Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake

Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake - Ink drop

I generally like Monteverde inks. They offer really great value, as they continue to be priced nicely and are normally a nice writing ink. Today’s ink is Strawberry Shortcake from the Sweet Life collection. I’ve reviewed most of the series, and I’ve liked most of them. While I really enjoyed the darker red from the series (Cherry Danish), I haven’t been as happy with Strawberry Shortcake. I’ll explain.

Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake - Ink color variation

Strawberry Shortcake is an interesting red. As it hits the page, you expect a confident middle-red, a strawberry red. However, here the ink quickly loses confidence, fading as the strong yellow components (see chromatography below) flex their influence. The result feels somewhat anemic, almost lifeless. This does make it a very nice shading ink, but I expected something stronger. You may feel differently, but for me, there’s just not enough punch. Check out the swatch comparison with five similar reds.

Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake - Ink dark edging

Problems boil over when you consider writing performance. Although it’s fairly tolerable on coated papers, on uncoated papers it’s very prone to feather and spread. In some cases, it feathers far more than I’m willing to tolerate. In both the splatter and swatch card examples, you can see significant elements of feather and spread.

Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake - Ink swatch card

I’m still a big supporter of Monteverde inks, and I strongly recommend many of the Sweet Life inks. (In fact, Iced Cookie is one of my favorite blues!) With Strawberry Shortcake, I recommend finding a good nib, feed, and paper combination and sticking with it, or skipping this one altogether!

Monteverde - Strawberry Shortcake - Ink swatch comparisons