(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
I must admit, this has to be one of the most unusual ink colors I've reviewed. When I opened the bottle, my first thought was that the color looked like something from a festering pond.
I had no idea what it was supposed to be, and the name on the ink bottle, Uca Arcuata, didn't exactly reveal anything. So, I did some Googling and discovered that this ink is part of a bespoke collection made for the Kingdom Note Store based on various crustaceans. These inks include Zarigani blue, coconut crab brown, giant spider crab red, tiger prawn brown and Uca Arcuata (Fiddler Crab Green) which is currently sold out.
I've never seen an actual Fiddler Crab, but the ink color certainly looks like the color from the Fiddler Crab illustration on the box.
Still, I wouldn't call this color "green" at all. Maybe the color varies a bit from bottle to bottle since it's a specially formulated ink, but to me the color is yellow-brown, not green. Of course, Sailor can name their inks whatever they want, so if they want this to be green, who am I to argue?
Like all Sailor inks, this one has a distinctive odor to it due to the preservative phenol. It's not an unpleasant odor, just noticeable. And it keeps the ink from getting moldy, although I'm not sure mold would affect this color much.
The bottle comes with a built-in ink miser. Just turn the bottle upside down (cap on, of course) so the ink collects in the inner ink well, then turn it over and fill your pen. I usually remove the ink miser because I feel like it gets in the way of filling bigger pens. But, when ink runs low, it can be helpful.
The ink flows well and is even a bit wet. It exhibits nice shading qualities, but as far as I can tell, it has no sheen. It is also not waterproof.
The central question is, why would anyone use this color for writing? I can see it as a color for sketching, but for writing? I'm not sure. It's not a color that appeals to me, at least not yet. Maybe, in the fall when I want a color that matches the fallen leaves in Abilene (a drab yellow). . . .
Still, Uca Arcuata is quite similar to an ink I do love: Iroshizuku Ina-Ho. When placed next to one another, Ina-Ho actually seems to have more green than Uca Arcuata. But on its own, Ina-Ho comes across like a gold ink, whereas Uca Arcuata seems more brown.
I suspect both these colors are acquired tastes, sort of like Brussels Sprouts. I do enjoy breaking out of my blue ink rut, so I suspect that I will use Uca Arcuata from time to time. It might look especially nice on Tomoe River paper. I'm teaching a Harry Potter class this fall at my university, so Uca Arcuata might be just the thing to write acceptance letters to my aspiring wizards. Though, clearly, I need to work on my wax seals.
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