Penland Cafe "utsurigi"

[mk2579]

UTSURIGI by PENLAND CAFE

Penland Cafe is a fountain pen shop/ cafe based in Nagoya City, Japan. They sell a wide range of fountain pens including Montblanc, Pelikan, Aurora, Waterman and Parker, in addition to their wonderful inks. You cannot buy directly from them unless visiting the Penland Cafe in person. Instead if you are outside of Japan you must use a forwarding service such as White Rabbit Express, which is how I bought them.

I only heard about Penland Cafe and its famous inks very recently, whilst perusing the famous rare Sailor inks thread. I had also seen pictures of their bottles pop up on Instagram and the like. From what I have read on-line people seem to stumble across the place whilst on holiday and end up buying a few bottles of their inks more as a souvenir. Aside from a couple of quick swabs and a a few squiggled words, I haven't heard much talk of these inks, let alone seen full reviews.

There are four inks in the Penland Cafe line up;

1. Utsurigi (sepia)
2. Penland Green
3. Red Cliff
4. Fountain Blue

*Picture taken from their website

I did think about buying all four in the set but the blue didn't look that special to me plus I'm not really a blue ink person, generally (though I still manage to have quite a few of them). I'm not sure why I didn't purchase Red cliff, I think maybe it reminded me too much of Ancient Copper which unfortunately managed to stain the section of my Sailor KOP Demo

Instead I went for Utsurigi and Penland Green, here they are;

The ink I'll be looking at today (I think "review" is too lofty a word for this), is Utsurigi. The ink comes in the diamond-shaped bottle with a very psychedelic orange label on it (somewhat confusing for a "brown" ink). There is definitely a 70's vibe going on here. And like the 70's, these labels are sure to divide opinion. The crazy font replicates the Penland Cafe signage, I saw a picture of it somewhere but now I can't find it. I'll post it up if later if I can. Unusually for a Sailor ink, the cap is plain and unadorned with no sticker on it. Likewise the inks come in a plain Sailor box with no label on the front (although Shosaikan do this also). The box and bottle convince me that these are definitely Sailor inks. This may seem obvious but I remember there was some debate about it as to whether they were or not.

Utsurigi is described as a colour-shifting ink that goes down black when wet, and dries to a sepia colour. However, I find I only get this effect when I use it on Original Crown Mill white card, where the ink does indeed go down a very deep saturated black and takes quite a while to lighten to a sepia. Thereafter it stays a pleasant sepia colour . *FYI the Original Crown Mill card I use here is a kind of heavyweight laid paper with a ribbed texture to it. I believe the range is called Silverline or something. Here is a sample below ;

However when I use Utsurigi on Hobonichi or Rhodia it doesn't go down black at all but instead a kind of dark green, and quickly lightens to a stony green, and then dries not to sepia but to a green/grey/brown. A colour not too dissimilar to Cigar (!) or Gagome. Here is a writing sample snippet of Utsurigi on Rhodia. Incidentally it dries much quicker on this paper at least with the fine nib I was using. I used an X250 taken from my ever- expanding Jinhao collection, so line not so juicy...

Here is a Cigar writing sample with a juicier Omas Paragon 18ct OM stub nib. As you can see my cursive "r's" need some work when writing at speed...

And a Gagome sample written with a very wet and broad modified Twsbi steel Stub nib...

Here is full page of Utsurigi on Hobonichi Techo TR paper;

Here is a comparison of Cigar, Gagome and Utsurigi on Hobonichi (TR paper);

Yes as you can see quite similar. Utsurigi doesn't really have the complexity of Cigar (or I forgot to mention it's doppelgänger Rikyu-Cha), but there are strong similarities. For example it is missing the crazy red sheen as you can see below- Cigar is the one not he bottom, obvs...

Also as mentioned Utsurigi is more green as less brown if you look closely at the dry samples here...

And here is a completely unnecessary picture of my Omas Paragon taking a fill from Cigar...

I find Gagome to be a very pleasant but less complex and less brown version of Cigar. I think Utsurugi possibly edges more in the Gagome direction in that respect.

All in all a very nice, unusual and not much talked about Sailor ink. I'm glad I tracked this one down...

You can find out more about Penland Cafe at http://www.pen-land.jp/index.html

Edited March 22, 2017 by kunju123

[white_lotus]

Thanks for the excellent review. Yes the Penland Cafe inks have been kind of mythical for a while and it's nice to see that with some effort they might be obtainable. I'm a fan of the labels, I think they're the most fun of the exclusives.

 

And you've exposed the similarity with other Sailor inks in this range, especially the readily available Rikyu-cha. But I still like it, but I don't have a reason to get this one.

 

Still an awesome review.

[mk2579]

Thanks!

 

...and I agree, with Rikyu-Cha's re-release theres no real reason for a more expensive (and somewhat less impressive) substitute. I wanted to get this in particular because it was billed as some magical colour shifting ink from black to Sepia, and I hadn't seen any other reviews of it, so thought I'd check it out. I have to admit I also like the bottles ...and the labels for this one

[white_lotus]

+1

 

It'll be interesting to see what you have to say about the green one.

[Tas]

This and Pelikan Smokey Quartz in one night ! Oh boy

Thank you for sharing this, to me, unheard of gem.

[gylyf]

Fascinating! I love how paper-dependent some of these Sailor inks are. As a fan of both Cigar and, especially, Gagome, I really like the look of this one, though it would be hard to justify seeking it out. Thanks for the review!

Edited March 23, 2017 by gylyf

[Cyber6]

OH BOY... I am with gylyf here..... A FASCINATING ink... I have Cigar, Gagome, RIkyu Cha and still wouldn't mind to have a bottle of this one....

 

 

Did I mention I am a sucker for complex murky browns/greens...

 

 

 

C.

[mk2579]

This and Pelikan Smokey Quartz in one night ! Oh boy

 

Thank you for sharing this, to me, unheard of gem.

Thank you!

 

I've been drooling over Smokey Quartz too- plus I don't have any Edelstein inks yet so another reason to get it (lol)

[mk2579]

Fascinating! I love how paper-dependent some of these Sailor inks are. As a fan of both Cigar and, especially, Gagome, I really like the look of this one, though it would be hard to justify seeking it out. Thanks for the review!

Thanks!

 

Yes I'm enjoying trying all the inks on different papers. I'm quite new to the whole ink area having focussed more on fountain pens in the past. As you can see these "reviews" are quite subjective and (ahem) non-scientific. Next item on the agenda: chromatography.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review.

This one I can skip -- I like some sepia inks, but this one leans a little greenish for my taste (the photos remind me of FPN member Pharmacist's Terra Incinerata, which even he admitted was a little too green-toned).

Still, after seeing reviews of the new Edelstein Smokey Quartz, I'm glad to see an ink that I will NOT be lusting after -- I have a fair amount of discretionary funds at the moment but they're not unlimited (and I burned more than a third of it yesterday alone... ). So I can happily pass on an ink that is largely "unobtanium" when I don't really like the color.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mk2579]

OH BOY... I am with gylyf here..... A FASCINATING ink... I have Cigar, Gagome, RIkyu Cha and still wouldn't mind to have a bottle of this one....

 

 

Did I mention I am a sucker for complex murky browns/greens...

 

 

 

C.

I know what you mean...I'm not one to buy multiple bottles of the same, but I don't mind buying numerous inks that are ever-so-slightly-different...(lol)

 

I too am liking these "murky" greens and browns I like straight-up browns too like Maruzen Athena I got recently which is very nice, and now I want to get smokey quartz...

 

Too many inks!

[mk2579]

Thanks for the review.

This one I can skip -- I like some sepia inks, but this one leans a little greenish for my taste (the photos remind me of FPN member Pharmacist's Terra Incinerata, which even he admitted was a little too green-toned).

Still, after seeing reviews of the new Edelstein Smokey Quartz, I'm glad to see an ink that I will NOT be lusting after -- I have a fair amount of discretionary funds at the moment but they're not unlimited (and I burned more than a third of it yesterday alone... ). So I can happily pass on an ink that is largely "unobtanium" when I don't really like the color.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Happy to help!

 

It is quite green but green is one of my favourite colours so I'm quite taken with this Utsurigi...

 

And I know what you mean re: discretionary funds, I really need to get into the savings habit; pension what pension...

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for your review of another beautiful ink; I am going to (TRY) remain strong since I have the "usual suspects" & last added Sailor's Doujima Ryokkin from Delta Style Dee Shop to the Rikyu-Cha, Cigar & Hakodate Gamone "Trinity."

 

Having just about passed out after I wiped the silly Sailor funnel from a bottle of Bung Box's "Ink of Naotora" on a sheet of Tomoe River paper (after it's arrival this morning) & watched that incredible greenish gold sheen develop on the paper, I don't trust myself to make decisions about ink purchases while in this "altered state!"

 

I MUST channel "white_lotus" for her restraint..............her advice has served me well on many occasions.

[white_lotus]

 

If you need to pretend I have restraint, to fortify you, be strong!

 

I so far haven't gotten this ink, but was sorely tempted today, by this and a number of other inks. But I must work at sticking to my "budget".

[jmccarty3]

Did I mention I am a sucker for complex murky browns/greens...

 

I do believe I recall your saying something of the sort . . .

[visvamitra]

Nice one

[rudyhou]

i'm diggin' this new dark brown ink. a nice daily formal ink. by the way, to your omas paragon nib shot.