Jump to content

Sailor Ink Studio #573 - Mini Review


Intensity

Recommended Posts

Sailor Ink Studio is a relatively new line by Sailor, composed of 100 different hues! I will not attempt to classify and categorize the line, as it is done in great detail in this excellent overview of the full line: https://macchiatoman.com/blog/2019/1/23/sailor-ink-studio-overview-100-inks

 

I had my first exposure to these inks only briefly on-line when I had seen the interesting multi-hue inks #123 and #162, which are probably the most popular two of the whole line so far. On my recent trip to Japan, I was very happy to find that most of the large stationery store departments had the full Sailor Ink Studio line; some even with pre-filled demonstrator tester pens and paper pads to test the inks! Thus I was able to try out most of the line (it did take multiple trips to try out all 100 inks from this line, not to mention inks by other brands). With that said, the downside of having prefilled pens was that many had been sitting and gradually concentrating the inks contained in them for a week or two. And so some of the more saturated inks to begin with were super-concentrated by the time I was testing them, quickly sheening over on paper. It was not easy to imagine what some of those inks would look like in normal use back at home. Thus I focused on the less concentrated inks that showed more complexity--something different.

 

Please note: the colored stripes across bottle labels are NOT accurate representations of the inks (unlike, for example, Pilot Iroshizuku labels).

 

Ink Stidio #573 caught my eye right away. It was actually quite a surprise, as I was initially going to buy #273 instead. It turned out that #273, while being very nice, is just not as complex in writing as I had expected it to be. #573, on the other hand, is interesting indeed!

 

zZZvMUg.jpg

 

#573 is a relatively translucent ink of lower concentration, and so it has excellent shading properties, able to produce a wide range of hues from very pale faded terracotta to a deep off-black. There is a dark outline around dried ink lines which is readily visible and gives an extra oomph to the writing. For sheen lovers--you will not see this ink sheening in normal writing. You have to practically dump a lot of ink onto a page to finally see metallic green around the edges. But in all other circumstances, even writing on Tomoe River, you won't see this sheen. Instead, you will get a complex muted terracotta with an outline effect and a somewhat matte, chalky look. I seriously love this ink--it's simultaneously understated and very exciting.

 

Drying time is fairly quick, feathering is very well controlled, and there is even a good degree of water resistance without obscuring smearing.

 

My regular camera is having its sensor repaired, and unfortunately I don't know when I will get it back. I wanted to wait and do a more proper review, but my current fill of this ink was running low, and I decided it was better to put something together sooner rather than later. So this is a quick mini-presentation. I am certain this ink would be great for doing watercolor-style drawings because of it separating into very different colors in chromatography tests.

 

8t46EDt.jpg

 

5Yo1vsH.jpg

 

7kMJxc1.jpg

 

SeHGd7J.jpg

 

EhqdVko.jpg

 

5GIacem.jpg

 

eTtUS6z.jpg

 

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 7
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Intensity

    3

  • Honeybadgers

    2

  • senzen

    1

  • Jan2016

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

I'd buy a bottle if it came in grownup sizes.

 

Shame though, that's a REALLY nice color.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for this review; I like this ink. Do they only come in 20ml bottles? If so, there's no way I'd go for it.

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

 

B. Russell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thank you for the review. Very interesting color! Would be nice if Sailor would sell their Ink Studio inks also in bigger size...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They do only come in 20ml bottles, and as much as it pains me to say this, it makes sense for this particular collection -- there are 100 (!!!) ink colors after all. Considering that the Japanese stores that sell these inks carry the whole line, it takes much less room to store and display all 100 color varieties in the super minimal tight cardboard boxes that precisely fit the narrow rectangular bottles. I do wish the inks cost less for 20ml size though. It's about $10 per each (+ 8% consumption tax) in Japan. The Jentle / Shikori 20ml line is slightly cheaper at around $9.20 by current exchange rate + 8% consumption tax in Japan. Of course the latter is priced significantly higher in USA and Europe :(

 

This is off-topic, but I'm much more annoyed with the international price hike on Krishna inks that also come only in tiny 20ml bottles but are actually priced very reasonably for that amount in their home country.

Edited by Intensity

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The simple answer was to not release 100 colors, lol.

 

Sailor made a bad solution to a problem they made for themselves. Nobody forced them to make a 100 ink line! Release five inks a year and boom, you've got the next 20 years of special, limited inks. Sell them in 50mL bottles for $20 and let us buy them in the damn US from more than like two first party retailers.

 

also $10 a bottle is kind of sad since not two years ago the entire jentle line came in 50mL bottles for under $15/bottle.

 

I just am really not a fan of sailor these days. Their prices have been going up in leaps and bounds and they offer seemingly nothing at a competitive value to pilot and platinum.

 

Sailor went berserk with their ink prices right when pilot said "you know that super premium, popular, well regarded iroshizuku line we have? Isn't that bottle great? Well, we're going to knock the price down 30%, and keep the great bottle. Catch? There isn't one. Just doing the customer a solid."

 

Sailor's logic on the other hand "remember that jentle line everyone REALLY likes but is having a little bit of a hard time getting? And remember those stupid bottles so shallow you can't even fill our own pens with them? well, we're getting rid of the line. Sort of. And what we do keep, we're putting in smaller, worse bottles. Why? Because we think you're all idiots who will buy anything with our name on it."

 

Again, not to subtract anything from your review, and I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like the color. But I can't justify supporting that kind of business practice. If they wanted to go with a more packaging friendly bottle similar to what nemosine uses, they'd use barely any more space and fit 40mL in with the same design language.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you :)

 

I keep coming back to look at this. There's a couple of others taking my fancy too.

Can't convince myself to like them enough to fork out £20 for 20ml though. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I agree, that’s a very high price! The price of this ink in Japan is more pallatable. Hopefully there will be more reasonably priced options for this line with time.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...