Vinta - Sea Kelp Leyte

Vinta Inks - Sea Kelp Leyte - Ink Drop

Today’s ink, Sea Kelp (Leyte 1944), is from Vinta Inks’ Originals series. Like many Vinta inks, the name honors the culture and history of the Philippines. In 1944, Leyte Gulf was the site of the largest naval battle of World War II, with over 200,000 sailors involved. Today, it’s one of the country’s biggest producers of sea kelp. According to Vinta’s website, “this gentle green ink evokes the color of kelp as it floats in the bright, clear sea waters of Leyte.”

Vinta Inks - Sea Kelp Leyte - Light to Dark Shades

This truly is a beautifully rich, lush, bold kelp green. It isn’t the strongest shading ink, but it does show a variety of tones and hues. At its lightest, it produces lovely celery green highlights. The mid-shade is almost a guacamole green, while darker areas are more intensely vegetal. At its darkest, it’s a verdant, mossy forest green. The splatter shows a textured black sheen, but none appears in writing.

Vinta Inks - Sea Kelp Leyte - Ink Swatch Card

As a writing ink, Sea Kelp is easy to please. It performed very good to great on four of my five test papers. Feather and bleed were problems on office copy paper. Strokes were razor-sharp on the premiums, both coated and uncoated. There was no sheen, but varying levels of shading and halo were seen on each, as well as drying times of 30-40 seconds. Performance was best on Apica & Kokuyo, with darker halos and greater shading. Rhodia & Mnemosyne were also very good, with slightly less shading and halo.

Vinta Sea Kelp is a lovely, rich green with lush shades of the forest. It was usable on all five test papers, but shines brightest on higher quality papers. Stick with a premium paper with this ink. It’s easy to recommend such a pleasant, fairly versatile ink. With the Vinta Initiative, it’s nice to support Vinta, as well. With each bottle, P25 (US$.52) goes to Teach For the Philippines, a charity providing access to education. A great ink, a great cause!