Kobe No. 43 University Town Fresh Green: Ink Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Kobe inks are made for the Nagasawa Department Store in Japan. They are named after various places in the city of Kobe. University Town Fresh Green is number 43 in the series. It is a vivid green ink with plenty of shading and sheen.

I did my ink testing with a Diplomat Aero fine nib which doesn’t show much shading, but you get a good idea of how the ink looks in a fine nib. It’s not a neon lime color, but more like fresh grass or spring leaves. It’s a fairly dry ink (at least in a fine nib), and is not water proof.

Chromatography shows the ink’s composition of light yellow, peach and green.

My Pilot Parallel 2.4mm demonstrates the ink’s gorgeous shading capabilities, ranging from deep green to light green.

On my Col-o-ring Ink Testing card (review here), you can see the dark green sheen in the ink splats.

Kobe University Town Fresh Green is a terrific color. I’m planning on using this ink as much as possible—even though I’m not much of a green ink fan—I love this stuff. Although it works well in fine nibs, it really shines in wide nibs. You can purchase this ink from Vanness Pens, $30.00 for a 50ml bottle or $3.00 for a 4ml sample.

(My wonderful husband purchased this ink for me for Mother’s Day from Vanness Pens.)

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Kyoto Kyo-Iro Higashiyama Moonlight Ink: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Kyoto Kyo-Iro inks are plant-based inks inspired by places in Kyoto, Japan, sold by the TAG Stationery Store. Higashiyama is a ward within Kyoto, and Moonlight is a color based on moonlight reflected off the Kyoto style houses. All the colors in this series are muted, earthy tones.

Higashiyama Moonlight is a terracotta color with peach and deep orange tones.

The ink is an unusal color with excellent shading properties. It is a fairly dry ink, even in my Pelikan medium italic. Nevertheless, it flows well and retains its rich color even after drying. It is not waterproof.

In wide nibs, like the Pilot Parallel 2.4mm, the ink exhibits gorgeous shading.

It also has a beautiful dark brown sheen in ink splats and wherever the ink pools with wide nibs.

I much prefer terracotta-colored inks over bright oranges, and Higashiyama Moonlight is an absolutely gorgeous shade. If you like earthy, muted inks, you’ll like the Kyo-iro line. My next bottle will be Soft Snow of Ohara. You can buy these specialty inks from Vanness Pens, $28.00 for a 40ml bottle or $3.50 for a 4ml sample.

My wonderful husband purchased this ink for me for Mother’s Day from Vanness Pens.

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Once upon a time there was the Maruman Mnemosyne Word Book with lovely textured, cream-colored cards that many pen afficionados used for ink sampling. And then, suddenly, they were gone. No longer produced. No longer stocked. And, lo, pen addicts across the world knew not what to do—go back to gasp index cards?

Captured from JetPens.com

No! For along came a fountain pen Queen with pink hair to save the ink-testing world. Ana Reinert of The Well-Appointed Desk kindly created the Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book. And all was well again.

The Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book is a single-ring-bound book of 100 cards made of 100lb/160gsm acid-free white paper. Each book has a thick brown cardboard cover and back.

When you put a Mnemosyne card next to a card from the Col-o-ring notebook, you’ll notice several differences. First, the Col-o-ring cards are slightly smaller (2 inches by 4 inches vs. Mnemosyne’s 2.1 x 4.1). Second, the Col-o-ring paper is white whereas Mnemosyne is a yellowish-cream color. Third, the Col-o-ring cards are smooth whereas the Mnemosyne cards have significant texture.

Col-o-ring on left; Mnemosyne on right

I much prefer the Col-o-ring cards to the Mnemosyne. Although I love Mnemosyne’s texture for swabbing, it isn’t so great for nibs, especially flexible nibs which sometimes catch on textured paper. The Col-o-ring paper won’t catch your nibs. I also prefer Col-o-ring’s white paper to Mnemosyne’s cream. Inks look different on cream paper than true white paper, and when I’m testing ink, I want to see the actual color, not a slightly yellowed version.

I received a new batch of ink samples from Vanness Pens, mostly Kobe and Kyoto inks, so I used my Col-o-ring book to do initial swabs, splats, and swirls. I am so impressed with this paper. It is thick, smooth, and offers plenty of space for ink testing.

I like to do my swabs at the bottom so I can see the colors quickly when I fan out the cards.

The paper takes swabs well, though it does curl up slightly when it dries. Like Tomoe River Paper, it displays sheen beautifully:

Col-o-ring books are a steal at $10.00 a piece. The only problem is getting them! Queen Ana is hurriedly trying to meet demand, so be patient. She has pen shows to attend, pink hair to maintain, and other queenly duties. You can sign up here to be notified when the books are back in stock.

All hail Queen Ana!

(The Well-Appointed Desk provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)