Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Tono & Lims Fukuoka: Fidelity Ink Review

I’m surprised at how much I like the color of Tono & Lims Fukuoka: Fidelity. But what color is it? I think it is more Watermelon Shaved Ice than Strawberry Popsicle, but I think that’s the range we are playing in. A range I have never dabbled in before.

In general, I like pink inks. Maybe even love them. But the pink inks I like the most have to be bright, vibrant, saturated, and strong. I’ve never found much use for lighter shades of pink, mostly - I think - due to my note taking style of writing, as opposed to journaling, letter writing, or other long forms of expressive writing.

Or it’s all just an excuse to not experiment, which is not a good excuse at all!

When I went ink shopping a few weeks ago, I browsed through some of the swabs at Shigure Inks to find a few shades to try out that were out of my norm. Yes, I bought a blue black and a bright blue, but I tried to mix in something out of my wheelhouse a bit. Fukuoka: Fidelity fit the bill perfectly.

This shade of pink is quite a jump in color range from my normal favorite pink, Califolio Andrinope. Andrinople is more of a hot pink/magenta, which I love, while Fukuoka: Fidelity is more of a fruit-colored pink. Neither is a dusty/flowery pink, which is a shade I’m apparently working my way towards.

I inked it up in my Pilot Custom 92 with a Broad Cursive Italic nib to help show of the character of this color, which it has more of than I thought. The darkest shades are bright, evoking the ripe center of a watermelon, before toning down a shade or two, as if you were working your way down to the rind.

Too specific of a description? Yeah, probably so. But I like this ink! I won’t be eating it, or drinking it, or anything but writing with it, but I am having fun with it. That’s my favorite feature of any ink.

Tono & Lims is a new brand for me, and one of the dozens (hundreds?) of Asian ink brands (T&L is from South Korea) out there that are just now becoming accessible to the rest of the world. My first experience has been very positive, as the ink has been easy to use. It flows well, has moderate shading, dries quickly, and cleans well. It doesn’t have any of the more extreme ink features, like heavy sheen, but that’s not an ink feature I want all the time. This is an ink I can use all day, every day.

After using Fukuoka: Fidelity and enjoying it as much as I have, I’m ready to dabble a little more in the Tono & Lims ink catalog. I also sent off a couple of bottles to the review crew, so I’ll be interested in their colors and what they have to say about them.

(I purchased this ink from Shigure Inks at full retail price.)

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Posted on May 25, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Tono & Lims, Ink Reviews.

Sailor Manyo Kuzu Ink Review

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

While Sailor recently refreshed their main ink lineup, that doesn't mean they haven't been busy experimenting with other ink colors at the same time. The Sailor Manyo ink series is a collection of eight dye-based inks that represent popular flowers that are frequently mentioned in the Japanese Man'yōshū — an ancient collection of poems.

Kuzu is a subtle dusty purple ink that has some hidden depths that only surface in the right conditions. It's a beautiful color that doesn't immediately offer up all of its secrets, and that's the main reason I've enjoyed using it.

To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with this ink when I first started using it. At first glance, it's just a really bland dark purple that doesn't exhibit any exciting properties. But if you use the right nib and expose the ink to the right light, other colors start to pop up.

Underneath the dusty plum exterior, there are shades of brown, red, and green. And, in the right light, there's even a slight golden sheen! These hidden qualities are really what make this ink interesting. It's just unfortunately that you have to use an incredibly wide and wet nib in order to see them. In most nibs, this ink just looks like a dull brown-purple with a slight tendency to feather.

There's a slight amount of shading, but (again) this only comes out with a fairly wide nib. It changes between black-purple to a medium dark-brown, which is a subtle but elegant change.

Dry time with Kuzu is extremely fast! Most of the time, this ink is dry by 15 seconds, if not quicker. Definitely something to consider if you value quick dry times.

Being a dye-based ink, there isn't any water-resistance to speak of. This definitely isn't an archival-quality ink, so look elsewhere for that.

At 50ml, this is a standard-sized ink bottle that will last for quite a while. And at just under $20, it's also a great deal and very competitive.

I wanted to love this ink, but I'm just not enjoying using it in my day-to-day writing. The dark and dull color isn't interesting, and I'm disappointed that the hidden properties of this ink only come out with ultra-wide nibs and swatching. That isn't how most people use fountain pen inks, so just understand that you won't really see the shading, sheen, and hidden greens, browns, and reds unless you're using a brush.

If you're looking for a dark, understated purple-black ink, Sailor Manyo Kuzu is a fantastic choice!

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

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Posted on May 20, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Sailor, Ink Reviews.

Robert Oster Cosmic Swirl Ink 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!)

There's yet another lovely shade from our Australian rainbow of inks! Robert Oster Cosmic Swirl is a charming shade of purple that is somehow different from the alarming number of purples I already have in my swab collection.

This is a lovely cool violet with blue undertones that come out in the chromatography. It's not a complex color, but it's a really nice tone that feels very fresh and nicely seasonal as we move from spring into summer.

This ink shows some pretty shading, from a very soft purple, to a more saturated tone, then showing its blue features where it pools, giving it a 3-color shade that is super difficult to photograph. There is a touch of bronze sheen, but only where I literally dumped ink on the page. I did not see any come out in writing.

It doesn't feel dry when writing, but it isn't a wet ink, either. It's a nice happy medium. It does have a fast dry time, though, between 15 and 20 seconds.

In the water drop test, it does show a slight resistance to water. It's not impervious at all, but I can still see my lines even where the water sat for a bit before I wiped it away.

While I'd consider this a fairly pale color, it's saturated enough that I don't have any trouble reading text in it, even in dim light. That hits a nice sweet spot for me, as I enjoy the soft colored inks, but I'm often writing at night, or trying to type my manuscripts in low light.

I think this is a great staple purple for people who are looking for a shade that isn't too pink. While it definitely has some blue tones, it isn't too blue, either. As far as comparisons go, I think it is closest to Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu, but doesn't layer as dark. This color stays fairly soft even where it's concentrated, which is unique in my purple universe.

I think Robert Oster offers some of the best purples out there (and probably also the most purples out there). This is another great one that I think will excite a lot of people looking for the perfect purple.

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

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