Kyo No Oto - Nurebairo

[crahptacular]

Kyo no Oto - Nurebairo

 

I don’t have many black inks, and I rarely use black except when required to, so I’ll apologize in advance for not being able to compare this against popular blacks like Perle Noire, Aurora Black, a billion different Noodler’s, etc. The inks I put in the comparison are the only black inks I have! However, I don’t regret breaking my habits and picking this ink up. I liked this much more than I expected, and ended up getting a bottle of it. It not only performs well as a black ink, but also has a few little quirks that make it more exciting than a plain black. I also really liked the name, once I looked up its meaning— to paraphrase, “wet-crow-feather-black (most often used to describe a woman’s hair)” is, I think, more evocative than "black".

 

The ink is a rich, dark black that lays down a clean, crisp line when used in writing. To my eyes, it appears to be a darker black than Noodler’s Black, which is kind of brown-grey. Out of my limited lineup of blacks, I’d say Nurebairo is roughly as dark as Platinum Carbon Black—that is to say, very black, with no visible shading. Good flow, good lubrication, good behavior—a very serviceable black, with the one downside of having little water resistance (a trait I don’t usually care much about, but I think is especially sought-after in blacks). Besides its basic color, I think the two best parts of the ink are the sheen and the wash. The sheen (silvery coppery? Not sure how to describe it…) is surprisingly easy to spot—in my writing samples using a medium italic nib, I could see sheen on all four papers I used (TR, Mnemosyne, Kokuya Campus, Tsubame Fools)--and the latter two papers rarely show sheen. I’m only the slightest bit disappointed it isn’t a green sheen (because the ink is named after crows’ feathers, which often show green or purple sheen) but the coppery sheen is gorgeous anyway. The wash color I found to be very attractive—a blue-grey that shades wonderfully. If you ask me, the diluted color could be its own ink and I’d probably enjoy it In any case, I liked how well the ink played with water.

 

PS – Vis and Tas have both written wonderful reviews of this ink, which you should check out if you haven’t already. Those two reviews account for at least 95% of the reason I bought this ink in the first place (the other 5% is Kyo no Oto’s beautiful packaging and branding).

 

Lubrication: High, wet

Shading: None

Sheen: Yes!

Water Resistance: Low

Other notes: Dry time is on the slower side. Estimated around 20-30 seconds on TR.

 

The following sample was done with a Franklin-Christoph 02 (Medium Cursive Italic) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a size 0 liner in addition to the pen. Flex writing was done with a Zebra G dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: Scan and photo are both satisfactory. In the comparison section, the scan shows some light reflection, whereas the photo does not. Depending on lighting conditions, both seem accurate to my eye (scan for direct lighting, photo for ambient).

 

Scan:

 

Photo:

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

Noodler’s Black, Sailor Kiwa-Guro, Platinum Carbon Black, Sailor Kobe Nagasawa #51 Kano-Cho Midnight, Sailor Shigure

 

Writing Samples (scans, no color correction) from Haruki Murakami’s After Dark

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

 

Kokuya Campus:

 

Bonus Shots: Sheen from the splash/smear (I like how the various blacks reflect light differently!) and from the writing

[Cyber6]

One of my FAVORITE INKS..... and your review is just AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

LOVE YOUR SKETCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tas]

One of my FAVORITE INKS..... and your review is just AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

LOVE YOUR SKETCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Cyber6, I couldn't have said it better !

 

. . . and crachptular, I'm delighted visvamitra & I helped you buy this ink. We wouldn't have this stunning review otherwise.

 

Enjoy it.

 

 

[rudyhou]

an interesting sheen for the black ink, in addition to the blue shade when smeared.

[DrDebG]

Fantastic review! While this is a black ink, it is an interesting color. I do like it but don't use black much.

[Jan2016]

Amazing review, thank you very much for all your efforts you put in your reviews!

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting. I wouldn't call it a black, though, so much as a really dark blue-black. This one is a maybe ink.

Thanks for the review. And, well, not.... [Chanting through clenched teeth: I do not need more ink, I do not need more ink, I do not need more ink....]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth