Archive for June 2022

Sheaffer has recently introduced a new line of inks, and it seems like the Skrip line might have been discontinued. These new inks come in a 30ml glass bottle that includes the inkwell that older Skrip bottles used to include. I'll have some pictures of all of that further down this page.

Coastal Blue is a real nice teal. I think it's a nice representation of coastal waters off of a tropical island or some such. The flow is a little on the dry side, and it sometimes felt a little anemic from the nib I was using for it. That translates to good performance on bad papers like my 20lb copy paper.

Written Review

Close-Ups

No real water resistance on this ink. A coastal ink that should maybe stay away from the coast.

Chromatography

Copy Paper Test

This one is good for copy paper. Not many inks can resist bleeding through this terrible paper, but Coastal Blue stays on the side it belongs on.

Tomoe River Paper

Wheat Straw Paper

The Bottle

These bottle have the built-in inkwell that the old Sheaffer bottles had. It's a nice feature, though it's a little on the shallow side for some larger nibs. Unlike the Sailor bottle's plastic inkwell, the built-in Sheaffer version is off to the side so it doesn't get in the way if you'd rather not use it. And it will for sure help when the bottle gets low on ink.

I also want to point out that inner cap lining. It's a small thing, but I really like that the foam which seals the lid is secured to the lid, itself. It won't just stick to the top of the bottle if you haven't opened it in a while. Small things that make your life easier.

Comparable Colors

There are lots of colors in this space, but these were the closest I found.

Video Review on YouTube

**I bought these inks from Goldspot. My Patrons get a discount there, so become a Patron! **

Pilot has new inks! Along with, and separate from, the new additions to the Iroshizuku line of inks, Pilot has introduced three new pigmented inks under the "Tsuwario" name. These inks are advertised as being lightfast and water resistant. I haven't tested the lightfast-ness, but you'll see the water resistance in the images below. It's really impressive.

I first saw this ink on a PenAddict Twitch stream and the warnings on the ink's listing seemed pretty dire. They list pens, converters, and lacuqers that you shouldn't use with this ink. I can't think of any other fountain pen inks that have those kinds of warnings. Most inks just say to clean them more often. Or not to drink them. From the Stilo&Stile web page for this ink:

"Pilot does not recommend to use this ink with Urushi lacquered pens, Pilot Custom 823, Pilot Heritage 92 and Pilot Justus 95."

Those are pens with filling systems and nib units that are a bit more difficult to clean, so that makes sense if the ink is a bit high-maintenance. The bit about not using it in urushi pens, though, is odd. The ink mostly stays inside the pen, so I'm not sure how it would hurt those. Nonetheless, that's what they say.

Knowing that it might be troublesome, I put it in a pen with a very maintainable converter and nib unit situation. The Franklin-Christoph 55 is a great pen, and the JoWo nib unit can be taken apart if I really need to in order to clean it out. Fortunately, all I've seen is maybe just a little bit of a stain in the converter. The nib has never dried out. There's been zero clogging.

The color, flow, and performance is all good so far. I like it. Thanks for sending me a sample, Chad!

The Written Review