Krishna RC Fountain Pen Ink in Moonview Review

This is another review by contributor Dave Hassar. Dave is a product photographer by day, sci-fi, and fountain pen nerd by night. You can follow his Instagram account here for some excellent fountain pen, paper, food, and commercial photography shots. To read more reviews by Dave, click his author page next to the little pencil icon above!

Pen: Franklin Christoph Model 65 – Fine S.I.G. Nib
Ink: Krishna Moonview
Paper: Rhodia, Code & Quill, Tomoe River

Review:

Last incowrimo truly introduced me to world of sheening inks. Until then I had heard about them but never ventured into that world myself. I had no idea one colour of ink could do so many things! When I first heard about Moonview earlier this year and saw some images I thought I would try it myself, and given it runs under $10 for a bottle, it was an easy decision to make.

Moonview is part of Krishna’s RC line of inks which is their high sheen line. The 20mL glass bottle comes in a plain cardboard box, which for me is perfectly fine, especially considering the price. A deeply saturated blue ink Moonview often looks completely pink due to how much it sheens. The blue is so deep, a night sky or twilight blue, it often looks black when it comes out of the nib. Flow is quite wet however the ink does tend to dry in the nib after a surprisingly short time, so you really need to keep capping and un-capping your pen to prevent hard starts. That, or never stop writing! I had the cap of my pen sneak open a few times which then requires a bit of scribbling to get writing again. Not the end of the world, but you probably won’t want to put this in anything that doesn’t have a solid seal or cap. I love showing off this ink to people who are new, or even not into pens and ink, as it makes such an impact on the viewer. One thing to note with this ink and others I’ve seen in this super sheeny world is they tend to smudge, even weeks later, with any amount of moisture. I’ve finished reading letters and wondered how the heck I got blue on my hands, only to realize half of the letter has come along for a ride. Krishna’s Moonview performs only slightly better in this area .

Let’s talk sheen, as this is probably the main reason you are considering this ink. Colour wise, the sheen is pink, and on Tomoe River the pink is the dominant colour that comes across when reading. Feeds become very pretty to look at with a fair bit of pink hanging on there as well. My daily paper at work is fairly absorbent, and even it shows off the pink sheen, which almost no other ink I use can do. Moonview also dries fairly quickly to reveal the sheen, so you don’t have to wait too long to see the final result. I’m still blown away by how much and how readily this ink sheens.
Being such a saturated ink, cleaning can be a little tricky, although nothing too awful. You may need to accelerate your cleaning schedule with this ink, as sitting seems to really let the colour sink in. I had some staining in an eyedropper pen, where the top of the ink level was, as well as a couple of cap threads, but I also had it in the pen for close to two months by that time. It was a pebbled interior so lots of nooks and crannies for the ink to get into. Converters also take a bit more effort to get the colour off of, but they are generally pretty easy to get at.

Pros:

– Deeply saturated ink
– Incredible amounts of sheen, even on surprising papers
– Very affordable price-point

Cons:

– Stubborn to clean
– Will almost always smudge, no matter how long it has dried
– Short bottle, may be tricky to fill some pens

Conclusion:

If you are new to sheening inks, or looking for a beautiful, deeply saturated blue, I think Krishna Moonview is a great place to start your search. The ink is quite wet, and cleans up relatively easily. Do keep in mind that it will almost always smudge with any amount of moisture, so long term or important writing may not be the best use case. For letters or quick notes I love this ink for it’s ability to add something special on almost any paper.

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