Set #1 is a brighter assortment and includes  Haha, Nekoyanagi, Sakura, Nadeshiko.

I swatched each bottle on Col-o-ring paper and then used a 1″ circle punch to cut the swatches and glue onto the top of the lids.

It’s easy to see the range of colors in Set #1 when you view the cap swatches from above.

The Set #2 is a bit more muted and includes Ayame, Hinoki, Fuji, and Koke.

On the Col-o-ring cap swatches, there is a bit more diversity in the colors of Set #2 but it’s definitely a more wintery feeling palette.

I have debated endlessly with myself which set I like more and I can’t decide. Which set is your favorite?

Besides being a great option to get several inks in one kit, the bottles are smaller than the regular Manyo line (each bottle is 50ml) so its also great if you prefer smaller bottles of ink.

Unfortunately, Dromgoole’s is currently sold out of these sets, hence the eye candy post rather than a full review. These sets are an overseas exclusive so when they sell out they are gone! Full-sized bottles of the Manyo inks are still available for $24 each (50ml) and some other online pen retailers may still have them in stock so if you want to get your hands on these, I recommend googling ASAP. They won’t last long.

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

The post Eye Candy: Sailor Manyo Dual Shading Mini Sets appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Tinterias is a Spanish language podcast run by Jeffrey Coleman who is a professor at Northwestern University who also seems to have excellent taste in ink. He teamed up with Sailor to create a group of exclusive inks – Spicy Chipotle, Homemade Tortilla, Blue Corn, and Agave. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get to the Tinterias table, they were sold out of one bottle, Spicy Chipotle, but that only means I have one more bottle to hunt down…

The first ink is Homemade Tortilla. This is a beautiful golden brown ink that shades dramatically and is very close to KWZ Honey with a touch less yellow in the mix.

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The next ink is Blue Corn, a deep blackberry purple. I love how well this ink matches the actual color of blue corn – although I don’t think blue corn sheens at all. I could be wrong, though. Blue Corn is a touch bluer than Robert Oster Claret, but it is close and it is a few shades lighter than Vinta Ubi Mulberry.

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The last ink today (due to being too slow on Spicy Chipotle), is Agave. Agave is a wonderful blue-grey ink that could be classified as a light blue-black ink. It is close to Wearingeul Mature but is better at shading and is slightly darker than Akkerman Koninginne Nach Blauw.

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

I’ve been enjoying these three inks thoroughly since picking them up. Homemade Tortilla and Agave shade gorgeously! I played around with Agave and a Sailor Fude nib for a while – not artistically, but it was fun seeing what the color can do!

I highly recommend all three inks I’ve shown here today. You can find them on the Tinterias podcast website where they are listed for $30 each (although both Homemade Tortilla and Spicy Chipotle are sold out currently) – I did not find shipping costs, however. The square glass bottles are 50mL each, so you’ll have plenty to play with as well, and at $0.60/mL, these inks are very well-priced for Sailor!

The post Ink Review: Sailor x Tinterias Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Sailor Hawaii and Sailor North Dakota are a beautiful pair of inks – a multi-chromatic purple and a light mint green.

According to the package insert, Sailor North Dakota is “a soft green ink that brings to mind the vast grassy prairies home to the iconic bison hearts found in the state.” While I do love the color of this ink, I’m not sure it reminds me much of the color of grass. It is close to Robert Oster’s Elf’s Cap, although several shades lighter.

North Dakota on Midori MD paper:

North Dakota on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

North Dakota on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

North Dakota is a pleasant color, but unless it is used with a broad or stub nib, it will be difficult to read.

Sailor Hawaii, according to the package insert, is “a light blue ink with undertones of pink to represent the exquisite ocean sunsets enjoyed on this incredible island state.” Hawaii could pass as a periwinkle blue, but I would label it as a purple ink. It is very close to Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi, although Hawaii has an addition of amazing shading and the various colors in the ink can be found even in writing.

Sailor Hawaii on Midori MD paper:

Sailor Hawaii on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Sailor Hawaii on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Hawaii is a gorgeous ink and the shading takes it to the level of need-to-have for me. Using it with a flexible nib, the ink is dramatic, and, being purple, perfect for me.

As usual, the downside of the Sailor 50 States collection is the price. Each bottle is sold at $25 for 20 mL of ink or $1.25 per mL, one of the highest prices in the ink market (excluding out-of-production or rare inks). However, the 50 States collection is perfect if you are looking for a thoughtful gift for a pen friend. Sending a bottle of ink representing a state with a special meaning could be a perfect present.

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

The post Ink Review: Sailor Hawaii and North Dakota appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Its a bright, vivid orange to help see you through the last grey days of winter. When compared to other oranges in my collection, I’d say its a bit brighter and happier than Sailor Apricot, if that’s possible. This ink will definitely show best with a wide nib to get all the shading,

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite orange ink is. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, February 24, 2023. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

DISCLAIMER: Items included in this post were 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.

The post Giveaway: Sailor 2023 Pen Show Exclusive Ink appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Like the first batch of Yurameku inks, Yurameku 2 inks are packaged with a swatch of the ink color on the label in 20 mL bottles. The two batches are easily differentiated by the color of the boxes themselves, 1 a light grey and 2 nearly black.

I appreciate the color swatch on both the boxes and the bottles. Square bottles and boxes are also wonderful.

Now for the inks themselves. The Yurameku 1 line up was full of nearly pastel inks. Not under saturated, but pastel. This seems to be the best way to show dramatic multi-chromatic shading. The Yurameku 2 line in the opposite with all five inks being dark and moody with hints of sheen.

The dramatic shifting in Yurameku 2 inks seems to be both the angle of the light and the paper type. When sheen is present in an ink, it isn’t the bright metallic sheen caused by over saturated ink. Instead, it’s almost shimmery without a shimmer particulate.

In contrast to most sheening inks, Yurameku 2 inks don’t seem to be overly dye-heavy. Suki Gokoro brings to mind Sailor’s Rikyu-cha with more depth to the color variation.

Suki Gokoro shows this same shimmer quality with the sheen – present through the ink rather than only on the edges of pooled ink. I haven’t seen evidence of this in writing yet, but further testing is needed

I haven’t offered ink comparisons in today’s review, because I believe more testing is necessary before I can even decide the base color!

Date Gokoro stands out from the collection with a rich blueish-purple that changes dramatically based on paper type.

Hana Gokoro is quite difficult to photograph. This is a purple-red-brown-grey ink that is also impossible to truly describe.

When I first swatched Zaire Gokoro, it seemed like a pleasant blue-black ink, but it… changed.

With the five newest Yurameku inks lined up, the overall presentation is dark, somewhat lacking in variation.

This is the point where the inks show their unique properties – paper types.

I’ve kept the order of the inks consistent on each page below.

Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7):

Cosmo Air Light 83gsm:

Midori MD paper:

Suki Gokoro is the first ink to catch my eye with the dramatic changes in color between paper types. Zare Gokoro loses all blue on Midori MD paper while the same paper removes the brightness and red undertones in Date Gokoro. Hana Gokoro shifts from blue to purple to brown-grey but Kokoro Guma doesn’t seem to fit in the same shifting pattern. One characteristic the is consistent across all papers and all inks is the dramatic shading.

I have loved every Yurameku ink so far and the second line is no different. At first glance, the two Yurameku lines don’t seem to belong in the same line, I have a feeling that further writing will start to show more unique properties. Keep an eye out for the second part of this ink sneak peek!

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge from Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons.

Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Peek: Sailor Yurameku Inks, Round 2 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

My home state (where I was born and grew up), California, has already been done, and Jesi reviewed it previously:

But I’m still waiting for Kansas, so it’s fun to think about what it could be. Kansas’ state flower is the Sunflower, and I could totally go for a golden sunflower yellow (or would that be too close to New Jersey?) The Kansas state bird is the Western meadowlark, which has a bright lemon yellow belly. If we’re playing on the Wizard of Oz, the colorway could be Ruby Slippers?

Colorverse on the other hand, has their USA Special Series highlighting US cities. My personal favorite there is Fabulous Glistening Las Vegas. a sort of flamingo pink ink with shimmer. When I think about Kansas City, I think about fountains so I could easily see a watery blue. We’re also known for our BBQ (don’t get into a debate about which BBQ is the best – it will only end in a fight!) so we could be up for a burgundy color.

Robert Oster is also tackling Cities of America. According to Jesi’s review, Kansas City’s color has already been decided, along with a few others!

So do you have any thoughts about your city or state inks? If you live outside the US, I’m sure you want country/state/province/city inks as well right? What color do you think your geographical signature ink should be?

The post What’s your state’s Sailor Ink Color? appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

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.

The post Ink Review: Newest Sailor Manyo appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Cult Pens is an amazing store located in Great Britain with a huge selection of inks, pens, paper, storage containers – everything to delight a fountain pen user. Cult Pens recently celebrated a big anniversary – 16 years. To celebrate this event, they released a new line of inks that are made by Diamine and expanded another line of highly sheening inks (the inks are each named after Cult Pens staff members). While ordering, I found that they had also received new Sailor inks exclusive to their store.

The three inks are Nori, Suiseki, and Momiji. The boxes are labeled on the side with Green, Brown, and Yellow. Helpful.

The ink is available at Cult Pens for $27.95 for a 50mL bottle – just a bit more than $0.50 per mL. Quite reasonable pricing for Sailor inks lately! Free shipping to the US is available with a $135 spend and shipping is available to anywhere.

The three inks all behave like the Sailor Manyo inks although I did find the brown (Suiseki) to be a bit on the dry side. I wouldn’t classify it as a dry ink, but it was different than the other two inks.

The first ink is Nori – seaweed. This color is closest to Sailor Epinard (Spinich) but a bit softer. Maybe the word should be dustier? Even in writing, the color is soft – a bit less saturated – giving it a vintage feel.

Suiseki is the word for small landscape rocks – meaning rocks that look like a natural landscape in and of themselves. (I’m not a translator and cannot speak or read Japanese but I can use Google and this color is supposed to be rock color). Kobe #40 is very close but doesn’t shade as nicely. It is a soft greyish-brown with a hint of peach.

Sailor Momiji (a Japanese maple tree) is a honey gold color with beautiful shading. It is closest to Robert Oster African Gold but a bit darker – less of a green undertone than KWZ Honey. With the steel nib I used for the swatch, the writing varied from medium gold to dark brown.

I was surprised by these colors – they don’t seem to fit in with current ink trends which seem to be towards multi-chromatic or color-shifting inks. These are, however, color groups that do not have many options already available. When the group of three is seen together, there is a calm tone – nature in ink.

The first swatches below are on Tomoe River paper:

And then again on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Finally, Tomoe River paper on the left and Cosmo Air Light paper on the right. Suiseki shows the most change between the two papers. Nori looks so much softer on the CAL paper!

I’m very happy I found this trio and I’ll be presenting more Cult Pens exclusive inks in the near future. Do you have a favorite store-exclusive ink?

The post Ink Review: Sailor inks exclusive to Cult Pens appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

While answering a question about Sailor Apricot recently, I tried to find a full history of the ink’s turbulent past but couldn’t find a clear explanation. So of course, I decided to write one.

One long-running ink line was the Jentle group. This line started with a group of six inks: Sky High, Ultra Marine, Peche, Apricot, Epinard, and Grenade (some include blue-black and black in this group as well).

However, in 2014, Sailor decided to update the Jentle line, with the subtitle Colors of Four Seasons. Four Seasons replaced the six inks with Miruai, Nioi-Sumiri,  Doyou, Souten, Oku-Yama, Yama-Dori, Shigure, and Tokiwa-Matsu.

While there were several inks that were close to the original Jentle inks, they weren’t quite the same. Sky High had been a bit brighter than the new Souten. Oku-Yama was pinker than Grenade. Miruai and Tokiwa-Matsu were both close to Epinard, but not quite. Nothing quite replicated Ultra-Marine and there was no equivalent to Peche (no one complained about that, however). But the one that everyone missed was Apricot.

Soon Sailor Apricot became a currency by itself. Orange-ink-loving individuals hoarded the color when they could. People would exchange small vials of the ink in secret for large amounts of money… well, I don’t think it was ever quite that bad. But it became impossible to find.

Luckily, in 2016 (approximately), Sailor released another eight inks in the Colors of Four Seasons lineup. These inks were: Sakura-Mori, Kin-Mokusei, Yuki-Akari, Irori, Waka-Uguisu, Fuji-Musume, Chu-Shu, and Rikyu-cha.

Finally, Sailor answered the public’s need for an Apricot replacement.

Here’s a quick comparison of (approximately) equal colors between the Jentle inks and the Colors of Four Seasons inks:

But were Kin-Mokusei and Apricot truly equivalent? This was a question that obsessed many ink connoisseurs.  This has been debated many times in the past and is not in the scope of this article. However, I will examine this question in the future.

First, let’s finish the Sailor timeline of these inks.

2017 brought a surprising announcement – Sailor was rereleasing the original 6 Jentle inks! Finally, we could restock our Apricot shelves and complain about Peche again.

Image from Goldspot

At this point, Sailor switched gears from the 50mL jars on ink to the pretty but small 20mL bottles that now make up the Shikiori ink line. Sadly, this change meant that the price per mL jumped to nearly $1/mL (from $0.36 or $0.50 per mL), however, the bottles are easier to store next to one another.

The 20 Shikiori inks combine the Jentle and Colors of Four Seasons (1 and 2) inks with a few inks changed or dropped. The missing colors are Ultra Marine, Peche, Apricot, Epinard, Sky High, Grenade, and Fuji-Musume while new colors include Fuji-Sugata, Yozakura, Yodaki, Yonaga, and Shimoyo.

Shikiori 20mL bottles: Miruai, Nioi-Sumiri, Doyou, Oku-Yama, Yama-Dori, Shigure, Sakura-Mori, Kin-Mokusei, Yuki-Akari, Waka-Uguisu, Chu-Shu, Rikyu-cha, Fuji-Sugata, Yozakura, Yodaki, Yonaga, Shimoyo, Tokiwa-Matsu, Souten, and Irori.

So to summarize this look at one small section of Sailor ink history, I have laid out the various colors and line-ups. In the future, I would love to take a deeper dive into a comparison of the ink colors.

Please note with this chart – the dates are very approximate and should really only be used to create a general timeline. Inks were released and received at varying times depending on retailer locations and availability.

DISCLAIMER: I purchased the items for this review with my own money and all opinions are my own. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Comparison: Kin Mokusei vs Apricot appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

In comparison to a few other sheening burgundies, Ume doesn’t show much sheen and when it does, it isn’t bright.

But this subtlety can be great when trying to pass off Ume in the office.

I love how Ume looks in a fine nib.

Ume isn’t waterproof nor is it water resistant. But it does hold the information conveyed in writing even with a soak. The red washes away but the writing should still be legible.

• Paper: Hobonichi Cousin – Tomoe River paper ($54)
• Pen: Diplomat Traveller Flame, Fine nib ($52)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Cards ($10)
• Ink: Sailor Manyo Ume (50mL for #$20)

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.

The post 12 Days of Inkmas: Sailor Manyo Ume (Day 5) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.