Taccia Daidai Orange Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Taccia may have entered the ink game a bit late, but they already have a good sense of what they're doing. Taccia inks are made in Japan and feature a bottle design that is very reminiscent of Sailor bottles. The ink names are all Japanese and center around the primary colors that generate joy and spark imagination. The color I'm reviewing today is Daidai orange, and it is lovely.

Daidai orange is a fairly standard bright orange. There aren't many hints of red, yellow, or brown in this variant, and it just screams on the page. I can't help but smile when writing with this ink, and I find myself scribbling and filling in more areas with ink just to see more of the color.

Another thing I love about this ink is the level of shading it exhibits. While the main color is a tangerine orange color, it can also lighten up a bit in the shallow strokes. It's definitely still orange, but noticeably lighter. Either way, the level of variance is what makes this ink just a touch more special than a typical bright orange ink. The shading really adds the spark and makes it a great choice for any orange lover.

One thing that I haven't enjoyed so much about this ink is the dry times. It is a slow dryer. Even when writing fairly lightly and using as little ink as possible, it takes upwards of twenty seconds for the ink to fully dry. While this isn't unheard of and certainly well within accepted metrics, it's also a bit of a bummer. In a perfect world, inks would always dry in a couple of seconds, but that's not the physical world we live in.

Writing with this ink has been fantastic in a number of pens. It flows smoothly and makes dry nibs feel a tad wetter and smoother when writing. The lubrication quality is good but not overdone, and I haven't had any issues with this ink clogging up or drying out my nibs. According to Taccia, the ink is pH neutral, which means it should play nice with any pen you put it in. Inks and pen materials can sometimes react poorly, but that's rarely the case with a neutral ink like this one. And, almost as important as not ruining your pen, this ink also washes out of your nib, feed, and converters with ease.

I've used this ink with several different nibs, ranging from EF to a soft gold medium, and I haven't seen any issues with feathering or bleeding. The ink stays within the nib tracks very well. Being an orange, it also doesn't show through on the back side of the page very well. It's such a well-behaved ink!

Taccia Daidai orange is available in a 40ml bottle for just $12. Based on my experience with the ink, this is a steal. It's a well-behaved ink with plenty of character and depth, and 40ml is a good size for a bottle of good ink. But, if you don't want to commit to the whole bottle, you can also pick up a 4ml sample. I plan to try out several other Taccia inks, and I'm hopeful that they all share the same level of quality and craftsmanship as Daidai. If that's the case, this is a fantastic value with plenty of great color options to keep everyone happy.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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KWZ Standard Walks Over Vistula Ink: A Review

Vistula River (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I can’t believe that I haven’t reviewed another KWZ ink since I did my KWZ Honey review in . . . 2016! I clearly need to add to my KWZ ink collection, and Walks over Vistula is definitely one that deserves a spot.

The Vistula is the longest river in Poland. This photograph from Wikimedia Commons depicts the beauty of the river.

The ink nicely captures the blues of the river. I can’t decide whether this is a blue ink or a turquoise ink. It’s sort of in between, and it most closely matches other inks that I’ve classified as turquoise. So, I’ll call it a deep turquoise.

You can see from my Col-o-dex card swab, that the color definitely leans toward turquoise. But, more important for sheen lovers is the burgundy/pink sheen. You can see it most clearly in the close up of the swirls and splats.

In my ink testing on Rhodia paper, there isn’t much evidence of sheen (but that’s due to the paper rather than the ink). Even without sheen the color is a gorgeous dark turquoise. It’s highly saturated and very wet. It is not a waterproof ink.

Walks over Vistula looks terrific in fine, medium, and broad nibs, and you won’t have any trouble with flow since it’s such a wet ink.

This is one ink that chromatography does not show off very well. It’s mostly comprised of a light lavender/gray with dark turquoise.

My Handwritmic ruling pen demonstrates all the wonderful characteristics of this ink. It has good shading from lighter to darker turquoise. Where the ink pools, you get lovely purplish sheen. It’s interesting how the MD Cotton paper brings out a different sheen color than the Col-o-dex card.

I compared Walks over Vistula with some other turquoise/blue inks. I expected it to be very similar to Sailor Yama Dori. But in actuality, it is much closer to Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue, including the burgundy sheen, and J. Herbin Kyanite du Népal (without the silver shimmer, of course). Yama Dori is much greener.

You can purchase KWZ Walks over Vistula from Vanness Pens. 4ml samples are $2.50 and a 30ml bottle is $15.00.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Lamy Crystal Agate Ink: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Lamy Crystal Ink line is named after various gemstones and includes eight colors: Agate, Azurite, Beryl, Obsidian, Peridot, Rhodonite, Ruby, and Topaz.

Lamy Crystal inks come in beautiful triangular-shaped bottles with silver caps. The bottles are deep enough that you can get a good fill even with large nibs.

I tested Lamy Crystal Agate on Rhodia Dot paper using Lamy Vistas in various nib sizes. Agate is a gray color that leans toward the green side of gray (unfortunately, I couldn’t capture the green cast to the ink in my photos). It’s fairly light when using fine, medium, and even broad nibs though in swabs it ranges from medium to dark. It’s a dry ink, and it is not waterproof.

On a Col-o-dex card with a dip pen, the ink is much darker, though it does not have much, if any, shading and has absolutely no sheen.

Chromatography reveals a good amount of gray, some lavender, and a tiny hint of blue and yellow. However, despite these other colors, Lamy Agate is a rather flat gray.

In a super wide nib (Handwritmic Ruling Pen), the ink has some shading, especially where it pooled, but, again, no sheen.

I am unimpressed with Lamy Crystal Agate. It’s a bland gray with a hint of green. It lacks any characteristics that might set it apart, such as excellent shading, sheen, or color variations. I reviewed several gray inks here, and I recommend Papier Plume Oyster with its beautiful blue-grey tones and nice shading and Kobe #10 Mikage Grey with its deep purple-grey hue, excellent shading, and sheen.

If you want a basic gray ink and don’t mind the green cast, Lamy Crystal Agate is available for purchase from Vanness Pens $16.00 for a 30ml bottle (and, if you hurry, it’s currently on sale for $14.00).

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)