Waterman Tender Purple: Quick Impressions
At the same time I ordered the stub nib for my Waterman Carène, I ordered a bottle of Waterman Tender Purple ink, since it has been mentioned many times as one of those inks that people who like purple should have. I was trying not to buy so many purple inks, but it being my favorite color, it’s hard to go against type.
Quick note about packaging here: I really appreciate the tab on the box flap. I’m so particular about trying not to rip the box flaps that sometimes I resort to using a knife, scissor blade, or something else flat to carefully pry open a box. This tiny tab helps a lot with that and is a great detail that shows the company cares about user experience. There’s also a diagram on the outside of the box that illustrates how you can tilt the bottle on one of its facets to making inking a pen easier, showing the bottle design isn’t just for looks. Very nice.
When I got the ink and swatched it, I thought for sure it would be a match for one of my many purple inks, but it appears I do not have any inks that look quite like it. It’s a vibrant violet color with a dark shading where the ink pools. My purple tastes tend towards cooler blurples, hence the lack of matches.
I guess Diamine Pansy is somewhat similar in shade, albeit darker, cooler (?), and with a noticeable gold sheen (I’m still learning how to adequately describe color differences).
Private Reserve Infinity Violet (and Colorverse Hayabusa, since they are virtually the same color) and Robert Oster Mysterium are the closest violets I have, but as you can see, neither of them are actually that close.
You can see a little shading in the writing sample, even from this fine nib. The ink seems on the wetter side, so it makes the Carène’s fine nib write a bit broader. The flow made the stub nib seem even more of a broad firehose when I was testing it. If you have drier nibs, this ink may be a good match up.
I really like this color, even though I normally prefer bluer purples. My next purple ink to check out will be Cross Violet. Feel free to add any other purple (or other colors!) ink recommendations in the comments, or on Mastodon. 🙂
