review: skb shilu / malachite green

More SKB! Let's take a look.

SKB is a Taiwanese stationery company, producing writing instruments like ballpoint pens. They also make fountain pens and inks. I don't know very much about the company, but their fountain pen products are relatively well-distributed through Taipei.

I picked up two bottles of ink in their smaller size, which is 25ml. The ink comes in a flat, circular bottle with a wide metal cap. It is not particularly good at sealing tightly, so I would highly recommend keeping this bottle flat. When you first open it, there is a small paper seal on the inside that you have to peel off. This is a good tester size, and you'll definitely be able to fit all widths of pens inside, but you may have to move the ink to a taller container (like a sample vial) after a couple of fills.

The bottle came with a box, which I don't have anymore, but it had a neat effect on it that shows you what the ink's color is. There's a sticker on the front of the bottle with the ink's name and branding information.

Stone Green is a sort of emerald green color. Literally, the name translates to "stone green," but I believe it's referring to the color of malachite. It's green with a very, very slight tinge of blue to it.

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I've been really surprised by how ink has held up with the new waterproof test! Or maybe it's just that the inks I've been testing have been particularly water resistant? Either way, Stone Green holds up pretty well. You'll lose most of the ink, but I think you get just enough to salvage most of your writing.

As a wetter ink, Stone Green takes quite a while to dry, with it being mostly wet with 60 seconds of dry time. Just as a note, these tests tend to run wetter than in actual use: on Tomoe River paper in a fountain pen, this ink dries down in about 30 seconds.

This ink doesn't shade very much, but in wet applications it has a super interesting red sheen that shows up as a dark, outer rim. The sheen itself isn't very noticeable, but it almost looks like someone used the Photoshop "stroke" function in real life. In a not-so-wet pen, the ink shades a bit more but loses that sheen.

I really only have two other inks like Stone Green, which are J. Herbin Vert Réséda and Diamine Marine. Neither of them are similar though, because Stone Green has more green in it than the other two.

I took my TWSBI Diamond 580AL Turquoise for its maiden voyage with this ink. It's fitted with a broad nib and is a slightly wet writer. It's a very comfortable writing experience, pairing these two inks together. I haven't had any trouble with hard starts. I enjoyed the combination, and though I only filled my pen 1/4 of the way I used it all pretty quickly.

I doubt you'll be able to find SKB inks outside of Taiwan or East Asia any time soon. However, if you find yourself on the island I would recommend taking a look for SKB's ink if you can! They're inexpensive and perform really well. They come in two sizes: 25ml and 30ml. I don't know why one bottle is 5ml more, but there are two more colors in that size.

Where to buy

• Ty Lee: 30ml bottle