Kakimori Karari

[yazeh]

Kakimori is a stationary shop in Tokyo Japan. 

 

They have a range of inks and stationery, which epitomizes Japanese minimalism and elegance. They also make personalized handmade inks and notebooks, a specialized dip pen nib and nib holders. 

 

 

Their pigment line comes in beautiful bottles:

(Photo: curtsey of Kakimori website)

What I’ve noticed in the three inks I reviewed (Kurun, Po and Karari) is: Long dry times, dryish inks, and ease to clean. 

According to Kakimori website: 

 

"Fresh like an endlessly clear sky. Karari describes a bright, cloudless day. With this blue in hand, a break in the clouds is never far away." 

 

I really enjoyed using this ink, especially after the disaster with De Atramentis Artist/Document Turquoise/ Cyan. It’s a happy blue, and if you pardon the pun, it takes the blues away. It fills me with joy. 

Let's start with the chroma:

 

It’s not a perfect ink, it’s wet, low on lubrication, maybe not very pleasant with Ef1F scratcthy nibs. And you might need a blotter, if you write fast and a neatnik

 

I wrote copiously on 68gr Tomoe River Paper with a Safari broad. It was just a delight to write with. 

 

Writing samples:

Scan on Midori is really off. I had some problems with my fude nib. It wasn't well seated and created huge lines at first. 

Quite close: 

Some photos:

Tomoe River 68gr

Rhodia:

This line is written with a broad nib on Hammermill 20 lb paper, not bad at all. 

Water resistance is quite good:

Comparison:

 

You can see the depth of the blue in the sky from a landscape drawing I did on the Dostoyevsky thread: 

The Sky is Karari

The Trees and Mountains Kakimori Kurun /Gutenberg Urkundentinten G10 IG

And the lake is Noodler's Dostoyevsky

 

 

 

 

 

· Pens used: Pilot Kakuna (Ef) Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B), Jinhao 450/ Ultraflex nib/ Fude nib

· What I liked: Gorgeous blue colour. It made me happy every time I used it. Excellent on absorbent paper. 

· What I did not like: Very long dry times. Not suitable for leftie over writers. It’s a bit pricier than other ink. 

· Shading:  Ok  

· Ghosting: Faint 

· Bleed through: None, unless you pool the ink. 

· Flow Rate: Excellent

· Lubrication: Dry especially with Ef to Fine

· Nib Dry-out: None.

· Start-up: None. I had the pen uncapped for more than 3 minutes, no problem. 

· Saturation: Saturated just enough. 

· Shading Potential: Ok. 

· Sheen: Faint sheen seen if the ink pools.

· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: None

· Nib Creep / “Crud”: None

· Staining (pen): No.

· Clogging: Did not notice.

· Cleaning: Very easy. 

· Water resistance: Excellent 

· Availability: 35ml.

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

[Lithium466]

Thank you for the review! I'm always curious when I see the cute bottles at Nota Bene, but so far have been wary of these pigmented inks.

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Thank you for the review! I'm always curious when I see the cute bottles at Nota Bene, but so far have been wary of these pigmented inks.

You mean Nota Bene in Montreal? Or else where? You can always grab some samples and see if it suits your needs

[LizEF]

Thanks for the very thorough review, @yazeh!   It blue seems much nicer than the ones you had to deal with previously...  And a little more interesting shade of blue, too.  Still like the little landscape.

[yazeh]

50 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks for the very thorough review, @yazeh!  

Most welcome 🙏pens

50 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

It blue seems much nicer than the ones you had to deal with previously...  And a little more interesting shade of blue, too.  Still like the little landscape.

I'm glad you liked it. Oftentimes when I create "art" I you wonder, who did that? Creation is a funny business

 

[Mercian]

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

I really enjoyed using this ink, especially after the disaster with De Atramentis Artist/Document Turquoise/ Cyan. It’s a happy blue, and if you pardon the pun, it takes the blues away. It fills me with joy. 

My first thought when I saw that picture was ‘Pelikan 4001 Turquoise!’.

 

N.b. my memory is not any more what it was, and the 4001 ink, whilst undoubtedly lovely of hue, has only the same degree of water-resistance as the Wicked Witch of the West 😉

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

My first thought when I saw that picture was ‘Pelikan 4001 Turquoise!’.

 

N.b. my memory is not any more what it was, and the 4001 ink, whilst undoubtedly lovely of hue, has only the same degree of water-resistance as the Wicked Witch of the West 😉

I wouldn't consider this ink, a turquoise. It's more of a sky blue in spring, when the blue is deep, if it makes any sense

[Mercian]

16 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It's more of a sky blue in spring, when the blue is deep, if it makes any sense

That’s exactly how I think of Pelikan 4001 Turquoise - although Lamy Turquoise is the sort of green-tinged shade of blue that I think of as ‘turquoise’, the Pelikan 4001 has always seemed to me to be more of a deep, dusky sky-blue colour 🤷‍♂️

[InesF]

Thank you @yazeh for this review!

The bottle looks cute and seems to be optimised for dip pens - I mean the ergonomics of aiming with the dip pen at the slanted opening.

Also for me, it is a kind of Turquoise. Not like Pelikan 4001 or Waterman, but more like Edelstein Topaz.

 

And yes, your artistic ink colour expression is well done! I like the result!  

[yazeh]

7 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you @yazeh for this review!

🙏

7 hours ago, InesF said:

The bottle looks cute and seems to be optimised for dip pens - I mean the ergonomics of aiming with the dip pen at the slanted opening.

Also for me, it is a kind of Turquoise. Not like Pelikan 4001 or Waterman, but more like Edelstein Topaz.

I always thought that turquoise was a mixture of blue and green. I don't see any other colour in the chroma but blue. 

7 hours ago, InesF said:

 

And yes, your artistic ink colour expression is well done! I like the result!  

You're too kind

[LizEF]

43 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I always thought that turquoise was a mixture of blue and green.

Me too, but some inks that are named turquoise don't see to have any green in them, and I'd say Pelikan 4001 Turquoise really doesn't (or not much), same with Waterman Inspired Blue (though my memory could be off here).

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

Me too, but some inks that are named turquoise don't see to have any green in them, and I'd say Pelikan 4001 Turquoise really doesn't (or not much), same with Waterman Inspired Blue (though my memory could be off here).

I asked an artist teacher, how to make turquoise, she said, you mix a certain blue with yellow. No green.  

 

[Mercian]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

I asked an artist teacher, how to make turquoise, she said, you mix a certain blue with yellow. No green.  

 

To an artist, blue + yellow makes green, no?

(Whereas to a physicist, red + green makes yellow.)

 

I presume that the particular blue that your friend had in mind only gets sufficiently ‘engreenulated’ to take it as far as being turquoise, without straying in to actual green.

[MissCellany]

What a lovely cerulean ink! Thank you so much, great review- the bottle looks kinda silly to me, but in a cute way

[yazeh]

15 hours ago, MissCellany said:

What a lovely cerulean ink! Thank you so much, great review- the bottle looks kinda silly to me, but in a cute way

Most welcome. The bottles are fun and quite cute as you say

 

[yazeh]

18 hours ago, Mercian said:

To an artist, blue + yellow makes green, no?

(Whereas to a physicist, red + green makes yellow.)

I had a lesson, is colour theory. That you need to mix a certain type of blue, (I forgot which), with yellow to create turquoise. Much like physics, when artists start talking, I phase out 😛

 

18 hours ago, Mercian said:

 

I presume that the particular blue that your friend had in mind only gets sufficiently ‘engreenulated’ to take it as far as being turquoise, without straying in to actual green.

I believe so. If there's any. artist, lurking about, they could chime in and explain things more clearly. From what I gathered, when they learn painting, they are taught to how to create their own colours. So they must really understand colour theory.