Sailor Chu-Shu

[white_lotus]

I was fairly excited when Sailor released eight new inks in their Four Seasons line as some were reissues of famed inks, and the others perhaps had possibilities. In the end I found only three inks to my taste. One of the three I wasn't sure about, Chu-shu, as I typically don't like grey inks. If I want a nice dark, neutral colored ink, just give me black, or a colored ink dark enough to be perceived as black. To me grey=wimpy black.

 

The swabs and writing samples, or squiggles passed off as that, at the online retailers weren't encouraging. Nearly all of them show a grey ink. One retailer said it was a deep, muted purple. Sounds like love to me. So I ordered my new Sailor inks from them. Upon finally inking up in my color appropriate Pelikan M400 Stresemann pen, I discovered that Chu-shu is a grey ink in the cold, hard light of day, and under some artificial lighting appears with a muted purple cast. So it's not the ink I wanted it to be.

 

But Chu-shu is a very nice Sailor ink regarding flow, lubrication, clean-out, etc. that you expect from Sailor. In my very wet medium-nibbed Pelikan you get a fairly dark grey line with ample shading. No sheen observed. The ink has a bit of water-resistance which was unexpected. If you require water-resistance then don't count on this ink, but you have more of a chance of having enough ink leftover on the page compared with some other inks.

 

Pen: Pelikan M400 Stresemann (14kt-M, tuned by Linda Kennedy)

Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28lb inkjet.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the purple cast in this droplet, there's just not enough of it.

[Cryptos]

Nice review, and one of my current favourite inks!

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for your review of this ink. It is again very honest & thorough, which is why I always look forward to your reviews; in this case doubly so since it is on it's way from Japan to me. My initial excitement when the Season's line expanded was sated I believed with my three choices, until I saw another user show a sample of this ink. I tend to prefer the more vibrant inks & have come to realise there is equal beauty in more subtle ones, I have long admired the chameleon characteristics of darker hued inks, but this seemed like an ink I should also try. It was an Ebay purchase which including shipping was under $13.00 so it will arrive when it does from Japan.

 

I hesitate to suggest ANY ink to you, but I am equally fascinated with one of the new Stipula inks, called "Fading Grey," which when introduced here was attributed by ANOTHER name, (Ferro del Elba) & after my confusing search for an ink that didn't exist was in a later post confirmed as the "Fading Grey," which called grey is much more brown than grey in my use.

 

After purchasing pens, the discovery of new inks proves to be my greatest pleasure about this journey; thank you for making it a more enjoyable one with your contributions.

[white_lotus]

Thank you so much for the very kind words, they are much appreciated. I think you'll like the ink. It really is quite good as you know from Sailor inks. I'm sure many people will like it. I'm interested to see the new Stipula inks. It's exciting to see existing lines expand beyond the basic colors.

[lapis]

Thanks again for such a nice and open elaboration of things here. I love this ink. I bought it because I'm really into grey inks. I often find greys somewhat demanding inasmuch as a look or three at them is necessary to see the blue, green, red and/or brown touches in them. And of course the pens and papers involved as well....

 

... Yawn

[ENewton]

Looks like a lovely ink.

[inkstainedruth]

Oh no! Another ink that might go on the short list of "must... try... soon...." This one looks really interesting.

Thanks for the review. And, well, not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Oh, wait -- it IS already on the short list.... Never mind....

Edited December 27, 2016 by inkstainedruth

[namrehsnoom]

This ink goes on my to-buy list. A really nice purple-grey.

[fugel]

a lovely ink that I use often as alternative when I am bored of blacks. Diamine Eclipse is for me another alternative for blacks.

thanks for the review.

[Jim7310]

I really like the looks of this ink and never would have considered it from the color description. Thanks for taking the time to create these details reviews!