I’ve always strongly believed that the best stationery brands - or at least my favorite stationery brands - are those that draw strongly on their own origins and sense of place when developing their brand identity and aesthetic. Color Traveler, an ink brand from Hiroshima, Japan-based stationer Tayama Bungu, is one of those brands. Like other boutique Japanese inks, the roughly 20 colors in the Color Traveler lineup are all named after regional “destination towns and their histories, special products and local goods, and other items which can accompany trips.” The two inks I’m reviewing today, Shodoshima Olive Green and Mihara Daruma Red, are perfect examples: the olive green is named after Shodoshima island, described as the first locale to successfully grow olives in Japan; the red is named after Mihara City, Hiroshima, which is famous for the production of Daruma, a traditional Japanese doll known as a “symbol of tenacity and good luck.” (Note: I don’t read Japanese, so all of my background information is drawn from the Shigure Inks website, where I acquired these two inks.)
Shodoshima Olive Green
The olive green is easily my favorite of these two inks, which will come as a surprise to most readers since you know how much I enjoy writing with my reds. Olive green is a difficult color to get right - it’s typically either too yellow and pale, in which case it ends up barely legible, or it’s too dark, in which case it’s not really an olive green. Color Traveler nailed the tone, plus the ink shades nicely, dries quickly, and is generally well-behaved, even in a broader, wetter nib. If you’re interested in seeing how this green compares to others, you can check out my green ink comparison here.
I used two pens for my ink testing: a Leonardo Momento Zero Grande with a 14k medium (a very wet writer), and a Sailor 1911 Black Luster with a fine nib. I swapped both inks between these two pens, and the combination shown here worked the best for reasons discussed below. All ink samples in this review are done on bright white Write Notepads paper.
Mihara Daruma Red
My experience with the Mihara Daruma Red was a bit more mixed. While a gorgeous color that strikes me as a dead ringer for the now-discontinued Montblanc Corn Poppy Red, in a broader nib I experienced extremely slow dry times and some smearing/tackiness up to an hour later. When I swapped the ink into a Japanese fine, I had no problems, but be warned if you like broader, wetter writers. Since the Shodoshima Olive Green dries quickly, I’m curious whether the slow dry time is unique to the dye used in the red ink, or whether other colors in the Color Traveler lineup have the same issue. If you know, please drop me a line or leave a comment. To see how this particular shade of red compares to others, you can check out my red ink comparison here.
Color Traveler inks come packaged with a small glass sample vial and a pipette.
Packaging and Overall Takeaways
Apart from the Mihara Daruma Red’s slow dry time, I had no other issues with these two Color Traveler inks. Neither bled or feathered on good paper. Moreover, the packaging/presentation are top notch, with an aesthetic similar to Colorverse. Each bottle of Color Traveler ink ships with a smaller vial for sampling/sharing, a pipette for pulling ink samples or filling an eyedropper fountain pen, plus some stickers. While not a huge selling point for me personally, I can see how the packaging and included extras could serve to raise the brand’s profile in an ink market that’s growing increasingly crowded.
I purchased the ink featured in this review from Shigure Inks, and paid full retail price. At $20 per 30ml bottle, I would say that Color Traveler is fairly priced for an imported Japanese ink, and in line with other similar brands such as Lennon Tool Bar and Tono & Lims.
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