Sailor USA 50 States Florida ink is our next fountain pen ink up for review! Sailor started a new USA State series of inks in 2020, and Florida ink is one of their 2021 releases. Each of the inks in this series is a unique color attributable in some way to the State the ink is named after. Can you guess why Florida’s ink is a vivid orange?
All About the Ink Maker: Sailor
Sailor is a historic, respected Japanese pen company that has a following around the globe. They currently offer 6 different ink series that are available for sale in the USA (it used to be 7, but they discontinued their Jentle ink series recently):
All About the Ink Series: Sailor USA 50 States Ink Series
As we said previously, Sailor released the 1st inks in this ink series last year in 2020. They’ve been releasing a couple inks at a time and since it’s been a little while since we last reviewed a States ink…we’re now up to 10 states/colors in this ink series:
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Illinois
- New York
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Virginia
- Florida
The inks in the USA 50 States ink series come out randomly, they’re not in any geographical order or alphabetical order, so it creates a lot of anticipation to see what state is coming next that we think is a lot of fun.
If you’re interested in discovering more Sailor inks, don’t worry…Pen Chalet carries a full range of Sailor inks. Just visit PenChalet.com.
This Week’s Featured Ink: Sailor USA 50 States Florida Ink
When you think of Florida you think of Disney World, Spring Break, Beaches, Spring Training baseball and most likely…Oranges! Sailor US Florida ink is inspired by just that, its world famous oranges. Specifically the blood orange.
This Japanese-made ink is a nice bright vibrant orange color. Not too dark, nor a dusty orange but a true vivid orange color with medium saturation.
***In a rush? Experiencing a decided lack of patience? Not in the mood to read? Well, never fear, we’ll forgive you if you skip the full review and just jump directly to the bottom and enter to win the bottle of ink we used for this week’s ink review. But try to remember to come back and read the full ink review later!
It’s Time: Sailor USA 50 States Florida Ink Review
This week we put Sailor USA 50 States Florida fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. Get ready for all the details!
Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):
For our review of Sailor Florida ink we used a French made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on French made Rhodia dot pad paper. The dip pen has a tip similar to a medium-fine fountain pen nib.
Let’s Talk About the Sailor Florida Ink Bottle
Sailor USA 50 States ink comes in Sailor’s standard small square 20 ml. Sailor ink bottle (you may recognize them – they use them for their Shikiori inks, too). The inks have a nice presentation, the bottles are heavy weight and include a simple label that names the State inside there’s a nice “Florida” presentation card included. It’s a nice touch.
How Much Does Sailor USA 50 States Fountain Pen Ink Cost?
Sailor USA 50 States fountain pen ink is a higher-range priced ink (for the 20 ml quantity). Remember to check for the latest discount prices on your favorite pens and fountain pen inks at PenChalet.com.
How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?
We applied a one dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper (dipping the pen into the ink only one time). Sailor USA 50 States Florida ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with ink to spare. (One dip per writing sample: “S” “X” and scribble lines, seen above).
How Fast Does the Florida Ink Dry?
Sailor Florida had a quicker dry time than other Sailor State inks we’ve reviewed at approximately 6 seconds with medium saturation.
Does Sailor Florida Ink Bleed Through?
We saw no bleeding during normal use, and just a slight amount of bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (but only at the wettest points).
Was There Any Feathering While Using USA 50 States Florida Ink?
We saw no feathering during normal use, but some slight additional feathering during the water test.
How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?
Sailor Florida ink is not meant to be waterproof so the fact that we saw medium color smearing isn’t really a problem. The lines were still very legible; not a lot of distortion at all.
What About Shading Traits?
There wasn’t much shading that we noticed, the bright vivid orange is fairly consistent. You may produce a slight amount if you have a nib that will allow ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib.
Final Conclusion on this Week’s Featured Sailor Ink:
Sailor USA 50 States Florida fountain pen ink is a higher-range priced ink (for the 20 ml. ink bottle) made by a well regarded and historic Japanese pen and ink company. The nice, bright, true orange color is definitely a great reflection of the Florida orange that inspired the ink. This Sailor ink showed a very reasonable dry time, and is a high performance ink deemed safe for use with fountain pens. Part of a very collectible ink series, the Florida ink joins 9 other “states” inks in Sailor’s USA 50 States ink series. All 10 are currently still available for purchase. Happy Writing from Florida and Japan!
Enter to Win a Sailor USA 50 States Fountain Pen Ink:
Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor USA 50 States Florida fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:
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I have a few orange inks but still none that I really love. Maybe this one, we’ll have to see.
Love that hot FL orange!
I like the saturated look of the Florida. Oranges are often so washed out that I don’t enjoy writing with them.
Gorgeous color! It’s between Robert Oster Red Orange and Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki. Very tempting!
This ink looks super cool, so bright! Reminds me a bit of Fuyo-gaki
I’m ready to try it!
I love bright inks and this one makes me think of the warm weather that is coming.
I’m usually not into orange, but now I’m tempted to try this ink. What are some orange pens that would match this ink?
We just restocked the Leonardo Momento Zero Exclusives in orange/black: https://www.penchalet.com/fine_pens/fountain_pens/leonardo_exclusive_momento_zero_fountain_pen.html Or there’s a fantastic Opus 88 Jazz in orange if that’s more your style. It’s called Solid Orange: https://www.penchalet.com/fine_pens/fountain_pens/opus_88_jazz_fountain_pens.html Both are a fairly vivid orange that would go well with the ink!
Oooh! I have yet to try any of Sailor’s USA 50 States inks, but as a Florida resident, I *should* start with Florida’s orange!
A vibrant orange. I wonder if the respective colours is representative of each state?
I need more orange in my life!
That’s some pretty intense orange; I feel like the ink-droplets/splatter in the cover picture burned my eyes! Haha, awesome 😀
I agree with others. I’m not generally a fan of orange because I struggle to know what application it could have. I teach, so maybe I could use it to grade papers. What do you orange ink folks like to use it for? I’m interested.
I don’t have any orange inks yet. This one looks really interesting. I would really like to try it out.
Wow I love the color! My shaeffer and Lamy would love this color!