Ink of the Week: Colorverse Standard Model Tau
Colorverse Tau is an ink that I realized that I’ve never used until now. It is part of the Colorverse Standard Model special edition, inspired by particle physics. Every time I pop open the plastic case and reveal the bottles (unfortunately I had to throw away some that had issues during my swatchbook adventure), I do realize that I haven’t used even half of them. Pretty wild because I know I’ve had this set since at least 2022, if not earlier. I’m fairly certain I bought it on sale from Pen Chalet way back when, but it was still a chunk of change to get this seventeen bottle ink set. Green inks in particular were on my ‘meh’ list until the past two-ish years. I don’t really know what made me reach for this one when I was inking this time around, but it’s a lovely green to finally ink up.
The Color
Colorverse Tau is a cool tone green. It’s a muted color and it reminds me of spring plants. It’s in that soft, leafy green range in bright light, but can get more moody soft forest green in others. The flow is average with some shading.
The Aesthetic
This ink has a context. That context is the case of other elements of particle physics. Before the Colorvent this was probably Colorverse’s most ambitious special edition. Despite being a STEAM educator at nature centers and children’s museums throughout my career, physics has always been my weakest science. Let’s just say learning how to calculate centripetal force and momentum and all that jazz led to a lot of tears in high school. Physics is one of those topics where I have a lot of respect for the people who study it and understand it, but the sheer amount of theoretical mathematics required makes my brain hurt. However, it was kind of fun to try and puzzle through how they discovered this “heavier” (it’s put in quotes when I read a few simple articles… it must be one of those moments where it’s not quite the right word, but it’s something us non-physicists will understand) than an electron negatively-charged particle.
That’s a long way of saying, I have no idea why they made this ink green to represent Tau.
Each set of particles has a little info sheet on an included brochure with stats for the ink as well.
The Experience & Ink Comparison
I used this ink in my Kaweco liliput fireblue with a standard M nib. It was pleasant. It’s a dark enough and subtle enough green that I don’t mind reaching for it often. Having a little bit of green at this time of the year is nice.
It took me a bit to decide on some contenders in my collection since nothing I have quite matches. I’ve also added a little rule to myself for these comparisons - I can’t compare a sold out limited edition ink to another sold out limited edition ink. I want people to be able to use their collection to determine what they think of the ink, so I want the other inks to be part of standard lineups.
Ferris Wheel Press Lost in the Leaves - This is a darker forest green with black sheen and copper shimmer.
Diamine Sugar Snap - comes out a little brighter than Tau (more meadow than forest green) and has the addition of silver shimmer.
Ferris Wheel Press Peter Moss - Several shades darker than Tau, but very similar in the coolness of the undertone.
Colorverse Redwood Forest - Probably the closest out of this entire group. It’s just a little darker and a little warmer.
Overall
This was a fun one to use and I need to not forget about these old special collections, especially for colors that I didn’t like back when I got them but like more now. I think it would be really fun for Colorverse to re-release some of these colors in either the 15 mL or even the mini 5 mL. How cute would it be if they shrank it down including a tiny case? What can I say I like tiny things and this set in mini form would potentially make me buy it again, haha!
Heads up! If you are headed to the Chicago Pen Show this year (Apr. 30 to May 3) I’ll be there with items available from my shop and workshops/hangouts! The Journal Jumbles are free to attend (only limited by number of chairs), but I’ll also be doing a $5 travel journaling the show workshop on Sunday! You can sign up for that one here. Thanks to everyone whose already hopped on it! I’ll also be hosting the Pen Social on Saturday again. You can read about how that went last year on my recap post.
