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Kobe #56 Rokko Shichidanka Many thanks to @Lithium466 for the sample 🙏 Ink is named after a Japanese Hydrangea: The chroma represents the complex tones of the flower. I most enjoyed doing washes with this ink, rather than writing. The ink is too complex and gorgeous to write with. 😛 If I were to use it for writing it would be on a white Japanese paper with a B nib. The colour simply sings and evokes mid-summer. On Rhodia it was flat, and it bled through with a B nib. Note that the pink dye in the chroma is stubborn and will take time some time to clean your pen Writing Samples: The texts are poems by Akiko Yosano ( 1878 – 1942) translated by Sam Hamill & Keiko Matsui Gibson. The darker colour on the Japanese Ef nib is due to the fact that the ink had stayed for a week or two in the pen, before I did the writing sample. Photo: Comparison: Water test: and finally some artwork: This was inspired by an artwork by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. The paper is a no name super absorbent paper, they grey ink is Noodler's Pasternak. and here is another work where I used a water brush on the feed of a fountain pen to soak up the ink and draw on Canson Mixed media paper: The black ink is Platinum Carbon Black using the same technique. · Pens used: Pilot F3A Ef, Lamy (EF/F/M/B, 1.1), Osmiroid Copperplate nib · What I liked: Chroma, doing washes. · What I did not like: Writing on Rhodia/ cheap paper, cleaning · What some might not like: Price · Shading: With B nib. · Ghosting: On cheap paper, yes and a bit with B nib on Rhodia. · Bleed through: A few dots on cheap paper and a bit surprisingly with wide nibs on Rhodia · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Nice · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Did not notice. · Saturation: Not saturated. · Shading Potential: With wet M/ B nibs and on Japanese paper. · Sheen: Did not notice. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: A bit with the flex nib on cheap paper. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. · Staining (pen): Did not notice, but the pink dye might stick. · Clogging: No. · Cleaning: The pink dye is persistent. · Water resistance: Not at all. · Availability: 50 ml bottles Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Hi guys, this is my first time doing ink review. Van Gogh Deep Blue is a LE from Nagasawa Kobe, I purchased it directly from Nagasawa Kobe on rakuten, but there are other global distributors around on the Internet. The first thing that pops to my eyes is the box. If you're familiar with Sailor inks, then you know they all have the same size paper box and the same round glass bottle.Well, at least before they double their price. Anyway I was really enthralled by the Van Gogh painting , the deep blue uniform on the box. What's more, since Nagasawa Kobe didn't follow Sailor and increased their price, too, $20 w.o shipping fees for 50ml LE ink seems economical to some extent. The ink is on the wet side. It's so wet that the sheen seems uniformly spread across the lines and curves, and I'm glad that the sheen has a low contrast compare with the 'base' color. otherwise it would be too eye searing to use. It seems to lean towards black, but make no mistake it's a true deep dark blue. I believe it's suitable for some serious purposes, but it could be 'too serious' for personal journals.

Well my first ever Kobe inks have arrived! And it was very fast. Just thought I'd share some pics because I'm so excited! Haven't had a chance yet to actually try the inks as my pens are currently occupied with ICU ink testing. This is when you know something exciting is in the mail. All the way from Japan! You get beautiful ink boxes. The back had a sticker/printing in Japanese but does identify the number of the ink in Arabic numerals. And Sailor Kobe ink bottles! #14 Maya Lapis blue, #28 Suzuran Green, #38 Kitanozaka Night blue. One nice thing I noticed is that on the inside flap of the box lid is a date code. Perhaps this shows the manufacture date? If so, these inks are pretty fresh, the oldest being the green with a date stamp of Oct 2013. The other two are this year. I'll go reviews soon… and post the pics from that... PS I completely blame Algester for this.