Jim P.

Father, geek, serial hobbyist.

Colorverse Life on Mars is primarily a “dusty” blue ink with chromashading and a hint of red sheen.

This is the second of a trio of Colorverse ink samples I was gifted last year in the Secret Santa exchange.

The color changes quite a bit depending on the shading, the paper, and how much ink is present. Yellow, green, and even pink can all show through.

The teeny tiny 5ml Colorverse glass sample bottles are fun, but not very useful. I had to pipette ink out into an inkwell just to swatch them because no dip pen I had would fit in the bottle opening.

Scans

The scans make the ink appear more blue-green than it does under visible light. I’m not sure if that’s from the light in the scanner or the yellow aspects of the ink being more prominent when scanned at high resolution.

Scan of an ink swatch card made from Col-o-ring paper Scan of an ink swatch card made from Iroful paper Scan of an ink swatch card made from MD paper
Swatch Card Scans. Click to enlarge.

The yellow is especially evident on MD paper, and somewhat so on Iroful

Microscope

With this one I tried to get a similar shot of each paper (Col-o-ring, Iroful, Midori) for more direct comparisons in chromashading. In most of these it appears more blue, though the yellow and green are still visible in areas.

Photo of ink writing on Col-o-ring paper under magnification. The ink is blue-gray, slightly darker at the edges, and blue-green near the center. There are some small dark paper fibers which are almost black near the bottom center of the line. The edges of the line are very rough. Photo of ink writing on Iroful paper under magnification. The ink is blue-gray, darker and more blue at the edges, some areas around the middle are yellow-ish in the background. Some paper fibers near the center are much darker, almost black. The edges of the line are smooth. Photo of ink writing on Midori paper under magnification. The ink is blue-gray, darker and more blue at the edges, and yellow-ish in a narrow band near the center. There is a dark line almost black down the center as well. The edges of the line are somewhat rough.
Life on Mars under Magnification. Click to enlarge.

Each one brings out the colors differently, though IMO, Midori does it best.

This video moves around the large swatch area of the MD card and shows that there is even some red sheen that didn’t show on other paper.

Chromatography

The chromatography separates out into Yellow, purple, and cyan

Photo of chromatography paper under UV light.
Chromatography strip photo under UV light

Under UV there is a magenta glow where the purple is in the scan, plus a blue halo past the leading edge.

UV Check

Swatch Card Photos under visible and UV light. Click to enlarge.

Shockingly, it all glows magenta under UV light, even the writing!

Group Photo

In the group photo it is much more blue, but the green/yellow is still there in places.

Photo of 3 ink swatches & chromatography strip for Colorverse Life on Mars which is a "dusty" blue ink with chromashading in swatches and some shading in text. Each swatch contains the ink name followed by "XX" 2 curlicues in both stub and EF widths. Swatch 1: Iroful swatch card with an outline of a paint palette and tube. The palette is mostly filled in with swirls of ink, a few small areas are darker a lighter gray, almost brown center. There is an outline of a paint tube which is swabbed and looks similar. The writing has a lots bit of shading across letters with wider lines. Swatch 2: Col-o-ring swatch card with a stamped outline of a Colorverse ink bottle, which is teardrop-shaped with the point at the bottom left. The outlined area is mostly full of an ink blob which is darker and more gray at the bottom and paler and more blue at the top in a gradient. Swab across "cap" is similar, but more gray. Again, the words in the sample have a some shading. Swatch 3: Midori MD swatch card with a stamped outline of a Colorverse ink bottle. The outlined area is mostly filled in with swirls of ink, a few areas are darker with even darker edges and gray interiors. Swab across "cap" is similar. The text has much more pronounced shading and on nearly every letter. Chromatography is visible on most of the strip, there is a line of yellow where it started. A large faint area of blue. Then blends into pink, then purple, then light cyan.

See Also

Check out the other two samples in this group:

Verdict

I like this one overall, but I only have a 5ml sample bottle. I’m not sure I like it enough to buy a whole bottle, though.

Based on a Mastodon Post

Updated:

Questions or comments? Contact me on Mastodon

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