Antigua’s - Esparceta

Antigua’s - Esparceta - Ink drop

Wow! What a beautiful, unusual ink! Antigua’s Esparceta is a fun and very modern blend of colors. The name Esparceta comes from an agricultural plant (sainfoin in English) popular as a hay and forage crop. The ink matches flowering fields very closely.

Antigua’s - Esparceta - Color Range

From wet to dry, and from paper type to paper type, you’ll find a variety of different results in color. It’s an unusual blend of pinks, corals, and oranges that is spot-on current ink trends. It’s soft, but very readable, too.

Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River

Wet on the page, there’s a lot of orange blending with the pink base color. On some papers (check out the Rhodia and Tomoe River images), the orange influences remain as it dries resulting in a curiously appealing mix of colors (a true dual-shader). On others, you get a gentle coral, or a soft, yet bright pink. There’s nice shading on coated papers, and some on uncoated, as well.

Nice Shading Accents on Cosmo Air Snow

This is a wet, but obedient ink in flow, very comfortable in writing. There’s good stroke definition with no real feather, spread, or show-through, and drying was average or better on all papers tested. This is a nice writing ink.

Antigua’s - Esparceta - Writing Samples

I think Antigua’s got this one exactly right. It’s such an interesting and unusual dual-shading ink. You can find them at www.antiguas.es in the nice, 50 ml bottles for EUR11.99. This one is all fun! (And good news! Starting in January 2024, full international shipping will be available!)

Antigua’s - Esparceta - Swatch Card

Special thanks to Miguel Angel at Antigua’s for surprising me with the ink (but his generosity hasn’t influenced my review in any way).

Antigua’s - Esparceta - Comparisons

50 ml Bottle - (Image from www.antiguas.es)