Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Sailor Ink Studio 960 Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Out of the many inks I own, there aren't any true greens. I've always enjoyed green, but never fallen for any green inks that I find while at pen shows or perusing online shops. Sailor Ink Studio #960 is about as true a green that I could ever want. While the color might not match exactly what "true green" is, it certainly comes close enough by my personal definition.

Sailor Ink Studio is a fascinating project and line of inks produced by Sailor's own Osamu Ishimaru, a professional blender of inks. The Ink Studio line is comprised of over 100 unique inks chosen from Mr. Ishimaru's thousands of ink creations. I can't imagine coming up with a handful of unique ink colors that span the color wheel, let alone coming up with thousands. This is truly fascinating to consider and makes the 960 on my desk even more special for that reason.

Aside from the clever concept and interesting branding behind the Ink Studio line, it's still a Sailor ink at heart, which means I was excited to try it out. 960 is a deep green that looks more like jade in lighter areas. It's not dark enough to qualify as forest green or British racing green, but it comes close to those shades when the ink pools up on the page. Let's just say this ink will not come into question on St. Patrick's Day.

This is a fairly saturated ink, which helps it pop from the page despite the dark-ish color. I've been using this ink in a 1.1mm stub nib mostly, and that's purely because I love to see the character of the ink come out more with a wider nib. There's some really beautiful and subtle shading that comes out with a broader nib. When using this ink in a fine nib, I barely noticed any shading at all and almost wrote the ink off as a dark green with very little character. I'm glad I was wrong.

Like all Sailor inks I've come across, this one is extremely well-behaved. The ink is smooth on the page, works great in the feed and nib system (meaning it starts quickly and doesn't skip or sputter), and dries really quickly on the page. In my unscientific tests, the ink is normally dry in under 15 seconds. And, as with all well-behaved inks, it's also easy to clean out of pens when it's time to swap in for something else.

The dark, subdued shade of this delicious green is something that makes me happy when I see it drying on the page. It's not a flashy ink, but it has a lot of hidden character that you can coax out with the right nib. It's dark enough to be appropriate in many business settings, but fun enough to use on a daily basis.

At $18 for a 20ml bottle, Sailor Ink Studio #960 is a bit on the pricey end of inks, but it does have a very unique story and some additional info on all 100 colors in the Color Studio line, as well as some blank cartridge converter labels so you can always remember what ink you have in a given pen. If this particular color doesn't strike your fancy, take a look at the other 99!

(Dromgoole's provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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, for which I am very grateful.

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

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Sailor, Ink Reviews.

TWSBI Blue Black Fountain Pen Ink Review

Like many of you, I love to express myself through fountain pen ink. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of outrageous colors on the market that make me smile, and make the letters on the page look amazing. As cool as those inks are, there is always a need for classic colors, and TWSBI Blue Black is the latest and greatest.

I appreciate how TWSBI launched their new ink lineup. They dropped a six-pack of bright colors in quality packaging, allowing customers to sample one, or all of them, in smaller 18 ml bottle sizes. Following that release, TWSBI expanded the lineup with core colors - Black, Blue, Red, and Blue Black - that form the baseline for what is expected from a pen manufacturer that is producing their own inks.

While stock colors aren’t designed to set Instagram on fire, they are expected from any company bringing out their own ink to use with their full pen lineup. And TWSBI did it correctly in my book, with large, 70 ml bottles, and for a reasonable price of $18.

As a verified blue black ink aficionado, you know this was going to be the first one I tested out. I’m sure I’ll get more questions about the black - everyone needs a great black - but blue black is more my style when I’m picking out a standard color ink. In fact, it is the ink color that made me want to use fountain pen inks in the first place.

What makes a classic blue black ink in my opinion? Equal blue and black representation, and no hints of any other color except grey.

That combination is what I expect from the basic blue black ink in any fountain pen lineup. Now, there are variants of blue black that have a red sheen, a wider color range, and different undertones (all things I prefer in my most used blue blacks,) but for this ink, none of that is necessary.

TWSBI, ya basic. And I mean that in the best way possible.

I tested this ink on several types of fountain pen friendly paper, all with different characteristics. You can see how much your choice of paper makes a difference in the color the ink appears.

My handwriting on the Life Bank Paper showed the most accurate color representation, although a heavy swab of ink on the same paper made the ink appear the bluest. Tomoe River paper showed off a darker tone, primarily because the ink stays on the surface of the page more. There is very little sheen on Tomoe River, and less shading than I expected.

The darkness really popped on Rhodia - maybe too dark for what I want from this ink. And on the big swab it tried to sheen, but there is really nothing there in that category. The drier paper of the Nock Co. DotDash showed a mid-range color, closer to the Bank Paper than the other two, which makes sense.

Out of the entire batch, TWSBI Blue Black looks the best to my eye on the Life Bank Paper, although it is pretty great anywhere I’ve used it so far.

And that’s what I expect more than anything from a house ink such as this one. Sure, you can get the premium Botanist gin for your G&T, but some days, maybe those heavier writing days, call for the house brand. TWSBI has made a pretty good one that is worth inking up any day of the week.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under TWSBI, Ink Reviews.

Sailor Ink Studio 773 Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Sailor inks are some of my favorites, but the new Ink Studio line that has released over the last year has really captured a lot of hearts. There are a few standout colors in the line, and I was so enchanted by those that I didn't notice number 773 at first. Now that I've had a chance to use it, I find it every bit as enchanting as those ultra-popular colors, and now I wonder if the entire rest of the Ink Studio line is just as amazing.

I thought this was an orange ink, when I first saw the bottle, and I wondered if it would be too similar to a dozen other orange inks. I love orange inks, but it's a color that I really don't need more than two of, as fun as they are. However, I've decided that this is really a coral ink, and therefore it bypasses any arbitrary color rules I may have set for my collection.

773 shows its nuanced character immediately on the page. It looks complex, even when drawn with a fine nib. The chromatography is bright and wild, with a bubblegum pink fading into saffron yellow--but it wasn't a surprising color split to see. The pinks and yellows come through in the coral color itself. The very saturated swab even shows a hint of gold sheen where the ink pooled. I haven't seen it in my writing yet, but the capability is there, given the right nib/paper combination. It shows wonderful shading, even in a fine nib, that looks like a soft guava color in the lighter areas, and a bolder coral where it pools.

It isn't very similar to any of the inks in my collection. It's much to orangey for comparing to the pinks, and too rosy for the oranges. I haven't, personally, tried any comparable colors.

The ink writes smoothly and doesn't feel dry, but it has a fast dry time compared to a lot of inks. It went from fairly lubricated at ten seconds to almost completely dry at 15, like there's a magical off-switch in its chemistry.

It has almost no water resistance, disappearing quite completely even when it's gently patted dry.

The Ink Studio line comes in small, 20ml glass bottles. They're sturdy and not difficult to fill from--much nicer than the squat, round bottles they sometimes use. But also much smaller, and 20ml retails for around $18, making this quite a pricey ink. It's an expensive line, but one with a number of colors that I don't think can be easily matched to another, less expensive brand. They're also not the easiest inks to obtain, as they're only sold through stores with a brick-and-mortar presence.

Many of the Ink Studio colors are captivating enough that people are tracking them down and happily paying the higher cost. I think 773 is one of those worth-it colors. I'm nervous, now, to meet any more of the Ink Studio line. If they're all this subtly lovely, we could be in real trouble.

(Dromgooles provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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