Ink Review: An EPIC Anderillium Inks Swatch Session with the New Ichthyoformes Series

Join me for a long swatch session on our YouTube Channel, where I sit down and walk through the entire series of Anderillium Ichthyoformes Inks! These eight inks are all inspired by fish, and best of all, there are three quite dark red inks (I’m counting Anglerfish Deep as a very dark red, even though there are brown tones as well). As you will see from the photos below, these colors will look darker with wetter swatches on Col-o-Ring paper than they will in everyday writing. In the video, I tried to get shots of the original ink colors as they go onto paper, and then again after they soak into the Col-o-Ring and dry.

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My three favorites from this line, from top: Piranha Red, Lionfish Maroon, and Anglerfish Deep.

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The ink will be less sheeny on non-swatch paper. As you will see in the video, I’ve inked up several pens with the reds and will be using them in the coming weeks.

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I saw Piranha Red in person at this year’s Atlanta Pen Show and immediately knew that I’d want the rest of the set.

This was a fun video to make! The “Currently Inked” series is my equivalent of a “Live” or “Stream”, since it’s rare that I have uninterrupted time to sit for an hour. It’s much easier for me to swatch inks and talk in bits and pieces and then edit together a video later.

UPDATE: I’ve added the Papier Plume Ink Swatch Books featured in the video to the shop this morning.

If you’re interested in purchasing these inks, we sell them in our own shop. Better yet, if you’d like to see swatches in person, I will have them in the physical store this weekend, which will be open Thursday and Friday from 1-6pm, and Saturday from 10am-6pm. No Sunday hours this weekend, as I need a day off!

Ink Review: Taccia Utamaro Aomurasaki Is The Deepest of Purple-Blacks

It’s no secret that I enjoy darker, black-infused inks, ranging from my signature red-blacks to more conservative green-black and blue-black shades. If you’re looking for something a bit more adventurous than standard business-friendly blue-black, but which still won’t look out of place in everyday school or office use, why not consider a purple-black? The ink I’m reviewing today, Taccia Utamaro Aomurasaki from Taccia’s Ukiyo-e line, has been on the market for a while but is a relatively recent new discovery for me personally.

What Are the Taccia Ukiyo-e Inks?

Taccia is a brand that was created in the U.S. and sources its inks from Japan. It’s been all but confirmed that Taccia inks are made by Teranishi, which alongside Taccia is a member of the Nakabayashi group of companies. In recent years, Taccia has expanded their ink offerings from their original standard line to include the “Ukiyo-e” inks, the “Jeans” series, and the new “Roughna Sketch” series. The Ukiyo-e has probably received the most attention, due to both the intricate box artwork and the fact that this line includes some amazing and unusual colors. The inks are inspired by artwork from four different artists from Japan’s Edo period (17th Century), reflected on the packaging. “Aomurasaki”, shown here, is from the collection of four inks inspired by the work of Kitagawa Utamaro.

Aomurasaki is a deep purple-black. The purple will come out with broader, wetter nibs, while the ink will appear more black in finer nibs. (Fine nib writing sample shown here alongside a swatch.)

Aomurasaki: One of Three Takes on Dark Purple

Within the Ukiyo-e line, Taccia has included multiple takes on one color. For example, there are three different shades of purple (Nakamurasaki, Aomurasaki, and Umemurasaki), with the Aomurasaki shown here being the darkest. I was looking for the darkest of purple inks to pair with my Hinze Taschenstift in the “Violet Tendencies CrazyFibre, as I wanted the darker ink to offset the lighter barrel and lilac nib. I rarely find permanent pairings, but this might be one, and if I had enough ink to sell with the pen, I’d even consider packaging them together. Anyone have any other candidates for me to try?

The tone is EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Like their sibling brand Teranishi Guitar, Taccia inks offer solid performance across the entire line. They flow well while still drying in a reasonable amount of time, with Aomurasaki perfectly balanced in this regard - it’s a great ink to use for everyday writing and it’s worked quite well on multiple types of paper. The Itoya Profolio Oasis paper used here handled it without issue, of course, but I’ve also had great luck on ordinary office paper. The pen shown here has been inked with Aomurasaki for several weeks, without any clogging, skipping, or drying.

By the way, Itoya’s Profolio paper handles ink incredibly well. It dries relatively quickly, even with a q-tip swab like this one, and there was absolutely zero bleed-through.

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Taccia Aomurasaki

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Taccia Nakamurasaki

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Taccia Umemurasaki

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Taccia inks, in my opinion, have been unfairly overlooked, mainly because Taccia doesn’t do as much marketing as other major ink-focused Japanese brands like Sailor. I personally think these Taccia inks perform just as well as, if not better than, any other Japanese brand. While the standard Taccia lineup is excellent, I tend to lean towards the Ukiyo-e inks simply because the colors have so much depth. Other favorites of mine include Hokusai Sabimidori, as well as most of the other deep green, blue, and purple shades.

All of the Taccia Ukiyo-e inks are currently available in our shop, and if you enjoy the Taccia inks, you will also want to check out the Teranishi Guitar inks since they behave similarly, but the colors are distinct with very little overlap.

Ink Review: Taccia Sabimidori vs. Teranishi Gentle Green - Two Favorites Side by Side

I’m going to do something really mean here: talk about two exceptionally good inks, one of which is sold out for the foreseeable future (though more is on the way). I wouldn’t normally do this, but I’ve had the post in the works for a while, and even though we sold through our initial stockpile of Teranishi Gentle Green in a little over a week, we do still have stock of Taccia Sabimidori. Because I’ve come to view these inks as two sides of the same proverbial coin, I wanted to discuss them together.

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I would label Sabimidori a “dark teal”. It’s a workhorse for me and for some reason I think it looks great paired with an architect nib or Naginata-style/Kodachi grind.

How are the two inks related? Though technically from different brands, Teranishi Chemical Company and Taccia are both part of the Nakabayashi Group, a large Japanese stationery umbrella company that readers and customers will likely know due to their popular Logical Prime, Logical Air, and Yu-Sari papers. My understanding is that Teranishi makes the ink for both the Teranishi Guitar and Taccia ink lines, and they certainly behave similarly (all in a good way).

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Taccia Sabimidori was “the” trendy ink from a few years ago, to the point where it was nearly impossible to get a hold of. I managed to snag this bottle at a pen show, but the craze has died down and it’s readily available.

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Why do I like these inks so much? Because they’re both interesting and serviceable. 90% of the writing that I do on a daily basis is professional writing or personal journaling, and while I occasionally enjoy a wild fountain pen ink as much as the next person, most shimmer inks, “extreme sheeners,” and overly saturated colors are unusable for me because they tend to have long dry times.

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Though perhaps not as intricate as the Taccia Ukioy-e artwork, Teranishi’s ink bottle and packaging also look very nice in your lineup!

Both Teranishi and Taccia inks flow extremely well (without being overly wet and soaking through paper), show depth of color (including some sheen) while maintaining reasonable dry times, and exist at a sub-$25 price point that I consider to be quite reasonable for imported inks in the modern fountain pen market. Taccia has long been a staple in my ink cabinet, though I only recently discovered Teranishi as the inks became available to more U.S. retailers.

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Teranishi Gentle Green is also a blue-green, but I would say its the “opposite” of Sabimidori. On the whole, I consider Gentle Green to lean green overall, and Sabimidori to lean blue, though the distinct mixes of similar colors is what makes both inks complementary and fascinating to me.

Of the dozens of Nakabayashi-family inks available, Taccia Sabimidori and Teranishi Gentle Green are two of my absolute favorites. When wet, Sabimidori appears teal blue, only to take on a darker teal-green tinge with red undertones/sheen as it dries. Gentle Green is the opposite - it appears to be a straight-up green ink when wet, but blue and red tones appear as the ink settles in to the paper. The degree of color variation will depend on the paper you use - here I opted for classic (old formulation) 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, which is among the best ever at showing off the various tones in fountain pen ink.

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Another shot of the depth Gentle Green has when drying - shown here on Col-o-Ring Paper.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

We currently stock both Taccia and Teranishi Guitar inks in our own shop. Taccia Sabimidori forms part of the Taccia Ukiyo-e line of inks, inspired by the work of four different artists from Japan’s Edo period. Hence the full name, “Taccia Hokusai Sabimidori”, referencing the specific Ukiyo-e artist who served as the inspiration for this color. As you might expect, the box artwork is gorgeous. Teranishi Gentle Green comes from the Teranishi Taisho Roman Haikara ink line, which also bears a historical reference to Japan’s Taisho period. Both ink lines are not super-expensive, priced at $20 and $23 per 40ml bottle respectively, which seems generally consistent with other imported Japanese specialty brands.

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If you come see us in person, you can view swatches and the bottle artwork up close.

If I ever decided to do a “Workhorse Ink” series (similar to my “Workhorse Pens”), I would organize it by brand, not necessarily colors, and Teranishi/Taccia would be included in the first wave of recommendations. Across the board, I’ve found that these inks perform well, and the subtle color variation gets me every time. Look for more of these reviews as I work my way through the various bottles. There are many I’m really excited about, especially in the Ukiyo-e line!

Thank you for reading! The Gentleman Stationer is supported by the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’d like to visit our in-person location, you can view directions and up-to-date hours here.

So Who Won 2024? Final Thoughts on Inkvent vs. Colorvent

This “Inkvent Season” was the first year that Diamine and Colorverse went head to head with their respective “Inkvent” and “Colorvent” ink advent calendars. So who did it better? In my opinion, Colorverse, and it wasn’t even particularly close. This was a bit of a reversal, where I thought Inkvent was leading for the first 10 days. Colorverse not only grew on me over time, but ran away with the victory starting about halfway through the month.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Diamine Ink, but primarily their standard colors. I’m partial to more subdued, muted shades - even if I do enjoy a subtle shimmer ink on occasion - and this past year’s Inkvent focused too much on “extreme sheen”, which might be my least favorite ink property. I found these inks slow to dry, and they often featured so much gold or green sheen that you couldn’t even see the base color once the ink was on the page.

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Yep, the sheen on this ink led to smearing weeks later.

Of all the Colorverse Colorvent Inks, however, there were only a handful that I couldn’t see myself using on a regular basis. The Colorvent Calendar went heavy on the blues, reds, and multi-shading greys, and while many of these colors aren’t particularly “festive”, I personally appreciate the fact that I can use them year-round, especially after shelling out close to $200 for the Colorvent. It’s a lot of ink, and I actually plan to keep most of it!

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Diamine Wishing Tree was my favorite of the 2024 Inkvent Inks. You can check out my overall favorites from the first half of the two calendars here.

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I REALLY want Colorverse to add this particular ink to their permanent collection. This was prominently featured in my recap of Inkvent/Colorvent, Part II.

Grab Some Select Inkvent Samples, While Supplies Last!

I can’t keep everything, so I’ve dropped this year’s Inkvent samples and some remaining from prior years into the “Gently Used/Clearance” section of the shop. Patreon Members already have had first crack at these, but there’s still a lot of ink left to go out the door. Also, please be sure to check out the rest of our brands, as we’ve recently brought in several new lines including Teranishi, Taccia, Diamine 150th Anniversary, and more!

Our brick and mortar shop is typically open for regular hours Thursday through Saturday, and otherwise by appointment. For directions and specific hours keep an eye on this page, which will reflect any changes due to anticipated inclement weather later this week.

Inkvent and Colorvent 2024: Recapping Days 11-20

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the reaction to how I’ve handled Inkvent/Colorvent season this year, as everyone seems to enjoy the daily Instagram polls. I personally enjoy seeing which inks people prefer, and the poll results have definitely included some surprises. Without further ado, here are the top three inks from both the Colorverse Colorvent and Diamine Inkvent calendars, respectively. Note that these polls are not at all scientific, and depend entirely on how many people responded to the Instagram stories poll as of the date of this post. If your favorite ink isn’t included here, go vote! (And if you missed the recap of the first 10 days, you can check it out here.)

Top Three Colorverse “Colorvent” Inks from Days 11-20: NGC 2264, PUlsar pulse, and brinicles/milky Way (tie)

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Easily my favorite ink from both Colorvent and Inkvent. This dark green should be a frontrunner to be added to regular Colorverse lineup next year. Poll results were near-unanimous.

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It came as no surprise to me that Pulsar Pulse was a favorite.

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Ok, so the "third place” Colorvent ink was actually a tie between “Brinicles” and “Milky Way” (shown below). I enjoyed both inks so I decided to include both in the top “three”!

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Given the connection people have long drawn between the “Advent Calendar inks” and shimmer, I’m surprised that the Colorvent Calendar hasn’t included more shimmer inks. That said, those that have appeared in the calendar are very good.

Top Three Diamine “Inkvent” Inks from Days 11-20

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Snow Glob surprised me with how popular it was, yet it’s sort of understandable since it’s one of the more “usable” Inkvent inks from this year.

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Winterberry, with it’s deep red hue and pink shimmer, is probably my own favorite from this year’s Diamine shimmer inks.

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Blue inks with red sheen are always popular. No exceptions.

Overall Takeaways from Inkvent/Colorvent, Part II

My personal takeaways from the first ten days hold true: the Colorverse Colorvent calendar contains more inks that I would use as everyday writers, whereas the Diamine Inkvent calendar features inks that are more traditionally “festive” and associated with winter and the holiday season. Given how much I’ve enjoyed the Colorverse inks, I’m strongly considering adding Colorverse to the shop as a standard brand in 2025. The dark green NGC 2264 is my favorite ink so far from both calendars, and it’s not even close. Stay tuned for the final five days and a general wrap up next week!

We have exactly ONE Diamine Inkvent calendar left. It’s not too late to grab samples of all the inks! Even though the inky advent calendars are mostly sold out, we still have plenty of ink available in our shop, including lots of recently added brands! If you’d like to peruse ink in person, we have extended holiday hours Saturday through Monday before taking a long-awaited break for Christmas. Come see us!