review: robert oster signature river of fire

Robert Oster Signature inks are pretty great. Let's keep looking at them.

Robert Oster Signature inks come in tall, plastic bottles. There's a pretty golden sticker on the front, and the top of the cap has a white sticker with the name of the ink and a little swatch on it. Can all companies label the top of their bottles please? Thank you very much.

The bottle is easy to spill due to its height, but the trade-off is, of course, that you have more space to dip a pen as the ink level gets lower. I think I prefer squat bottles like the ones Diamine offers (though I also think Noodler's and KWZ have the best bottles).

Robert Oster Signature River of Fire is a deep blue-green.

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The ink dried pretty quickly on Kokuyo MIO paper. It was good to go before 15 seconds had passed! I was quite surprised by the water resistance: it's not great, but it definitely stuck onto the page better than I thought it would.

I saw some shading across all papers. It's not dramatic, but it's definitely there, particularly in broader nibs.

River of Fire is one of Robert Oster Signature's sheening inks. In my experience, I found it not to be the sheen monster I've seen on Instagram, but it definitely has a lovely amount of sheen, especially in broader nibs and on good, smooth paper like Tomoe River. I'm quite okay with the amount of sheen I wring out of it; it has great character and isn't horrifically smudge-prone.

On Tomoe River paper, the ink is quite a bit deeper and more green. Entirely possible that the depth of the ink is due to having it in my pen for a little while, but I think it's nice to show how ink changes thanks to different use cases.

Okay, time for the monstrous task of comparing this ink to as many blue-greens as possible. As it is, River of Fire isn't that similar to anything I own (go figure!). Diamine Teal is close-ish, but not green enough and more gray. Pretty much everything else is more blue.

I have this ink in my Pilot 78G with a broad nib, which is an italic. I really like the combination! The italic nib and slight wetness brings out the sheen perfectly. I'm definitely a fan.

I only have one bottle of Robert Oster Signature ink, but I've been really enjoying collecting samples. They're definitely becoming one of my favorite companies. I wish they would slow down their releases, though. It's also hard to get a grasp on their full line because many companies sell some of their inks, not all. Regardless, I've found that their inks perform well and there's a good range of colors.

Where to buy

• Goulet Pens: bottle / sample
• JetPens: bottle
• Pen Chalet: bottle / sample