Squid Ink ink?

[Kay]

Not too long ago in a thread I can't find now, someone posted a picture of a bottle of ink made from real squid ink from a Japanese website. I don't think there was any English text on the website.

 

Now I've gotten very curious (obsessed?) with the idea of squid ink ink-- does anyone know more about it, and whether it's really available, or any more details? (Perhaps one of the Japanese readers on the forum can help).

 

I think, but I'm not sure, that the color of squid ink ink would be a true sepia, a grayish brown, does anyone know?

 

thanks,

Kay

[acfrery]

The idea sounds very interesting.

 

There is this very interesting film, The Door in the Flor, where the character played by Jeff Bridges uses sepia ink to draw. The drawings seem very dark, but I don't know if what is shown really is or resembles sepia ink.

 

Alejandro

[Taki]

Here you go:

http://www.fp-hakase.com/product/ink.html

 

The bottle on the top of the page is the real squid sepia ink. There is a writing sample next to the bottle. Also there is an explanation page in both Japanese and English if you click on "What is sepia ink"?

 

They have two kinds of sepia ink;one is for drawing, and the other is for fountain pens. A bottle for fountain pen sepia ink is 6300 yen (approx. US$54) in Japan. I'm not sure if they ship overseas or not, though.

[Kay]

Thanks, Taki!

 

It looks really interesting-- but a bit out of my budget... still, it's good to know about.

 

The film sounds interesting too.

 

Kay

[Chris]

I tried writing with squid ink once, but I found the arms had too much flex

 

Sorry - silly moment.

Got to go and do some real work now

 

Chris

[fjf]

The color may be nice, but the smell...

[DilettanteG]

Obviously the perfect ink for the Jules Verne pen. The real question is can you make that pen squirt ink out?

[Taki]

QUOTE (Chris @ Mar 26 2007, 06:28 AM)

I tried writing with squid ink once, but I found the arms had too much flex

Maybe you need seven arms so that you can rotate

 

Kate, how about Jules pen with Snorkel mechanism?

[DilettanteG]

QUOTE

Jules pen with Snorkel mechanism?

 

Excellent!

 

 

[coax]

Been looking to try this ink myself. Googling for イカ墨セピアインク turns up a number of Japanese online pen stores in that stock it, alas none that seem to ship internationally. I have yet to email Hakase directly to inquire about it, though I did read an article somewhere that the son of the company's President is fluent in English and they are at least somewhat open to international sales. So you if you were to send an English email there's a chance of getting a reply. My Japanese isn't all that great, but I've been thinking of writing them.

 

BTW, if you want to see a writing sample, I found the following page. The pics show the ink with various ratios of dilution ink:water, the top line being undiluted (そのまま).

 

http://www.geocities.jp/stationery_page/co...k_column03.html

[DilettanteG]

Thanks for the link, coax. I can't read a word, but the pictures are nice. I assume the squid ink is the brown sample.

 

Also, love your avatar, excellent hat!

[Kay]

Thanks for the link, coax.

 

I can't read a word either, nor on the Hakase website, even to discern what their email address might be. (What you googled looks like ????????? on my monitor, so I can't even google anything except Hakase, whose website is also all ????...) So it would be great if you find out any information about international shipping, price, how to order, etc. if you would post it here!

 

thanks,

Kay

[Johnny Appleseed]

And if you want to collect and make some yourself. . .

 

Giant Squid Curriculum - Squid Dissection

 

Squid ink is a big cullinary thing - it has been popular to dye pasta with Squid ink to make a black pasta in Italy for some time.

 

John

[Taki]

QUOTE (Kay @ Mar 29 2007, 05:13 PM)

Thanks for the link, coax. I can't read a word either, nor on the Hakase website, even to discern what their email address might be. (What you googled looks like ????????? on my monitor, so I can't even google anything except Hakase, whose website is also all ????...) So it would be great if you find out any information about international shipping, price, how to order, etc. if you would post it here! thanks, Kay

You need to install or enable Japanese fonts. If your computer is Windows install Japanese Ylanguage pack. If Mac add Japanese to the language setting on your browser.

[handlebar]

QUOTE (fjf @ Mar 26 2007, 06:08 AM)

The color may be nice, but the smell...

And every time i write with it i get a hankering for calimari...

 

JD

[demeter]

QUOTE (Chris @ Mar 26 2007, 12:28 PM)

I tried writing with squid ink once, but I found the arms had too much flex  Sorry - silly moment. Got to go and do some real work now  Chris

Chris,

 

Thanks for that!

It made my morning light.

Andrew

[Chris]

Andrew,

 

You're welcome

 

I remember going fishing once and using cuttlefish for bait. Now there 's a permanent ink if ever there was one

 

The skipper went potty if we looked as though we were going to burst one of the ink sacs inside his boat (he had a point. I wouldn't like that ink all over the inside of my car, so why not keep it outside his boat)

 

Each sac held quite a lot of ink, but the pong of cuttlefish lingers. I don't think I'd put it in a fountain pen, but I wonder if it would work OK in a dip tip.

 

Chris

[coax]

Hmm, looking at the Hakase contact page they say there isn't an email for inquires, though there is a web based request form. I'll try to write up a coherent message in Japanese sometime within the next week. The price for the fountain pen (ライト - light) variety is 6300 Yen (~$54 @ current rate), not including shipping.

 

As for making your own, might work for a brush ink, but there's a lot more to fountain pen ink than just the pigment.

[kissing]

There have been several topics in the past here related to making own ink. It actually lists the raw ingredients you need (Let me see if i can find it for you )

 

Ah! here's a few inks - Oops, i mean LINKs (i need sleep):

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...7826&hl=own+ink

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...6&hl=making+ink

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...topic=12026&hl=

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...3&hl=making+ink

Edited March 31, 2007 by kissing

[Kay]

thanks for the update, coax. I really appreciate your follow-through!

 

and thanks for the links, kissing: although I don't think I'll be making my own ink any time soon. But that does give me an idea, maybe Colfer's Imperial inks could shift from a dye-based to a squid-based formula... suppliers might be more willing to do small-scale batches...