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TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai fukaki hanada TACCIA is a Japanese stationery company, that is part of the Nakabayashi group. They offer high-quality fountain pens, inks, pen-rolls, notebooks, etc. More specifically, TACCIA produces a line of inks, inspired by the unique look of Ukiyo-e prints from Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868). Ukiyo-e prints are woodblock prints where the work of an artist is carved into wood by woodworkers and pressed onto paper by printers. This allows for the production of multiple prints of an artwork with some different colours as well. In this review, we take a closer look at fukaki hanada, a light-blue ink with a dusty and toned-down feel to it. The ink’s colour is inspired by the Berlin blue colour scheme used by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) in the painting “The Lone Fisherman at Kajikazawa” – one of his prints in the “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” series. The repetition and rhyme of shapes and colours in the foreground and background make this one of the most unified, handsome designs in the series. The triangular shape formed by the fishing lines, the fisherman’s arched back, and the promontory from which he fishes echoes that of Mount Fuji on the horizon. This fukaki hanada represents the type of blue that appeals to me. A nice, calm and soothing light-blue. A bit dusty and subdued. If sky blues are too bright for you, this one will be an excellent alternative. The colour of this ink is very close to iroshizuku tsuki-yo and Mont Blanc Petrol Blue. These are inks that lean towards teal territory, without crossing the line. They are still blue inks at heart, but this adventurous streak gives them some added depth and complexity. Technically, the ink is a moderately wet and smooth writer, that works well with all nib sizes – I only experienced less than ideal lubrication in a dry Safari with an EF nib. The ink looks superb on pure white paper – on cream/yellow paper it gets a green tinge that downgrades the aesthetics. The ink comes in a 40 ml bottle, that is packaged in a beautiful box showing the corresponding Ukiyo-e painting. Lovely packaging for an excellent ink. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of a strip of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Fukaki hanada has a medium dynamic range, with a well-balanced contrast between the light and darker parts. This translates to just the right amount of shading, not too heavy but definitely present, bringing that extra character to your writing that is the hallmark of writing with a fountain pen. Shading is present in all nib sizes, just a hint with the EF nib and firmly present with F nibs and above. Well done! The ink’s chromatography shows a colourful mix of dyes: rose-pink, sky-blue and some grey. These combine to produce that beautiful light-and-dusty blue. A successful mix by TACCIA’s ink masters! From the bottom of the chroma, it is clear that a greyish residue sticks to the paper, with most of the colour washed away. This is confirmed by the water test, which shows a fairly water-resistant ink that can easily survive accidents. You will always be able to reconstruct your writing, which can be a plus when using this ink in an office environment. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M605 with F cursive italic Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Fukaki hanada works best with pure white or ivory paper. With yellow/cream paper, the looks get a bit of a green tinge that destroys the aesthetics. With very smooth hard-surface paper that emphasizes shading, the contrast between light and dark strokes becomes a bit too pronounced for me – examples are Sakae Iroful or Endless Regalia paper. Low-end paper – like Moleskine – works surprisingly well: there is some bleed-through, but feathering is not really an issue. Overall a technically solid ink that can handle a wide range of paper. I’ve also added a scan to give you another view on the ink. Scanned images and photos often capture different aspects of the ink’s colour & contrast. That’s why I present them both. In this case, the scan makes the ink look too bright, and slightly exaggerates the shading. Below you’ll find some zoomed-in parts of writing samples. Notice the tiny amount of feathering on the Moleskine paper. With the hard-surface Sakae Iroful, it’s hard not to miss that overly pronounced shading which becomes a bit too strong for my taste. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The EF-nib already hints at the shading that the ink is capable of. The ink handles all nib sizes with ease, but I like it most in the F/M nibbed pens – well balanced shading that remains restful even with a full page of text. Related inks To compare fukaki hanada with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test – all in a very compact format. The closest I have to this TACCIA ink are iroshizuku tsuki-yo and MB Petrol Blue. Of these two, the fukaki hanada’s “dustiness” seems to be best matched by tsuki-yo. This pair of inks might make a good candidate for a future ink-shootout. Inkxperiment – Bubble Fest II With every review, I try to create a drawing using only the ink I am reviewing. These small one-ink pieces are an excellent way to show you the colour-range nuances that are hidden within the ink. And I simply enjoy the fun couple of hours these inkxperiments provide me: playing around with the ink in a creative way. In a previous review I started experimenting with tiny amounts of ink added to water bubbles on paper, which I then let dry naturally to create textured circles. This inkxperiment continues that Bubble Fest theme. For this drawing, I started with an A4 piece of HP photo paper. I first used washi tape to create some lattice-work, and then added several layers of bubbles. I then removed the washi tape and used a plastic card and pure ink to paint in the lines. Next, I added the flowers, and completed the drawing by filling in the background with cotton swabs dipped in water-diluted ink. As a final touch, I used fruit bottle caps as a stamp to add the circles. The resulting Bubble Fest painting shows quite well what can be achieved with this fukaki hanada as a drawing ink. Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. I first applied a street-art filter that added texture to the drawing. I then used a colour filter that resulted in a blue-yellow picture. I like the contrasting play of colours in this computational variation, and the fact that the flowers stand out so well. Conclusion TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai fukaki hanada is a great writing ink – a dusty-feeling light-blue with great aesthetics on white/ivory paper. This is an ink that meanders towards teal territory without crossing the line, which adds complexity and playfulness to the colour. Also a technically solid ink with fairly good water resistance that you can easily use in the office. I really enjoyed exploring this one! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types