Shu-Jen Lin is the brand manager for Taccia at Itoya USA. She has been a fixture at pen shows and in-store events across the country for who knows how many years. Taccia has always been a more moderately priced brand, but as of late Shu-Jen has started ramping this up quite a bit with a collection of some really higher end Maki-e pens. More on those another time. Today I’m writing about a new collection of Taccia fountain pen inks. Shu-Jen introduced them back in August at the DC Pen Show. Taccia and Nakabayashi (one of Japan’s largest office product companies) joined forces to create this amazing collection of 13 different ink colors. All these Taccia fountain pen inks come in a very elegant glass bottle with a highly polished cap. Its 40ml size ensures you’ll have an ample supply, but won’t have to make a long term commitment like with other inks coming in 50-80ml sizes. As one might expect we have the standard blues, blacks, reds, and greens but things do get better from there.
緑, Midori, Green. I would compare to a very rich and dark Sherwood green. Nothing light about this ink. 40ml
青, Ao, Blue. I’m a blue guy, using blue ink most often. A true description in the name. This ink is a classic Royal Blue with no hint of greens or turquoise. 40ml bottle
空, Sora, Sky. In Japanese. The description says it all. A light blue leaning in the turquoise direction, but darker than your traditional turquoise. 40ml bottle.
黒, Kuro, Black. That’s what this ink is – dark and pure black as night. Excellent coverage and density. 40ml 5 Stars
エビ, Ebi, Shrimp. While “shrimp” is not a color, this one will be the star color for the Taccia fountain pen ink collection, as early sales show. This intense dark red/purple is truly a unique color. Rich and royal qualities. 40ml (don’t drink it) 5 stars
土, Tsuchi, Soil. Rich golden brown. This ink will be perfect on cream colored Pineider stationery.
赤, Aka, Red, This Taccia fountain pen ink is a brighter red for sure. Kind of like the lighter, brilliant red that a fish might have. 40mL
もも, Momo, Peaches. not sure how they got this one, but if you’re looking for hot pink here is your color. Perfect to highlight in your Rhodia Goalbook. 40ml
代々, Daidai, For Generations. I’ll call this one orange unless Google translate is off a bit. I’ll give this a more accurate name and call it Blood Orange. This ink has a strong red overtone which makes this a unique orange a must have. 40ml.
青黒, Aoguro, Blue/Black. Now that makes more sense. True to it’s name we present this blue/black, not grey or some off color this ink BB ink echoes a dark mysterious blue with enough black to allow the blue to come through.
紫, Murasaki, Purple, A hard color to please folks with as there are so many variations (just ask the folks at Monteverde). What we have here is the success of communication not the lack of. This Purple reigns in depth and darkness to give the writer a pure and rich purple color. 5 stars 40ml.
うぐいす, Uguisu, To Sleep (?), Not getting this one either, Google. This one is a dark olive green but not as dark as Midori. I also would not say light green as there is a gritty olive look to it. 40ml 3stars
茶, Cha, Tea Brown, A reddish-brown beautiful color, as this is not a black-brown. This one has depth and a tint of red to bring out a brown color that others can’t come close to. 40ml 5 stars
