Van Dieman’s - Enchanted Woods

Van Dieman’s - Enchanted Woods - Ink drop

This is Van Dieman’s Enchanted Woods. It’s part of their season 3, Midnight Series. Their website describes these inks as, “inspired by the dark and somber hues that come out when the sun goes away.”

Visually, I didn’t find anything dark or somber here. Quite to the contrary, I found this ink to be cheerful and promising. In the swatch, we have a bright emerald green that is slightly on the dark side of mid-green. Compared with Van Dieman’s Devil’s Kitchen, this is a lighter, more standard green. In writing, the base color does favor the darker side of this ink, but the prominent silver shimmer brings it back to the light, becoming a silky mint green. There is some shading, and stroke ends lighten to a bright emerald. Their website describes a red sheen, but I didn’t find any on the splatter or stroke. There was some blackened edging in the splatter, but nothing in writing.

Van Dieman’s - Enchanted Woods - Ink Swatch Card

As writing inks, I have enjoyed most of the Van Dieman’s inks that I’ve tried, and Enchanted Woods performs beautifully! It did well on all six papers tested. Strokes were crisp and clean throughout. Shading was present on all, but strongest on Mnemosyne, Kokuyo, and Apica. Drying was a bit slow. Among premiums, it was fastest on Kokuyo, Fabriano, and Apica at 10-25 seconds. Rhodia and Mnemosyne were 15-35 seconds. Drying on office copy was 5 seconds.

Van Dieman’s makes lovely shimmer inks. Enchanted Woods is a festive, cheery emerald green, and performs well on a wide range of papers. It’s a great holiday ink, that I happily recommend!