This week’s ink review and giveaway features an ink from Sailor’s USA 50 State Series: Colorado fountain pen ink. You may have noticed that during the last few weeks, we’ve been indulging in a bit of purple ink mania, but you’ll also see that each of the featured purple fountain pen inks offered very different traits and unique colors. In our Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple ink review, we enjoyed a light purple ink color with distinctive pink hues. With Twsbi 1791 Purple ink, we saw a bright, vibrant purple. The Penlux Mo Plum fountain pen ink offered us a deep, dark, ripe plum color. And with Van Dieman’s Tasmania Vine Purple ink, we veered toward dark and dusty purple.

This week’s featured ink is from the new Sailor USA 50 State ink series. Inks in Sailor’s 50 states ink series are inspired by and named after each of the 50 states in the USA. Colorado fountain pen ink is one of the first two inks Sailor released from the 50 states ink series (alongside the previously reviewed California fountain pen ink). You can find it in stock now at PenChalet.com (in limited supply).

All About the Ink Maker: Sailor

Most of us already know and love Sailor. Some particularly enjoy Sailor’s wide variety of ink colors (over 68 different fountain pen ink colors). Others appreciate to Sailor’s ITF Technology (European Ink Treatment Formula). ITF technology means a significant improvement in ink flow quality, the ability to leave an inked fountain pen uncapped longer without the pen drying out, and protection against clogging since the ITF technology lubricates the pen’s feeding system.
For this week’s ink review and giveaway, we’ll focus on another ink from Sailor’s USA 50 State Series. The 50 States series is one of 6 Sailor Ink Series available in the USA:

• USA 50 States Ink Series
• Manyo Ink Series
• Jentle Ink Series
• Basic Ink Series
• Shikiori Ink Series
• Pigmented Ink Series
• Highlighter Ink (part of the Jentle Series)

All About the Ink Series: Sailor USA 50 State Ink Series

This week’s ink, Sailor Colorado fountain pen ink, is one of 2 new inks in the USA 50 States ink series. Inks in the USA 50 States ink series are made in Japan, and each presents a unique color attributable to the state serving as the ink’s namesake. Sailor’s USA 50 State ink series includes:

• Colorado (this week’s featured ink)
• California

And, of course, 48 more inks coming soon for the other 48 states in the USA. Pen Chalet is a proud, authorized retailer of Sailor products with a full range of Sailor fountain pens and fountain pen inks. Find your next Sailor product at Pen Chalet. This week’s featured fountain pen ink, Sailor Colorado ink from the USA 50 States ink series, is in stock now at Pen Chalet in limited supply!

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Sailor Colorado Ink

Sailor’s Colorado ink is part of Sailor’s USA 50 States ink series. Colorado fountain pen ink is a deep, very dark purple color (not dusty, but intense, dark purple) reminiscent of Colorado’s majestic Rocky Mountains. Colorado ink shows up well with medium to high saturation.

*** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for a chance to win the bottle of Sailor Colorado fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (Or if patience is not one of your virtues, scroll down to the bottom. You’ll find the link to enter this week’s giveaway. We won’t even be disappointed in your behavior. Not very disappointed anyway).

Read the full Sailor US 50 States Colorado Ink Review.

It’s Time: Sailor USA 50 States Colorado Ink Review

This week we got up close and personal with Colorado ink from Sailor’s USA 50 States ink series. You’ll find that we ran all our regular tests and gathered all the details you’ll need to decide if this is an ink you need to add to your collection. Keep reading to get the full ink review.

Ink Review Testing Factors (because we’re very scientific):

This week we reviewed Sailor Colorado fountain pen ink. While completing the review, we used a J Herbin spiral glass dip pen (which has a tip similar to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on French-made Rhodia dot pad paper. We list products we used during our weekly ink reviews here because different papers and nib sizes may produce different results. Remember that as you consider our discussion and the conclusions we draw about this week’s fountain pen ink.

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Sailor Use?

Sailor US Colorado ink comes in the standard small, square 20 ml. Sailor ink bottle used for Sailor’s Shikiori inks. The packaging offers a nice presentation with a heavy weighted ink bottle, including a simple label that names the state and shows the ink color.

How Much Does Sailor Colorado Ink Cost?

Sailor Colorado ink is a higher-end priced ink considering that it comes in a 20 ml. bottle. If you’re looking for a better price on this high quality, fountain pen ink, consider checking out the discounted pricing available at Pen Chalet.

How Did Colorado Ink Respond During the 1 Dip Test?

We put Sailor’s Colorado fountain pen ink to the test with our newest standard review test: the 1 Dip Test. We use this test to see how far one dip can write on paper (dipping the pen in ink only once). Sailor’s Colorado ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with ink to spare. (We used one dip per writing sample). Writing samples included: S, X, and scribble lines (see the photograph of the samples above).

How Fast Does Sailor Colorado Ink Dry?

Sailor Colorado fountain pen ink had a very quick dry time – much faster than the previously reviewed ink from the same USA 50 States ink series, California ink. (Sailor USA 50 States California ink had a dry time over 15 seconds). This week’s ink, Sailor US Colorado ink, had a dry time of about 5-6 seconds with medium to high saturation, making it an excellent choice for everyday us.

Does Sailor Colorado Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Sailor’s Colorado fountain pen ink. We noticed only a slight amount of bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (at the wettest points).

Was There Any Feathering?

We saw no feathering during normal use and some slight additional feathering during the water test.

How Does Sailor Colorado Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not waterproof, but we always complete a water test anyway. Our weekly ink review’s water test consists of letting the ink sample dry for about three minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. During the water test of Sailor’s Colorado ink, we saw heavy color smearing only, which is typical for a dark ink color. The lines were legible, but there was some slight distortion.

Does Colorado Fountain Pen Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

With Sailor US Colorado ink, there’s not a lot of shading. The lines are pretty consistent thought without a lot of shading. We saw a very dark medium to high saturation produce little shading traits.

Final Conclusion on Sailor US Colorado Ink:

This week’s high-performance fountain pen ink is a higher range priced fountain pen ink by well-known Sailor Pen Company. Safe for use with all fountain pens, Sailor Colorado ink is one of the first two ink colors released in the company’s USA 50 States ink series. Inks in Sailor’s USA 50 States ink series come in small, square, 20 ml. ink bottles. Inspired by Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, Sailor Colorado ink is a dark, vivid purple color with a quick dry time (5-6 seconds).
This collectible ink is one of only two that Sailor released so far in their USA 50 States ink series. Inks in this series are bound to become hard to find collector’s items, so if you’re a collector – or just the type that needs to have the complete set if you’re going to have a piece – start now so you can eventually include all 50 states in your fountain pen ink collection.
Happy writing from Japan (and Colorado)!

Enter to Win:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor Colorado Ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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