This week’s featured ink is Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink. Right now, we’re in the middle of winter, but spring is on the horizon! Which means it’s almost time for cherry trees to blossom. If you’ve never had the pleasure to see a grove of cherry trees blossoming in spring, you should just trust me when I say that it is a sight to behold! (And you should attempt to experience it for yourself if at all possible). So, this week we’re looking ahead to celebrate the coming of Spring (annually kicked off the amazing beauty of cherry trees in blossom from Washington D.C. to Tokyo, Japan) by reviewing Sailor’s Sakura-Mori (cherry blossom) from the Shikiori ink series.

Fans of the “Four Seasons” inks who prefer the larger bottles of the Jentle ink series can still find some at Pen Chalet, but once the Four Seasons inks in the larger Jentle ink series bottles are gone from inventory, they’re gone for good.

If you aren’t already a fan of Sailor’s Shikiori ink series or this week’s featured ink, Sakura-Mori, you just might be by the time you read this week’s full ink review. You’ll get all the details you need to make a good choice about your next ink purchase and, as always, you’ll get a chance to enter to win the bottle of ink used for this week’s fountain pen ink review!

All About the Ink Maker: Sailor

Founder of the Sailor pen and ink company, Mr. Kyugoro Sakata, found his inspiration in 1911. Sakata was an engineer from the historic naval port of Hiroshima when a sailor friend introduced him to a fountain pen brought over from England. Sakata was fascinated. Determined to create similarly fine writing instruments in Japan, Sakata created the Sailor Pen company as he expected the business to expand internationally like the voyages of a sailor. Sailor was the first to produce fountain pens in Japan and is one of the oldest fine writing instrument manufacturers in the industry.

Many fountain pen enthusiasts turn to Sailor Pen Company for finely crafted, Japanese-made writing instruments with the highest specification and writing performance. In more recent years, the company branched out to include fountain pen ink. They quickly became a standard in the industry for ink in addition to exceptional pens embracing both design and function.

All About the Ink Series: Sailor Shikiori Ink Series

During the last few years, Sailor has been reinventing its inks. The Sailor “Four Seasons” ink collection was originally released in the Sailor Jentle ink series, but they recently switched the “Four Seasons” ink colors from the Jentle ink series to the newer Shikiori link of inks (including the new, smaller bottle for the Sailor Shikiori ink series).

Sailor’s Shikiori ink series (meaning “four seasons” in Japanese) now includes 16 “new” inks first released in 2010 as seasonal inks under the Jentle ink series. The re-release came with a new label, Izayoi-no Yume (“sixteen nights”) and a new presentation. Shikiori inks come in 20 ml ink bottles. (The inks were released in 50 ml ink bottles under the Jentle ink series). For the moment, the 20ml Shikiori inks and the previously released 50 ml Jentle inks coexist on retailers’ shelves, but once Jentle inventories run out, they won’t be restocked.

Sailor’s Shikiori Four Seasons ink series is inspired by the company’s Four Seasons collection and all inks in the series are water-based dye inks made in Hiroshima, Japan. Look for the following 11 Sailor Shikiori Four Seasons ink colors available at Pen Chalet: DoYou, Miruai, Nioi Sumire, Sakuramori, Shimoyo Frosty Winter Night, Souten, Waka Uguisu, Yama-Dori, Yodaki Summer Night Bonfire, Yonaga Long Autumn Evening, and Yozakura Evening Spring Cherry Blossom.

Pen Chalet is a proud, authorized retailer of all Sailor products, including the Jentle ink series, the basic ink series, the Shikiori Four Seasons ink series, pigmented inks, Jentle highlighter fountain pen inks, Sailor Manyo ink series, and Sailor fine writing instruments. Find your next Sailor product at Pen Chalet.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink

Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink is beautiful, light and refreshing. The light, dusty pink color reflects the color of Cherry Trees blossoming and is completely reminiscent of spring. Sakura-Mori ink shows up very dark on paper and while we wouldn’t describe it as an everyday use ink, it is perfect for certain projects, notes, and letters.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for a chance to win the bottle of Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (Or if you’re still cultivating the art of patience, scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the link to enter this week’s giveaway).

It’s Time: Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink Review

Are you ready for this week’s ink review? Let’s dive in to all the little details that will help you decide if Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori ink is needed in your fountain pen ink collection.

Sailor inks are always a hit – because you can count on them to be high quality and versatile. We are Sailor fans, but we want you to know, we didn’t cut them any slack during this week’s ink review. We ran this week’s ink through all the same tests we run every week. Read the full review of this week’s featured Sailor ink below!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

We do a new fountain pen ink review every week – so it’s safe to say that we’ve done this a lot. And it became obvious in the early stages of our fountain pen ink experimentation that when you’re measuring or gauging fountain pen ink performance, the materials you’re using to conduct your tests make a big difference. So you can depend on us always listing the products we use each week during the ink review right here.

While reviewing Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink, we used a J Herbin spiral glass dip pen (which has a tip similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. Always remember that different papers and nib sizes may produce different results.

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Sailor Use?

Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori ink comes in Sailor’s new, Shikiori heavy-weighted (but smaller) 20 ml bottle. The bottle is display quality and the label and packaging for the Shikiori line is simple and elegant. Packaging for Shikiori ink products also contain ink color stickers for your converter.

How Much Does Sailor Shikiori Ink Cost?

Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori ink is more expensive per ml than other Sailor inks, but we’d still classify it as a mid-range priced ink (due to the smaller bottle size). If you’re interested in value pricing, check the current discount pricing at Pen Chalet.

How Fast Does Sailor Sakura-Mori Ink Dry?

Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink had a fast dry time of approximately 4-5 seconds; quick enough for most projects. (At Pen Chalet, we generally consider any dry time under 10 seconds to be reasonably fast, and appropriate for daily use).

Does Sailor Sakura-Mori Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Sakura-Mori fountain pen ink, and only very slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (at the most saturated points, which were really wet).

Was There Any Feathering While Using Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use, and almost zero feathering during the water test.

How Does Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not listed as a waterproof fountain pen ink, but we always include a water test in the review. (For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). During the water test of Shikiori Sakura-Mori ink, we saw very slight color smearing; the light color of the ink is helpful. The lines were still very legible. While this ink is not waterproof, it came close. There was some slight color smear and line removal at the wettest point of the test.

Does Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

There are possible shading traits with Sakura-Mori ink if using a nib that allows ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib.

Final Conclusion on Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori Ink:

This week’s fountain pen ink is a creation of Sailor Pen Company, known worldwide for its fine writing instruments. The company has more recently become known far and wide for producing highly functional inks at a low cost. Sailor ink fans will appreciate the gorgeous, spring color of this week’s featured ink, Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori ink. Pen Chalet carries 11 different colors from the high performance, mid-range priced Shikiori ink series. Shikiori inks come in a 20 ml display quality bottle, have a very fast dry time, and are easy to clean and use. Happy writing from Japan!

Enter to Win:

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

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