Search the Community

Another one of eight new ink colours Sailor introduced in the second release of its “overseas exclusive” Manyo line of inks. Close-up: Colour: dark khaki / olive / murky green Flow: moderate Feathering: Not observed on Rhodia Dotpad 80g/m² paper, looking closely at the thinnest hatching lines, and words/glyphs ‘reverse-written’ with the nib upside-down (i.e. the bottom of the feed facing up) Show-through: Low to nil Bleed-through: Not observed Drying time: 18–20 seconds Smudging after fully dry: Didn't happen when I rubbed my thumb over the hatching/stippling panel and the largest Chinese hanzi chharacters Water resistance: Good, as far as retaining legibility in the face of a spill or a dunking goes Shading: Moderate, without having too drastic a delineation between lighter parts and darker parts along the same pen stroke; can be seen even in very narrow ink marks (i.e. when writing with the equivalent of an Extra Fine nib) Sheen: None observed Shimmer: None My thoughts: I like its desaturated colour, and that it's a largely sheen-free ink good for where distractions from the written content is undesirable, but for the market price I don't know whether it stands head and shoulders above other murky green inks I have to compel me to buy more.

Sailor Style Dee Delta “Water City” Doujima Ryokkin (Doujima Green-gold) Recently one of our Japanese FPN members pointed out some Sailor bespoke inks from a shop called STYLE DEE in Osaka with a brand called DELTA Original Ink. I was confused because there is also an Italian pen maker called Delta with a few inks available. But these are real Sailor inks. The inks seem to go along with an inexpensive demonstrator pen ¥4,300, and unfortunately I didn’t put one in my shopping cart. There were originally four inks, based on the seasons of Osaka. “Water City” Umeda Yasei (Umeda Night Blue, a deep blue, perhaps a blue-violet) “Water City” Doujima Ryokkin (Doujima Green-gold) “Water City” Nakanoshima Shunryoku (Nakanoshima spring green) “Mizuho” Kitashinchi Beniya (Kitashinchi Red Sea, a burgundy or wine hue) The two latest inks released August 2016 are “Water City” Sonezaki Teuteu (Sonezaki Orange, a burnt orange) “Water City” Tsuyuten Murashime (Purple Rain, a purple or violet) Recently I was able to obtain three of these inks: the burnt orange, the purple, and the green-gold. I was very lucky with the Doujima as the shop said this ink was sold out, but when the purchaser went to buy the inks, there was one available. I don’t know the availability of the earlier inks, so there’s no guarantee that any of them are available, but I think the two latest inks released may be available. These inks are the same price as other standard Sailor bespoke inks at ¥2,160 per bottle, which is about $19.10 US as of today (2/11/2017). This price doesn't include shipping to the destination or any charges incurred using a forwarding service. Each person is limited to purchasing one bottle of each ink. This is yet another murky green. It seems to me one of the murkiest greens. I don't have every murky green ink, but this one is quite greyed down, more so than KWZI Green Gold. In a way it's somewhat like KN Tanna japonesis, but more greyed than that. Maybe this isn't a color that many would like, but it is pretty good to me. But I'm not the Mother of Murk, so this isn't a definitive statement. The ink didn't exhibit hard starts, etc. It's not water resistant. It didn't like the inkjet paper that much, at least it wasn't very interesting there, losing much of its good qualities. No staining on the barrel of the Pelikan observed. In Japan this ink may be available. Outside Japan, it may be obtainable, but the cost and effort will deter most. There are many murky green inks available, often at reasonable prices. Pen: Pelikan M400 (F) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7