Kyo No Oto #9

[pgcauk]

Here's a little game! Only one is the named color but which one is it?

Choose from (in alphabetical order!):

Chu Shu - Sailor Jentle

Keshimurasaki - Kyo no Oto

Sakuranezumi - Kyo No Oto

Scabiosa - Rohrer & Klingner

Summer Storm - Robert Oster

Sydney Lavender - Robert Oster

Challenge question: Which is your favorite?!

[Eclipse157]

First pic

 

Top left: Sydney Lavender

Top right: Summer Storm

Bottom left: Scabiosa

Bottom right: Keshimurasaki

 

Second pic

 

Left: Chushu

Middle: Sakuranezumi

Right: I'm out of options.

 

Just to be sure, i made a quick google search and "kyo no oto #9 ink" gives me ambiguous results because it seems that both sakuranezumi and keshimurasaki are "#9". However a pic on a shop shows the label of sakuranezumi as having n.9 on it. Either way I'm missing an ink, is there a THIRD kyo no oto #9?

 

My fav is Sydney Lavender

 

[Karmachanic]

  On 11/6/2021 at 2:24 AM, pgcauk said:

Only one is the named color but which one is it?

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Keshimurasaki I believe.

[pgcauk]

I guess the game isn't clear, it's which names can you match to the illustrations?

And yes, both iterations of #9 are featured and one ink is shown on both pages, but which?

I guess I should have labelled so why not:

Top Illus

A B

D C

(Clockwise from top left)

Lower Illus

E F G

So answers in the format:

A =

B =

C =

D =

E =

F =

G =

With an asterisk by the favorite?

And one vote for Sydney Lavender - yay!

I might keep a tally!

[pgcauk]

And full marks to Karmachanic for decoding my scrawl, but which of those inks is not an imposter?

[JulieParadise]

  On 11/6/2021 at 11:05 AM, Eclipse157 said:

[...] Just to be sure, i made a quick google search and "kyo no oto #9 ink" gives me ambiguous results because it seems that both sakuranezumi and keshimurasaki are "#9". However a pic on a shop shows the label of sakuranezumi as having n.9 on it. Either way I'm missing an ink, is there a THIRD kyo no oto #9? [...] 

 

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The Kyo (Stationery Tag) inks are named in a rather weird and confusing way, using the free slots in their numbering system again and again whenever an ink is phased out. That explains why ink #09 xxx might be the first in that "slot", but once xxx (a limited edition) is gone, the #09 is "free" again and then used to denote ink #09 xyy, or another year later after #09 xyy sold out, #09 xyz. 

[PithyProlix]

My guesses would be the same as @Eclipse157. I believe the repeated ink is Scabiosa - D & G slots. Which makes sense because I think it's your standard for comparison in this range.

 

Favorite? They are all great. With a gun to my head I'd probably pick Sydney Lavender. 

 

While I don't actually have Chu-Shu to make an in-person comparison, I believe I could get very close to Chu-Shu by diluting PenBBS 227 Purple Jade. Chu-Shu seems close to PenBBS 346 Misty Mountain but the Sailor is more saturated.

 

Thank you. I don't think I will ever tire of these colors.

[pgcauk]

Chu Shu is like the manifestation of the word "solemn"! I was surprised to find that Callifolio Cassis is the closest match that I have, although Chu Shu is more intense.

 

I load it into a pen, I love the color, and then I begin to feel my joy in life becoming wrapped in a cloak of sadness... so I return it to the bottle and try something else!

[pgcauk]

  On 11/6/2021 at 11:05 AM, Eclipse157 said:

First pic

 

Top left: Sydney Lavender

Top right: Summer Storm

Bottom left: Scabiosa

Bottom right: Keshimurasaki

 

Second pic

 

Left: Chushu

Middle: Sakuranezumi

Right: I'm out of options.

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Very nice work Eclipse! There are three that need adjusting, but that's just the same two inks flipping and flopping. I must admit, I was surprised with the three mice!

 

Hmmm, and I should add a Chu Shu vs Cassis face-off too!

[pgcauk]

  On 11/9/2021 at 12:28 PM, PithyProlix said:

I believe the repeated ink is Scabiosa - D & G slots

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You have identified the repeating ink, so well done, but it's not the ink that you name (although that would make complete sense to me too!)!

 

Nearly there!

[PithyProlix]

  On 11/9/2021 at 1:06 PM, pgcauk said:

Chu Shu is like the manifestation of the word "solemn"! I was surprised to find that Callifolio Cassis is the closest match that I have, although Chu Shu is more intense.

 

I load it into a pen, I love the color, and then I begin to feel my joy in life becoming wrapped in a cloak of sadness... so I return it to the bottle and try something else!

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Amazing, I have always thought that Cassis is the most serious and solemn looking ink that I have, much more than any others (I do not have Chu-Shu). Yes, it only fits well with certain moods in the text.

[PithyProlix]

  On 11/9/2021 at 1:37 PM, pgcauk said:

You have identified the repeating ink, so well done, but it's not the ink that you name (although that would make complete sense to me too!)!

 

Nearly there!

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Then I give up - I can't imagine any of the other inks could be Scabiosa!

[pgcauk]

So here's the sequel. One of the two featured inks is Chu Shu, the other is Callifolio Cassis, but which is which?

 

... but then I saw some blank spaces on the page and threw in 3 Birmingham Violets, both iterations of Kyo No Oto #9 (in disguise!) and, properly identified, Scabiosa. This should enable the discerning to distinguish the German ink from a Japanese near-equivalent.

 

... if there was room I would add a sketch of the kitchen sink, but it seems I used up the space!

 

Just a phone-photo. I'll try a scan once the engine room warms up, but purple is notorious!

 

 

 

Edit: Here's the scan:

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by pgcauk
Replace photo with scan

[PithyProlix]

With great trepidation:

• Scabiosa is in between Chu-Shu and Cassis, correct? If yes, I think yours has much more pink than mine ... and I now believe that, in you original two pictures in this topic, Scabiosa is second pic, middle. But that complicates my choices for the other colors ... sigh. Based on nothing more than logic, I'd choose Sakuranezumi for first pic, bottom left and second pic, right and the same choices as Eclipse for the rest.
• As I indicated before, I don't have Chu-Shu, but my Cassis looks remarkably similar to the color on an actual, ripe cassis skin, also called blackcurrant  (and very little like Creme de Cassis, which Platinum Cassis Black looks much more like, by the way). So, I think Chu-Shu is on the left, Cassis right. But Chu-Shu in this photo is not really closely triangulating with the one I think is Chu-Shu in the first set - similar but slighty more red here!

 

Regarding Cassis:

It wasn't what I expected and hoped it would be - it goes much more dark grey than violet for me - even after trying a few different pens (best was a Pilot Varsity which I pulled the feed from to fill - maybe it still needs trying more pens to meet its match?). I took me a while to let go of that expectation. But, as an incredibly dour color - much more than any other ink I've seen, and that includes blacks and stormy greys - it's a niche ink and I've come to appreciate it for what it is. And beautiful in its own very unique way.  I'm not anything close to 'goth' but, if I were, it would be my ink of choice. Or if I ever write a very grim and dark black comedy like, say, A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's hard to describe directly why it seems so dour - it doesn't seem to do anything with darkness or blackness since there are plenty of other inks that are much, much darker and blacker that aren't close to being as solemn looking.

 

If Chu-Shu is even more solemn looking than Cassis then 😱!

[Eclipse157]

  On 11/9/2021 at 10:12 AM, JulieParadise said:

 

The Kyo (Stationery Tag) inks are named in a rather weird and confusing way, using the free slots in their numbering system again and again whenever an ink is phased out. That explains why ink #09 xxx might be the first in that "slot", but once xxx (a limited edition) is gone, the #09 is "free" again and then used to denote ink #09 xyy, or another year later after #09 xyy sold out, #09 xyz. 

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Ah that explains a lot, thanks!

[pgcauk]

  On 11/10/2021 at 6:32 AM, PithyProlix said:

Scabiosa is in between Chu-Shu and Cassis, correct? If yes, I think yours has much more pink than mine ... and I now believe that, in you original two pictures in this topic, Scabiosa is second pic, middle. But that complicates my choices for the other colors ... sigh. Based on nothing more than logic, I'd choose Sakuranezumi for first pic, bottom left and second pic, right and the same choices as Eclipse for the rest.

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This is now fully correct - good detectiving! Not easy when the vagaries of photography, different papers and aging inks are factored in.

 

I was surprised too that Sakuranazumi looks so similar but a bit grubbier than Scabiosa. Not sure this isn't reversed in writing!! I'm thinking Scabiosa pinkens and darkens with age, not just on the paper but to some degree in the bottle too once opened? I am half way through my second bottle. My first bottle, over four or five years, did become a rather grimy pink-violet, and I remember my delight at the glorious blue-violet of the fresh ink when I cracked open the second, which does indeed remind me of the wild 'pincushion flowers' in England. Both the flowers and the ink age Mauve. I don't think I've seen that blue from bottle #2 for a while now 🥲.

 

A similar phenomena with KWZ IG Gold, this goes down a glorious straw when fresh from the bottle, but even left in the pen it looses this initial color after a few days.

 

I'm thinking the Sakuranazumi, although it resembles aged Scabiosa, will at least be stable, while the Iron Gall inks continue their alchemy!

 

Chu Shu and Cassis you have flipped though, and yes; somber, somberer, somberest! Can anyone trump Chu Shu for 'depression in a bottle'?

 

I continue to be fascinated by the three blobbies of Birmingham inks on the left. David O Selznick Lilac Wind (central) has the pink at the center bleeding out to a clear blue outline, Pittsburgh Aviary Violet Starling (lowest), which is virtually indistinguishable as a writing ink (yet somehow less dolorous?), has blue at the core fading out to pink. Both Cassis and Chu Shu have their life forces (pink) imprisoned by consciousness (blue grey), which seems to be what creates the mood?!

 

Oh, and with Kyo No Oto, I'm thinking #09 is reserved for 'something violet', #10 for 'something green'? Not sure that two instances is enough to confirm a pattern though? It's interesting that these are the two variable colors though? I think of violet and green as the 'bridge' colors between warm and cool; they can either neutralize brown (=warm, organic) or grey (=cool, mineral).

[PithyProlix]

  On 11/10/2021 at 12:12 PM, pgcauk said:

This is now fully correct - good detectiving!

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Woohoo! Proud that I - as well as Eclipse - weren't too far off with our initial guesses.

 

  On 11/10/2021 at 12:12 PM, pgcauk said:

I'm thinking Scabiosa pinkens and darkens with age, not just on the paper but to some degree in the bottle too once opened? I am half way through my second bottle. My first bottle, over four or five years, did become a rather grimy pink-violet, and I remember my delight at the glorious blue-violet of the fresh ink when I cracked open the second, which does indeed remind me of the wild 'pincushion flowers' in England. Both the flowers and the ink age Mauve. I don't think I've seen that blue from bottle #2 for a while now 🥲.

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I don't have near the experience with Scabiosa as you - certainly no more than 10 fills - but I have noticed it go significant redder, or perhaps pinker, as it ages on the page. While mine was never blue-violet, it's just that I wouldn't have expected it to be anywhere near that pink without much more aging on the page, at least given my experience with it. It's very attractive regardless.

 

  Quote

Chu Shu and Cassis you have flipped though, and yes; somber, somberer, somberest! Can anyone trump Chu Shu for 'depression in a bottle'?

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Bah! Maybe because I haven't used Cassis with a wide nib like that (or is it a brush or something else?). Retrospectively now, I guess mine looks much more like the darkest parts of yours, rather than the lighter parts, which are the predominate ones.

 

Based on just the images here alone I get the impression more of deep calmness to Chu-Shu - while not depressive, nothing like anything happy for sure - but I know these impressions can be radically different given the vagaries of photography, monitors, eyes, etc.

 

Thanks very much for doing this. It was fun! (Man oh man, how many people in the world would say that???) And now I am even more smitten with all those violets/purples/indigos I don't have ...

[pgcauk]

  On 11/10/2021 at 1:14 PM, PithyProlix said:

Based on just the images here alone I get the impression more of deep calmness to Chu-Shu - while not depressive, nothing like anything happy for sure

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Yes, "Depression" is not the mood of the ink, but a rather lazy description of my response to it?! The ink itself is, hmmm, "magnificent" for sure, and "solemn" always felt right, but maybe with a dash of "severe" or "imperious"? Maybe some child Emperor of an ancient civilization whose days are filled with ceremonial obligations but has little freedom to play?

 

Golly, can we make character sketches for hues now?!?

 

Marks are made with a paint-brush, which tends to be paler than a fountain pen, and dip-pen, which tends to be darker. I would love to improve my brush technique!

[pgcauk]

Here's Keshimurasaki again, which is now my favorite ink - in a dip pen! Unfortunately in all the fountain pens I've tried I can't get it to work - the contrast between upstrokes and downstrokes is too great and the whole thing looks like rags and tatters (which might be suitable for "Ruined Purple" - but not for everyday writing). Either I reserve it for dip pen only, or keep trying alternatives!
 

[PithyProlix]

  On 11/18/2021 at 11:45 PM, pgcauk said:

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Wow. 😍