Review: Dr. Ph. Martin Ink

Time for another art supply review! I feel I should note that this, and the other more lengthy review I did after Inktober, are paid for entirely by me, and as such are not biased by anything more than my own whimsy. It's not that I wouldn't review stuff if given to me for that purpose (but only honestly!) it's just that I've not been offered that opportunity.

So I have been looking for a nice white for some time, to add little touches to watercolor and ink work. I've tried gel pens (meh to oh god that's horrible), goache (not bleed proof), and now I've tried the Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleed Proof White. It really seems to be bleed proof, as I was working on a still slightly damp watercolor piece last night when I tried it for the first time. It's got a lovely thick consistency - I wouldn't want to put it in a pen, but with a brush it was terrific. When I first opened the jar my heart sank. I'd bought it from Ebay, and it looked dry. I try not to buy stuff on Ebay, because a lot of it is pure crap. But sometimes I do, usually dragon bits I can't find elsewhere. I don't recall why I chose to get this that way, but not all was lost. It works up to liquid again when you wiggle the brush in it. For painting snow on tiny branches it worked beautifully. I'll be trying it on other things when I have the time to art soon.

The new inks, on top of my Gansai Tambi watercolor set. That's what I used to paint this scene with. I really love these paints, too.

Last night I decided I was going to paint for a couple of reasons. One, and most important, I really wanted to. It's been a while, and I was missing it, and I'd been thinking about what I'd like to do with paint - plus, I had these two new toys to add into the mix. Add on top of that I was waiting on a call from the Ginja Ninja to pick her up from a concert that was running late and I had an unexpected window of opportunity. What I didn't have was a lot of space. So I scooted back my keyboard, grabbed one of the skull glasses Jonny Minion gifted us on our wedding for water, and painted on my desk. That... may have been a judgement error.

What I was wanting to do was a piece suitable for Christmas cards (yes, I know I'm shockingly late with them, it's just been that kind of year). The concept I had in mind was a tree with gold dropped onto it, and snow, and very simple... what I wound up doing was too small to drip gold ink onto unless I wanted to obliterate details. So I spattered it using a liner brush struck gently across the dropper from the ink. Um. Yeah. There are flecks of gold ink on EVERYTHING on my desk. I was giggling softly to myself, and getting funny looks from the First Reader.

However, it was totally worth it. The gold ink Copper Plate Iridescent, is gorgeous, opaque, glimmery, and really shows well even in a scan. I'm very happy with how it came out, which is good since I need to make cards this weekend if I have a half a chance of delivering them by Christmas.

I highly recommend both of these inks, and I'll be picking up some other colors when I have the itch to make more art. Maybe for Inktober next year...

"Christmas Tree Farm"