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I am not a fan of blue ink. Before I found fountain pens, I used black ballpoint pens. In my pens, I use faded earthtones that lend themselves to ink and wash sketches. Iroshikuzu Shin-kai is the first blue ink I'll buy. It is fantastic. These are photos not scans. This is a difficult ink to describe, much less capture in a photo or scan. However, reasonable care has been taken to ensure color accuracy. As this was a Goulet sample, I haven't had the opportunity to make a proper attempt at sketching with this ink. If there is interest, I'll update later when I've done something worth posting. In the meantime, enjoy a 60 second sketch of my phone. Correction: I wrote in my review that Shin-kai feathers on moderately priced copy paper. It was a fluke. I've now tried it on a number of other cheap papers and no sign of feathering. Fantastic.

This is my first go at an ink review, and my first entry in my ink journal, so please be gentle. Also, sorry for iPhone photo.

http://www.rdwarf.com/users/wwonko/images/fpn/iro/03-Shin-kai-header.jpg Shin-kai (Deep Sea) - CRV - Group Review - 2014-12 The Iroshizuku Group Review color for December 2014 is Shin-kai "Deep Sea". It is dark, dark blue, so dark that it might be a blue-black, with some shading and a hint of sheen. It is a very deep, serious color indeed, and to does remind one of the darkness of the deep ocean that it its namesake. Please post your reviews and scans of the ink in this thread. This month will be a little hard for me to arrange review partners, as I will be traveling almost the entire month of December. If you mail me something, it will likely be seriously delayed! Instead of the mail - even though the mail is way more fun - if you want to CRV with someone, perhaps you can PM each other scans, or decide to trade addresses on your own. If you're not comfortable trading addresses, then please feel free to do a CRV on your own, and share that with everyone! Other reviews are welcome, too. You can look at the full description of the Iroshizuku Group Review to see how this should work and what we’re doing. http://www.rdwarf.com/users/wwonko/images/fpn/iro/03-Shin-kai-product.jpgThanks to Rachel Goulet, who gave permission to me to use their beautiful product photo and swab.More thanks to Amberlea who is always such an inky enabler. Please PM me with any questions. I look forward to seeing everyone's results!

Today's baking ... Ooops! Wrong forum! And now, we return to our regularly scheduled inkiness ... Ahem! I wanted to compare my recently acquired Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue with a couple of other inks that seemed similar, until I put them side by side on paper. Comments? David