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.

The post Ink Review: New Kyo-no-oto Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I was most interested to try Monogolian Sandstorm. Over the years, I’ve always leaned towards a misty lavender ink and if it was waterproof (which most pigment inks are) that would be a double bonus.

Mongolian Sandstorm, like the other Kala inks come in a 30ml glass bottle that is packaged in a paperboard box. The cap is embossed with the Kala logo which is a lovely touch.

The oddest thing about Mongolian Sandstorm is that the ink is darker when wet and then lightens as it dries. I wracked my brain trying to remember if there was any other material that behaved this way and the only thing I could think of was gouache.

The most unpleasant thing I noticed about Mongolian Sandstorm was that it is wetter than most inks. So much so that it made my Japanese style EF appear almost like a broad. Above is a writing sample image showing another pen with the same nib next to Mongolian Sandstorm. The line weight difference is pretty ridiculous.

I tried the pen on a bit of Tomoe River paper to see if the results would improve but the writing is equally indistinct.

The two photos above are close-ups of the logo doodles I did. The top image is the version I did on the Tomoe River paper and the lower image is on Rhodia. The lines do not bleed but are still blobby.

I have two other hazy purple inks that are very similar in hue though they are not pigment inks: Pen BBS 270 and 346. Pen BBS 346 is a little bit darker but #270 Raspberry Milkshake is almost the same color, just not waterproof. Raspberry Milkshake is also a wetter ink. Pen BBS #346 is darker but a dry ink. It would perform better with a little bit of White Lightning.  (In PenBBS, #226 June Pearl and #315 Ice Lake are shimmer versions of similar colors if you prefer sparkle in your inks.)

Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Ink Jule is a good alternative if you’re looking for a waterproof hazy purple, though it is a little warmer with more red in the ink.

Overall, I’m not a fan of the Kala Nostalgia Abstraction inks thus far. It’s just not what I was hoping for.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 18 with 7mm guide sheet
• Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15), Wing Sung 3008 EF and Wing Sung 698
• Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Ink:  Kala Nostalgia Abstraction Mongolian Sandstorm ($17 for 50ml bottle)

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

The post 12 Days of Inkmas: Day 8 – Kala Nostalgia Abstraction Mongolian Sandstorm appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.