I was able to pick up the Sailor 2024 Pen Show Exclusive ink somewhere along the Pen Show Trail this year and finally had a moment to uncap and check out the color. The label suggested a yellow-undertone dark green so I was stoked to give it a try.
My initial swatch card was so dark — almost black with a slight green undertone. The swatch showed very little shading and no sheen.
So I decided to play with a brush and some other swatching tools to see some of the color depth.
With a Pilot Iro-Utsushi Dip Pen ($11), the color was much lighter with more of the green tones evident. With a paint brush, I was also able to see more of the color variation. The Kakimori dip pen (starting at $58) put down a lot more ink and was therefore very dark again.
I played more with a folded nib, eye dropper and the Kakimori and made some fun color marks and saw a lot more variety in this ink.
When compared with other inks, Diamine Salamander is probably the closest in color. The Sailor Jentle Miruai is more of a bluish-green. The other colors were lighter, more saturated greens.
Overall, the Sailor 2024 Pen Show Exclusive ink is a quite dark, dramatic ink. A lot of its most interesting characteristics are lost until water is added (like a water brush) or its used with a fine nib. There was not a lot of shading until it was used in a finer pen and no sheening on any of the papers I used.
So, if you didn’t make it to a pen show to grab a bottle of this ink, I don’t think you really missed anything. I may try to ink a pen with it and use it to see if I warm up to it but honestly, I am not crazy about this ink. Do you have a bottle? Do you like it?
Tools:
- Paper: Col-o-ring Folio ($40) & Elia Note Tomoe River A5 notebook (RM120.00 MYR) with 6mm guide sheet
- Pens: Pilot Iro-Utsushi Dip Pen ($11), Kakimori dip pen (starting at $58), Sailor Compass Hocoro 1.0mm ($16), Zebra G Dip Nib (10 for $10) & Tachikawa T40 Nib Holder ($8.25)
- Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
- Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
- Ink: Sailor 2024 Pen Show Exclusive (available at US Pen Shows only)
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I wasn’t wild about this ink either. I tried a little which they had loaded in a Tuzu at the St. Louis show. Just fell a bit flat for me.
I have a bottle of Sailor 2023. Overall it has been nice to use.
I would have loved to get this ink – it looks like my style.
But every time i go to a pen show, the pen show inks run out. It’s one of the main reasons I haven’t been going to pen shows anymore. I’m tired of feeling that disappointment.