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Hi all, I ordered four Troublemaker inks from Shigure Inks when they got some in stock a few weeks back. I was really excited to snag a few of these inks because I'd seen reviews and found several colors I wanted to try. And they sell out FAST. Yesterday, I inked my Sailor Tequila Sunrise with Troublemaker Mango. Not long afterwards, I received an email from Shigure stating that they'd received reports of mold in the ink. They refunded everyone who purchased Mango and suggested that we discard the ink. Good job by Shigure letting us know of the problem and refunding everyone who bought the ink. At first, I thought, "Mine doesn't have mold. I didn't see any junk on the surface when I opened the bottle, and it didn't smell funky." But I asked the rep at Shigure how one could know if their ink had mold. He said to look through the bottle with a flashlight or bright light. You'd see a milky substance in the ink. Sure enough, the mold was in my ink. YUCK. So, of course I dumped the ink and cleaned out my Sailor right away. For now, I guess I'll fill my Sailor from sample vials just to make sure it doesn't infect my other ink. Here's the thing: I bought four bottles of ink. Maybe only Mango was affected, but maybe not. The problem is, the three other inks I purchased are dark, so you can't see through the bottles with a flashlight or bright sunlight. I even poured one of the inks into a glass jar to spread it out a bit, but I still couldn't see through it. I don't know if that milky mold (bleep) is in the other inks. I contacted Shigure because I do not want any of my other pens to be infected. I asked, "How can I be sure my other inks are okay?" The response was basically: give them a smell to see if they seem "off." And: stick a Q-Tip or chopstick in the ink to see if there's any resistance or if you pull out any gunk. Well . . . the inks smell like ink (so did Mango). And the Q-Tip test didn't seem to be adequate, because, again, the ink is so saturated, I'm not sure the milky stuff would be noticeable even if it's there. Does anyone know if there's a way to test ink for mold? If not, should I just dump all the ink and call it a day? This has made me leery of Troublemaker Ink, but I don't want to give up on the brand if this is just an isolated incident. BTW, I know that Private Reserve had this problem (I've read the posts about it). Any advice is appreciated. Susan

Hello everyone. I've been working on fixing my first vintage pen and filling it with the perfect ink for and before my birthday at the end of May. The problem is, the 'perfect ink' my mind settled on is Troublemaker's Abalone (the drier ones if possible, I'm using a medium nib). I know Troublemaker ink is hard to get, and has been for some time. Though, is there anyone with a bottle willing to sell a small amount of Abalone? Small amount as in 5-8ml. Thank you!

Please post your comparison photographs/scans of translucent multi-hue ink that have become recently popular. The inks I can think of off the top of my head are Sailor x Sailor Nagasawa Kobe #57 Hime Ajisai; Sailor Ink Studio 150, 123, and 162; Troublemaker Inks Petrichor, Kelp Tea, Milky Ocean, and Abalone. All of these inks separate into distinctly different hues when drying on a page, and it's not because of sheen. I did not include Kobe #57 Hime Ajisai into this comparison, though I should have. It's not as complex as the rest, but still has a separation from blue-lavender to vibrant magenta-pink. For all of these inks, daylight makes them look more washed out. Artificial light--at least good quality with high CRI illumination--brings out more constituent colors. Daylight shade: (Troublemaker Kelp Tea first written with Pelikan M800 IB nib then dip pen, and Troublemaker Petrichor was first written with Lamy 1.5mm nib and then dip pen) Mixed daylight shade with some artificial light: Wet paper towel "chromatography" shows that Ink Studio 123 and 162 have a different base color dye but probably the same additional dyes. Close-ups: Troublemaker Inks "Kelp Tea" Troublemaker Inks "Petrichor" on Tomoe River 52g white, dip pen: Sailor Ink Studio #123 on Tomoe River 52g white, dip pen: Sailor Ink Studio #162 on Tomoe River 52g white, dip pen:

Hi guys, after about 6 weeks from ordering I finally received my 4 new inks from Troublemaker in the Philippines. I first tried Kelp Tea and I'm very happy with it, have a look! Paper: Fabriano Ecoqua 85 gsm Pen: Leonardt 3mm and 2mm nibs, Jinhao 699 unmarked nib (my guess is M) In the sun: Under led light Closeup under led light I like it a lot. The ink goes down a lot more green and then it dries more brown/beige. The shading is amazing, it seems the green component gathers at the edge and the beige component pools in the center. I've seen this behaviour on some Sailor Studio inks and I totally love it.