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TACCIA Ukiyo-e Utamaro ume murasaki TACCIA is a Japanese stationery company, that - as far as I know - is now part of the Nakabayashi group. They offer high-quality fountain pens, inks, pen-rolls, notebooks, etc. More specifically, TACCIA produce a line of inks, inspired by the unique look of Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan’s Edo period (17th century). Ukiyo-e prints are woodblock prints where the work of an artist is carved into wood by woodworkers, and pressed onto paper by printers. This allows the production of multiple prints of an artwork with some different colours as well. In this review, the star of the show is ume murasaki, a brown-purple-rose ink with an intriguing personality. The ink’s colour is inspired by the tones appearing in woodprint paintings from the Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro. The ink’s inspiration comes from a 1795 portrait of Okita, a waitress who worked at the Naniwaya teahouse near the Asakusa temple in Edo. Okita was one of the most famous beauties in Edo, and was frequently depicted by Utamaro. Ume murasaki has a beautiful brown-rose colour. The ink shows some intriguing tricks too – it’s a real chameleon, that can look totally different depending on pen-nib-paper combination and depending on the light source. I love it when inks show this type of complexity in their make-up! Ume murasaki translates to “plum purple” – myself I mostly see a brown-leaning old-rose that just looks lovely on pure white paper. This TACCIA ink writes fairly saturated – with a wet pen you get a fairly brown-leaning colour without much shading (due to the heavily saturated line). Use ume murasaki with a dry pen though, and it opens up in all its exquisite beauty: seducing old-rose tones, strong but not too contrast-rich shading that looks simply wonderful. As you might guess, this ink is totally to my liking and surely one of the most intriguing inks in the TACCIA Ukiyo-e series. The ink comes in a 40 ml bottle, that is packaged in a beautiful box showing the corresponding Ukiyo-e painting. Lovely packaging for an excellent ink. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of a strip of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Ume murasaki has a medium dynamic range, without too much contrast between the light and darker parts. This translates to soft but prominent shading, but only when using a dry pen. With wet pens, the increased saturation drowns out most of the shading. The ink is a real chameleon, whose colour is devilishly difficult to capture. Under my scanner it even looks purple! Below – from top to bottom: a photo taken in daylight, the purple scanner image, and a much more brown-leaning photo taken under artificial light. And yes… that’s all the same ink! This TACCIA ume murasaki looks best in daylight, so for this review I will show photos instead of scans. The ink’s chromatography shows a truly diverse mix of dyes, with rose, green, yellow and blue tones appearing. This already hints at the inherent complexity of ume murasaki. The result is a unique type of colour, that expresses itself with some real personality on the paper. TACCIA’s ink makers definitely show their craftsmanship with this creation. As can be seen from the bottom of the chromatography, this is not a water resistant ink, and as such not really suited for use at the office. Anyway… due to the purple scanning colour, this is not exactly an ink for use in a business setting. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with an Esterbrook Estie with 1.1. stub Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Ume murasaki looks good on all types of paper, but it really excels when combined with pure white paper, where the lovely old-rose colour really comes to the front. The ink can handle all types of paper, with only the tiniest amount of feathering on crappy paper (like Moleskine, or cheap copy paper). With the low-quality paper also comes a fair amount of see-through and a tiny bit of bleed-through. You really need to combine this ink with drier pens – that brown old-rose colour with its lovely shading is really something to see! With wet pens, the increased saturation causes loss of depth, and shifts the ink to more brown-leaning tones. Drying times are surprisingly short for a wet-writing ink, and are around 10 seconds for most types of paper (with the M-nib Safari). Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The EF-nib already shows the shading that the ink is capable of. Depending on the nib's wetness, you get more earth-brown tones, but always a good-looking result. Shading truly is a feast for the eyes – it is not too heavy, but still prominently present, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing look. Related inks To compare ume murasaki with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test – all in a very compact format. The ink is different from other earth-toned ones in my collection. The closest I have is Super 5 Australia Red, but that one cannot match ume murasaki’s complexity. Inkxperiment – Let’s TOK about it With every review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I am reviewing. These small one-ink pieces are an excellent way to show the colour-range nuances that are hidden within the ink. And I totally enjoy the fun couple of hours these inkxperiments provide me. Inspiration for this inkxperiment comes from a children’s book I have been reading together with the 6 year old in the family. She’s just learning to read, and one of the first stories are about chickens (“kip” in Dutch – one of the first words they learned at school). This got me browsing on Pinterest, and I came across some more-or-less abstract chicken pics, that even I can manage. Et voilà … an inkxperiment is born. For this drawing, I started with a piece of A4 HP photo paper. I first drew the background, using some cotton pads and water-diluted ink. Next I drew the chicken shapes, using pure ume murasaki. I then used water-diluted bleach and applied it with cotton Q-tips to the chicken forms. The bleach reacts really well with ume murasaki, bringing out some nice purple tones. I finally used a piece of cardboard dipped in pure ink to draw the floor of the chicken farm. The final picture gives you an impression of what can be achieved with this TACCIA ink in a more artistic setting. Not bad at all… ume murasaki works really well when used as a drawing ink. Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper, and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. For this computational derivation, I first abstracted the scene a bit, and then used negative colour filters for different parts of the drawing. I’m fairly pleased with the result I got. Conclusion TACCIA Ukiyo-e Utamaro ume murasaki is a real chameleon that can look totally different depending on context. It looks at its best when used in the right setting (i.e. dry pens, white paper, daylight) – in that case you are rewarded with an exquisite brown old-rose colour and some great-looking shading. Also a great drawing ink, with tons of character. An ink with unexpected complexity, that has a lot going for it. I loved using it. In my opinion, this is an ink that really deserves your attention. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai sabimidori TACCIA is a Japanese stationery company, that - as far as I know - is now part of the Nakabayashi group. They offer high-quality fountain pens, inks, pen-rolls, notebooks, etc. More specifically, TACCIA produce a line of inks, inspired by the unique look of Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan’s Edo period (17th century). Ukiyo-e prints are woodblock prints where the work of an artist is carved into wood by woodworkers, and pressed onto paper by printers. This allows the production of multiple prints of an artwork with some different colours as well. In this review, the centre stage is taken by sabimidori, a rust-green ink with a strong copper sheen, inspired by colours appearing in woodprint paintings from the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Hokusai is best known for his “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” series of prints, with the mountain appearing as a central theme. In this case, the rust-green colour is inspired by the colour of the tree-leaves in the painting of “the village of Sekiya on the Sumida river”. The Met museum describes the scene as: “the speed and urgency of the galloping horsemen stand in contrast to the solitary and static image of Fuji capping the horizon like an omniscient observer and marking that which is eternal. The raised road that winds into the depths of the print directs our gaze to the mountain, as do the trees that function as a framing device.” Sabimidori is not only a beautiful green-leaning teal, but also one with a number of tricks up its sleeve. Most surprisingly: the wet ink looks bright blue, but quicky dries to a muted blue-green. It’s definitely a teal, but one that leans strongly towards the green side – I really like the colour that coalesces from the bright blue liquid. Next, sabimidori – which means “rust green” – hasn’t stolen its name: the rust comes from the heavy copper sheen that the ink shows on many types of hard-surfaced paper. This TACCIA ink is also a heavy shader. Usually, I’m not a fan of heavy shading, which can look harsh and angry, but with blue-green inks the result can work really well. With sabimidori, you get an aesthetically pleasing look with blue undertones in the light parts and a green-copper look in the darker parts. These complement each other wonderfully well. As you might guess, this ink is totally to my liking and surely one of the better inks I tried this year. The ink comes in a 40 ml bottle, that is packaged in a beautiful box showing the corresponding Ukiyo-e painting. Lovely packaging for an excellent ink. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of a strip of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Sabimidori has a medium dynamic range, without too much contrast between the light and darker parts. The ink is special though: blue-leaning in the lighter part of the spectrum, and becoming greener the more it saturates. The red-copper sheen appears in the most saturated parts, and is even visible in a scan. The result is an ink that almost looks multichromatic, with really nice contrast in the shading. Shading is most obvious in wider nibs, but you already get some with the EF nib, which is quite impressive. The aesthetics are superb, and add tons of character to your writing. If you use high-sheen paper – like Tomoe River – and look at your writing from an angle, the “rust” component is very obvious. Sabimidori then looks like a blue ink, with a very prominent copper sheen. Wonderful stuff! TACCIA’s ink makers have really outdone themselves with this sabimidori. The ink’s chromatography shows a blue-heavy ink with yellow in the mix, which results in the green-looking appearance. From the chroma, I would have expected a more blue-leaning ink, not the rust-green teal that appears on paper. There definitely is some complex chemistry going on here! The bottom part of the chroma shows the bright blue that remains when water washes away the yellow dyes. This is confirmed in the water test: the ink is fairly resistant to water, and can survive an accident. A lot of the colour disappears, but a bright blue ghost of your writing remains that is quite readable, even after 30 seconds under streaming tap water. That makes sabimidori an ink you can use at the office – where it will certainly attract some well-deserved attention. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M405 with cursive-italic F-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Sabimidori looks good on all types of paper, but I personally like it best on the more cream-coloured variety which enhances its green complexion. No feathering in general, just a teeny tiny bit on HP multipurpose paper. Some bleed-through on low-quality paper, but nothing too excessive. The ink expresses itself totally different, depending on the paper used – from blue- to green-leaning teal. I simply love this complexity … you get totally different experiences from a single bottle! Drying times for sabimidori are on the long side, with up to 30 seconds on hard-surface paper. I’ve also added a few photos to give you another view on the ink. Scanned images and photos often capture different aspects of the ink’s colour & contrast. That’s why I present them both. In this case, scan & photo are very close-matched, with the photo closest to what my eyes can see. One thing that I feel obliged to mention: sabimidori is not the easiest ink to clean out of your pens. It stains a lot, and needed extra effort to completely remove. It’s devilishly difficult to remove it from non-shiny plastic: I couldn’t completely clean it from re-used cartridges using only tap water: soap and hot water were needed. This is not an ink I would use in a clear demonstrator! Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The EF-nib already shows the shading that the ink is capable of. Depending on the nib, you get more blue or green, but always a good-looking result. Shading truly is a feast for the eyes – it is heavy, but the blue & green parts complement each other really well, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing look. Related inks To compare sabimidori with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test – all in a very compact format. The ink is different from other green-leaning teals in my collection. Murky Waters is a mix of my own: 3 parts Pelikan Edelstein Jade with 2 parts Edelstein Onyx. Inkxperiment – Cradle of Life With every review, I try to create a drawing using only the ink I am reviewing. These small one-ink pieces are an excellent way to show the colour-range nuances that are hidden within the ink. And I totally enjoy the fun couple of hours these inkxperiments provide me: playing around with the ink in a creative way. Not surprisingly, the inkxperiment is for me the most enjoyably part in the making of a review 😉 Inspiration for this inkxperiment comes from the namesake Lara Croft movie I revisited recently: a fun constant-action adventure movie. Definitely not a brainy movie, but the title got me thinking about the origins of life. In puddles of nutrient-rich water on infant Earth, complex molecules arose, that – given aeons of time and billions of tries – resulted in self-replicating structures, that ultimately form the building blocks of life. And from these humble beginnings come the variety of species we know today, like the majestic pine forest… For this drawing, I started with a piece of A4 HP photo paper. I first drew the land borders, drawing them with water into which I dripped pure ink. The colours are real… bright blue, bright green, teal – all this from that single sabimidori bottle. Next I created the sky for the pine forest, printing a pattern with a piece of kitchen paper dipped in ink. I then drew the spheres where the “life cooking” happened, that created the complex molecules. All that in puddles of nutrient-rich water, which I drew with Q-tips dipped in multiple water/ink ratios. Finally I used my fountain pen to draw the pine forests, and to add some texture to the water. The final picture gives you a good idea of what can be achieved with sabimidori as a drawing ink. Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper, and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. Conclusion TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai sabimidori is a wonderful rust-green teal. An ink with unexpected complexity, that has a lot going for it. I love its looks on paper, with the great aesthetics of shading and sheen. This is one of the nicest inks I tried this year. If you like teals, you cannot go wrong with this one: highly recommended! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

The Paper Plane - TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts. So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today's guest is the TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook, a small and elegant notebook with some very fine paper. This TACCIA notebook is a rebranded form of the Nakabayashi Prime A5 notebook. In fact, all of the TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks & corresponding paper happen to be rebranded Nakabayashi products. The latter company was founded in 1923 with a focus on library book binding and restoration of old documents. Later, Nakabayashi added stationery products like address books, notebooks and office products to their portfolio. For each of the 16 TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks, there is a corresponding A5 notebook, featuring the same Ukiyo-e painting on its cover. For this review, I describe the Sharaku Prime A5 notebook, which has a picture of the actor Otani Oniji III as Yakko Edobe on its cover. Yakko Edobe is a villainous rogue who plots to steal money from the servant Ippei. Otani Oniji's leering face, shown in three quarter view, bristling hair, and groping outstretched hands capture the ruthless nature of this wicked henchman. Aside from the difference in covers, all notebooks of the Ukiyo-e series have the same technical characteristics. The notebook itself is only one part of a stationery set, which also includes the corresponding ink, letter envelopes and paper, greeting cards, ... But let us focus on the notebook, which is the centerpiece of this review. I got mine as a gift from Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery and was told that it was worth checking out - thank you Catherine. This is an A5 size notebook (148x210 mm), containing 48 pages of ruled paper. These are minimalistic, but perfectly constructed notebooks; the beautiful covers form the only ornamentation. Inside there are no distractions - only light-grey ruled lines on the paper (with an 8 mm spacing). The first and last rule on each page are a tiny bit darker, framing the page and adding to its elegance. The notebook lays very flat when opened. This is due to the way it is stitched together. Each notebook consists of a number of 6 page bundles, with every bundle (or signature as it is called in bookbinding parlance) built from 3 A4 pages, that are folded over and stitched together to form a small booklet of 6 A5 pages. Stitch together 8 of these signatures, and you get a very flat-laying 48 page notebook. This A5 notebook uses 75 gsm Nakabayashi paper that is very fountain pen friendly. The paper is smooth but still has a tiny bit of tooth to it. This makes it a joy to write on. It has an off-white colour, but it's still close to white, certainly not yellowish. Inks look fantastic on this paper, and even with wet pens and broad nibs there is zero feathering. Looking at the backside, there is almost no see-through, and zero bleed-through - even when doing ink swabs on the paper. You can easily use both sides of the page in this notebook. This is really top-notch paper! Excellent! Conclusion If you like small and elegant notebooks, the TACCIA Ukiyo-e series of A5 notebooks is worthy of your attention. Great fountain pen friendly paper that is pure pleasure to write on. I can see myself using these little notebooks for theme-specific purposes - e.g. as an ink journal, reading journal, ... Beautiful pieces of stationery! I'm glad I discovered them.