With the recent launch of two more Diamine German exclusive monster sheening inks Hells Bells and Master of Puppets, I thought it would be fun to showcase the inks together with a brief introduction to the individual responsible for commissioning these and many other well known super sheening inks. So, here he is – Stephan Lucht – Heavy Rock Ink Star!
N: Stephan, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
S: In the past I worked for the Italian car brand Lancia, but my great passions have always been inks and fountain pens. I was a heavy-collector and dreaming of doing something in the stationery sector. So, at the age of 34 I turned my passion into my job and started my own business.
N: How did you get into commissioning fountain pen inks?
S: Although there are so many different colours, my favorite colours were not included. This is how the idea of creating my own inks came about. I really wanted to make inks with colours related to the music I like and this is why I created the Guitar Collection with Diamine, emulating the most famous Gibson Les Paul guitar colours.
N: So, how many German exclusive inks have you commissioned so far?
S: I have made several rock music inspired inks for myself including: Skull & Roses, Communication Breakdown, Purple Rain, Smoke on the Water, November Rain, Hells Bells, Master of Puppets, the Guitar Inks (Pelham Blue, Cherry Burst, Desert Burst, Honey Burst, Tobacco Burst) and a Calligraphy Passion Ink as a special Ink for lettering. I have also created several inks for my clients including: Ortloff’s Kölsche Tinte, Freiburger Bächle Tinte, Bloody Absinth, Bloody Brexit, Seels Kätchen Tinte, Dom-Tinte, A Night in Jodhpur and a brand new ink called Kölner Brückengrün.
N: I’ll be posting the Kölner Brückengrün review next week.
N: So tell us about the names you choose for the inks and why?
S: Some of my favourite songs arouse great emotions in me. I wanted to translate these emotions into ink colours – hence the names I’ve given them.
N: I’m assuming that you’re into ‘heavy rock’? The Slash figurine next to the Gibson?
S: I love going to live concerts with friends, but I’m not just focused on heavy rock.
N: Really? So who are your favourite musicians?
S: ACDC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Slash, Guns N’Roses, Joe Bonamassa, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Prince…
N: With the names given to your inks – that all checks out!
N: Do you play a real guitar or an air guitar?
S: I play E-Guitar and do have a collection of 4 Gibson-Guitars: Firebird in Pellham Blue, Les Paul Standard in Tobaco Sunburst, 2x SG Standard and one very Special Epiphone SG Emily the Strange.
N: Any new ink projects coming up?
S: Some days ago we launched the new sheen inks Hells Bells and Master of Puppets
N: Delighted to see the rock theme continuing. And they are featured here.
N: So Stephan, sheen or Shimmer?
S: My favorites are sheening inks because they always look different depending on the paper
N: And I thought it may have something to do with ‘metal’ sheens… Well there you go.
Tomoe River paper
So what about these two new sheening inks? Hells Bells is a gorgeous rich deep dark teal/blue and Master of Puppets is a deep dark rich red. Both have very strong metallic sheens with Hells Bells showing the classic metallic red and Master of Puppets the metallic green and depending on which paper surface you choose to use, the colours – as Stephan said – will appear differently. And both are named accordingly.
Seawhite Cartridge paper
Bockingford Watercolour rough paper
Rhodia dot matrix paper
As writing inks, the colours are both dark but when used creatively, there is a fabulous tonal range with subtle and pretty chromatic colours in evidence. And those sheens, of course!
Rhodia dot matrix paper
Seawhite Cartridge paper
Many thanks to Stephan Lucht for his participation and for all his fabulous exclusive sheening inks. If you want to know more about what he does please visit his website – click here.
If you want to get hold of the inks both Papier und Stift and Fountainfeeder have them for sale.
The portrait of Stephan was created with Hells Bells.
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 or, even better, sign up for a workshop?
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 