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migo984
April 28th, 2015, 06:34 PM
Hi All

I have a few unusual and/or hard-to-obtain inks and I'd like to offer the opportunity to a fellow Geek to try a couple of them.

I'm offering a choice of 2 samples from the following:

Blackstone Blue.
An Australian ink. I'm very impressed with its performance, colour and ease of cleaning.

Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Midori (Jade)
One of the bespoke inks made by Sailor for Maruzen. Only 200 bottles of this ink were made available.

Sailor Stationery Box Blue
An ink only supplied with the special edition Sailor Pro Gear Realo demonstrator Naginata-Togi, made for Shuumi bungu no Hako (Stationery Box) magazine in Japan.

Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Kirin
Another one of the Maruzen inks, limited to 200 bottles

Joyful-2 Purple Heart
A bespoke Sailor ink made for Joyful Honda in Japan. A beautiful subtle purple.

Pen and Message Cigar
A Sailor ink, much sought after by fans of complex, smokey grey/brown inks. The latest release of Cigar sold out in less than 4 days. Incredibly difficult to photograph accurately due to its seemingly ever-changing colour!

All the Sailor inks above have lovely sheen, if that's your thing. The attached photo is fairly close to how I see the colours IRL. They are actually slightly richer in tone.

If you'd like 2 samples of your choice, please reply in this thread, stating which 2 inks you'd like.

I'll close this PIF at 7pm (Australian EST) which is 10am British Summer Time, on Tues 5th May. Winner to be drawn at random from entries I put into the electronic hat. I'll post world-wide at my expense, but delivery may take a while as I'm currently staying in Australia.

migo984

Lady Onogaro
April 28th, 2015, 07:31 PM
Migo,

I would love to try Joyful-2 and Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Kirin (if I win the PIF). Thanks for the PIF!

(But I would not mind the Sailor Stationery Box Blue or the Blackstone Blue at all.)

wangminze
April 29th, 2015, 02:23 AM
I'd like to try for Stationary Box Blue and Purple Heart. Thanks!

akapulko2020
April 29th, 2015, 03:05 AM
I would love to sample the Pen and Message Sigar ink & the Maruzen Kirin ones. Thanks for an awesome PIF.

Empty_of_Clouds
April 29th, 2015, 03:48 AM
Pen & Message Cigar and Maruzen Athena Kirin would be my choices. Having said that though, if there are more entrants than samples please remove my name from the list. And finally, I have been searching the internet for Maruzen Athena inks but have had no luck in finding a supplier - perhaps my Google-Fu is not up to scratch these days. Anyway, if anyone has a link to an online supplier I would really appreciate it.

migo984
April 29th, 2015, 04:09 AM
Pen & Message Cigar and Maruzen Athena Kirin would be my choices. Having said that though, if there are more entrants than samples please remove my name from the list. And finally, I have been searching the internet for Maruzen Athena inks but have had no luck in finding a supplier - perhaps my Google-Fu is not up to scratch these days. Anyway, if anyone has a link to an online supplier I would really appreciate it.

You could ask Atsu Tanaka to obtain for you. PM me for his email address. He can get the standard Maruzen inks on your behalf, but they aren't cheap. Their Eternal Blue is wonderful (sadly I had to leave my bottle at home) as is Sepia. The Nihombashi inks in my PIF are sold out.

By the way, I'm putting your name into the hat for this PIF irrespective of how many enter. No arguments now Hehe :-)

Empty_of_Clouds
April 29th, 2015, 04:59 AM
Oh, I'd like to argue but I doubt I would win.

I have found Atsu Tanaka... I never knew that such inks even existed. I have only tried Diamine, Lamy, one R&K and one Herbin, and some Private Reserve I was gifted elsewhere. I feel like such a rube when it comes to inks. People talk about manufacturers that I have never heard of. Anyway, I see Tanaka-san has these Kobe inks (whatever that is) and some of the colours look very interesting. Pricey, though I could probably go for one or two this year. I'll add the names to my list of inks I have yet to try... it's a very big list!

Thanks for the heads-up, and thanks to another FPG member who provided the email backchannel more or less at the same time. :)

Crazyorange
April 29th, 2015, 06:05 AM
Thank you for a kind PIF
Please enter me for maruzen Athena and pen/message cigar.

TerraNoir
April 29th, 2015, 06:10 AM
This is an amazing PIF. Thanks for offering it.

I would love to try out the Maruzen Athena Midori and Kirin please!!

Haefennasiel
April 29th, 2015, 07:04 AM
Wow! Thank you for this wonderful and generous offer, migo984! :thumb:

I would luvluvluv to try the Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Kirin and the Sailor Pen and Message Cigar inks, please. :)

mhguda
April 29th, 2015, 09:51 AM
Lovely PiF. Thanks for offering!
I'd like to try the Stationary Box Blue and the Joyful 2 Purple Heart. (Actually I could name more inks but these would be my first choices).
All the inks look wonderful to me. Thanks so much for sharing!

RayCornett
April 29th, 2015, 01:16 PM
I love unusual and hard to obtain :) Great pic and much appreciated.

I would love to enter and my choices are : Blackstone Blue and Pen and Message Cigar

sparkinflint
April 29th, 2015, 03:25 PM
I would love to try Purple heart and Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Midori!

Dr.Danger
April 29th, 2015, 08:01 PM
Cigar and Joyful2. Thank you for sharing!

Frantik
April 30th, 2015, 01:45 AM
Very kind offer. I would like to enter for the Sailor Stationery Box Blue and the Pen and Message Cigar
Thanks for sharing

irabelo
April 30th, 2015, 03:57 AM
Hey, migo984, lovely PIF!

I'd love to try out the blackstone blue and the joyful-2 purple heart!

- Igor

fanosatchmo
April 30th, 2015, 10:04 AM
The two inks I would choose if I won are:

Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Kirin
Sailor Stationery Box Blue

mikeal
April 30th, 2015, 05:26 PM
Very nice PIF. Thank you. Please count me in. I would love the Cigar and the jade inks.

elaineb
April 30th, 2015, 09:17 PM
Thank you so much, Migo. I would love to try Joyful-2 and the Athena Maruzen in Jade. This is a great PIF!

migo984
May 2nd, 2015, 08:41 AM
:bump:

migo984
May 5th, 2015, 12:50 AM
:bump: Last few hours. Join in if you'd like some free ink samples :bump:

TarBlue
May 5th, 2015, 01:17 PM
Maruzen Athena Nihombashi Kirn, Sailor Stationery Blue Box. Thanks for the awesome PIF

migo984
May 6th, 2015, 01:16 AM
Using random.org, the winner of my ink sample PIF is Cryptos :thumb:

Congrats :) I'll be in touch via PM.

Empty_of_Clouds
May 6th, 2015, 02:35 AM
As the Krankies would say "Fan dabby doozie!"

I'm off to wash my mouth out with soap for that little indiscretion. :redface:

Thanks migo984. Is it okay if I hop from foot to foot? Just a little bit?

migo984
May 6th, 2015, 04:24 AM
As the Krankies would say "Fan dabby doozie!"

I'm off to wash my mouth out with soap for that little indiscretion. :redface:

Thanks migo984. Is it okay if I hop from foot to foot? Just a little bit?

You can only hop from foot to foot if a photo of said move is forthcoming.. Lol

And The Krankies?!!! Haven't heard them mentioned for yonks :-)

mhguda
May 6th, 2015, 05:43 AM
Congratulations Cryptos, enjoy your new inks! and do show pictures once you have some...

Crazyorange
May 6th, 2015, 07:17 AM
Congrats. And I want to see that hopping picture too!

Scrawler
May 6th, 2015, 09:00 PM
Not an entry, just a comment. That Joyful 2 and Stationary Box are particularly nice inks.

Empty_of_Clouds
May 17th, 2015, 04:43 PM
Unusual inks have landed! May take me a little while to have a go with them as I have an assignment that is demanding time for the next few days. My thanks to Marie, really appreciate this!

migo984
May 19th, 2015, 05:02 AM
Unusual inks have landed! May take me a little while to have a go with them as I have an assignment that is demanding time for the next few days. My thanks to Marie, really appreciate this!

You're very welcome. Hope you like the two you selected, and the 2 bonus samples :). Please let us know what you think of them - after you complete your assignment of course!

Empty_of_Clouds
May 20th, 2015, 03:34 AM
Of course :) I just got part 1 of the assignment returned and I scored 92% (which was a big surprise as I am a terrible student). I had to conduct and write up a scientific literature review followed by descriptive epidemiology of a specific disease. The second part is more analytical. Fingers crossed!

Crazyorange
May 20th, 2015, 08:10 AM
Of course :) I just got part 1 of the assignment returned and I scored 92% (which was a big surprise as I am a terrible student). I had to conduct and write up a scientific literature review followed by descriptive epidemiology of a specific disease. The second part is more analytical. Fingers crossed!

Congrats on the grade. [emoji4]

Empty_of_Clouds
June 13th, 2015, 05:08 AM
Okay, finally I get a weekend when I can do something other than study or housework.

As I was having some problems finding an ink that would work well in a Waterman's 94 I decided to flush it out and load it up with the Maruzen Kirin. Wow! What a truly lovely green that is. And the pen likes it too. The 94 is in quartz livery, which complements the ink colour well. I have started keeping an ink diary but I think I may start again and do it properly. That way I can upload some writing samples.

Thanks again, Migo. The other samples will get their chance in due time.

EDIT: just after I posted I remembered I have some dip pens. So, I dipped a Zebra G into the Pen and Message Cigar and was very pleased to find the colour not too dissimilar to walnut ink and well-behaved. Then I dipped the Blackstone Blue and that worked very well too... until I unleashed the almighty Gillott 303 on it. What can I say? Such an amazing shading ink. Absolutely lovely shades from a kind of flat denim through a greenish phase and on into a winter grey. Love it. Haven't tried the Toucans yet. Perhaps tomorrow. Thus far I could easily justify the Kirin and the Blackstone - assuming I could find a seller of either, or even if they are for sale anymore. The Cigar I am not sure of. Needs to go in a proper pen I think.

EDIT2: dipped the the Toucans. Gosh, those are some bright colours. I am not sure if I would use them to write with but they may well find a role as artist colours.

It's all fun and games!

migo984
June 13th, 2015, 11:03 AM
Thus far I could easily justify the Kirin and the Blackstone - assuming I could find a seller of either, or even if they are for sale anymore.

Hi Cryptos,

Glad you're enjoying the ink samples. The Kirin is not available anymore. It was a limited edition of 200 bottles and sold out in a matter of hours I believe. Other Maruzen Athena inks can be bought via Atsu Tanaka (cool-japan). Not all are standard and can be hard to get hold of, but one I highly recommend is Eternal Blue. Gorgeous.

The Blackstone Blue is one of my favourite inks. It's made in Australia and is for sale from JustWrite.

justwrite.com.au/Fountain-Pen-Bottled-Ink/blackstone-fountain-pen-ink-blue-60ml-plastic-pouch

A new range of Blackstone inks is due to be launched soon, in some very interesting packaging, in sizes from 15ml. The 5ml syringe contains enough concentrated ink to make up 60ml. Really innovative.