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TACCIA Ukiyo-e Utamaro usuzumi 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 center stage is taken by usuzumi, a well-behaved and good-looking black ink with a bit of a purple-brown undertone. The ink’s inspiration comes from a woodprint carving by the Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro, the leading ukiyo-e artist in the 1790’s in the bijin-ga genre of pictures of female beauties. He was known for his technique that focuses on the heads of his subjects. In the picture, the triangular composition depicts the profiles of three celebrities of the time: geisha Tomimoto Toyohina (middle), and teahouse waitresses Naniwaya Okita (right) and Takashima Hisa (left). The colour of usuzumi is based on the clothing of Naniwaya Okita’s kimono dress. Usuzumi is a well-executed black ink, with some intrinsic complexities that raise it above the average uninspired black. The ink has some purple-brown undertones shimmering below the surface. These are most visible in swatches and when using the ink for drawing. This black also has a bit of a golden-brown sheen when using the right kind of paper (e.g. Tomoe River, Kobeha GRAPHILO). I also like the soft & gentle shading that is present even when using fine nibs – really elegant and it gives some extra depth and character to your writing without being immediately obvious. Usuzumi is fairly water resistant, and can handle all types of paper (even crappy ones). If you’re looking for a good office ink, no need to look further. This one fits the bill perfectly. The ink comes in a 40 ml bottle, that is packaged in a beautiful box showing the corresponding Ukiyo-e print. 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. Usuzumi has a narrow dynamic range, with limited contrast between the light and darker parts. This translates to very gently shading, almost invisible but still present. With wet pens, the increased saturation tends to burn away most of the shading though. With the right kind of paper and the right kind of lighting, usuzumi shows a quite strong golden-brown sheen. The picture below is taken in extreme conditions (sunlight and a low angle) to give you a somewhat exaggerated view. In everyday circumstances, the sheen is much less prominent, but still there (especially in the saturated parts of your writing). The ink’s chromatography shows the complex nature of usuzumi: a black ink with purple components floating beneath the surface and even some sky-blue tones in the mix. Lovely stuff! The bottom part of the chroma shows that a strong dark-grey residue remains on the paper. This clearly indicates that usuzumi is a fairly water-resistant ink, which is confirmed by the water test at the end of this review. 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 M-nib Kaweco Special Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) This black usuzumi works well with both white and cream paper. It’s also really well-behaved across all paper types in my test set. It surprised me in the way it can cope with really crappy paper like Moleskine: no feathering and almost zero see-through and bleed-through. Really impressive! This alone makes it an excellent office ink. Usuzumi is also well-saturated, and works great with all nib sizes. I’m currently using it at the office with a Pilot Capless with F-nib – a perfect business ink: writes well on all surfaces, and has that neutral unobtrusive look that fits the office setting. Drying times are good all across the board: in the 5 to 10 second range for most paper types (with the M-nib Safari). For the sake of completeness, I also add a photo of text written on a number of different papers. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The ink’s saturation makes for a good contrast with the paper across all nib sizes. Shading is soft & gentle, almost undetectable in the EF nib, but easily visible in F-nibs and above. It really adds to the character of your writing. Beware that wet pens will shift the ink to the saturated portion of its dynamic range, where the shading is mostly burned away (like in an overexposed photograph). Myself, I prefer this black in combination with drier pens. Related inks To compare usuzumi 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 blacks in my collection - the closest I have is Kaweco Black Pearl, which is a bit less saturated and shows less depth and complexity. Looking at the grid, it’s truly amazing that black inks can show so much differences when you put them side-by-side. You might think that black-is-black, but no, there is an unbelievable amount of diversity across implementations by different ink makers. Inkxperiment – Modern Times 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 drawing comes from the overly busy & hectic period I’m currently experiencing at work. My agenda is ruling the day, and work life is dictated by urgent stuff with near impossible deadlines. Not fun, but it happens from time to time 😉 This reminded me of the old black&white movie “Modern Times”, a masterpiece of Charles Chaplin that shows the pressures of modern work life at the time. I tried to capture this feeling in the painting. But also… it’s springtime in my part of the world, and a view out of the window shows nature awakening. This yearly pattern of rebirth in nature works wonders to re-energize my morale! So, when feeling overwhelmed in work, I tend to pause for a few minutes, and simply stare outside the window to the couple of trees in the courtyard with the sun playing through the branches. Excellent for recharging the batteries a bit! For this drawing, I started with a piece of A4 HP photo paper. I first drew the background, keeping some space for the window. Next I drew in the conveyor belt with the exhausted workers executing their daily tasks. With a plastic card dipped in ink, I drew the window frame. I then added the factory background with its geometric shapes. Lastly, I used my fountain pen to paint in the trees and birds in the courtyard. The final painting gives you a good idea of what can be achieved with TACCIA usuzumi as a drawing ink. Personally, I give it high marks – I really enjoyed the range of shades you can get with this ink, and the purple & brown undertones that appear in parts of the drawing. 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 started with applying an urban art filter to the scene. I then added the sparkling sun to the nature scene in the window, which combined well with the urban art filter, creating the illusion of a ray of sunshine falling through the window and illuminating the workplace. I next used a colour filter to create a more somber & industrial-looking colour palette, that fits with the subject of the drawing. I’m really pleased with the end result, which in my opinion enhances the original inkxperiment. Conclusion TACCIA Ukiyo-e Utamaro usuzumi is a near perfect black office ink: good saturation & contrast, water-resistant, can handle all types of paper. And as extras: a bit of added complexity with purple-brown undertones and a lovely golden-brown sheen. Also a great ink for drawing. In my opinion, this is a black ink that’s well worth getting. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types