Shizuoka Orange

In my previous post I talked about getting a “hideous” ink for Macchiato Man, which he still hasn’t used. To redeem myself, the next time I went to Japan, I got him something he actually liked.

The problem was I also liked this ink and wanted it for myself, but the shop only allows one bottle of each colour per person, and they didn’t have the full range in stock. So I walked half an hour in the Japanese summer to another branch of Bungukan Kobayashi:

Except it didn’t take half an hour. I’m one of those people that will glance at a map and go “yup, in that general direction we go” and not look at the map again for twenty minutes, you can guess the rest.

So, a bus ride back to the train station, lunch, and two bus rides (another story) later I made it to the biggest branch of Bungukan Kobayashi 💪💪and picked up the other colours I needed plus another bottle of this deliciousness:

(Clockwise from top left: 52g Tomoe River, Midori, Graphilo, Paperholic)

Closer look at each:

Yes, this ink sheens as much as the pictures show, the sheen is so intense it would actually look purple if left in a pen for long enough.

I love just about every ink Kobabun has to offer and will definitely be putting the rest of the collection on here 🙂

Hiroshima Lemon Yellow

When I went to Tayama Bungu in Hiroshima last year, it was quite early in my trip so I didn’t want to spend all my money in one go. I ended up with severe non-buyers-remorse 🤦

I only picked up one ink for myself, and got a friend a “hideous” ink I wasn’t sure he would ever use (neither is featured in this post), but I bought it anyway because their best selling blue black (awesome) was out of stock, and the alternatives were pink, 💩 brown, Japan red, or the “why on earth did I not buy it” ink I’m about to confess my love for!

After I left Hiroshima I couldn’t stop looking at my little book of writing samples and wishing I had bought more.

I kept telling myself the tester pen had probably been left to evaporate and was somewhat contaminated, that this lovely sheeny greenish LEGIBLE yellow wasn’t what the ink really looked like.

A few months later I said goodbye to a kidney and paid a proxy to buy it for me. No regrets.

Granted the writing sample was indeed a bit darker than the fresh ink, but I also noticed something – this is one of those colour changing inks that when freshly laid down on the page, it is one colour, but after a while it looks different, thanks to that tiny hint of green that pops out and looks lovely, then disappears (still lovely) 😍

Papers used are, clockwise from top left: 52g Tomoe River, Midori, Graphilo, and Paperholic.

Closer look at each, see the sheen coming through on TR and Graphilo~

You can tell I’m a huge fan of this ink, I love the colour and how pale but legible it is.

Writing sample on cream TR

Same pen, same inking, on white TR

Bonus guest appearance from Maruzen Athena Lemon, because I’ve been asked a few times before how these two compare:

As you can see, they’re not dupes, so don’t go buying Hiroshima Lemon Yellow if what you really want is Maruzen Athena Lemon. Buy it for what it actually is~ 😁

I hope you’ve been inkabled!

Matsushima Blue

The shop “Office Vendor“, aka Bungu no Mori (文具の杜 – stationery forest, not to be confused with the Bungu no Mori near Osaka) in Sendai, Japan has a range of highly sought after inks called “Mori no Shiki” (杜の四季 – Four seasons of the forest). They are very difficult to come by as they are no longer sold online and have to be purchased in person, and each time the store restocks, it is only a selection of the entirely range, in small batches that often sell out within the day. To buy these you probably need to be in Sendai for a good while and keep a close eye on the shop news, and camp out 😬

The fountain pen community is full of awesome people, I have managed to get my paws on a few of these through a very generous friend who is also heavily into inks, whom I’ve yet to meet in person!

The labels in this range are all very pretty and definitely add to the overall desirability of these inks.

Below are swatches, clockwise from top left, on: 52g Tomoe River, Midori, Graphilo, Paperholic.

Closer look:

I will be doing the other colours I have in the future, so stay tuned 🙂

Ink Studio Ichou (custom)

So I thought I would start off with my own custom Sailor ink because I’m mean like that 😬

I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo earlier this year for an Ink Studio event that took place on my last day in Japan! Not wanting to miss out, I got out of bed super early to line up and was the first one there, being an hour and a half early…other people didn’t start showing up till about 15 minutes before the shop opened 😅

After showing him a picture of a colour I wanted Mr. Ishimaru to make,

he got straight into it and very soon came back with something for me to test. A couple of minor tweaks later I ended up loving the colour he came up with, which wasn’t quite the same as the picture but it was right up my alley and I was very happy with how wet and sheeny the resulting ink was!

Here are some swatches of my first bottle of custom Sailor ink. Clockwise from the top left: 52g Tomoe River, Midori, Graphilo, Paperholic.

A closer look at each.

My mum was the one who came up with the name “Ichou”, which means gingko…but she didn’t specify whether it was the leaves or the nuts this colour reminded her of 😅.

If you’re heading to Japan and want to try having your own custom ink blended right in front of you by the master Mr. Ishimaru, you can check the calendar over at Sailor events to help you plan your trip. Have fun!

Equipment

A very short post about my basic tools while I prepare for some actual content 😆.

This is what I normally use for most of my swatches and writing samples: the blunt end of a glass pen for the actual swatch, and a non-flex steel dip pen for the writing sample.

In most cases the swatching will be done on 52g white Tomoe River paper, but I will specify in each instance. Until next time~

Hello!

Hello everyone! I’ve decided to start blogging about various Sailor store exclusive and limited edition inks, as a kind of one stop shop in English, for people wondering about these somewhat elusive inks. I don’t intend to go into much depth (various tests & detailed comparisons) but will endeavour to include basic information such as how wet or dry I feel something is, or whether it’s a sheener/shader – there will mainly be pictures.

Feel free to let me know if there is something in particular you would like a closer look at, my list of inks can be found here: Fountain Pen Companion

Please note I’m in no way affiliated with anyone, most of the inks I have have been purchased with my own money, the rest being gifts from friends.

Stay tuned 🙂