Kyoto TAG - Kyo No Oto No.12 Ryukuyuiro

[theleftypenman]

Hello Folks, 

 

First time posting here and it might not be a review as per the review standards over here (eg. all the tests and examples etc) but I promise I will make it up with great pictures to showcase the ink. I am mostly active over at reddit and some of the people here might have probably noticed my posts there. Call it a showcase instead of a review if you may.

 

We are talking about one of TAG Stationery's two new inks for 2021 (no.11 & no.12) and I was early enough on the order to get the NO.12 Ryukuyuiro ink. Fresh arrival from Japan just a couple of days back. There is not much information about these new inks yet (atleast in the english forums) except some japanese reviews that I have seen on twitter via TAG's official twitter account. 

 

So let's get started on the pictorial journey with a beauty shot as a writing setup on the table.

 

 

My tools of choice - Midori MD notebook (A5) grid pages & Pilot Custom Heritage 912 (FA nib).

 

 

 

 

 

The packaging is same as other kyo no oto inks with a variarion of showing ink on the  packaging (which has been unique to each ink).

 

 

 

It's a shimmering ink, a first for kyo no oto range. Both their new colors are shimmering inks. This one is a deep dark green with silver shimmer. At some angles and how the light falls on the writing, sometimes it feels like there is gold & silver mix. I do not speak or understand japanese, the text written here is a copy from the info leaflet that came along in the box. 

 

 

The ink in its wet glory - unlike most of the kyo no oto inks have been on the drier side, this one feels reasonably wet (initial impressions), good saturation and ofcourse shimmer. I love how most of my inks look on the ivory midori paper. 

 

 

After the dry-down. In this picture it looks like there is silver as well as gold shimmer. Maybe an illusion. On the writing sample the silver is prominent. Jacques Herbin 350 Vert Atlantide seems to be the closest match to this ink.

 

 

Hope you like my shot, quick post here and would try to make some more posts over here. Thanks for dropping by on my post and if there are any questions I would try my best to answer it here.

 

Cheers,

AJ

[mizgeorge]

Oh! Lovely review - these guys can certainly do colours that speak to me

 

I'd agree that it's very reminiscent of Vert Atlantide (one of the very few shimmering inks I actually like very, very much) and how nice to know it's wetter than some of their others have been (I've resorted to flow aid for most of those I have).

 

What's the other new colour?

[theleftypenman]

The no.11 is Ruriiro - that's also a nice deep saturated blue with shimmer - No.11 Ruriiro

And the listing for No.12 Ryukuyuiro

 

I love their colors too and green is a personal favourite. Love their no.08 urahairo aswell.

[ENewton]

Beautiful photographs.  Thank you for creating and sharing them.

[nibtip]

Urahairo is fascinating. It is wet enough in a Pelikan M1005.

These two new inks are on my list. I dare not order from Japan. I will wait till it is available in a european shop.

Excellent review and photography too.

Thanks

 

[yazeh]

Beautiful review and photography. You've truly captured the subtlety and beauty of this ink, thank you 

[chromantic]

Lovely review. This is a nice green by itself and the shimmer is an added bonus.

[namrehsnoom]

A big thank you for this informative and beautiful review. Great photography and penmanship! Love the colour of this ink - not a fan of glitter though. But I like the TAG Kyoto inks so much that I will most probably order them anyway 😉 

[mizgeorge]

8 hours ago, oldfashioned-aj said:

The no.11 is Ruriiro - that's also a nice deep saturated blue with shimmer - No.11 Ruriiro

And the listing for No.12 Ryukuyuiro

 

I love their colors too and green is a personal favourite. Love their no.08 urahairo aswell.

 

That blue's fabulous as well - I can see both of those coming my way. 

And it's in spite of the shimmer rather than because of - I haven't come across one of these I don't like yet. 

 

I have the Uraiaro in an old Pelikan 140 which has a rather faded binde and it's one of my favourite combinations - delicate and understated but somehow very uplifting.

[tubular]

This may make me break my vow never to use a shimmering ink.  Very covetable!

 

[theleftypenman]

13 hours ago, nibtip said:

Urahairo is fascinating. It is wet enough in a Pelikan M1005.

 

I am using it in a Pelikan M120 as well. Just have to make sure to put these ink in the wettest pens I have.

 

13 hours ago, nibtip said:

These two new inks are on my list. I dare not order from Japan. I will wait till it is available in a european shop.

Excellent review and photography too.

Thanks

 

I think it will take some time to catch up and be available in international market. I got their newsletter about 2 new inks coming (around september) and immediately ordered. IT was a pre-order, which got shipped mid Jan.

[theleftypenman]

13 hours ago, ENewton said:

Beautiful photographs.  Thank you for creating and sharing them.

 

Thanks, its fun creating these things. I have done a lot of such stuff but those inks or pens have been reviewed, tried & tested many many times so restrain myself from posting about those.

[theleftypenman]

11 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

A big thank you for this informative and beautiful review. Great photography and penmanship! Love the colour of this ink - not a fan of glitter though. But I like the TAG Kyoto inks so much that I will most probably order them anyway 😉 

 

Thanks for the appreciation. I am not much into shimmering inks too. When I ordered this one I was not aware it will be a shimmer ink, I just saw a lovely dark green from a brand I like and simply ordered it. When it reached me I was surprised to see shimmer. Didn't really expect a shimmering ink from Kyo No Oto. Alas still happy with the ink and see it in my regular circulation.

[theleftypenman]

2 hours ago, tubular said:

This may make me break my vow never to use a shimmering ink.  Very covetable!

 

 

Personally not very fond of shimmering inks either but this was a pleasant surprise and love it. My favourite shimmer ink so far is Diamine Golden Sands

[theleftypenman]

13 hours ago, chromantic said:

Lovely review. This is a nice green by itself and the shimmer is an added bonus.

 

Thank you. Beautiful green it is for sure, especially if you love dark greens. Shimmer adds a nice subtle effect to the writing but cleaning is kinda annoying. I have shimmer visible in my moonman c1 barrel for almost 8 months now even after changing a lot of inks in it over time.

[theleftypenman]

13 hours ago, yazeh said:

Beautiful review and photography. You've truly captured the subtlety and beauty of this ink, thank you 

 

Thanks, hope to carry on with more reviews/showcase of pens and inks.

[theleftypenman]

6 hours ago, mizgeorge said:

 

That blue's fabulous as well - I can see both of those coming my way. 

And it's in spite of the shimmer rather than because of - I haven't come across one of these I don't like yet. 

 

I have the Uraiaro in an old Pelikan 140 which has a rather faded binde and it's one of my favourite combinations - delicate and understated but somehow very uplifting.

 

I am still wondering why I didn't get both of them 😆

Have you checked Pennonia liquid shimmer, that's an exciting product to add shimmer to anything. An a lot of color options too. In US, its available at Shigure Inks.

 

I use kyo no oto inks in my wettest pens and fatty nibs as well. Urahairo comes often in my M120 Iconic Blue.

[mizgeorge]

5 hours ago, oldfashioned-aj said:

 

I am still wondering why I didn't get both of them 😆

Have you checked Pennonia liquid shimmer, that's an exciting product to add shimmer to anything. An a lot of color options too. In US, its available at Shigure Inks.

 

I use kyo no oto inks in my wettest pens and fatty nibs as well. Urahairo comes often in my M120 Iconic Blue.

I don't actually like shimmer inks - I have only a very few of them, and only where the colours were just so lovely that I could forgive the sparkliness. These look just beautiful though, and like you, it's a range I've been delighted with.

[DrDebG]

Excellent review!  Thank you for taking the time to do this.  

[PithyProlix]

Your presentation, photos, handwriting, and the ink are all beautiful - thank you. 

 

If you have any tips for photographing ink I am sure many folks here would be interested!