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Taccia Ukiyo-E Hiroshige Ainezu [Indigo-Tinged Gray]


SashK

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Anybody have insight on when this series of ink will become available in North America? Love the inks from the first 8 so far!

 

 

Not sure, but I think it took several months at least for the last set to come over. Maybe even 6 months.

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I'm very curious how this ink compares to J. Herbin Vert de Gris. On my monitor it looks like it is super-similar.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

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I'm very curious how this ink compares to J. Herbin Vert de Gris. On my monitor it looks like it is super-similar.

I happen to have both inks so I can give this a shot. Having just tried them in succession using the same pen, on three kinds of paper, I found the colors to be pretty close, but definitely different. The Ainezu comes across as a bluish gray or grayish blue with a moderate lean toward green. Whereas the Vert de gris is more of a greenish blue (or a bluish green): definitely greener than the Ainezu, and less gray. Both inks could be classified in the same category of grayish teal, and to people not deeply fascinated by that area of the spectrum, the two colors might be more or less interchangeable. (By the way, the two inks seemed to me to be similar in other properties: pleasant flow, medium drying time, some shading, no problems with feathering or bleedthrough, and little or no water resistance.)

 

For my needs, the Ainezu is the more suitable of the two. On Tomoe River paper (though not on the other two papers I tried) it shows up darker than the Vert de gris, so I'd consider it a better choice for lengthy writing. The Vert de gris seems to me less of an ink for regular work, more of a special-occasion ink. Probably some users would find it a livelier color than the Ainezu because of the more pronounced green.

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Vert de Gris looks darker and more gray in large quantity. For instance I have it in 2 pens right now. It’s lighter and more prominent teal in a dry Sailor PGS with a fine nib. It’s quite dark and more toward neutral gray in a wet Pelikan Medium cursive italic.

 

I’d love a quick swab or otherwise comparison photo of Ainezu vs Vert de Gris. It is my favorite color family at the moment.

Edited by Intensity

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

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I'm not well set up here to take pictures or scans of ink unfortunately so these pictures may not be very helpful, I'm afraid. Anyway, here are two ink blots made with a dip pen on a paper towel. Vert de gris is on the left, Ainezu on the right:

 

fpn_1600357564__unnamed2.jpg

 

Here's a writing sample of Herbin Vert de gris, using a Pilot Prera pen with a "calligraphy" nib, on a rather bright-white Maruman paper:

 

fpn_1600351900__vert_de_gris2.jpg

 

For comparison purposes, this is a writing sample of Nakabayashi Ainezu, using the same pen and paper. On my monitor, this image does a very poor job of capturing the ink color. The OP's images are vastly better.

 

fpn_1600351941__ainezu2.jpg

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This looks very similar to Sailor's Museum Grey.

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_sailor_kobe_46_museum_grey_swatch.jpg

(Thank you Migo984)

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The Kobe Museum Gray, which I also have (and just tried writing with, in the same pen and on the same papers as before), is indeed similar to the Ainezu, but I would say less blue, closer to a neutral gray, than the Ainezu.

 

To sum up what I found, then, based only on tests I did within the past hour or so, with the one pen, and the three kinds of paper, I decided to use (therefore FWIW and YMMV):

 

Herbin Vert de Gris: a subdued bluish green

Nakabayashi Ainezu: a bluish gray with a slight lean toward green

Kobe Museum Gray: gray with some blue in it

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The Kobe Museum Gray, which I also have (and just tried writing with, in the same pen and on the same papers as before), is indeed similar to the Ainezu, but I would say less blue, closer to a neutral gray, than the Ainezu.

 

To sum up what I found, then, based only on tests I did within the past hour or so, with the one pen, and the three kinds of paper, I decided to use (therefore FWIW and YMMV):

 

Herbin Vert de Gris: a subdued bluish green

Nakabayashi Ainezu: a bluish gray with a slight lean toward green

 

Kobe Museum Gray: gray with some blue in it

 

Yay!

 

I love how picky and how much fuss we all make over every subtle nuance of colour.

It gives me great joy - although I have often looked at a sheet of paper with ten blue blacks written on it and wondered "Really? Do I really need all these?" Then I get over it and enjoy one of life's relatively cheap and simple pleasures . . . ink on paper :wub:

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That comparison is actually very helpful! Thank you! I see what you mean now about Ainezu being more gray. A lot of on-line photographs were showing it being more teal-tinted than it appears to be here, so I thought it was very similar to Vert de Gris. I think I'll stick with Vert de Gris for now in that color category, since I have 3 other grays I should be using more (Iroshizuku Kiri Same, Fuyu Syogun, and GvFC Stone Grey), and also a gray-teal-green of sorts Papier Plume Bayou Nightfall, which I adore with dry writing pens.

 

Here's an example that looks very much like my Vert de Gris does (also scroll through the images to the individual Ainezu sample):

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCf2kv1H0Aj/

 

I'm definitely getting Sabimidori and Benitsuchi, but probably not Ainezu now. Trying to decide between Umemurasaki and Aomurasaki.

Edited by Intensity

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

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Yay!

 

I love how picky and how much fuss we all make over every subtle nuance of colour.

It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Because it's an area of life where only nuance matters.

 

That comparison is actually very helpful! Thank you! I see what you mean now about Ainezu being more gray. A lot of on-line photographs were showing it being more teal-tinted than it appears to be here, so I thought it was very similar to Vert de Gris. I think I'll stick with Vert de Gris for now in that color category, since I have 3 other grays I should be using more (Iroshizuku Kiri Same, Fuyu Syogun, and GvFC Stone Grey), and also a gray-teal-green of sorts Papier Plume Bayou Nightfall, which I adore with dry writing pens.

 

Here's an example that looks very much like my Vert de Gris does (also scroll through the images to the individual Ainezu sample):

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCf2kv1H0Aj/

 

I'm definitely getting Sabimidori and Benitsuchi, but probably not Ainezu now. Trying to decide between Umemurasaki and Aomurasaki.

Glad you found my contribution useful, though I'm afraid my pictures might be misleading, especially the Ainezu picture which has lost a lot of the blue and the subtle green that are in the actual ink. Again, the OP's images are more accurate. You may want to keep it on your list for the future. The Sabimidori is really something special, and in a different world of color from those we've been talking about. I think you will enjoy it.

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... although I have often looked at a sheet of paper with ten blue blacks written on it and wondered "Really? Do I really need all these?" ...

:yikes: Someone call the padded wagon! Tas has gone off the deep end! He's losing his mind! ;) :P Yes, you need every one of them! :wub: No more crazy talk like that, mister!

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It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Because it's an area of life where only nuance matters.

 

Glad you found my contribution useful, though I'm afraid my pictures might be misleading, especially the Ainezu picture which has lost a lot of the blue and the subtle green that are in the actual ink. Again, the OP's images are more accurate. You may want to keep it on your list for the future. The Sabimidori is really something special, and in a different world of color from those we've been talking about. I think you will enjoy it.

 

I believe you that Ainezu is a beautiful ink. I just decided that I liked my Vert de Gris to be more colorful, as it looks from a drier pen, and not quite as much as it looks from my juicy pen (darker and more toward neutral gray). Just no need for any more lightly tinted grays at the moment. Grayed pastels are more my current obsession, like Kyo No Oto Hisoku, Sailor x Nagasawa Kobe Nishi Maiko Pearl Blue, GvFC Deep Sea Green, etc.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

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Yay!

 

I love how picky and how much fuss we all make over every subtle nuance of colour.

It gives me great joy - although I have often looked at a sheet of paper with ten blue blacks written on it and wondered "Really? Do I really need all these?" Then I get over it and enjoy one of life's relatively cheap and simple pleasures . . . ink on paper :wub:

Of COURSE you need all those blue black inks.... :lol:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Of COURSE you need all those blue black inks.... :lol:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

:yikes: Someone call the padded wagon! Tas has gone off the deep end! He's losing his mind! ;) :P Yes, you need every one of them! :wub: No more crazy talk like that, mister!

Apologies lovely people. I must have been dehydrated or something.

Mont Blanc Midnight Blue (original)

Duke Black (a mix of mine)

Diamine Blue Black (found some old cartridges)

Parker Blue Black (more old cartridges)

Teeling (another mix of mine)

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

SK Navy Blue

Sailor Sou Boku

Diamine Indigo

Califolio Bonne Esperance

Diamine Chopin

Akkerman #10

Sailor Museum Grey

Sailor Blue Black.

 

All in pens on my desk. All bring me pleasure.

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Apologies lovely people. I must have been dehydrated or something.

Mont Blanc Midnight Blue (original)

Duke Black (a mix of mine)

Diamine Blue Black (found some old cartridges)

Parker Blue Black (more old cartridges)

Teeling (another mix of mine)

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

SK Navy Blue

Sailor Sou Boku

Diamine Indigo

Califolio Bonne Esperance

Diamine Chopin

Akkerman #10

Sailor Museum Grey

Sailor Blue Black.

 

All in pens on my desk. All bring me pleasure.

Phew! That's better. ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Kobe Museum Gray, which I also have (and just tried writing with, in the same pen and on the same papers as before), is indeed similar to the Ainezu, but I would say less blue, closer to a neutral gray, than the Ainezu.

 

To sum up what I found, then, based only on tests I did within the past hour or so, with the one pen, and the three kinds of paper, I decided to use (therefore FWIW and YMMV):

 

Herbin Vert de Gris: a subdued bluish green

Nakabayashi Ainezu: a bluish gray with a slight lean toward green

Kobe Museum Gray: gray with some blue in it

Now I'm confused...which would I like better? (No answers need be provided, particularly such as "all three".)

 

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