EFNIR: Sailor Shikiori Yonaga

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Sailor Shikiori Yonaga

This is review #131 in my series.  Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: I really have nothing like this color.  It looks like the same color as Platinum Blue Black, only considerably darker.  Color in the scan is a bit off, but I'm having trouble describing how.  It needs to be a little darker and richer, perhaps a hair more to the red (purple) side.  The copy paper image may have the best color match.  The zoom isn't too far off.  The screen capture is also pretty close, but the color doesn't look as rich as in real life.  (Sorry, I hate when other people describe color that way because I have no idea what they mean, and yet to me, for this color, that's the right word.)  Cleaning was quick and easy, but did take a couple more rinses than normal - there's a pinky-purpley color in the ink that sticks around a little longer.

And here is a screen of the final result, for those not interested in the video:

Scan of Completed Review:

Zoomed in photo:

Absorbent Paper Closeup (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper):

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap

Previous Review: Pelikan 4001 Blue Black.

Want to influence the inky sequence?  Take the "next ink" poll.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh?  Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy.  Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

Great job, Liz 

The colour looks quite nice on the screen.... kind of like a royal blue....

 Magical herbs to make inks 🤣lay

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great job, Liz 

Thanks!

 

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The colour looks quite nice on the screen.... kind of like a royal blue....

Yes, only much darker (than any royal blue I've seen).

 

4 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Magical herbs to make inks 🤣lay

Magical ink requires magical ingredients, don't-ya-know.

[chromantic]

I tried it when it 1st came out. Great color, very dark. Didn't dislodge Kana-cho as my go-to.

[LizEF]

43 minutes ago, chromantic said:

I tried it when it 1st came out. Great color, very dark. Didn't dislodge Kana-cho as my go-to.

I had to look up your ink.  Here's what I found - beautiful drawing, and I suspect I'd like it better, too, though it might lean a little too purple for me:

 

[lapis]

Nice! Kinda reminds me of my fave in this vicinity of inks -- S.T. Dupont's BLEU NUIT / DARK BLUE, but a tick richer, more illuminating.

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, lapis said:

Nice! Kinda reminds me of my fave in this vicinity of inks -- S.T. Dupont's BLEU NUIT / DARK BLUE, but a tick richer, more illuminating.

From online pictures, yes, it looks like your comparison is correct.

[Sailor Kenshin]

This looks very wet/slippery, even in the EF nib.  Royal blues, longish dry time, not up my alley.  But I do love watching your reviews.  Thanks!

 

And looking forward to the Magical Ink Herbs.

[LizEF]

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

This looks very wet/slippery, even in the EF nib.

Hmm.  I don't remember slippery, but definitely wet and well-lubricated.

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 Royal blues, longish dry time, not up my alley.

Yeah, I wanted to really like this ink, but the color is too ordinary, even if a nice dark, rich ordinary.

 

17 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

But I do love watching your reviews.  Thanks!

 

And looking forward to the Magical Ink Herbs.

Thank you!

[mizgeorge]

Thank you as always @LizEF for a fab and useful review. 

 

I like most of this range, some of them a great deal, but this one's pretty meh for me. I find the colour boring (and I love true 'royal' blue inks) and it doesn't have any other properties that make me even want to like it.

 

So, my bank balance thanks you too

[LizEF]

42 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Thank you as always @LizEF for a fab and useful review. ...

 

So, my bank balance thanks you too

You and your bank account are most welcome!  And thank you!

 

As to the color, this one looked interesting to me in a google image search, so perhaps it's one that's really much better in big fat nibs - I haven't tried that yet.   Perhaps in my Lamy stub or a broad nib it would look better.

[arcfide]

Definitely try it in broad/stubby pens! I'm amazed at how many people think of this as a "meh" ink, since it's one of my most captivating inks. For me, it has a wonderful slightly green/teal undertone that is slight enough to give some mystery without becoming "green" like Tsuki-yo or Mysterious Blue. It's nice and dark, has wonderful flow, and it the color seems to stay intense whether in the lighter shaded parts or the darker ones. To me, I feel like this is a complex ink, where the shading contrast brings out the kind of subtlety you expect from a nice IG ink, but with more saturation. 

 

Maybe I just like the boring inks, but this is definitely an ink that always makes me happy to look at it and I feel like I get drawn into the color more than other inks. 

 

ETA: this is definitely not anywhere in my categorizations of Royal Blues to me. When I write with it it is in a totally different class. 

[LizEF]

17 minutes ago, arcfide said:

Definitely try it in broad/stubby pens! I'm amazed at how many people think of this as a "meh" ink, since it's one of my most captivating inks. For me, it has a wonderful slightly green/teal undertone that is slight enough to give some mystery without becoming "green" like Tsuki-yo or Mysterious Blue. It's nice and dark, has wonderful flow, and it the color seems to stay intense whether in the lighter shaded parts or the darker ones. To me, I feel like this is a complex ink, where the shading contrast brings out the kind of subtlety you expect from a nice IG ink, but with more saturation. 

 

Maybe I just like the boring inks, but this is definitely an ink that always makes me happy to look at it and I feel like I get drawn into the color more than other inks. 

 

ETA: this is definitely not anywhere in my categorizations of Royal Blues to me. When I write with it it is in a totally different class. 

Thanks for sharing your love of this ink - it's always nice to read from someone who's a fan of the ink and can explain why!  There's no telling when next I'll fill a pen, but I'll definitely reserve this ink for something fatter than usual.

[chromantic]

13 hours ago, LizEF said:

I had to look up your ink.  Here's what I found - beautiful drawing, and I suspect I'd like it better, too, though it might lean a little too purple for me:

The purple, which comes through clearly in crahp's drawing, is not apparent in normal writing, at least to my eye. It's also never struck me as especially lubricating, like Take-sumi. It's Sailor so it's certainly wet.

 

The bright green sheen can be moderately pronounced even on decent copy once the ink has sat in the pen for a while; I just flushed the M405 and refilled it from a new bottle so it'll be a week or two before it settles in again.

[namrehsnoom]

Informing review as always. 

 

This ink’s colour is not for me… it looks like an off-blue with a bit of purple, but the mix is not one that appeals to me. That’s what I like about reviews here on the forum: you get a feel for what unknown inks look like, sometimes (well quite a lot actually) you see an ink that makes you drool, and that you just must have, but equally useful is seeing an ink that doesn’t excite you and that you can now strike from the list. 

[LizEF]

7 hours ago, chromantic said:

The purple, which comes through clearly in crahp's drawing, is not apparent in normal writing, at least to my eye. It's also never struck me as especially lubricating, like Take-sumi. It's Sailor so it's certainly wet.

 

The bright green sheen can be moderately pronounced even on decent copy once the ink has sat in the pen for a while; I just flushed the M405 and refilled it from a new bottle so it'll be a week or two before it settles in again.

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

Informing review as always.

Thanks!

 

2 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

This ink’s colour is not for me… it looks like an off-blue with a bit of purple, but the mix is not one that appeals to me. That’s what I like about reviews here on the forum: you get a feel for what unknown inks look like, sometimes (well quite a lot actually) you see an ink that makes you drool, and that you just must have, but equally useful is seeing an ink that doesn’t excite you and that you can now strike from the list.

Exactly.  I like to check out all the images I can find, as ink photos can vary a lot, and the more that are out there, the more accurately you can guess at whether the ink is worth it.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review.  Looks like a nice color, but I have a lot of similar-looking dark blues -- although it might be worth trying a sample of it to see how it does in the two Sailor 1911S US exclusives (I have until next spring before I think it's safe to use a non-Sailor ink in them before the pens are out of the one year warranty because of the special coated colored nibs).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the review.  Looks like a nice color, but I have a lot of similar-looking dark blues -- although it might be worth trying a sample of it to see how it does in the two Sailor 1911S US exclusives (I have until next spring before I think it's safe to use a non-Sailor ink in them before the pens are out of the one year warranty because of the special coated colored nibs).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

You're welcome!   I expect a Sailor ink to work perfectly in a Sailor pen - call me crazy, but they're so good at what they do, it's hard to imagine anything else.

[ENewton]

17 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the review.  Looks like a nice color, but I have a lot of similar-looking dark blues -- although it might be worth trying a sample of it to see how it does in the two Sailor 1911S US exclusives (I have until next spring before I think it's safe to use a non-Sailor ink in them before the pens are out of the one year warranty because of the special coated colored nibs).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I am being similarly cautious with my 1911S Wicked Witch of the West, but how do you suppose Sailor would be able to tell if one had used another manufacturer's ink?