Search the Community

Early last year when my interest in the Japanese store-exclusive inks by Sailor began, and the inks were generally available, a generous FPN member sent me a sample of this ink. I think I'd seen a review or two and thought it looked very good. I didn't get a chance to try it out until recently, as reds are not my favorite. But this one is a nice deep burgundy color and quite pleasant. Pen and Message used to take reservations for the custom inks, but have abandoned that as it was taking too much of their time. Now, it'll just show up on the website (maybe) someday when it's back in stock. They have a poorly translated quote supposedly from Ernest Hemingway "Now is no time to think of what do not have. Think of what you can do with that there is." I think this means don't hold your breath. Sorry to post a review of an ink that nearly everyone will not be able to get. This is probably as bad as posting a review to a long gone MB LE ink. For this, I apologize. Tested on papers MvL=Mohawk via Linen, Hij=Hammermill 28lb inkjet paper, TR=Tomoe River. The color seems reasonably accurate in these iPhone 4 photos. Unusual I know. The ink has a bit to water resistance, but given the heavy dye load, that tends to run and create something of a mess. As typical for Sailor, a most unusual wet-paper-towel chromatography. But when washed, the main dye seems to overpower everything else.

I became aware of the world of fountain pens (other than Montblanc) through Goulet on Youtube earlier this year and got sucked in. I write a lot so initially this was all justified, but now its clearly gotten out of control. Goulet no longer sell Sailor, so it took a couple months, but I then became aware of Sailor and how supposedly great Sailor inks were. Of course it was not long after that I became aware of their special store inks. I also found out that I missed out on when Sailor was offering the old style tall bottles more commonly with their regular inks, and everything I was buying now comes with the short stubby ink bottle, which is boring at best. I do not think the short bottles should be used on Sailor's inks which tend to be more expensive. Anyways, a goal of mine has been accomplished, I have acquired Pen and Message Saku Deep Blue in the old style bottle. I love the look of the bottle, but as so many have stated the cap can get stuck. I would have to say Pelikan Edelstein make the best bottle I have tried: They look great, feel solid, they are heavy with a wide base and the cap always works. I have never tried the Akkerman bottle. Ok tangent over. I adore this ink so thats a plus as well. Overall I love this ink, the look, the feel, the sheen, how it behaves so similarly on so many different papers. I still cant pick a favorite blue, but this is definitely a contender. I don't know anything about the ink or the company, so I'll just skip to the photos and the review in the photos: I decided since I was taking photos I would take photos of all the pens and ink bottles I have acquired this year since starting my addiction, but I kept the focus on the Saku for this review: If someone knows what this says on the top I would appreciate a translation: I'm no calligrapher, I havent even read a book, I just looked up letters online, so be easy on the handwriting haha. Review on HP Premium Laser 32lbs: Written with an italic dip pen: On 68gsm Tomoe River Paper vs Kobe #7 Kaikyo Blue, Bungubox Omaezaki Azure Sea, Bungubox 4B, Sailor Jentle Blue, Diamine Midnight, Diamine Blue-Black, Kobe #38 Kitanozaka "Kitano Hill" Night Blue, MIXTURE: Sailor Kiwa-guro and Sei-Boku, Pilot Iroshizuku Shin Kai, Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite, Lamy Blue-Black: Water-resistant testing on Rhodia:These inks do ok after being left to dry for about 12-15 hours, especially considering they are not marketed to be water resistant. It does appear that there is some component of the ink remaining after putting water on it for about 30 seconds. More on Rhodia with a Brause #361: Saku Deep blue written with an italic dip pen on 90gsm Optik Paper from a Black n Red notebook vs Sailor Jentle Blue, Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue, Organics Studio Nitrogen Royal Blue, Bungubox 4B "Bung Box Blue Black", Bungubox Omaezaki Azure Sea, Kobe #2 Dock Blue, Kobe #7 Kaikyo Blue, Kobe #14 Maya Lapis, Sailor Jentle Souten:

Just realised I should have put all these ink shots in one post- sorry about that! Anyway, here is a quick shot of Pen & Message Sanyasu copper? sheen... And a close up of the swaps; Here is a quick shot of the wicked illuminous green sheen you get with Syuurushi or Red Urushi from Pen & Message. Paper here is again Hobonichi TR paper; Here it is on Original Crown Mill white mini note cards, looks completely different, a deep red (actually more like an urushi red colour than the TR sample), with the same green sheen. This looks a bit like the new Bungubox Ink of Naorata I saw someone post a sample of... Here is the Vintage Denim sample again so everything's in one place...check out the wicked green sheen;

Pen & Message: Syuurushi (Red Urushi) Pen & Message is a stationary store based in Kobe, Japan. They sell some highly sought after inks including the holy grail Cigar; a colour-shifting, sheening ink like no other (apart from Sailor’s Four Seasons Rikkyu-Cha that you can purchase very easily and for a fraction of the price). Despite the recent reissue of Rikkyu-Cha, Cigar is still regarded as the No.1 ink by many- the ink of all inks. Plus since Cigar comes from Pen & Message it you get it in the cool diamond shape bottle- perfect for those with humoungous nibbed- fountain pens. Because of the worldwide popularity of Pen & Message inks, you cannot purchase them directly on-line unless you live in Japan. So if you cannot buy them in person at their store you would have to use a forwarding service such as White Rabbit Express, which is how I got them. Be aware they are currently limiting ink purchases to 1 colour/person. I bought 1 each of the 8 piece set as follows; Cigar (Brown) Old Burgundy (Burgundy) Quadrifoglio (Green) Vintage Denim (Blue) Saku (Blue) Sanyasou (purple) Suyuurushi (red urushi) Fuyugare (grey)Here is a pic of the Pen & Message inks; *Picture taken from their website Three of the inks were made in collaboration with Writing Lab namely; Quadrifoglio, Vintage Denim and Old Burgundy; *Picture taken from their website The ink I will be reviewing today is Syuurushi, as you can see it has very stylish packaging… Here is the box... …and the cap. Syuurushi or Red Urushi from Pen & Message is a very unique colour shifting ink depending on the paper you use. Being an owner and user of urushi fountain pens from Nakaya and Danitrio, I love the idea of an ink based on urushi, in this case a red urushi. On the Pen & Message website, they describe the ink as follows (please note this is a literal cut and paste job from Google translate so…); "Lacquer ware I made it with consciousness of Hare's day. I imaged red and made it vermillion of my favorite Japanese lacquer so that I can use it everyday. The color changes slightly when writing and when dry. It is a vermillion that is more like brown than it looks in the image, and when you write it in bold you can enjoy shading." This is a very nicely conceived ink, as described above, and the colour shifting is not only observable as the ink dries, but also depends on what paper you use. On Hobonichi TR paper Syuurushi has some characteristics of BunguBox Sweet Potato Purple with its purpley- tones sheening to green. In contrast, on Original Crown Mill white card it resembles the brand new BunguBox Ink of Narato, with its deep red and sheen to illuminous green. To me Syuurushi looks much more like the red urushi found on my Danitrios Genkai’s when used on Original Crown Mill paper and Rhodia paper. On Hobonichi TR paper it is much more pink/ fuchsia in appearance, as you will see... Here is a writing sample on Rhodia reverse grid pad with a Jinhao X250…it has a surprisingly nice fine steel nib, though it was sold as a “medium”… As you can see on Rhodia Syuurushi looks very much like red urushi. Here’s a close up of the writing sample; A very nice red indeed. Here it is below with an actual red urushi fountain pen- the Danitrio Genkai in matt shu dame finish, a good likeness... It is when you start using other papers that the ink starts to do strange things… Below is a dry sample on Original Crown Mill white mini note cards, this definitely has the look of BunguBox Ink of Naorato about it, with its other worldly green sheen… Now things get really weird, the same Syuurushi but this time on Hobonichi TR Paper…definitely has some Sweet Potato Purple aspect to it, but even sheenier! Here is Sweet Potato Purple just for confirmation of said similarities…ok SPP is definitely less pink and more purple…but sheen is similar. A pretty incredible ink all round, but beware it can bleed through a bit on Hobonichi paper. To be safe I will use it exclusively in the Jinhao X250 I currently have it loaded up in. All in all Syuurushi is a very intriguing ink. A nice addition to my my Sailor ink collection.

Pen & Message is a stationary store based in Kobe, Japan. They sell some highly sought after inks. Due to the worldwide popularity of Pen Pen & Message inks, you cannot purchase them directly. So if you cannot buy them in person at their store you would have to use a forwarding service such as White Rabbit Express, which is how I got them. In pursuit of my bottle of Pen & Message Cigar in the Spring of 2017 I decided to get the other 7 colours in the P&M set, 4 inks from Ishida Bungu, as well as two from Shosaikan. My thinking being if I spread the cost of shipping over more bottles of ink I’ll actually be saving money(!). With hindsight I think it would have made more sense to buy a number of bottles at each store, and not mix multiple stores up in the same order. That way you can also spread your ink purchases out throughout the year. Here is my order all jumbled together and spread over two pictures. A normal person would have taken groups shots of Pen & Message, Ishida Bungu and Shosaikan separately. Not me... ...and the rest. Please be aware Pen & Message are currently limiting ink purchases to 1 colour/person. I bought 1 each of the 8 piece set as follows; Cigar (Brown) Old Burgundy (Burgundy) Quadrifoglio (Green) Vintage Denim (Blue) Saku (Blue) Sanyasou (purple) Suyuurushi (red urushi) Fuyugare (grey)The ink I will be reviewing today (I'll be honest it's mainly just pictures...) is Sanyasou. Here is the bottle... Here is the box... and the cap... Sanyasou is a purple/ violet ink in a similar vein to Pilot Iroshizuku’s Murusaki Shikubu or Japanese Beautyberry. I believe its botanical name is Callicarpa japonica and looks a bit like this... Purple isn’t one of my favourite colours, but this ink tends more to the blue/indigo range so I actually like it very much. I think it is a nice saturated alternative to boring blue ( I have waaaay to many blue inks, mainly because so many of them sheen). Speaking of which, this ink sheens- a LOT. I was surprised by this as I have not heard of a purple ink that sheens other than Lamy Dark Violet, which unfortunately sold out before I could buy it, and Cross Violet. Sanyasou has a wicked gold sheen that can look more coppery depending on how much ink you have pooled on up on the page. Here are a few close ups of the ink on Hobonichi TR paper. As you can see the sheen is VERY pronounced. It’s a sheen thats comes very easily, which is awesome A close up of the ink swabs… Here is a writing sample on Hobonichi TR paper... A view of the Omas Princess Blue Royale I used to write it with- it is a perfect match for this inks. The Blue Royale celluloid is known for oxidising to a purple-indigo colour. I think this pen was made for this ink. It also happens to have the wickedest stubby “Medium” nib, which is really more like a juicy Broad. Here it is... Rhodia sheening ink blob... Here is a comparison with Iroshizuku Murusaki-Shikubu and Kingdom Note jellyfish series Thysonastoma Thysanura (actually not at all similar), on original Crown Mill silver line card…I have almost all the Kobe Nagasawa inks in sample form, I will try and do some samples of a few similar colours such as Sannomiya Panse and post them up later… *Incidentally, I’m still not entirely sure which type of paper is best for bringing out the sheen. Both the highly absorbent, thick laid paper of Original Crown Mill AND the super thin, shiny, non-absorbent Hobonichi paper both seem to bring out sheen. I’ve seen people on the forums post up very thick absorbent card stock for their samples and manage to draw out the craziest sheen. I find Rhodia is very hit and miss sheen-wise, but brings out the "true" colour of the ink, if that makes sense... Other "facts" Flow: 8/10Behaviour: Very well lubricated and well behaved. Saturation: HighWaterproof: Not at allShading: Yes there is some but not loadsDry time: Moderate for such a wet ink Sanyasou is definitely a purple ink for people who don’t really like purple. I much prefer it to Murusaki-shikubu, which is the kind of purple I don't like. I think it comes down to the saturation and the way Sanyasou leans more to indigo that makes the difference. It has a lovely velvety texture and seems to be very well behaved. It feels like a high quality Sailor ink. I like this ink a lot. Highly recommended.

In the beginning of the Sailor bespoke ink journey, the Pen and Message shop generated quite a bit of interest with their inks. They actually have two “lines” of specialty Sailor inks: the Pen and Message line and Writing Lab, the latter a collaboration with another shop. I’ve never tried to obtain the Pen and Message inks; surprisingly some of them didn’t appeal to me. They quickly became hard to get once the craze for Cigar, a Pen and Message ink, took off. So this post is about the Writing Lab inks, which intrigued me greatly. They have three inks in the category and I’ll review them all, though I’ve reviewed one of them, Old Burgundy, in the past from a sample kindly provided by an FPNer. Quadrifoglio Vintage Denim Old Burgundy These inks are more expensive than other Sailor bespoke inks at ¥2,700 per bottle, which is about $23.86 US as of today (2/20/2017). This price doesn't include shipping to the destination or any charges incurred using a forwarding service. Each person is limited to purchasing one bottle. Pen: Edison Mina (F-steel) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7 This is a deep, muted blue-black ink. More muted than the Sailor Shoushikan Seiran or Bungbox 4B. But it's not as muted (i.e., neutralized) as the Noodler's FPN Van Gogh Starry Night Blue. So that gives you an idea of the color, if you have any of those other inks. The handling is very typical of Sailor inks, so no problems at all, quite wet in writing. This ink has a fairly high dye load which shows up in the waterfastness test as a blue wash. Personally I really liked the ink, but I'm a fan of blues except for those turquoise colors. Not impossible to obtain, but requires effort, and is going to be fairly expensive. Maybe Sailor Blue-black would work almost as well for a lot less money. An attempt at a comparison between Sailor Jentle Blue, Pen and Message Vintage Denim, and Shoushikan Seiran "Indigo Blue" to give an idea of the color within a range. There is also spread to the back of the paper with the ink.

In the beginning of the Sailor bespoke ink journey, the Pen and Message shop generated quite a bit of interest with their inks. They actually have two “lines” of specialty Sailor inks: the Pen and Message line and Writing Lab, the latter a collaboration with another shop. I’ve never tried to obtain the Pen and Message inks; surprisingly some of them didn’t appeal to me. They quickly became hard to get once the craze for Cigar took off. So this post is about the Writing Lab inks, which intrigued me greatly. They have three inks in the category and I’ll review them all, though I’ve reviewed one of them, Old Burgundy, in the past from a sample kindly provided by an FPNer. Quadrifoglio Vintage Denim Old Burgundy These inks are more expensive than other Sailor bespoke inks at ¥2,700 per bottle, which is about $23.67 US as of today (1/22/2017). This price doesn't include shipping to the destination or any charges incurred using a forwarding service. Each person is limited to purchasing one bottle. Pen: Pelikan M400 (F) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7 Quadrifoglio is one of three inks in the "Writing Lab" series of inks made by Sailor for the Pen and Message shop in Japan. It is a somewhat muted green, leaning towards blue rather than yellow. I personally prefer the latter, but this is very nice, not a bright color at all. The ink comes in the vase bottle still, perhaps one of the few left doing so, but the ink is also more expensive. I was somewhat surprised in the waterfastness test where there wasn't so much ink washed away by water, and when water droplets were blotted something was left behind. Perhaps enough to recover one's writing. No guarantees however as the ink isn't rated as water resistant. Sorry that the bottle image pic was so big, I thought I'd made it smaller than that.

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0043-Edit.jpg http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0041-Edit-Edit.jpg Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton Paper, dipped (top) and Lamy 2000 F/M (bottom) http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0046.jpg Quick wash on Original Crown Mill Classic Laid Paper (envelope) This is the brown I've been looking for. Cigar is not perfect. It looks its best on high quality, absorbent paper and looks flat and everything else, including high-end vellum (sorry, Clairfontaine Triomphe lovers). It behaves perfectly in a dip pen, but it's dark enough to lack depth. I'll stick with Tokiwa-matsu for my go-to dipped green. This is such a strangely complex color. It is a dark, unsaturated (in the chroma sense) green with a unique satiny sheen that makes it appear brown. This has the result on aborbent paper of being both green and brown at once. Fantastic. FPN member Sandy might call this one indecisive. That's OK with me. It works so well with my new sketching brown (Yama-guri), and washes so beautifully, I think it may be my new sketch-worthy green, too. Time will tell. Because of the cost of importing this ink from Japan, I attempted to mix my own. I came very close with a 2:5 mix of Sailor Tokiwa-matsu and Iroshizuku Yama-guri. You can see from the first pass (q-tip/earbud) that the subdued green is similar. However, more ink gives red sheen that causes the ink to look brown in the Cigar, while no sheen arises with the faux Cigar. Strange, as Tokiwa-matsu and Yama-guri each have a nice red sheen on their own. So while I could mimick the color of the ink, the effect is not the same. This is special stuff. I will be buying two bottles. http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0044.jpg http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0056-2.jpg Iroshizuku Yama-guri (top), Sailor Cigar (middle), Sailor Tokiwa-matsu (bottom) http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/jasonchickerson/_FUJ0051.jpg For the sheen lovers, clockwise from left: Cigar, Sailor Oku-yama (sheen king), R&K Alt-Goldgrün, Sailor Tokiwa-matsu and Iroshikuzu Yama-budo (center) As always, reasonable care has been taken to ensure color accuracy. However, this is a complex ink, impossible to represent fully in photographs. If you can get a sample and try it for yourself, do it. A big THANK YOU to FPNer fire ant for providing me with this sample!

So I have returned from my first trip to Japan and wow what a place, first picture below but amazing for pens and ink. More details to come. Not good if you have an addiction to ink see the wreckage below..... from the front Nagasawa Kobe Sailor Ink, MIddle Row Pen & Message, Bung Box, Mauren & Kindom Note Back Row Iroshizuku, Delta, Sailor, Pilot & Mont Blanc Mainly blues, with some greys and blacks......