3ce Sepia Swatch

[Michael]

Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Sepia is such a good staple ink color. Or colors, I should say, as "sepia" seems to be a catchall label for anything brownish. Visconti's Sepia is a classic brown. It's the color of milk chocolate and teddy bears, and while I would say that it's more standard brown that what I, personally, would consider sepia, it's a great ink.

The ink comes in a glass bottle with a unique, very Visconti V shape. The wide base makes it easy to fill from. You would have to try pretty hard to knock this bottle over. I do wonder if filling will be trickier when the ink becomes shallow, but there is a plastic insert in the bottle that is designed to prevent that challenge. I can't say how well it works, as I never seem to get to the bottom of any of my ink bottles.

While the color of this ink is very rich, it's otherwise fairly plain. There's almost no shading, no shimmer or sheen. It's a utilitarian brown. It also doesn't bleed or feather. It does have an unusually long dry time, which surprised me a little, as the ink feels dry when writing with it. It also has a little bit of water resistance. Where water drops were dabbed or wiped away, you can still see faint lines where the ink was. It wouldn't be enough to prevent catastrophe if a notebook was soaked, but it might survive a sprinkle.

Chromatography for this color started off fairly predictable--a warm brown separating into shades of other orangey-browns, but then it gave us a surprise pop of violet-blue at the end. Perhaps that's to cool the color down a bit, though it still reads warm to me on the page. Compared to similar browns, it most closely resembles Mont Blanc Toffee, though it goes much darker with heavier application.

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Sepia usually means a reddish brown colour, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia. Sepia was commonly used as writing ink in Greco-Roman civilisation and remained in common use until 19th century.

I found it an interesting ink to write with. With my B nib it shaded a lot and felt wet and lubricated, yet when I used it with my F & M nibs it felt less lubricated although it flowed well. Its behaviour seems to be quite pen and paper dependant.

Nice review and good comparisons. Although by no means a favourite colour of mine, I've always found it fascinating to collect and compare "sepias" from different companies. Really a weird array of tones. I mean, as we all know, "blacks" are not simply blacks, nor are all "greys" grey, but "sepias" range between reds and yellows....

Nice review and good comparisons. Although by no means a favourite colour of mine, I've always found it fascinating to collect and compare "sepias" from different compnies. Really a weird array of tones. I mean, as we all know, "blacks" are not simply blacks, nor are all "greys" grey, but "sepias" range between reds and yellows....

It seems sepia for some ink manufacturers is the colour of faded old photographs, whereas others go for the hard core cuttlefish thing, hence the wide range of tones. You see the same disparity with indigo - dye used for denim or the sixth colour in the spectrum?

Great review as always, Chrissy! What would I do without you? Time and time again your reviews have made me revisit inks which i have bought that have somehow got overlooked in the avalanche of new stuff. This is one of those.

It's interesting how the name of a colour affects one's perception of it. I had Diamine Sepia filed away in the brown section of my sample cards, purely because of the name. Today, thanks to your review I have fished it out and discovered that of course it is really a warm gold; a dead spit for the wonderfully named Seitz-Kreuznach Kangaroo Yellow, and also very close to Standardgraph Maize yellow.

KWZ Honey is a lot more leaning towards yellow whereas Diamine Sepia more of an ochre colour. If you want a colour "in that direction" each could represent that colour group of ochre / light brown, but compared side by side they are different.

(To note, the samples used taken from vendor web sites. Links and details are provided below. However, YMMV regarding actual color fidelity in final use. Large swatches like these provide the range of color variation but once in a pen, color can often appear darker or lighter depending on ink wetness, opacity and nib width. Also, as we all know from experience, what we see on screen may not be the full range of color seen in person. The human eye can see a far greater range of color than can be displayed on your laptop, monitor or mobile phone.)

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Take a black and white print, dissolve out the silver (black) particles, take the now white paper and dip it in a clear toner which fills the microscopic voids left by the departed silver and reacts with the paper to produce a brownish shade image.

I have been longing for the perfect sepia for some time. I wanted ink that would capture the look of a faded old document. I bought some Private Reserve Copper Burst, but it was not quite right. Then I stumbled on your ink review. Eureka! I have found it! Thank you for sharing this wonderful example of what Diamine Sepia can do.

Loved the review, i bought the ink just because i saw your review.

I plan to use it on a beautiful leather journal i bought, the pages are beige and i really want it to look like an old vintage journal. I would love to decorate the first two pages the way you did here.

Actual 4x8 inch cotton fabric swatches of individual Pantone Fashion and Home colors. Each dyed cloth piece is folded back on itself to make a 4x4 inch two-ply presentation in a hermetically sealed UV protective envelope. Used by fashion designers and interior decorators to communicate with clients and vendors. UPC 848826015712

You know, I didn't think I'd like (want, need) brown ink either. Like, why? Anyway, that is a pretty brown. And I like pretty things. ? Thanks for your reviews. I'm new to all of this, and they really help. I would love to win this but don't want my email address to be publicly visible. I'm at Eva, PO Box 210, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276

Oh this color! It pairs so beautifully with that pen. You're responsible for my love affair with Lie De The. I'm a sucker for brown inks and this color is no exception. Hook, line and sinker! WHEN I win (haha!), you can reach me via Instagram @mrschef05 (DM) and I'll send you my address. Thanks for the chance to win!

Lovely shading & great ink! I have really come to appreciate this quality of fountain pen inks that most other inks don't have. And guess what, I don't have a brown ink currently in my collection, just the right time! The pen looks great as well!

I only recently started liking browns for any application at all, and this ink actually looks more amber than sepia to me. Amber is a pretty sexy color, and I'd love to use this for invitations and placecards and such for Thanksgiving. (nicoledob...@gmail.com)

I likely won't be getting the Edison Fall pen, but I love the ink! I've got another pen that I think it would look awesome in, so count me in for the giveaway. Find me at 8dnail at gmail, and I'll be bookmarking this blog. ?

Our Palms Pattern is now available in Sepia on Natural Linen Fabric. Sold by the yard. Fabric Content: 100% Natural Linen. Fabric Grade: L. Pattern: Palms. Color: Sepia. Width: 54". Vertical Repeat: 60". Collection: Design Legacy by Kelly O'Neal. Fabric Care: Dry Clean Only*Please note* Our bolts are a maximum of 25 yards long. To order a swatch click here

Each page is slightly yellow-toned i.e. the master is set to light-yellow for that "ye olde" look. Should the white background from the illustration be replaced with transparency or replaced with the same yellow-tone used for the pages? I've read that some printers don't understand transparency and that transparency has been dubbed "the forbidden fruit of layouting". Does this still ring true?

(Note: if viewing the resulting PDF, you'll need to ensure Acrobat or Reader's Page Display preferences are set to show overprints. Using inferior PDF viewers, such as Apple's Preview application, is not recommended because they don't support professional print settings such as overprinting.)

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