Sailor Shikiori Yonaga Ink is one of the 4 new Shikiori ink colors released by the Sailor pen company this year. Other Shikoiri colors include Yodaki, Shimoyo and Yozakura. Part of Sailor’s Four Season line of ink, the Shikoiri ink colors come in a new smaller bottle design than the original Sailor Jentle Four Seasons ink. However, if the rumors hold true, Sailor may be changing all of their inks to the new Sailor Shikiori packaging, size and price point.
Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink (Long Autumn Evening) has a nice saturation level as a water-based dye ink and has been well regarded. It is a deep dark blue color, almost a blue-black. The darker tones come out in the heavy flow spots. The dark blue is combined with the dark purple sheen, which is apparent as well at times. Yonaga ink writes dark and would be well regarded in most settings, home or office.
Continuing reading for a chance to win the bottle of Sailor Shikiori Yonaga Ink we used for this review.
Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink
During our review of Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink we found the following characteristics that you may find useful:
Testing Factors
We used a French made J. Herbin glass spiral dip pen for our review of Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink on Rhodia dot pad paper. The glass dip pen has a tip that is similar to a fine fountain pen nib.
Bottle Sizes
One of the main changes with the new Four Season’s Sailor Shikiori ink line is the new Sailor 20 ml. glass bottle. The bottle itself is fantastic. Designed like a small inkwell with an easy to grip large lid. The transparent bottle is heavy weighted and display worthy.
Cost
With the new smaller bottle, Sailor has increased the price of the Four Season inks per milliliter and the new Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink retails for $15.00 per 20 ml. bottle. The original Four Season Sailor ink colors are still available in the larger 50 ml. glass bottles for a reduced price per milliliter.
Dry Time
Sailor inks have been well regarded in the ink and pen community for their nice flow, easy to clean and use, and fantastic colors. Being a high saturated ink, we found a dry time while testing Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink at approximately 9-10 seconds, which is a bit longer than most Sailor inks.
Bleed Through
As with most other Sailor inks, Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink performs superbly in the no bleeding department, at least on Rhodia paper. We found zero bleeding during our review of Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink. Even during the cotton swab ink test, where an ink soaked cotton swab is placed on paper failed to produce any bleeding.
Feathering
During normal use, we found no ink feathering while testing Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink. All lines remained true, crisp and distinct. Even during the water test there was only slight feathering and the lines remained pretty true.
Water Test
During the water test we ran a water soaked cotton swab over a dried ink sample and found typical results for a non-waterproof ink. There was significant color smearing due to the dark color, but very little feathering and no additional bleeding. This non-waterproof ink held up fairly well under the water test.
Shading
Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink goes on dark with a medium saturation, which means that there may be less room for shading. You may be able to produce some shading with from medium blue to the dark wet lines with a possible touch of deep purple sheen.
Conclusion about the Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink
Sailor Shikiori Yonaga ink is a nice dark blue or blue-black addition to the Sailor Four Season line of inks. The new bottle is fantastic although the size and shape is not as appealing as the regular 50 ml. bottles, but we probably just need to get used to this new size. The dry time is a little long due to the dark saturation of this ink, but still usable as an every day ink. Because it is a Sailor ink you know it will perform well.
Stay tuned to our Blog for additional news about the remaining Sailor Four Season inks and what may lie in store for them. Happy Writing from Japan!
Enter to Win the Sailor Shikiori Yonaga Ink
Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor Shikiori Yonaga Ink that we used in this ink review:
