Search the Community

Here are two limited edition Taccia pens from the Hyakko-Hisho lineup. The Hyakko-Hisho is a compendium of craft techniques from the Edo period including lacquer styles. Taccia has been pulling from that for the past two or three years. Pictured first is the Hakumei or twilight from last year, which is primarily green. Second, is this year's Hakumei or starlight/star shine, which is primarily blue. Both make nice use of blended urushi colors and raden. I thought they made a nice pair. Untitled-1 with logo by Ja Ja, on Flickr Untitled-1 yes logo by Ja Ja, on Flickr together with logo by Ja Ja, on Flickr caps together with logo by Ja Ja, on Flickr tails together with logo by Ja Ja, on Flickr

The Taccia Hyakko-Hisho II collection Sango. The Hyakko-Hisho is a collection of 100 urushi styles, a type of reference work that artists have drawn on since the Edo period. Sango means coral and this pen in kawari-nuri captures the essence of coral. A unique addition to the collection. Fitted with a Sailor Zoom nib. AC7FC6BB-687B-4FAA-A81B-A3EAC71B0CB4 by Ja Ja, on Flickr 233884EA-F18B-4476-B23D-236FA60821C8 by Ja Ja, on Flickr

Someone requested a review of this ink since they saw that I had the Red Soil. This inspired me to get on with it, as I was very curious to see what kind of green it was. Rust green, what could that be? This is a very interesting green. Some subtle shading, enhanced by the sheen. The latter is sometimes dark, contributing to the shading, making it quite dramatic. The sheen is definitely red, but often quite dark. The camera picks up the reflection, making it look pink. But it varies depending on light, ink concentration on the paper, and the paper itself. Sometimes the sheen appeared very metallic, making the writing look like graphite pencil. The green is a somewhat neutral bluish-green. It is not bright, but it is well colored. I was a bit worried that it would be a green that I disliked, but that is not the case at all. It's a very pleasant green. It is not a murky swamp green that many people, myself included, really like. This definitely leans very blue as you can see in the backlit photo. When I first looked at the ink, in the evening, I thought maybe a mistake had been made and I was sent the wrong ink. The writing at night looking like a graphite blue if there would be such a thing. It's quite blue when wet, then turning to the green when dry. To me this is a very unique green. Maybe it isn't and I'll learn something. But a reasonable price for a Sailor ink these days. It is $0.50/ml ($20 for 40 ml bottle). The Kobe inks are $30 for 50 ml ($0.60/ml), the Sailor Ink Studio are $18 for 20 ml ($0.90/ml), the new Sailor Four Seasons and Shikiori inks are $15 for 20 ml ($0.75/ml). On Mohawk via Linen, a high quality, somewhat absorbent paper: On Tomoe River paper: Shiny sheen: Nice box! Back Nice bottle! Is this a blue ink? Not really.

Taccia Hyakko-Hisho II fountain pens are made of ebonite with a hexagonal or round body and decorated in a Kawari-Nuri lacquer layer. Kawari-Nuri includes experimental urushi lacquer techniques in which different additives, materials, and methods are brought together. The results are surprising with playful motifs in which chance plays an important role. The Taccia Hyakko-Hisho II fountain pens are limited to 50 pieces per design. Five new designs are added to the five previous ones! https://www.sakurafountainpengallery.com/en/boutique/taccia-japanse-pennen We ship worldwide and most of the time transport is at our expense! The pen fills with Sailor ink cartridges or converter. The 14kt duo-tone nib is available in different sizes. Each Hyakko-Hisho pen comes in a nice Paulownia wooden box with pen kimono, two cartridges, convertor, and cleaning cloth. Note: The designs of these pens are different from the Taccia US designs. Catherine

I hope this review will be interesting to some of you since I have not found many reviews of the urushi pens made by Taccia. As soon as I ordered the pen I resolved that I would post a review - good, bad, or indifferent - since this is a less-known brand and it is hard to be confident in advance what the pens will be like. As it turned out, the pen surpassed my highest hopes and I am thoroughly delighted that I purchased it. Background: Taccia is a small fountain pen and ink manufacturer, established in California in 2003. The company was sold in 2016 to Nakabayashi, a Japanese stationery manufacturer, and now offers its pens with nibs produced by Sailor. The pen I bought was the Hyakko-Hisho Kohaku model, and it cost €850. Like many of the Taccia urushi pens it is a numbered, limited edition of 50. There are four other pens in the “Hyakko-Hisho” series with different style urushi finishes. As far as I can determine, the Hyakko-Hisho was a 17th/18th century compendium of Japanese traditional crafts. Kohaku is the Japanese word for amber, which relates to the urushi colour on this model of the series. I am not knowledgeable about urushi but I understand this pen is lacquered using the Wajima urushi style, which incorporates particles of earth or other materials in the lacquer. Perhaps some of you who possess more knowledge of urushi can expand further on this. The pen comes in a pauwlonia wood box along with a black pen kimono with purple lining. The key question for me, as I considered buying this expensive pen from a less-known brand, was: what makes the pen stand out compared to the many good pens from more established brands at comparable prices? To answer this I think I must start with my reasons for ordering the pen so you will understand what I was looking for and whether it met my expectations. Sailors are my favourite nibs because of their precision, feel and consistency, however I find the Sailor pen body designs and materials disappointing. What I wanted was a high-quality pen with attractive materials and a Sailor nib. I haven’t tried a King of Pen urushi but they are in a rather rarefied price bracket and I am less interested in the more affordable plastic or bare ebonite KoP models. I considered the Cross Peerless 125, which has a Sailor nib, and tried one in a local store, but I absolutely could not get along with the convex section shape and it was very uncomfortable for me. My hope was that this Taccia would offer me the high quality feel I was looking for in a pen with a Sailor-made nib. Design and construction: This is a large pen - at least in length - as you can see from the comparison pictures with a Montblanc 149 and a Pelikan M800. The section is much slimmer than either of those pens, and the nib is quite small (a 14k gold hard-medium Sailor with two-tone Taccia design). For me this is perfect. I prefer small nibs and relatively slim sections, even though I have large hands, because of the feeling of precise control that they give me in writing (not that my writing is particularly precise or controlled!). To my eye the nib size looks appropriate because of the slender section, even though the pen body is large. The section has a significant taper and is quite long, flaring out at the nib end. It is the most comfortable section that I have on any of my pens, and the pen almost disappears from my attention when I write. The nib has a plastic feed, I believe, and it writes beautifully - flawless and reliable ink-flow, a consistent line, pleasant feedback, and long, slender tines for precise location of contact to the paper. The urushi lacquer is yellow stripes over black. If you look carefully you will notice that the yellow lacquer incorporates gold metal particles toward the top of the cap and the bottom of the barrel. The finish has some texture and relief, which I find very pleasing. The quality of lacquer work is very high, as far as I can tell, with no flaws. It is even more beautiful and complex than was apparent from the pictures when I ordered it. The pen is made of ebonite and the body is faceted with twelve sides. The cap comes slightly short of lining-up with the body perfectly when fully closed, but this is hardly noticeable on a pen with so many facets. It there were fewer facets or the edge colour had more contrast then it might have bothered me a little. You can see if you look closely at the pictures, and judge for yourself. I like the clip/roll-stopper design in the flesh better than I thought I would. It functions well, with the right amount of flexibility and firmness. It fits to the cap discreetly with only a small aperture and no significant gaps. Perhaps the design is plain but it you think of it as a roll-stopper this design makes complete sense. The pen is a cartridge/converter filler - standard fare for this kind of urushi pen - and uses a regular Sailor converter. I guess Sailor converters are not known for high ink capacity, but it is no problem for me. The pen is 30g in weight, which is noticeably heavier than you may expect from an ebonite and lacquer pen. It feels well-balanced when writing. The ebonite is thicker than on my Nakaya pens and it lends the pen a greater feeling of solidity. The pen is still light enough to cause no fatigue when writing, but it just has such a feel of quality which I believe is due to the thicker ebonite together with the texture and excellence of the lacquer work. You can see that the threads for the cap are well away from where the pen is gripped, and they are un-lacquered ebonite. Leaving the threads un-lacquered is a design choice I thought might detract from the appearance, judging from photos of the pen, but with the pen in-hand I think it works well and it is not jarring at all. I am still unsure about bare ebonite, as this will inevitably discolour over time, but I guess urushi pens are partly about the experience of seeing the pen finish change over time. Coupled with the yellow lacquer I guess it will not look bad. Wabi-sabi. Overall: I was extremely pleased with this pen and I think it is good value relative to other pens with this kind of complex urushi finish. It truly feels high quality throughout. The positive surprises for me were the greater feeling of solidity and gravitas compared to my Nakayas; the beauty, high quality, and pleasing texture of the lacquer work; and the exceptional comfort and control I experience with the long, slender section. For me there were no real downsides and this is absolutely among my most pleasurable pens to own and write with. I love my Nakayas (I have three portable cigars) but overall I feel this Taccia surpasses them in quality and comfort, offers better value, and of course it also has the Sailor nib that I prize. I expect I will buy more Taccia urushi pens in future, following this positive experience. At least as long as they continue to be fitted with Sailor nibs, which is what brought me to this pen in the first place. If, however, you dislike small nibs and slender sections then perhaps this is not the pen for you. Some other Taccia urushi pen models have a larger sized 18k nib, also made for Taccia by Sailor.

Introduction and Elephant in the room First paragraph same as Taccia cha so ignore if aware (info on bottle if interested). First let me take a moment to address the elephant in the room, box and bottle. Bottle has big mouth for any pens is no issues with filling, but then when ink is low might not be easy to get last drops of ink...I can’t be sure cos I cannot see any mechanism to help here..still a nice bottle overall. Box is not paper like most inks (not 100% at least) it sure does not feel like one, more durable and stronger with inside fins designed to keep ink from moving around and requires some effort to open as the top acts like a lock (its not hard just not too easy either basically the box does what box should do protect the ink)...not bad considering my waterman came out of box during shipping. Gotta love the warning labels, only for writing purpose...makes me want to draw always, and this one is quite good for that. Ink Review Section test papers 100 GSM JK cedar 75 GSM Spectra copy paper 52 and 57 GSM classmate registers. (52 GSM showed dot bleed) 70 and 80GSM Nightingale papers Cheap random registers and papers. GSM is well suspense at best, most likely 40 ish. Nature of ink the colors are off here and they are lighter in real life, my pea shooter camera is unable to pick it, close up shots will be added for actual color reference. A close up with better look at color, golden here is quite visible and is quite accurate. Dry Time- 8 to 25 sec on some papers, not 20 sec had to clear this one. Saturation- good Bleed- very slight on cheap papers and dot bleeds on 52 GSM classmate A decent bleed when closed in, done on 52 GSM classmate paper. Its not as bad as pic might make it seem, entire 'S' and 'C' for reference is ghosting and bleed is only considerable on 'T' and 'H' corners where first line of 'H' is again ghosting. This is also area where shade is high, more on this later. Feathering- very slight wool-ish on papers with high absorbent nature, present on shade area. Smudges-none at least by finger. Lubrication-great Ghosting (show-through)- none on most papers apart from cheap guys....and where it bled... Flow- good. Wet/Dry- Its balanced ink but very close to wet nature so much so that it might feel wet to some, mostly due to shading points where ink is present on page more then usual. Shading- quite high. this pic also has better color visible for the ink. Shading is quite high here and its these parts that show any sign of bleed on real cheap papers. Water resistance- none.. Cleaning- Easy clean with water. Personal take on ink I decided to separate this part as it varies from people to people and might not be interesting for some who just need quick info on ink, I intend to do same for any review I write, whenever I write. Anyway lets go. The ink does show a very nice dark golden brown color to it and the addition of shading was very welcome for me. The test pen Lamy Safari sees no issue of flow or hard starts and I don’t think there will be any either seeing how ink behaves. The picture of wheat fields might be little too much as from what I remember wheat fields are more golden in sunlight, but depends on light really so they are sorta right....they do miss mark there. Funny part aside, ink is really great and shows great golden color with lots of shading of dark brown color which is almost black making entire write up look different in good ways. The color I feel will be liked by most, its lighter then in pics abid by very small margin. No water resistance is a bummer but again taccia themselves say there is none so no big deal for me. The bleed which I see is mostly on places where there is more ink deposit for shading that ink gives, this also means that a quick writing with no pen lift will give only golden color with no shades, not happens in real world so shade will be seen and even when speed is fallen the shades tends to give in, as seen in small write up below. Speed writing reduces the shade to some extent but do not eliminate them, all in all shade is high as seen on Fine nibs and will be visible on most cases. I tried to write in continuous flow without lifting pen, made multi strokes on same line and slow speed due to not in habit of doing so made result look more or less same as normal😅 the upper paragraph show quite accurate color of ink when written on fast pace as done above. Conclusion I have not tried it yet but using flex nibs should give some beautiful results (my flex is currently filled with waterman serenity blue ink). All in all its very nice ink and I like it both for behaviour and color. Go ahead give it a go, you will like it for sure and costs of Rs 940 or 12-ish dollars plus shipping for 40ml.

Taccia Cha ink review Disclaimer- First ink review here and would appreciate pointers if I missed something or if there is any information that one needs to know specifically not mentioned here also I lack other browns to compare color big apologies I don't have too many inks. First let me take a moment to address the elephant in the room, box and bottle. Bottle has big mouth for any pens is no issues with filling, but then when ink is low...I don’t know cos I cant see any mechanism to help here..its just a nice bottle. Box is not paper like most inks (not 100% at least) it sure does not feel like one, more durable and stronger with inside fins designed to keep ink from moving around and requires some effort to open as the top acts like a lock (its not hard just not too easy either basically the box does what box should do protect the ink)...not bad considering my waterman came out of box during shipping. I love how they say not to use it for anything other then writing.....makes me want to draw something Taccia Cha is a brown ink with slight hint of redness in it . Its quite nice ink and behaves very nicely on any and all papers that I tried it on. Shading potential though looks a bit questionable in all my test papers but who knows maybe Tomoe river will show some results, but that will have to wait till Christmas not too hopeful here (fingers crossed). Performance is good on absorbent papers and copy papers with all properties being same. Fun fact they draw a tea on cover and its quite accurate one just needs to add ton of tea leaves and burn the tea itself to get this deep brown with reddish hint as per say burnt tea...and I like this..the color not burnt tea . Saturation- good Bleed- none Feathering- none Smudges-none Lubrication-great Ghosting (show-through)- none on most papers apart from cheap guys. Flow- good. Wet/Dry- Its in between wet and dry but tilts slightly to wetter side..nice balance if one asks me. Dry time (approx) - 9-10 sec on 75 GSM copy paper, 11-12 sec on JK cedar 100 GSM paper, 8-9 sec on classmate register (no idea of GSM..I think its 52 from what I remember). I have tried to get as accurate color as I could with pee shooter of phone camera, they are pretty near just color is darker in real by a margin. Water resistance test method was putting drops of water for 30 sec in first sample and 1 min in second sample then wiping with cloth to try to remove the ink. Water resistance is very low (none to be honest). Second test I did not bother as ink wont survive that one (that involves putting ink paper under tap with mug below and letting the ink get dipped in it followed by wiping the paper with cloth to recreate floods or rain case). All in all a very good ink and if you like the color then go for it its great to work with. No water resistance is a bummer but hey Taccia themselves make it clear these are not so no big deal.

Taccia overview: Taccia is a Taiwanese-American brand started in California, that has been recently been bought by the Nakabayashi company. Nakabayashi is a maker of a long list of home and office products who have, under the Taccia brand, begun making fountain pen inks. All Taccia inks are made in Japan. There is some speculation as to whether Sailor makes the Taccia inks, but I have found no evidence to prove this. What I can say, according the the information I was able to gather is that at the time when Nakabayashi bought Taccia and wanted to release inks under that brand, they entered into an agreement with Sailor for the purposes of expert ink consultation. A couple of the Taccia standard line bear a striking resemblance to Sailor Jentle/Shikiori inks. Outside and within the standard line, they have a few unique inks. Also, Taccia inks I have tried do not have that "Sailor-made smell" you are all so familiar with. The Ukiyo-e Ink Series was released overseas in 2019. In March 2020, a second series of 8 inks was released. These are for Utamara Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro. I saw the release post on the Nagasawa Instagram page and emailed them directly for order. As of this publication, other Japanese bungu retailers have received stocks. They were Y1,600 or USD15 for each 40ml bottle of ink. The below translated names in Japanese and English are credited unchanged to Nagasawa Kobe Stationary store. Second Series Taccia Ukiyo-e Includes: 歌川広重（Hiroshige Utagawa） 1.広重浅縹（Hiroshige asahanada） 2.広重瑠璃（Hiroshige Ruri） 3.広重中紫（Hiroshige Nakamurasaki） 4.広重藍鼠（Hiroshige Ainezu） 喜多川歌麿（Utamaro Kitagawa） 5.歌麿紅桜（Utamaro Beni Zakura） 6.歌麿青紫（Utamaro Aomurasaki） 7.歌麿薄墨（Utamaro Usuzumi） 8.歌麿梅紫（Utamaro Umemurasaki） I’ve only opened one of the inks so far, and that is Taccia Hiroshige Ainezu. Now let’s get into the review. Online images are unhelpful. Taccia's own marketing materials do not give a fair representation of any of the inks I've tried. I would have sworn, from seeing their images and sample writing, that Ainezu was going to be a blue-black ink. I was way off. Ink bottle opening will fit large nibs comfortably, they are 40ml glass bottles with metal caps. The packaging is lovely, and far larger than the bottle needs in space to fit, which is nice, as this means the box artwork is easier to admire. Packaging & Bottle Each bottle comes packaged with a sturdy card. I've included both series below. The good stuff. Tomoe River Paper 52gsm White This is a gray ink, through and through. What I am able to cypher from the Kanji is that Ainezu means indigo-tinged gray. The kanji: 藍鼠 藍 ai / indigo 鼠 nezu / dark gray Ink Characteristics 1. Well-behaved 2. No feathering 3. No bleed-through 4. Acceptably wet 5. Smooth flowing, not gushing 6. Good shading in right pen [light to dark gray] 7. Easy cleaning with a few flushes 8. No staining discovered 9. Unexpected water resistance Other Ink properties you might find interesting is the ink goes on as a super-dark gray, almost black. It lightens as it dries which makes writing easy on the eyes. This is the opposite effect of Montblanc Spider Web Grey, which goes on nearly invisible when wet and dries darker. I prefer the former over the latter. As for the sheen, it is seen in the borders between light and dark, and is red and coppery. It does not overwhelm. The ink also looks quite light or dark depending on the paper and pen used. The shading also varies greatly under these conditions. Rhodia Dotpad Life Bank Paper Mead notebook paper / college ruled There is barely any feathering, which is quite good considering the wetness of the pen (and the terrible quality of the paper). It only shows up on close inspection. Even in this image it is difficult to spot. Water drop test Rhodia Water drown and dab test Rhodia Rubbed in and swirled. Pretty good. Both water tests left for 2+ minutes. Ink also dry for 2 minutes. Dry times Pretty average. Comparison Tomoe River Paper 52gsm Cream That's it! I do believe that we should receive this second set at some point, as we have had everything except for the special editions and the jeans ink available outside of Japan. Finally, of the newer ink manufacturers, Taccia is definitely a personal favorite. And I've been on a gray ink kick, so this was a welcome surprise. To be honest, I would't have really minded if it was another blue-black. I like those too. And that's the end of my first review. Hope you enjoyed this. I may do the remainder once I’ve tried them and if this was helpful to anyone. Happy inking and thank you for your time.

The Paper Plane - TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts. So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today's guest is the TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook, a small and elegant notebook with some very fine paper. This TACCIA notebook is a rebranded form of the Nakabayashi Prime A5 notebook. In fact, all of the TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks & corresponding paper happen to be rebranded Nakabayashi products. The latter company was founded in 1923 with a focus on library book binding and restoration of old documents. Later, Nakabayashi added stationery products like address books, notebooks and office products to their portfolio. For each of the 16 TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks, there is a corresponding A5 notebook, featuring the same Ukiyo-e painting on its cover. For this review, I describe the Sharaku Prime A5 notebook, which has a picture of the actor Otani Oniji III as Yakko Edobe on its cover. Yakko Edobe is a villainous rogue who plots to steal money from the servant Ippei. Otani Oniji's leering face, shown in three quarter view, bristling hair, and groping outstretched hands capture the ruthless nature of this wicked henchman. Aside from the difference in covers, all notebooks of the Ukiyo-e series have the same technical characteristics. The notebook itself is only one part of a stationery set, which also includes the corresponding ink, letter envelopes and paper, greeting cards, ... But let us focus on the notebook, which is the centerpiece of this review. I got mine as a gift from Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery and was told that it was worth checking out - thank you Catherine. This is an A5 size notebook (148x210 mm), containing 48 pages of ruled paper. These are minimalistic, but perfectly constructed notebooks; the beautiful covers form the only ornamentation. Inside there are no distractions - only light-grey ruled lines on the paper (with an 8 mm spacing). The first and last rule on each page are a tiny bit darker, framing the page and adding to its elegance. The notebook lays very flat when opened. This is due to the way it is stitched together. Each notebook consists of a number of 6 page bundles, with every bundle (or signature as it is called in bookbinding parlance) built from 3 A4 pages, that are folded over and stitched together to form a small booklet of 6 A5 pages. Stitch together 8 of these signatures, and you get a very flat-laying 48 page notebook. This A5 notebook uses 75 gsm Nakabayashi paper that is very fountain pen friendly. The paper is smooth but still has a tiny bit of tooth to it. This makes it a joy to write on. It has an off-white colour, but it's still close to white, certainly not yellowish. Inks look fantastic on this paper, and even with wet pens and broad nibs there is zero feathering. Looking at the backside, there is almost no see-through, and zero bleed-through - even when doing ink swabs on the paper. You can easily use both sides of the page in this notebook. This is really top-notch paper! Excellent! Conclusion If you like small and elegant notebooks, the TACCIA Ukiyo-e series of A5 notebooks is worthy of your attention. Great fountain pen friendly paper that is pure pleasure to write on. I can see myself using these little notebooks for theme-specific purposes - e.g. as an ink journal, reading journal, ... Beautiful pieces of stationery! I'm glad I discovered them.

Lovely ink that I did not expect to like. Good flow, dries fast, and just plain works even on less than stellar paper. Taccia Koiame by Ja Ja, on Flickr Taccia Koiame chroma by Ja Ja, on Flickr Taccia & Nakabayashi boxes koiame by Ja Ja, on Flickr

Recently, I acquired several samples of Taccia Ink. Taccia Ink is newly developed in California, but made in Japan by experienced ink makers. There are 13 colors that are vibrant and pleasurable. The inspiration for the colors comes from the "Japanese way of seeing colors in a pure, honest and innocent way". The bottles are similar to Sailor bottles, but I do not know if they have the pen filler insert since I have not purchased a bottle yet. (Photo compliments of Vanness Pens) This is a lovely ink that is a well saturated red that goes from a medium violet red to an intense dark cherry. The ink is nicely lubricated with hints of green sheen in areas where the ink pools. This ink is well behaved in this moderately wet nib, and reminds me of many Sailor inks - not just the bottle but the ink itself. Fast drying, limited bleedthrough, showthrough and feathering, and with some shading, Taccia Ebi is an excellent alternative to other well known inks in this color range. Taccia Ebi ink / Conklin Duragraph with 1.1 nib / Staples Arc paper Note: The ink name is Ebi, not Ebo; and the ink comes in 40 ml bottles Taccia Ebi ink / Conklin Duragraph with 1.1 nib / Tomoe River 68 gsm Note: The ink name is Ebi, not Ebo; and the ink comes in 40 ml bottles Pros: Fast drying Minimal bleedthrough, showthrough, feathering Excellent flow Moderate lubrication Above average shading Cons: Average dark red color Minimal sheening Price: In the US: $12 for 40 ml at Vanness Pens, Anderson Pens, PenChalet Overall, an great value both in terms of price and quality!

This is the third review of the four Hokusai Katsushika inks from Taccia/Nakabayashi that have reached American shores. I didn't know what to expect with this ink. Would "Light Blue" mean a lighter, brighter color, more like a turquoise? Would it simply mean "not dark"? The truth of the matter is closer to the latter than the former. In a dry pen this will be more of a pastel, light blue. Very readable, with excellent shading. In a wetter pen the shading is still there, in a greater range of values (light-dark), and a bit more saturation. But I'll admit that I wasn't delighted by this ink like I was with the other three inks in the series. It could have been the pen didn't work well with this ink even though it wrote perfectly fine. But it is an ink that I had to nudge the converter down to remove air from the converter. It seemed I had to do that more with this ink in this pen than others, so it could very well be the two just didn't get along as well as one would like. Neither one's fault really, just not very compatible. The ink really has no showthrough or bleedthrough issues on the absorbent (but good quality) Mohawk via Linen paper. Inks never sheen on this paper (well the Rust Green did). Dries pretty fast comparatively. The blue leans towards green, but I don't think enough to be called teal. Closer to Cerulean I think. You can really go over how the ink looks in this image. The first part of the text is with a normal feed. Towards the end you can see where I nudged it pushed more ink into the feed and the line got noticeably darker. I don't know if these are limited edition. But this is the only ink of the Hokusai series currently in stock at Anderson Pens.

This is a brief post to share a really pretty urushi pen from Taccia. Done in yakumo nuri or thick cloud lacquer the blue base and golden clouds really sings. This is an attractive and very photogenic pen. As is the case with all these Taccia Reserve LE based pens it is also a great writer with their Sailor nibs. The music stub feeds from a CC and writes a wide, well controlled somewhat wet line. The cap has a slip n seal mechanism so can leave unattended for some time and will still write right away. While not slated for production there are some other colors still available at Chatterly. IMG_2725 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2726 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2727 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2728 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2729 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2733 by Ja Ja, on Flickr IMG_2736 by Ja Ja, on Flickr

Recently, I acquired several samples of Taccia Ink. Taccia Ink is newly developed in California, but made in Japan by experienced ink makers. There are 13 colors that are vibrant and pleasurable. The inspiration for the colors comes from the "Japanese way of seeing colors in a pure, honest and innocent way". The bottles are similar to Sailor bottles, but I do not know if they have the pen filler insert since I have not purchased a bottle yet. (Photo compliments of Vanness Pens) This ink can be summed up in one word: WONDERFUL! I have very rarely used an ink as pleasurable to write with as this one. From the moment I loaded into my Bexley Elegancia with medium nib - a dry nib I might add - this ink has been extraordinary. Even when writing on inexpensive copy paper, this ink is fast drying, did not bleed through, and had little show through. And the sheen on Tomoe River paper is AMAZING! The ink is well saturated and somewhat water resistant, which should appeal for professional use. And the color is consistently a strong medium blue with a strong crimson sheen. IMO this ink would do well in any pen with, maybe, the exception in a very wet, wide nibbed pen. Taccia AO Blue ink/ Bexley Elegancia medium nib pen/ Staples ARC paper Taccia AO Blue Ink/ Bexley Elegancia medium nib/Tomoe River 68 gsm paper Pros: Excellent flow Moderately lubricating Minimal bleedthrough, showthrough, feathering Fast Drying Well saturated SHEEN! SHEEN! SHEEN! Cons: Little to no shading Average blue shade Price: In the US: $12 for 40 ml at Vanness Pens, Anderson Pens, PenChalet Overall: An Excellent ink in terms of quality and price!

I am thinking about getting a Nakaya Decapod or a Taccia Kaku-Tate, but I am not sure how they compare to each other: Does anyone have a picture with both of them, maybe even together with another pen like a Lamy 2000 or Safari? As far as I can tell, the Nakaya Decapod is significantly smaller and a bit slimmer, since it is also slightly tapered towards the ends. But does the Taccia Kaku-Tate really look "bulky" in comparison? Thanks a lot in advance!

TACCIA DAIDAI (ORANGE) Review of a sample of Taccia Daidai received from Vanness Pens. Taccia inks are "born in California", but manufactured in Japan. This is a very nice orange color - well balanced and strong - not yellowy-orange or reddish-orange but a strong orange-orange. The ink flows very nicely from the nib, and is lubricated in much the same way as Sailor inks. This ink has no sheen and moderate shading even on Tomoe River paper. It dries fairly quickly and has some water resistance. It does not bleed through or show through except on very cheap paper. Pros: Nice flow Moderately lubricating Minimal bleedthrough, showthrough, feathering Fast Drying Moderately saturated. Some water resistance A nice orange for even fine nibs Cons: Little shading or sheen Just orange (but that might be enough) Took just a bit longer to clean from my pens Price: In the US: $12 for 40 ml at Vanness Pens, Anderson Pens, PenChalet Overall: Of the four Taccia inks I have tried, this is my least favorite only because it does not have all the "bells and whistles" of the others (i.e. sheen, strong shading, etc.) I prefer my orange inks to shade, but this does not shade as much as Yu-Yake or Sapphron (a much lighter yellow-orange). But this is the most lubricating orange I have used. In terms of other orange inks I have tried, I do like this one more for the ink quality than for the brilliant color. If you are in the market for a nice quality orange ink, this is a good value.

Here is a look at Taccia Kuro aka black. Simple name for what appears to be a simple ink but this one has some surprising depth. This is from the Nakabyashi stationary company but is really no doubt made by Sailor. The ink is well lubricated and relatively free flowing. The color is just black without hint of another color or any sheen per se. It is, however, fairly saturated and can form a black "sheen" that is almost like a glossy lacquer. The writing properties are really quite nice. It can show through but does not bleed through and resists feathering. There is little to no shading potential and is more consistently black than Pilot or Platinum black. As shown by the chromatography there is seemingly only one dye component that somewhat resists water. This is not a waterproof ink. It tends to sit up on the paper some, which probably counteracts feathering, but the dry time is a bit on the higher side. I really like this ink. It could be a workhorse black with an interesting subtle glossy finish to the strokes. Taccia Aka (red) is a stunning winner of an ink but this is also very good and I think preferable to Pilot or Platinum black. taccia kuro tomoe by Ja Ja, on Flickr taccia kuro staples by Ja Ja, on Flickr taccia kuro chroma 1 by Ja Ja, on Flickr

Here is my Taccia Kaku-Tate Thin Strip LE urushi in navy or ao-tamenuri. This is an urushi lacquered faceted ebonite body pen with gold Sailor music nib branded Taccia. The finish is tamenuri so it has a navy (ao) basecoat that is covered by many layers of semi-transparent urushi that allows the base color to show through. It's an attractive and living finish in that the top coats will gain transparency over time. Full size pen in length but slender making it nicely balanced and easy to grip. It's ebonite and so weighs very little. Some folks evidently are put off by the nib size. Many a high-end urushi pen has a big nib but this nib fits the pen and it's a Sailor so it writes like a pro. The facets really let the tamenuri finish strut its stuff. In sunlight it almost explodes with color. Signed by the artist, whom I need to research, and a numbered LE. Solid, functional clip/roll stop. The tamenuri finish is an ideal palette for wabi sabi. The robust cap treads are not lacquered (a design choice not a limitation) and allow the cap to twist off with barely more than a single turn. The cap has Sailor's spring loaded seal system to keep the nib ready to write and the music nib lays down a fat line with well regulated ink flow. Not too much ink, not too little. Nicely made bit of kit this.

Hello everybody, just wanted to let you all know we have some fun things going on this weekend at Dromgooles. Saturday 10AM-5PM Brian Tighe will be here showing off his custom knives as well as displaying his son Grayson Tighe's pens.(WOWWWW) Shu-Jen Lin will be here featuring Taccia's newest products including Maki-e, inks, regular product line Ryan Sirignano will be here with Montegrappa, Aurora, and Esterbrook including the Montegrappa Samurai and others David Oscarson will be here with his new Golden Spike as well as artist proofs and short run limited edition colors. After the day event, we will be hosting a meeting for the Usual Suspects Network (knife group) guest are welcome. Featuring Brian Tighe Sunday- We are open Sundays during December up until Christmas Ryan Sirignano will be here from 12pm-4pm continuing event from previous day!

Recently, I visited my not so local local pen shop, Dromgoole’s in Houston, TX and unexpectedly picked up this Taccia pen. I’ve only ever had one other Taccia pen and I can’t remember when it was the last time I inked it up. On plenty of occasions I’ve picked up a Taccia Tanto LE urushi pen only to put it back down again. Not my cup of tea. Then I read in the April 2018 Pen World about Taccia, its founder, and its acquisition by a big Japanese company. The article featured some really good looking urushi pens in normal pen shapes. I did want to see them but was not expecting to see them. To my surprise Dromgoole’s had upwards of a dozen of these new Taccia Reserve urushi pens in various finishes. Oh goodie! These past couple of years my fountain pen infatuation has waxed and waned, but one constant is my increasing preference for urushi pens. For the most part I’ve picked up Danitrio and now have way too many of those. There have also been some Pilot/Namiki and Dunhill and Platinum and Nakaya oh my! Not good for the wallet. Based on my prior experience with Taccia and since I’m accustomed to the likes of Danitrio and Nakaya I was not expecting much from the Taccia urushi lineup. They were, however, very good pens with very competently done urushi in various techniques. Take this pen for instance. Over an ebonite substrate this pen has a base color urushi called bengara, which is kind of a brick red. Pressed into that and polished down are eggshells in a maki-e technique known as rankaku. Could be quail eggs or hens eggs but probably is quail eggs. There is a polished top coat of urushi to seal it all in and the overall impression is of a cracked lacquer surface showing veins of color running throughout the off-white ground. Rankaku is a time-honored maki-e technique but it seems Taccia uses it more than most makers of Maki-e fountain pens save perhaps Namiki. Urushi itself is slightly amber tinted and powered eggshells were/are used to make it white. Anyway, it is a super cool looking pen and unique in my urushi collection. Aside from the urushi quality several other things are surprising to me about this pen. First, is the size. This is a long pen of moderate and very manageable diameter. This is in contrast to many a large urushi fountain pen, for example, the Danitrio Mikado. It is super comfortable to hold and write with and looks smaller than it actually is. Second, is the nib. At least on these Reserve pens Taccia uses Sailor nibs/feeds that are branded Taccia. This pen came with a hard extra-fine (H-EF) 14k gold nib. Normally, I would run away from an EF nib but this one is just perfect. It’s also a small nib compared to many expensive urushi pens, but it fits this particular pen well. A bit of wet writer it lays down a steady line with no pressure, which is good because with pressure this needle of a nib would penetrate and tear up the paper. Third, it seems to have a spring-loaded slip n’ seal cap mechanism. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems to be the case very much like a Platinum 3776 Century pen. Should keep the nib from drying up and indeed I’ve not had any hard starts or ignition issues even though I’m using Noodler’s Texas Black Bat ink. Another cool thing about this particular pen is that it is the artists proof. The LE number is 00/12 and as is normal is signed by the artist. I’m not sure why exactly but I take some satisfaction in having the artists proof. Seems like Taccia should have kept that for themselves or something. While I’m thrilled to have such a nice, unique, urushi pen that is tempered by the foreknowledge that I’m gonna have to spend even more money adding Taccia Reserve urushi pens to my collection.

I've been looking for a pen pouch that would accommodate some of the bigger pens in my collection, which lead me to this wonderful Taccia single pen pouch. According to Taccia, the pouch has a capacity of up to 7/8"(22 mm) in diameter X 7"(178 mm) in length, so it has no trouble swallowing an Edison Collier with some room to spare, and the inside feels like it won't scratch any pens. Besides being quite practical, what really drew me to this pouch was the material, with its gorgeous shiny gold inlays. It's relatively expensive at $26, but it's a price I would gladly pay again for the sheer joy at looking at this pouch whenever I carry my pens.

Hello Pen Pals! This is an exciting first quarter in pen collecting! A lot of new models/colors coming from these, and other brands! A lot of these products were introduced at the Philly Pen Show! Some have yet to be released... In Stock (Available): Conklin Herringbone The name is familiar, but these are new model pens! List price on FP is $70 (FP and BP available) Taccia Spectrum (Demo Pens), and Pinnacle (Aluminum Pens) (FP and BP available) Also in stock are the latest colors in the Monteverde Tool Pens! Copper for the Regular Tool Pen Line, and Ocean Blue for Tool 60 BP Pens! Coming Soon!: Conklin is introducing 3 additional new products, along with the above Herringbone: -Stylograph FP with $85 List- 3 Colors -Victory FP with $50 List- 3 Colors -Minigraph with $50 List- 3 Colors Victory FP in Cinnamon Brown- Happy Shopping! Frank Federalist Pens

Why do I find myself liking this pen at the back of my mind?! Anyway, since this has been happening, I've now reluctantly decided to possibly get one, I just need some extra ensuring that it's a good pen. Do you have one&can you point out why you like it or not, the flow, nib, design, etc.? Thanks! ~Yuzuki Hashimoto http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/images/taccia_images/TCV-129F-PS.jpg

Been doing a bit of research on this pen and cannot find any information on it. Looking for a Model and Pricing. Purchased over 3 years ago as part of a lot from another FP collector. Chrome plated metal. Mint Condition. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction? It has a converter, takes international cartridges. And is 6" long. Nib is Medium, Marked "Iridium Germany". Thanks bunches for any / all information... Darla

Hi all, Taccia has some new kimono 1 slot holders. One is the rolling waves which is the black with gold and silver. The other is the Sakura festival which is the red with silver, gold, and black. Please stop by the website or give us a call if you are interested in either!