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I recently purchased my first Sailor pen from Bungubox and it came with a wonderful, pigmented black ink they make with Sailor called “Eternal Music”. I love the flow, water resistance and lack of feathering with this ink but I also like sketching with a brown or sepia ink. This raises two questions for me: 1) Does Sailor make a sepia or brown pigmented ink with some decent water resistance? 2) Will using my current DeAtramentis Document Sepia void the Sailor warranty? I’m less concerned about the second question since it is the Japanese warranty which might be challenging to deal with if there is a problem anyway. However, I am a little concerned because I have read reports of some inks damaging the black ion plating on pens like mine. Thanks for any insights you may have.

Today I'm reviewing Diamine Sepia ink. Sepia usually means a reddish brown colour, named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Sepia. Sepia was commonly used as writing ink in Greco-Roman civilisation and remained in common use until 19th century. Diamine Sepia is an unsaturated, yellowish brown, dye based ink. Its from Diamine Inks standard range. Diamine Sepia is lighter and more yellow than both Diamine Autumn Oak and Warm Brown. Its also lighter and less saturated than Diamine Ochre. I found it an interesting ink to write with. With my B nib it shaded a lot and felt wet and lubricated, yet when I used it with my F & M nibs it felt less lubricated although it flowed well. Its behaviour seems to be quite pen and paper dependant. Flow Rate: Good. Felt wetter with my B nib.Lubrication: OK - better with B nib.Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.Start-up: Immediate.Saturation: Unsaturated ink.Shading Potential: A shading ink, quite variable.Sheen: None seen.Show-Through:Slightly on Tomoe River 52gsm.Slightly on Oxford Pad.Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.Nib Creep / Crud: Not seen, even after over 1 week in the penStaining (pen): Not seen after several days in the pen - easy clean-up with water.Staining (hands): Easy clean-up with bar soap.Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof but has quite good water resistance.Availability: Available from Diamine Inks web-site and many other outlets