In the interest of building out a library of ink reviews similar to the current T.G.S. Fountain Pen Archive, I’m going to keep plowing ahead with my write-ups of the Laban “Greek Mythology” Ink Series. This week’s inks up for review are Apollo Orange and Aphrodite Pink. Apollo Orange is a solid mandarin orange ink that will see a lot of use as an annotator. Aphrodite Pink is a truly unique shade that’s difficult to describe and even harder to compare to anything else, but I love the muted tone for everyday use.
Aphrodite “Pink” and Apollo Orange, side-by-side.
This isn’t the first review of inks in this series (see below for links to the prior reviews), so I won’t spend too much time rehashing a history of Laban, but the company is based in Taiwan and has been a longstanding fixture at pen shows. I was somewhat surprised to see Laban launch this line of Greek Mythology-themed inks last year, and was pleased at the obvious level of effort that went into putting together not just excellent ink but an aesthetically pleasing product, packaging and all.
Apollo Orange with my current ink swatching tools. More on that below.
Apollo Orange Should Please Most Fans of Orange Inks
Apollo Orange is named for the Greek God Apollo, God of phrophesy, music, and healing (Roman equivalent: Phoebus), and the traditional association of Apollo with the Sun makes this pairing particularly appropriate! I would describe Apollo Orange as a classic “mandarin orange” with red tones when the ink is wet. Unlike many orange inks, Apollo Orange isn’t a particularly dry writer, so I’ve not had any issues with hard starts or nib crud. I’ve also found the ink cleans out of pens fairly easily, which is always a pleasant surprise with oranges.
Apollo Orange is just different enough from the lighter Saffron TWSBI ECO-T fountain pen to make this pen and ink a perfect match.
Aphrodite Pink: The “Stunningly Weird” Ink From the Series, But Possibly the Best
Finally, this brings us to Aphrodite Pink, one of the most popular inks in the Laban Greek Mythology series and, in my opinion, probably the best simply because it’s so unusual. In fact, I would have to put Aphrodite Pink up there as one of my favorite discoveries over the past year, because there just aren’t that many “pink” inks in general, and certainly not many with this unique shade that falls well outside the typical “hot pink” or “electric pink” colors that companies try to release. Named for the Greek Goddess of love (Roman Equivalent: Venus), Aphrodite Pink is more of a dusty brick red with pink undertones than a true pink. At first, I thought it might be comparable to KWZ Brown Pink, but the latter has much more purple. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter - this ink simply makes for a great everyday writer that I’ve used fairly regularly over the past year, and it’s now in my Pilot Custom 823.
I love nontraditional, muted colors like this one. As with all of the Laban Greek Mythology inks that I’ve used, this one dries quickly and has no maintenance issues.
Takeaways, Where to Buy, and Reviews of the Rest of the Line
I’m currently five inks into my review of the Laban Greek Mythology Series, and I’ve not yet found one that I don’t enjoy. These inks all behave well, and I’ve personally experienced no issues with feathering, bleedthrough, staining, or slow dry times. You can check out my prior reviews of Ares Red, Artemis Navy Blue, and Athena Grey here. In fact, I enjoyed these inks so much that I purchased the entire line at last year’s Baltimore Pen Show for my personal collection, and recently brought them into our own shop. The T.G.S. Curated Shop stocks all colors with the exception of Aphrodite Pink (currently on backorder), and these Laban inks are priced at $25 per 50ml bottle. The packaging alone is a work of art, especially with the incorporation of fountain pens into the different depictions of the various gods and goddesses.
A Note on Swatching Inks and my “Organizational System”
Somebody recently asked me how I organize ink swatches (probably prompted by my Ink-o-Dex video), and what paper I use to photograph samples and organize my collection. The simple answer is that I really don’t have any sort of system. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and many different storage and sampling options have come and gone over the years.
Laban Aphrodite Pink on a Col-o-Ring Card. (Stamp courtesy of Angela at Inky Converters!)
Currently, I use a combination of Col-o-ring cards (stored in the repurposed Rol-o-dex), A5 planner paper, and a 68gsm Tomoe River notebook. Typically when I’m reviewing/archiving an ink I’ll use a q-tip and my Kakimori Brass Dip Pen to make a standard color sample on Col-o-Ring paper, which goes into the Col-o-dex. Blog posts nearly always feature ink swatches and writing samples on A5 sheets of Midori MD Cotton paper and 68gsm Tomoe River paper (while I can still get it), since these are the two papers I use the most. Lately, in addition to individual ink swatches, I’ve been creating comparison sheets so that I can easily view multiple colors from a single brand or line.
My ongoing ink comparison sheet for the Laban Greek Mythology Series
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