Paper Review: Midori Flash Cards Ducks

As part of the delightful Cult Pens Japanese Stationery Advent Calendar, I received this rubber ducky-shaped set of flash cards made by Midori (If I was better at planning, this review should have gone up on Friday — National Rubber Duck Day!). They look like something else — maybe a Col-o-ring? So, I thought, what the heck, maybe Midori is about to put me out of business. So, let’s test these cards and find out if I need a “going out of business” sign.

I started testing some of the Diamine Inkvent inks (circa 2021). The funny little shape was a little unusual to use and I probably would need some time to figure out the best way to utilize the space. But then I noticed that the writing looked like it was feathering.

So, I decided maybe I needed to compare these Midori cards to. those, pardon my bias, the gold standard of ink testing cards.  Since the Diamine Inkvent inks have specific details on the bottle about the ink qualities, I knew I might be missing some of the nuances of the inks. Garland was listed on the bottle as “shimmer and sheen” and Seize the Night was listed as “standard”.

On the ducky cards, I see the shimmer but the potential sheen does not show at all. On Col-o-ring paper, the poppy pink/red sheen is very visible. Also, the dip pen writing didn’t bleed on the Col-o-ring paper.

The Seize the Night color shows some yellow/greenish sheen on Col-o-ring but just looks like a deep plummy purple on the Midori Ducky paper.

While I had fun trying the ducky cards, I feel safe that people will still prefer Col-o-ring cards, especially if Diamine  continues to release the Inkvent calendars that we all wait all year to swatch!

Phew! I was afraid I was going to need to find a new job!