Pióromaniak - Ho ho!

Pióromaniak - Ho ho! - Ink drop

Ho, ho! is part of Pióromaniak’s Christmas 2020 special release. Pióromaniak worked with Inkebara to create the colors, and initially limited the run to 66 bottles of each. (As of February 2023, Ho ho! is still available at their online store or at their shop in Warsaw.)

I have to admit, I expected this to be more of a true red, given the Christmas theme. However, I do quite like the color that I found. Visually, this is a fiery, tomato orange. It’s a shading ink, and the dark reddish orange quickly blends back and forth, reaching lights of bright, light orange like dancing whisps of fire at night. The splatter shows a thick, dark, textured brown edging to areas of pooling, topped with a reflective coating of silver sheen. In writing, this becomes a dark stroke halo that frames strokes on premium papers and makes them jump.

Pióromaniak - Ho ho! - Ink swatch card

As a writing ink, Ho, ho! performed well overall. There were, however, significant differences between premium and office copy papers, and between coated and uncoated papers, as well. I really like it on coated papers, with its sharp stroke profiles, strong shading, and strong stroke halo, too. Drying was a bit long on some, but not bad at 20-40 seconds. Uncoated premiums didn’t pair as well, and it suffered from slight feathering, and weaker shading and halo. Drying was 15-35 seconds. Office copy had substantial feathering and bleed, and although shading was nice, halo disappeared completely.

This is a nice, special edition ink, but you do need to use premium papers. For best results, coated papers are ideal. I don’t find a really strong connection between the color and the holiday theme, but it might be more interesting compared to a predictable red. It’s a very pretty shading orange. I really like what I’m seeing in the developments at Pióromaniak, and continue to be impressed.