Based in Cebu, a province of the Philippines, Troublemaker Inks are a small artisan ink studio. Their current range consists of 27 fountain pen inks spanning four categories of ink: Standard, Shading, Shimmer and Sheen.
For such a small range, their inks have impressed me. This first post, of two, covers the Troublemaker Standard Ink range which consists of thirteen coloured inks:
Basilca Red – A fabulous rich blood red which has a lovely reaction with bleach. It’s got a great tonal depth to it and dries unevenly.
Freedom Park Rose – A deep dramatic purple that displays a distinct forked lightning pattern when dropped onto a wetted paper surface that softens as it dries. You can see it here. This is quite a concentrated colour as you can also detect a metallic green sheen in the darker area. Some subtle chromo in the lighter areas and bleach also has an effect in the lighter areas.
Blue Guitar – A lovely uneven cyan bleeding out turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Nice reaction to bleach.
Hanging Rice – A very deep dark green bleeding out turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Nice reaction to bleach.
Luneta Twilight Pink – A lovely bright pink that flows easily when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Nice reaction to bleach.
Mango – A deep orange ochre that feathers lemon yellow at the edges when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. A dull reaction to bleach.
Sinulog Black – A lovely blue black that bleeds out purples and turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Beautiful neon blue reaction to bleach in the less concentrated areas and a deep red sheen in the very heavy areas. Check out my illustration of the magpie using this ink with bleach.
Kawasan Teal – A green teal that bleeds out a hint of blue/purple with turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Good reaction to bleach in the less concentrated areas and a deep red sheen in the very heavy areas.
Yellow Tartanilla – A matte custard yellow that flows easily when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Dries out light yellows at the edges with yellow ochres in the more concentrated areas. Not a great reaction to bleach.
Tablea – A very deep reddish brown that bleeds out reds when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Good reaction to bleach in the less concentrated areas.
Bantayan Turquoise – A blue/green teal that bleeds out a hint of blue/purple with turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Good reaction to bleach in the less concentrated areas with a red/black sheen in the very heavy areas.
Purple Yam – A heavy deep purple that bleeds out violet and turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. Too heavy for a reaction to bleach.
Opon Channel Blue – A heavy green that bleeds out greys and turquoise when dropped onto a wetted paper surface. A decent reaction to bleach in the less concentrated areas.
This is a compact and eclectic mix of inks for a Standard Collection. There are three very stable colours here that could form the basis for a mix set. There are inks here that could arguably join the sheening set and there are some lovely chromo characters that could almost qualify for the shading collection. I can’t help but like these inks, and yes, I could probably pull similar swatch cards from other brand collections that I’ve explored, but there’s my point, it’s the variety within this tiny group that I really find quite charming. I’ll include a proper summary with my next post that explores the Troublemaker Shimmer, Sheen and Shading inks.
Of note: I have reviewed four of the shading inks previously and you can access that post by clicking here. And if you’re interested to see how the shading inks performed when used for painting click here.
All tests on Bockingford Rough 200lb watercolour paper with handwriting using a Noodler’s Creeper pen.
Many thanks to Anja at Papier und Stift for sending me the samples.
AND HEY! If you’re interested to know more about how to use fountain pen inks in more creative ways – whether it’s simply to observe their chromatic behaviours, or, to recreate one of my swatch cards, or, to learn how to use them in watercolour painting, illustration and calligraphy, why not check out my online course ?
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 