Does Sailor make a pigmented sepia or brown ink?

April 28

I recently purchased my first Sailor pen from Bungubox and it came with a wonderful, pigmented black ink they make with Sailor called “Eternal Music”. I love the flow, water resistance and lack of feathering with this ink but I also like sketching with a brown or sepia ink. This raises two questions for me:

1) Does Sailor make a sepia or brown pigmented ink with some decent water resistance?

2) Will using my current DeAtramentis Document Sepia void the Sailor warranty?
I’m less concerned about the second question since it is the Japanese warranty which might be challenging to deal with if there is a problem anyway. However, I am a little concerned because I have read reports of some inks damaging the black ion plating on pens like mine.

Thanks for any insights you may have.

April 28

I don't think Sailor makes a pigmented sepia, although you can mix one:

https://en.sailor.co.jp/topics/storia-mix/

For the warranty part, see this topic for example.

Sailor Doyou is very dark and has some water resistance. Maybe there are some other options within the numerous Sailor made inks

April 28

Is the “black” on the nib actually Ruthenium, or something else? I couldn’t tell from the ad.
There is R&K Sepia, which has water resistance. Noodler’s Whaleman’s Sepia is another waterproof sepia.

I’ve used a number of Birmingham Pens’ inks over the years, many of which I have found to be quite water resistant, as have a few other experienced reviewers, even though this was not an advertised attribute. They have made a wide range of browns over the years, albeit most of their inks are available in small batches, and sometimes for not very long, so one must grab them quickly. Their hues/colors are often hard to pigeonhole, which I find interesting. I have 2 or 3 that are sepia like, but none that are currently available. My most recent purchase from them was an unusual murky brown-green or brown-yellow, Saltmarsh, which you’ll have to see on their website to get some appreciation of its special properties and colors. I haven’t tested its water resistance yet. I’ve never encountered any problems with any of their inks, and I believe they encourage mixing your own from some of their base colors.

https://www.birminghampens.com/products/saltmarsh

Here are links to few of the reviews of some of their sepia inks from a few years ago. I have the Smoked Steel, and Winky’s, both of which I really enjoy.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/342190-winkys-hamburgers-root-beer-4-other-variations-on-taupe/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/336496-birmingham-–-fort-pitt-blockhouse-sepia/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/330812-birmingham-–-steel-building-smoked-iron/

And some other water resistant sepias, reviewed by someone who enjoys sketching:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/370763-rohrer-klingner-sepia/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/372526-noodlers-manjiro-nakahama-whalemans-sepia/

I hope these are helpful.

April 28

Thanks for all the ink leads @Carrau. They look very helpful.

Sailor states that it is ion plating. I believe it is different from ruthenium, rhodium and pvd coatings. I’m not sure. This is the best description I could find quickly. It appears to be a way of attaching metallic particles to steel and other materials. I get the impression from that description that it may be possible to apply other colors this way. I’ve read a few threads where early versions may have had issues with some inks which is why Sailor has a warranty disclaimer about using other inks. That said, Sailor still uses this plating on some of their pens (such as the Black Luster) so they may have worked out any glitches. Hard to say.

April 28

I have this Sailor sepia which is a lovely ink, and per this review may have some water resistance. I just never thought of it as being water resistant.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/304954-sailor-kobe-3-kyuu-kyoryuuchi-old-foreigners-ward-sepia/

April 28

Hakase makes real, as in cuttlefish, pigment sepia ink in two shades.

April 29

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Hakase makes real, as in cuttlefish, pigment sepia ink in two shades.

Holy cephlapod! That’s amazing! This looks like a must try just to see what it looks like and how well it works. @Karmachanic, have you tried it yet?

April 29

4 hours ago, Carrau said:

I have this Sailor sepia which is a lovely ink, and per this review may have some water resistance. I just never thought of it as being water resistant.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/304954-sailor-kobe-3-kyuu-kyoryuuchi-old-foreigners-ward-sepia/

Thanks for the link @Carrau. Lovely ink and interesting review but I fear that “some water resistance” won’t hold up to watercolor washes when painting.

April 29

11 hours ago, Surlyprof said:

Does Sailor make a sepia or brown pigmented ink with some decent water resistance?

Sailor used to make a (not advised/advertised as being mixable) STORiA Lion Light Brown pigment ink. I like the ink, both for its near-waterproofness and its colour that (to me) is closer to orange than to brown; but it was discontinued some time back to make way for the STORiA MiX ink series that came after.

That said, Sailor has been known to make some STORiA inks as limited editions or store exclusive editions in the Asian market, so for all I know it may still actually make a brown pigment ink today that is largely inaccessible to would-be purchasers in the West. If I come across one when I'm in Osaka in a few weeks' time, I'll be sure to let you know.

April 29

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

Sailor used to make a (not advised/advertised as being mixable) STORiA Lion Light Brown pigment ink. I like the ink, both for its near-waterproofness and its colour that (to me) is closer to orange than to brown; but it was discontinued some time back to make way for the STORiA MiX ink series that came after.

That said, Sailor has been known to make some STORiA inks as limited editions or store exclusive editions in the Asian market, so for all I know it may still actually make a brown pigment ink today that is largely inaccessible to would-be purchasers in the West. If I come across one when I'm in Osaka in a few weeks' time, I'll be sure to let you know.

Thank you @A Smug Dill. That is good to know and would be greatly appreciated. I was just talking with a friend in Kariuzawa last night and it looks like we may be in Japan sometime this Autumn. Any information about what to look for would be very helpful.