The Write & Draw ink line consists of 50mL glass bottles that I have found for $17.33 at Vanness Pen Shop. This works out to about $0.35 per mL – a great deal for colorful water resistant inks.

The color lineup today isn’t as colorful as part 1. Here we have the blues, grays, greens, and the one black ink. Blue Koi is a brilliant sapphire blue, Grey Meerkat is a neutral grey, and my favorite blue – Blue Lynx.

Grey Fox is one that I would classify as a blue-black.

I have a feeling that Petrol Axolotl will be a popular choice in this line – a dark teal that reminds me of the popular Taccia Sabimidori ink. Green Eagle is a nice bright green that leans a bit towards yellow, but not much.

The last three colors – Green Squirrel, Grey Frog, and Black Elephant make quite a trio. Green Squirrel is a fun muddy green and Black Elephant is a deep, dark, opaque black – as a pigment ink, it can achieve the true black not found in dye based inks.

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Midori Cotton paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Midori MD paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

In part 1 of this review, I promised to test the water resistance of the Octopus Write & Draw inks. To test this, I first sprinkled several drops of water on every color swatch – here I’m showing the test on Midori MD paper.

After letting this sit for one minute, I blotted each swatch with a clean paper towel.

Not a single trace of ink on the paper towel.

I repeated this with the inks from part 1. The same result. I could not get the ink off the paper.

I decided on another test – I held the Black Elephant swatch under running water for 30 seconds and again blotted the paper dry. Nothing. The swatch looked identical before and after the flowing water.

I am truly impressed with the water resistance of the Write & Draw inks. Colorful waterproof inks are hard to find, but I have found all 25 colors to withstand brutal levels of water. I would consider these a great purchase at their price point.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided at a discount by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Octopus Write & Draw Inks Part 2 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Both Seiheki and Yurushiiro come in 40mL glass bottles priced at $28 a bottle bringing the ink to $0.70 per mL – not an inexpensive ink, but far from the $1 per mL of some recent Sailor inks!

As soon as I opened the package, I noticed that the ink looked almost cloudy. Not opaque like pigmented ink, but not as clear as I would expect.

You can see a bit of particulate in the ink – it isn’t sparkling though.

Swatching the inks, it became obvious that the consistency is unusual – there is definitely an opaqueness present. This didn’t translate into an actual thickness of the ink while writing, however.

The first ink I’ll look at here is Kyo-no-oto Seiheki. From the Dromgoole’s site:

“SEIHEKI is a dull blue-green color that would look similar to the daytime sky. ‘Sei’ means blue and ‘heki’ means green-blue stone which originates from ancient times

The color of nature, especially the sky, would stay in the briefest instant. The shorter the time remain, the memory of the color may even be more beautifully remembered. Especially in the middst of the change of the seasons, the color will change every moment. ‘Shogyo-mujo’ is the Japanese word to describe the transience of all phenomena. Many things are impermanent and change with short lives. Those new colors are our message to describe such momentary colors with lyrical images based on traditional Kyoto colors.

*This is a new type of ink combining fine pigments and dyes. The hue changes at the beginning and end of writing.

To realize the special effect, this ink contains small particles of pigment. Please wash the ink feeder and pens completely before you will use other ink with the same pen.”

Seiheki and Yurushiiro are pigment inks, but only a small amount of pigment. While I have inked up pens with each of the inks here today, I have not yet had enough time to report on the writing experience.

Seiheki is a lovely blue-green close to Wearingeul Resurrection with a touch more blue.

On Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

On the same CAL paper as above, but angled to show a bit of the texture on paper:

And finally on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Tomoe River paper seems to bring out an almost pebbled texture in the swatch of ink.

The second ink in this review is Kyo-no-oto Yurushiiro. Again from the Dromgoole’s site:

“During the Heian Period, there was a color that was not allowed to use except for certain social statuses such as royalty. Safflower red was one of those colors because of its preciousness. ‘YURUSHIIRO’ means ‘allowed color’ for everybody. ‘YURUSHIIRO is a much lighter version of Safflower red. The ink color shade was allowed for every person and was often used for daily life during the Heian period.”

Again, Yurushiiro has the same consistency and comes with the same warning that the ink contains both pigment and dye and that pens should be cleaned out well before refilling with a different ink. In writing, Yurushiiro is close to Pilot Iroshizuku Hana-Ikada (one of the three new inks from Pilot)

On Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Again the CAL paper but angled to show the color and texture of the ink:

And finally on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Again, the pebbled texture shows up only on the Tomoe River paper.

What do you think of this new type of ink? I’m thrilled to get a chance to play with it for a while and I’ll report back on the writing experience soon!

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this post was provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

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The external packaging for the Taisho inks is almost identical to some of the Taccia inks, perhaps giving hints to the actual ink manufacturer. The bottle contains 40mL of ink and has a small tag attached with space for a tiny swatch of the ink although the paper used for the tag is too absorbent to show the ink color accurately.

The three ink colors I have here are Gentle Green, Smoky Navy, and Opera Rose.

Opera Rose is an interesting color – a bit under saturated terracotta or salmon orange/pink/brown. It shades but not dramatically.

Papier Plume’s 011 ink is a few shades darker than Opera Rose, but the color is a match.

Smoky Navy has some great shading and is a lovely blue-black ink. Occasionally a hint of sheen shows up but only in the swatch.

I had a hard time finding a match to Smoky Navy in my collection. The lightest portion of the swatch is a match with Diamine Prussian Blue, and the darker areas appeared to match Robert Oster Thunderstorm, but the camera brings out much more green in Smoky Navy.

I saved my favorite of the batch for last. Gentle Green. It immediately reminded me of Taccia Sabimidori with the way is wrote blue but dried to a definite green.

When comparing Gentle Green to Sabimidori, though, the colors were further apart than I had imagined. The heavier applications of Sabimidori are close to the color in Gentle Green, but the overall color is quite different. Wearingeul Mad Hatter is a good match.

The first page below is Tomoe River (TR7) paper

Next is Midori MD paper – this paper is cream rather than the white of the other two examples.

Finally, Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper.

Here’s another shot of the Cosmo Air Light paper, turned to catch the sheen in both Gentle Green and Smoky Navy.

Scrolling through the photos of the paper types, you may have noticed how different the Taisho Roman inks appear on each. Gentle Green is the most obvious, but all three colors change between papers. I’ve photographed pairs of notebooks to show how much they can change.

Tomoe River 52gsm is on the left with Cosmo Air Light 83gsm on the right.

Cosmo Air Light 83gsm is on the left with Midori MD on the right. These don’t even look like the same inks.

So which ink and paper combination is your favorite?

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Taisho Inks, Part 1 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I do love the detail in the packaging for all of Ferris Wheel Press inks and Lapis Lullabies is no exception. This is the first ink that starts into the tale of Sleeping Beauty, so the heavy bed curtains are surrounded by roses with spinning wheels carved into the bed posts.

As with all of the FerriTales inks, Lapis Lullabies is in an adorable bottle – a miniature version of the full sized inks in the normal ink line.

Lapis Lullabies is closer to a deep sea or dark teal color than a true lapis. The ink has a reddish-copper sheen with gold sparkle added – not unlike Emerald of Chivor (although Lapis is bluer).

The base color of Lullabies is close to Lamy Petrol.

Even the sheen in Lullabies comes close to the same sheen in Petrol.

My writing below is on Tomoe River 68gsm paper in a notebook from Odyssey Notebooks.

I love the more coppery tone in Lullabies’ sheen rather than a bold metallic red.

The FerriTales inks each come in a small, 20mL bottle for $21 at most ink retailers which places the ink at about $1.05 per mL – rather expensive on my charts. It is, however, a beautiful ink for a special treat. As with each of the small bottles from Ferris Wheel Press, I must warn about the small opening – large pens will not fit into it. The largest diameter pen I can fit into the bottle is a TWSBI Eco – this pen is a tight fit. Please keep this in mind when deciding to purchase!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purposes of this review by Ferris Wheel Press. Please see the About page for more details.

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I appreciate that Sailor has been adding more inks to this line on a regular basis and that Manyo inks are a North America-only release. It seems to make up just a tiny bit for the hundreds of inks that are only available in Japan.

The four Manyo inks in this review were recently received by retailers. All four – Koke, Fuji, Ayame, and Hinoki – are described as dual-shading inks by Sailor; they could also fall under the popular term magic inks or multi-chromatic inks.

First up today is Sailor Fuji. This is a dusky purple with grey and blue shading and reminds me of clouds that are lining up to cause major destruction.

Sailor Koke is next, a dark teal with grey, green, and blue showing up in the layered ink. While Koke is very close in color to Sailor 341, Koke has greater depth to the shading and is a touch greener.

Sailor Ayame reminded me of Sailor 123 when I first used it, but it is much darker (and easier to read). The color is closer to Sailor 224 but in Ayame, the tones are more dramatic, swinging from grey to green to purple with a halo of dark green that looks nearly black.

Finally, there is Sailor Hinoki. While it looks close to Ayame, Hinoki is much bluer, shading in grey and purple with just a touch of green in the background. It is similar to Van Dieman’s Morning Frost but Hinoki is slightly darker.

Since Sailor recently released their amazing multi-shading inks (in 20mL bottles), it may help to show these Manyo inks in comparison. Manyo Ayame is darker than Itezora, but close in the mix of colors. Ayame also shows a darker halo in the swatch.

Sailor Manyo Hinoki and Manyo Fuji are similar to Kangyou and Kyokkou in color. The Manyo inks do not show as much color variation, but they are easier to read.

Sailor Manyo Koke didn’t have a good equivalent in the “magic” ink lineup

For those who need more quantity than the 20mL Sailor “magic” inks, the Manyo dual-shading release is a great alternative.

I had a great time playing with these four inks on various paper types. First is Tomoe River paper (old stock). On Tomoe River paper, these look even closer to the “magic” Sailor inks.

The next paper type is Cosmo Air Light paper. Some of the dual-shading quality disappears, but the colors are crisper and darker.

On Midori MD Light paper, Fuji almost glows while the remaining three inks show quite a bit of the dual-shading property.

Typically, the above three paper types are the paper I use in ink reviews. This time I thought it would be interesting to see how Bank paper took the dual-shading Manyo inks. I thought it would be similar to the other paper types. I was wrong.

Where did all of this green come from?? All swatches were done with the same paintbrush and dip pen. One after another. But when the ink touched Bank paper, the result was not the same color at all.

I am also including two comparison photos so the color differences are easier to see. Hinoki and Ayame are quite different colors on Midori MD Light and Cosmo Air Light.

Hinoki on Cosmo Air Light paper versus Tomoe River paper (on the right) is again dramatically different. All four inks look softer on Tomoe River paper while Cosmo Air Light paper shows crisper lines and darker colors.

I will again say that I am a huge fan of Sailor Manyo inks. The newest four dual-shading inks are a fabulous addition to the lineup and I highly recommend them along with all Manyo inks.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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I was able to find a small box of 15mL bottles of the three new inks – Hotaru-Bi, Hana-Ikada, and Sui-Gyoku. They were packaged in a small booklet-box.

Hotaru-Bi is such a bright color that it is a bit tough to show in a photo.

When I first swatched this group, I was reminded of a stoplight trio. Not quite the same colors, but reminiscent of a traffic light.

Hotaru-Bi is a very bright but legible yellow-green. Ferris Wheel Press Fizzy Lime is the only color I have that is close – Hotaru-Bi is noticeably darker in writing, however.

Hana-Ikada is quite close to Pilot’s 100th Anniversary ink, Benzaiten. However, Hana-Ikada has subtle multi-color shading- light pink to an orangish coral.

Finally Sui-Gyoku. Comparing this ink to Iroshizuku Syo-Ro, you can see the blue-green difference. Again, some of the multi-color shading comes into play, ranging from turquoise blue to nearly emerald green.

I was a bit sloppy with swatches (during the Atlanta show), but below are the three new colors on Tomoe River paper.

Again, on Cosmo Air Light paper.

I’m happy with the new colors, and I think they look amazing as a trio. I am a bit disappointed that the Iroshizuku line will be losing three great inks, however. This trio won’t replace the three lost inks, although they are a welcome addition.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me. Sometimes items are purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

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I am only reviewing these latest five inks but if you would like to read about the original five inks in the series, you can find them here:

Ink Series Review: Laban Mythology Series

I purchased my samples from Vanness where you can buy 4mL for $3.00 or the 50mL bottle for $20.

First, Zeus. Because this is a purple ink and purple is always the best! Zeus is a bit darker than ColorVerse Einstein Ring and a touch bluer. The sheen is amazing – see the swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River paper at the end of the review for that.

Hera is a beautiful blue-black-teal color that is incredibly close to Private Reserve Ebony Blue (the original ink – I haven’t been able to compare to the recent Private Reserve release). The shading with Hera isn’t dramatic, but it shows up even in writing.

Laban Hermes is a light sky blue. I didn’t have a perfect match for this ink in my Col-o-ring cards, bu Faber-Castell Gulf Blue is close. In writing, though, Hermes is lighter.

Laban Ares is a bold red with a touch of orange – I would recommend this as a great replacement for Mont Blanc Corn Poppy since that ink is getting harder to find. There is a touch of sheen with Ares, as well!

Athena stumped me. Every time I held the card next to a blue-black swatch, it was quite obviously a black ink. Every time I held it next to a black ink, it was obviously a blue-black ink. Tono & Lims Neuschwanstein was as close as I could get until I compared Bungubox Silent Night. Athena does have a touch of sheen and I would recommend it as a replacement for Silent Night (especially since the price of Bungubox inks has skyrocketed up to $40 – $50 for a 30mL bottle). Athena is a wonderful blue-black-grey ink that would be perfect for office use.

Now for the paper. Below are swatches on Cosmo Air Light paper. The sheen is amazing on Zeus and the shading in all other inks is tremendous.

Tomoe River paper tones down the harsh edges seen on Cosmo Air Light paper, but the sheen on Zeus is somewhat lacking.

Here is a photo with both papers in the same light – Cosmo Air Light on the top, Tomoe River on the bottom.

So there is the newest five inks from Laban in their Mythology line!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased at full price by me. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Laban Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I’ve divided up the Colors of Nature inks into various themes. Today’s inks are all in the Temperature and Condensation group. I’ve started with Slight Heat. I’m not certain of the order of these inks so I’ve ordered them with how they would be seen in Colorado. Slight Heat is similar to ColorVerse Supernova.

Great Heat is next which is nearly identical to KWZ Chicago Blue.

Limit of Heat is a great rust orange close to Diamine Ancient Copper. However, IWI Limit of Heat feathers quite a bit.

Slight Cold is my favorite of the Temperature and Condensation group (purple is best!). It shades dramatically in the swatch and slightly less dramatically in writing.

Frost’s Descent shows a decent amount of sheen and looks like a darker version of Robert Oster Fire & Ice. Surprisingly, I didn’t see feathering in this sample at all.

IWI Slight Snow is a dusty rose and was hard to match from my current swatch cards. This was the worst in the feathering category in the Temperature and Condensation group. I was disappointed since this is an amazing color!

Great Cold is slightly darker than Monteverde Rose Noir, but again, feathering.

The final ink today is Great Cold ink – strangely this is nearly the same color as Great Heat. It has a bit more blue in the mix and is almost a match for Kobe #50.

I love seeing the differences in these inks on Tomoe River paper (top) and Cosmo Air Light paper (bottom). CAL shows the blues in Slight Cold but almost blocks out the pink. CAL also has a more defined boundary to the ink edges rather than the granulated texture on Tomoe River paper.

Again, on Tomoe River paper (left) and Cosmo Air Light paper, the ink shows different properties. Slight Snow shows as bluer on CAL paper.

The differences in color don’t show as dramatically with Great Cold and Great Snow (CAL paper on the left and Tomoe River paper on the right), but the texture difference is easy to see here.

I inked three pens that each had the same nib to test the feathering issues with a more even ink flow and with a rounded point nib. Cosmo Air Light paper is on the top here with Tomoe River paper on the bottom. I did not see a single issue with feathering this time. The “l” in Slight Snow isn’t showing feathering, just a bit more ink.

However, when I wrote on Col-o-ring paper with the same three pens, the feathering showed up again in Slight Snow with a touch of feathering in Slight Heat as well.

Finally, here’s a photo of the eight inks reviewed today:

If I look at the entire 24 inks of IWI Colors of Nature only for the colors, I adore this lineup. The colors are not standard, the line has a wide range of colors, and several are colors I do not already have in my collection. But I can’t ignore the feathering issues with these inks. I don’t know if this is something IWI can change in the future but until that time, I can’t recommend more than a few of these inks for everyday use. I will check back periodically to see if the line has been updated – if the feathering is fixed, these inks will be a huge hit!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me and I was not compensated to write this review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: IWI Colors of Nature Part 3 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This group consists of 7 inks – Daphne Blue, Blue Suede, Avocado, Buttercup, Orange Crush, Copper Burst, and Chocolate.

The new Private Reserve Daphne Blue is a great match for Monteverde Caribbean Blue. A touch of shading with this one but not much of it in writing.

The older version of Daphne Blue was a bit more even in tone – there was less variation in the shading. The new Daphne Blue is a a nearly perfect match.

Blue Suede is the next ink. it’s a bit darker than Noodler’s Turquoise and has some great shading! There was just a tiny touch of sheen in some letters as well.

The new Blue Suede is definitely darker. The color and shading variations here make it tough to compare the underlying color, but they are close. This is another great update.

Avocado is now being spelled correctly! Don’t worry – I know why it was misspelled in the first place. Something about a guitar…

The new Avocado ink is close to Birmingham Schenley Park Thicket Green although considerably darker. Again, there is a bit of sheen on this one. a beautiful black sheen.

Good yellow inks that are legible and still yellow are so hard to find. The original Private Reserve Buttercup was a great ink for this requirement. The new Private Reserve Buttercup is also great – close to the yellow ink from the Pineider Alchemy ink mix kit.

Comparing the new and old Buttercup inks, it is easier to see the change. The new Buttercup ink is darker with a touch of orange. I did see feathering in this ink but I need to test it further on various papers to see how it behaves on those.

The new Private Reserve Orange Crush is beautiful. A dark pumpkin orange with plenty of red mixed in. Orange Crush is close to Robert Oster Orange Zest – another great orange.

This color received quite the update. The old version of Orange Crush was a much lighter orange and was much closer to yellow than red. I’m not sure these two should go by the same name! I will miss the old Orange Crush tone, but the new Orange Crush is definitely one to check out.

Copper Burst is close to Monteverde Canyon Rust – a great color. Copper Burst has a bit less red than Canyon Rustand more extreme shading. There’s a bit of black sheen that shows up in writing, at least in wider nibs.

The color change between the new and old versions of Copper Burst isn’t quite as extreme as the change with Orange Crush. However, these are completely different colors as well. Copper Burst was originally lighter and closer to orange. The new Copper Burst has some dark halo effects in writing and lots of shading.

The final color in this week’s post is Private Reserve Chocolate. I realized my ink smudge looked like I had left a bit of chocolate on the swatch card – I’m sure it was on purpose! Chocolate is darker than Lamy Topaz but similar in color. It has dramatic shading in wide nibs, going from almost black to a milk chocolate shade of brown very quickly.

The new and old Chocolate inks are a fairly good match. Once again, the new ink is darker and the shading more pronounced.

I’ve lined the new Private Reserve inks up on the bottom row and the matching old version on the top. Each ink has more shading and is darker. Buttercup is the ink that stands out in this comparison.

Orange Crush and Copper Burst – these inks I would definitely refer to which generation you are using. These two colors are the biggest change I have seen in Yafa’s change.

Once again I am overall quite happy with the updates to the Private Reserve ink line. Each color is darker and shades more dramatically. Other than the elevated levels of red in Buttercup, Orange Crush, and Copper Burst, the changeover has been quite successful at color matching.

Private Reserve inks have increased slightly in price but are still an amazing deal. Any of the bottles above retail for $15 and are sold in 60mL bottles. That comes in at $0.25/mL, slightly less than the $8 for a 30mL bottle of Diamine.

• Swatch Cards: Col-o-Ring Cards ($10 for 100 cards)
• Inks: Private Reserve (60mL for $15.00)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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So today I’m making up for it with something special. I know I’m a bit late to the party, but a few weeks ago I watched Mike’s Friday stream in which he showed Taccia Sabimidori. This ink is FUN! It has a few tricks up its sleeve and ends up in my favorite color family.

So I went ahead and ordered a bottle of Taccia Hokusai-Sabimidori (40 mL, $23.00) so I could play on my own. Sabimidori is a rusty green invoke by the opera “The Village of Sekiya on the Sumida River.” The Taccia inks come in gorgeous packaging inspired by Japanese paintings and Sabimidori is no exception.

The surprise is that when you open Sabimidori, it’s all teal blue. And yet, as you watch it dry (and it’s pretty quick) it slowly fades to a rich green with hints of blue and yellow and almost a rust-colored sheen. It reminds me of iron oxidizing, and indigo dyeing in the way it changes colors.

The ink itself is sort of average in terms of the wet/dry spectrum. It goes down nicely with some shading and dries quickly, all without being too dry. I decided it was a good color for my Diplomat Traveler in Flame.

In comparison to other inks in my collection, I did find a few that were close, but nothing quite the same. Diamine Twilight had the right shading but was definitely bluer. Starry Night Silent Corderite has the right colors, but is a bit light and of course also has sparkle, which Sabimidori doesn’t. KWZ Iron Gall Turquoise is a bit similar, but again too blue.

What fountain pen would ink up with Sabimidori?

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