Are you familiar with Sailor inks? If so, you may have heard of the Sailor USA 50 States ink series. We’ve selected one of these 20ml inks to feature today. Read on to see the results from the Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana ink review.
As usual, we used a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. (Remember as you read this review that different papers or different nib sizes may produce different results!)
All About the Ink Maker: Sailor
If you aren’t familiar with Sailor Pens, we’re very surprised you’ve made it all the way to our Fountain Pen blog without exposure to one of their pens or inks. Sailor is a popular and trusted manufacturer with a great reputation. They make more than 68 different fountain pen ink colors. Their use of ITF Technololgy (European Ink Treatment Formula) offers improved ink flow. (Inks created using ITF Technology allow fountain pen users to leave their pen uncapped for longer without ending up with a dried out nib, and the ink itself acts as a lubricant for the feeding system to avoid clogging). In early 2020, Sailor released the first two inks in their USA 50 States Ink Series. Since that time, they’ve added several more. This week, we’ll be getting up close and personal with Sailor’s Louisiana fountain pen ink.All About This Week’s Ink Series: USA 50 States Ink Series
This week’s ink, Sailor Louisiana fountain pen ink, is one of 20 inks currently available in the Sailor USA 50 States ink series. Sailor USA 50 States inks are made in Japan, and each ink’s color is inspired by and intended to represent the state it is named after. Sailor’s USA 50 State ink series currently includes:- Alaska
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana Ink
Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana ink is one of the newest releases in Sailor’s USA 50 States ink series. Sailor USA Louisiana ink is inspired by the state’s world-famous Mardi Gras vibrant celebration traditionally overflowing with gold, green and purple. It’s only fitting considering the inspiration, that Sailor Louisiana ink is a bright, vibrant purple color (with medium saturation). ***Wondering where to find the giveaway for the inks in our weekly ink reviews? We used to run a weekly giveaway featuring each week’s ink, but now we have a monthly giveaway day that includes the inks featured in past reviews! ALL of the inks featured in our weekly ink reviews are listed as giveaway prizes during 15 on the 15th: GIVEAWAY DAY with Pen Chalet.It’s Time: Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana Ink Review
For this Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana ink review, we put this vibrant purple ink through our standard ink review tests. The ink review results should give you a better idea of just what you could expect if you decided to add this ink to your collection.Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):
Read the full Sailor USA 50 States Louisiana ink review results.
What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Sailor Use for USA 50 States Inks?
Sailor US Louisiana ink comes in the standard small square 20 ml. Sailor ink bottle used for its Shikiori inks. The inks have a nice presentation, the bottle is heavy weighted with a simple label that names the State and tucked inside the cardboard box alongisde the glass ink bottle is a small presentation card designatig the state name along with a small snippet explaining the inspiration behind the ink color. This week’s ink included a card reading, “Louisiana” followed by the image of a traditional jester’s hat in purple and white and topped with bells and “Sailor’s Louisiana ink is inspired by the yearly celebration of Mardi Gras, where festivity fills the streets in gold, green, and vibrant violet colors.” The card also features the ink color bording the top and bottom along with the Sailor logo at the bottom.How Much Do Inks in Sailor’s USA 50 States Collection Cost?
Sailor USA 50 States inks are a higher priced ink when you consider the 20ml quantity. Look for the current sale price at PenChalet.com.How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?
We use the 1-dip test to see how far one dip can write on paper (dipping the pen into the ink only once). Sailor Louisiana ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with ink to spare. (Using only one dip per writing sample “S” “X” and scribble lines, see the image above).How Fast Does Sailor Louisiana Ink Dry?
During our ink review, Sailor Louisiana fountain pen ink showed a dry time of approximately 6-7 seconds with medium saturation, which is a very reasonable dry time, and acceptable for an everyday ink.Does This Week’s Fountain Pen Ink Bleed Through?
We saw no bleeding during normal use on Rhodia dot pad paper. However, there was a slight amount of bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (but only at the wettest points).Was There Any Feathering During the Louisiana Ink Review?
We saw no feathering during normal use, and only very slight feathering during the water test.How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?
Sailor Louisiana ink is not meant to be waterproof, but we put it to the test anyway. For the water test we let our ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before we run a wet cotton swab over the sample to observe the effect. Here are the results we saw during today’s review:- light color smearing
- lines still very legible
- not a lot of distortion at all
