EFNIR: Collection Traced Wushan

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Collection Traced Wushan

This is review #368 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink from China was gifted to me by a generous FPNer. My apologies for not including the Chinese name of this ink-my database language doesn't support double-byte characters, nor do I know how to write them properly. Please see my inks spreadsheet which now has a tab with both the Chinese and English ink names. This is a chroma-shading ink. Since this attribute can be less stable over time, I'm reviewing all of them out of sequence.

I have nothing remotely like this color. I see bits of blue, purple, and pink on the swatch card (with green in part of the inset (CRENA swatch card paper) on the swatch card), all somewhat muted (not very saturated). The comparisons are more what this ink is *not*: Doldam, were it paler and if it had more colors might be similar. Anti-Matter is close in paleness and shading. Nadeshiko is nothing like Wushan.

The microscope smear was boring. Hot pink dots here and there, with pale purple and blue-grey otherwise. Cleaning was mostly quick and easy with plain water. There was a small ring of purple dried in the converter where it seats in the pen, but it was easily removed with a cotton bud.

The line width makes me think the ink may have been wetter than I thought and the lower lubrication gave the illusion of dry flow.

Zoomed in photo (Image is a little too grey and shading too strong.)

Screenshot (Text is too dark and desaturated.)

Scan of Completed Review (The scanner made the ink very blue (the blue on the swatch), but the writing looks purple, so I tweaked the image. It's very close now.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Both are close to what I see.)

Line width (Roughly 344µm. The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 360µm, with twelve divisions of 30µm each. With 368 inks measured, the average line width is 299µm.) (In reality, the ink looked pastel and was purple at the center with blue at the edges - you can just barely see this in the image.)

Swatch card comparison (Colors are a little too saturated. Color temp is a little too cool. Nadeshiko has a pinkish purple in the darkest part of the swatch that doesn't show in the image. Anti-Matter should be much warmer. Wushan is very close. Doldam seems too purple to me.)

Additional Papers (Scan. Inset is a CRENA swatch card. Colors are fairly close, but don't show the pink chromashading hints present in each sample. Papers are: Clairefontaine Triomphe, Life Writing Paper Bank Paper, Iroful.)

Previous Review: Jin Chen Mao She.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here. Or read Part 8: The Ice Fields Adventure.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for producing and sharing the review!

 

Quote

The microscope smear was boring.

 

Haha, second time I've seen that comment recently, I think!

 

p.s. 雾山 (wushan) means foggy mountain. 雾 is fog or mist; and 山 is mountain(s) or hill(s).

[Sailor Kenshin]

Wow.

 

You are reviewing some unique inks lately!  I would happily do flower drops on watercolor paper with it.  It looks so different on each paper you show.

And the story's got me gripping the edge of my seat on this cold, snowy day.  (First fall of the season a day or so ago).

 

Keep 'em coming, @LizEF!  And many thanks.

[inkstainedruth]

@LizEF Not quite sure what I think of this one yet (it seems fairly pale, but it is a pretty color and the chroma is quite interesting...; plus the dry time seems very good).  

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

39 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Thanks for producing and sharing the review!

You're most welcome!

 

39 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Haha, second time I've seen that comment recently, I think!

  I get the feeling that all these chromashading inks are going to have boring microscope smears, which is kind of surprising since they're so interesting on paper...  I'm guessing it might be because of the (assumed) low dye concentration.

 

40 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

p.s. 雾山 (wushan) means foggy mountain. 雾 is fog or mist; and 山 is mountain(s) or hill(s).

 Thanks!

[LizEF]

29 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Wow.

 

You are reviewing some unique inks lately!  I would happily do flower drops on watercolor paper with it.  It looks so different on each paper you show.

 Yes, very cool.  If anyone other than Sailor has inks like this available in the US, I don't know it (but I confess, I have so many samples that I haven't been paying attention).

 

30 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

And the story's got me gripping the edge of my seat on this cold, snowy day.

 Thanks!  Hopefully I'll keep you there a while.  

 

31 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 (First fall of the season a day or so ago).

We had snow a while back, but it's been unseasonably warm, and apparently, it will stay that way through Christmas for the vast majority of the country.

 

31 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Keep 'em coming, @LizEF!  And many thanks.

Will do!   And you're most welcome!

[LizEF]

19 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

@LizEF Not quite sure what I think of this one yet (it seems fairly pale, but it is a pretty color and the chroma is quite interesting...; plus the dry time seems very good).  

 While my review is meant to demonstrate its functionality in the Japanese EF, my recommendation is to only use it in a big wet pen on whichever paper makes it the prettiest for you.   But unless you want to buy from someplace like Aliexpress, you can just admire it from afar without having to decide what you think of it.  

 

21 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

You're most welcome!

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

But unless you want to buy from someplace like Aliexpress, you can just admire it from afar without having to decide what you think of it.  

[yazeh]

Thanks for another unusual ink review @LizEF ..  On paper it looks like a pale washed-up blue-black on my screen.  However, on Crena paper it shows its true colours.

Like most inks like that one needs a nice juicy fude nib or brush pen to enjoy its complexity. 

I find the brand name confusing and had a long chat with my dear-friend-know-it-all, ChatGPT. Here's the gist of it, with it's trademark Em-Dashes. 

"The Chinese brand name functions less like a Western “brand” and more like a literati studio seal: intentionally vague, inward-facing, and non-committal—signaling a posture toward ink rather than a clear identity, a cultural preference for self-effacement over declarative branding."

I don't know how true this statement is.  

I wouldn't remember the brand for sure. It has two seemingly unrelated names, which confuses my Cartesian mind. I'm guessing this is an instance when ideas and concepts are lost in translation.  

However, the colour captures the complexity of the aurora borealis, in a region similar to where our heroes are caught. 

By the way, if anyone is interested, you can get samples from this brand from Soe & Soe in Australia.  

 

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery. 🙏🙏🙏

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for another unusual ink review @LizEF .

 You're most welcome!

 

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

On paper it looks like a pale washed-up blue-black on my screen.

I've found that when there's not much color (too pale), the cameras don't want to capture what's there.  It's better in person.

 

4 hours ago, yazeh said:

However, on Crena paper it shows its true colours.

Yes, that CRENA swatch card paper is good stuff!

 

5 hours ago, yazeh said:

Like most inks like that one needs a nice juicy fude nib or brush pen to enjoy its complexity. 

Definitely.

 

5 hours ago, yazeh said:

I find the brand name confusing and had a long chat with my dear-friend-know-it-all, ChatGPT. Here's the gist of it, with it's trademark Em-Dashes. 

"The Chinese brand name functions less like a Western “brand” and more like a literati studio seal: intentionally vague, inward-facing, and non-committal—signaling a posture toward ink rather than a clear identity, a cultural preference for self-effacement over declarative branding."

I don't know how true this statement is.  

I wouldn't remember the brand for sure. It has two seemingly unrelated names, which confuses my Cartesian mind. I'm guessing this is an instance when ideas and concepts are lost in translation.  

 I declined to think much about it.  Someone traced their collection, or something.   (And yeah, I'm 100% certain lots of things are "lost in the translation".)

 

5 hours ago, yazeh said:

However, the colour captures the complexity of the aurora borealis, in a region similar to where our heroes are caught. 

 

5 hours ago, yazeh said:

By the way, if anyone is interested, you can get samples from this brand from Soe & Soe in Australia.  

Yes, I think this might be true for more than one of the unique brands Dill sent, but once I saw the shipping costs, I didn't bother to investigate extensively.

 

5 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery. 🙏🙏🙏

You're most welcome!

[A Smug Dill]

9 hours ago, yazeh said:

I find the brand name confusing …‹snip›… It has two seemingly unrelated names, which confuses my Cartesian mind. I'm guessing this is an instance when ideas and concepts are lost in translation.

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

 I declined to think much about it.  Someone traced their collection, or something.  

 

The vendor's name in Chinese is 才起集物 (cái qǐ jí wù in Mandarin). 集物 means to collect items, or I suppose collection of items. I don't think 才起 has any relevant meaning semantically; I suspect it is an allusion to the homophones of the two characters 財 and 喜, being wealth and happiness (as in 恭喜發財 Kung Hei Fat Choi) as opposed to a more literal reading of either just beginning or talent rising worded in a peculiar way. In Cantonese, that part would be pronounced choi hei, which sounds a bit like ‘trace’ in English. So, it could have been The Trace Collection, but the proprietor(s) chose to officially call the trademark Collection Traced instead in English.

 

集 may even be another allusion to homophone 雜, which means assorted (or various, or mixed); the second half of the name would thus mean assorted goods.

[LizEF]

Gorgeous samples of the ink in action, @A Smug Dill!  Thanks for adding those.

 

As to the name and translation issues - wow!  The impact of language, thought, and culture on each other is such that it's really a wonder that any two people from different cultures ever understand each other.  (In fact, it's entirely possible that they don't, but just get close enough for practical purposes...)

[yazeh]

Thanks for sharing the subtleties of the Chinese language. When trying to comprehend the different intricacies of name of the brand, I was reminded of of Star Trek Next Generation Episode, Darmok: “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" or "Temba, his arms wide". 🖖

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for sharing the subtleties of the Chinese language. When trying to comprehend the different intricacies of name of the brand, I was reminded of of Star Trek Next Generation Episode, Darmok: “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" or "Temba, his arms wide". 🖖

One of my favorites!  (Though the whole concept is completely irrational - they didn't think it through beyond a very, very superficial level.)

[PJohnP]

Sokath, his eyes uncovered ! 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, PJohnP said:

Sokath, his eyes uncovered ! 

[USG]

👍👍  Very nice. 😀

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, USG said:

👍👍  Very nice. 😀

[yazeh]

"Blue was green, then it was not. "

"Miaowme, food, let me out". 😸

 

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

"Blue was green, then it was not. "

"Miaowme, food, let me out". 😸