a couple of bottles.

Views

When I think pink I tend to think of flesh tones, bright flowers, and strawberry blancmange/custard, so while I first thought this ink would fall under that category I rapidly changed my mind and now feel it is one of those red/purple/brown tones that falls under so many names, such as crimson, maroon, burgundy, cardinal, etc. It is a hard colour to pin down, however it is also one I rather like. It is an interesting alternative to red and one, which when used for writing, would not stand out as something too different. Sure it offers little in the way of character from shading, and like many a highly saturated dye based ink it will be a pain to clean from pens and converters, but I think it is one certainly to consider and with very few other similar inks to compete with.

Tools Used

• The Well Appointed Desk Col-o-ring ink testing cards.
• Midori MD A5 paper (cream page writing sample).
• Oxford Optik A5 paper (white page writing sample).
• Rhodia Dotpad No. 16 (drying tests).

Pens Used

• J. Herbin glass dip pen with the tip slightly smoothed (used the writing on the ink test cards).
• Franklin-Christoph 451 CDLI with a Mike Masuyama Needlepoint steel nib.
• OMAS 360 GM with a broad 18k gold nib.
• Franklin-Christoph 19 ‘1911’ with a broad SIG steel nib.
• Pelikan Pelikano with a starter/A steel nib (also used for the drying test and writing in the pocket book).