Taccia introduced its own line of inks at the San Francisco Pen Show. The full line includes 13 colors in 40ml glass bottles. The bottles looked like slightly taller versions of the Sailor (more like the Storia bottles but not frosted) The colors are a good range of colors (black, blue, red, orange, green) plus colors unique to Japanese aesthetics like the Tsuchi (golden wheat), Uguisa (olive-green) and Momo (day-glo pink). The MSRP for these inks is currently at $15 per bottle (according to Pen World magazine) but I’m not sure exactly where retailers will end up pricing them. Anything under $20 per bottle seems fair to me but we will see where vendors land.
I had the opportunity to test four of the 13 colors. I only received samples so I don’t have pretty bottles or packaging to show off. I received Momo (pink), Ebi (red-purple), Aogura (blue-black) and Uguisa (olive-green). All four colors were vivid, vibrant and saturated. They had nice flow for my samples and showed a decent range of shading.
(From top to bottom: Taccia Momo, Pilot Iroshizuku Kosumosu, Krishna Bauhima, Colorverse x Opus88 Girls Just Wanna)
Momo is absolutely eye searing. Just when I thought that Colorverse Girls Just Wanna was the brightest pink I had seen yet, Taccia looks to have raised the bar again. Momo has a distinctive gold sheen without any evidence of actual gold particles like Lamy used with its Vibrant Pink this year so its unlikely to clog your pen or crust.
From top to bottom: Colorverse 41 Albert, Taccia Uguisa, Diamine Light Green, Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku Rin, Colorverse x Opus88 39 Supernatural, Diamine Calligraphy Passion Ink)
Taccia Uguisa is definitely a deeper olive green than the inks I compared it to here but I am still working my way through swatching all my inks on Col-o-dex cards. I suspect its closer to some of the greens from Sailor like Waka-Uguisa which I am in the process of swatching. At least these swatches give you an idea of the depth of the color. There doesn’t appear to be any sheen with Uguisa but it looks like there is definitely some shading possibilities.
(From top to bottom: Diamine 150 Years 1864 Blue Black, Taccia Aogura, J. Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs, Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun)
I was able to find several blue blacks in my swatches similar to Taccia Aogura but not exactly the same. I’d say Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun is probably closest in hue and shading properties on first inspection. Diamine 150 Years Blue Black is much more indigo and the new J. Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs is more bright blue, just to give you an idea where Aogura stands in the spectrum of blue-blacks. (Does anyone else see a face in my swab?)
(From top to bottom: Callifolio Grenat, Taccia Ebi, Robert Oster Hippo Purple, Birmingham Pen Co. Ebenezer Penny Carmine, Monteverde Mercury Noir)
There is a huge range of burgundy/ruby reds so I thought I’d show where Taccis Ebi fell in the range. It’s the second swatch from the top and looks more rusty next to a lot of these other swatches which is surprising because in person its actually quite a wine reddish purple. And there’s even some sheen there. Clearly, YMMV. But Grenat is definitely more pinky and other colors were more red or brown so this will definitely give you a range.
Overall, the Taccia inks look great and I look forward to buying a whole bottle of several colors. I’ll definitely let you know when they are available with retailers. Thanks to Vanness Pen Shop for sharing their samples.
TOOLS
- Pens: Acrylic Dip Pen (similar models from Ebay starting at $18.03), Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack)
- Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Cards ($10) and Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
- Brush: Blick #0 Synthetic Studio Round Brush
($4.05)
($4.05)DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided free of charge by for the purpose of review by Taccia and Vanness Pen Shop.
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Great review and lovely inks. I love the pink Momo and the blue-black Aogura.