Starry Ink - Wildfires

Ink ReviewStarry InkSodapopWildfiresRedMaroonDark RedShimmer

Oct 1

Starry Ink Wildfires Fountain Pen Ink Splash — **Starry Ink Wildfires - Ink drop**

Each season of Starry Ink’s Sodapop series includes four inks. Wildfires is from Season 3 which consists of sheening inks. Starry Ink takes it further, and whether you get the 35 ml bottle, or the 4-ink, 5 ml sample set, they include a packet of gold (silver for seasons 2 and 4) shimmer. You can add as much as you like, or none at all. (I added a small amount to a 4 ml vial.)

Starry Ink Wildfires fountain pen ink color variation — **Starry Ink Wildfires fountain pen ink color**

Wildfire is a gorgeous, fiery brick red. It has a velvety appearance that I really like. Many similar inks lean slightly purple, but this stays a beautiful, dark blood red. It reminds me of Diamine Oxblood, but side by side Wildfire is a truer dark red which surprised me. The sheen is a rich, luxurious gold, very regal against the deep red. I’m not a huge fan of heavy sheeners, as they can be messy. That wasn’t the case here. It’s heavy in the swatches, but in writing you only find it on stroke edges on coated papers. It never takes away from the decadent base color. On uncoated papers, it isn’t common at all. Smearing wasn’t a big problem in normal use. The shimmer is very, very fine-particled, and in the amount I added, it didn’t cause any flow issues at all (I used a Majohn T-1, medium nib for testing.) I think it looks great against this deep red.

Starry Ink Wildfires fountain pen ink swatches — **Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River**

This ink flows beautifully. It has a medium viscosity and feels very smooth. It’s exactly as I like, wet, but not watery. I didn’t find any feathering at all. Strokes were clean and sharp. I expected some water-resistance, but there wasn’t much. There’s a little showthrough on office copy paper, but no problems on high-quality papers. Drying was slightly longer than average, but not bad. Overall, this is a nice writing ink that won’t give you problems.

Starry Ink Wildfires fountain pen ink - Writing Sample — **Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper**

Starry Ink Wildfire is definitely a top recommendation. You can easily find them with a quick Google (or at @starryink_official on IG), and they’ll be launching their new website (with international shipping) by the end of 2024. It’s tempting to go for the 4-ink set, but with Wildfire, I recommend the 35 ml bottle. It’s just too good!