Ferris Wheel Press Festival Grove — 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: A deep olive-chartreuse. Ferris Wheel Press describe it as "deep lime with gold shimmer" and some retailers call it a medium chartreuse green — on my swatches on Tomoe River it sits noticeably more olive and moss-toned than "lime" suggests. Writing lays down as a mid olive-green with a yellow bias; where the ink pools it goes considerably darker, into a brown-olive. The bright yellow-green edges on the drops are the closest thing to the lime of the official copy.

Shading: Strong. The swab bar and drops move from a light yellow-green at the edges to dark olive-brown where the ink gathers, and there is real chromatic separation in the heavier areas — the yellow and green components pull apart visibly.

Sheen: None.

Shimmer: Yes — gold shimmer, and a generous amount of it. Clearly visible in the drops and in the pooled areas of the swab; as with all shimmer inks it will need a shake before filling and does best in a broader nib.

Flow: Medium.

The interesting bit: Festival Grove comes from Ferris Wheel Press's 2024 release built around the stranger end of culinary history — their hostess character Bearnice laying on a retro feast of gelatin salads and aspic moulds studded with fruit, vegetables and seafood. The colour is essentially the shade of a mid-century jellied salad, which explains why it lands somewhere between key-lime and something more savoury and olive. The bottle carries the French name Bosquet du Festival. Ferris Wheel Press is based in Markham, Ontario, and takes its name from a mashup of the printing press and carnival nostalgia.

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.
Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.
I'm a collector and I'm always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.