Sailor Ink Prices

[PenInvestigations]

I recently bought my first few bottles of Sailor ink (Yamadori and Studio 767 and 967). They're really cool and well-behaved inks, but I still feel like I really overpaid for what I got. The bottles are so tiny! I used to think Iroshizuku inks were expensive, but that was before I looked into Sailor? Are there more expensive inks than Sailor? And does anyone else feel like they're overpriced?

[Chrissy]

I agree that since they reduced their bottle size they became quite expensive inks. At Cult Pens Sailor 20ml bottles are £12. That is 60p per ml. Maybe it seems overpriced until you see that Montblanc Elixir inks are £65 for 50ml. That's £1.30 per ml and that's definitely overpriced. Imagine spilling some of that ink. I would be scraping it off of the surface!!!

[DrPenfection]

I am not sure where you are located by here in the US the Sailor Manyo inks are less expensive. The colors are not nearly as numerous, but the ink is the usual Sailor formulation.

[PenInvestigations]

I agree that since they reduced their bottle size they became quite expensive inks. At Cult Pens Sailor 20ml bottles are £12. That is 60p per ml. Maybe it seems overpriced until you see that Montblanc Elixir inks are £65 for 50ml. That's £1.30 per ml and that's definitely overpriced. Imagine spilling some of that ink. I would be scraping it off of the surface!!!

I can't imagine paying that much for an ink - not that I had plans to purchase Montblanc. But yeah, I accidentally spilled a bit of Studio 767 and freaked out a bit, even though I usually don't think twice about cleaning spilled milk.

[PenInvestigations]

I am not sure where you are located by here in the US the Sailor Manyo inks are less expensive. The colors are not nearly as numerous, but the ink is the usual Sailor formulation.

I haven't yet bought a Manyo ink, just Studios and Shikiori. The Shikiori isn't as badly priced as the Studios, and you're certainly right about the pricing on the Manyo being much better. But I really just don't understand why the different ink lines are priced so differently! Especially if their formulations are similar...

[Chrissy]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Manyo inks look like they are less saturated than the Shikiori inks. Yamadori is certainly more saturated than the teal ink in the Manyo range.

[DrPenfection]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Manyo inks look like they are less saturated than the Shikiori inks. Yamadori is certainly more saturated than the teal ink in the Manyo range.

Likely you are correct, Chrissy. I still find certain inks of the Manyo line to be fairly saturated - Yomogi, Kuzu, Akebi, Kikiyou and perhaps Kakitsubata.

[Chrissy]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Manyo inks look like they are less saturated than the Shikiori inks. Yamadori is certainly more saturated than the teal ink in the Manyo range.

Likely you are correct, Chrissy. I still find certain inks of the Manyo line to be fairly saturated - Yomogi, Kuzu, Akebi, Kikiyou and perhaps Kakitsubata.

Sadly I bought Manyo Ha Ha and feel like I wasted my money. It's far too light to be legible when writing with a "normal" FP.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the way the numbers work in the Ink Studio range is that lower numbers are less saturated than higher numbers and there is some unknown meaning to their first digits.

[PenInvestigations]

Rachel Goulet said that the hundreds place is saturation level, the tens place is color range, and the first digit seems to be pretty random. -- I agree with you, Ha Ha looks completely unusable.
Oddly, Yamadori has started giving me flow issues. It's hardstarting in my Menlo which has never had that issue before.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Haha attracted me. I would use it with a brush for painting!

[Chrissy]

Rachel Goulet said that the hundreds place is saturation level, the tens place is color range, and the first digit seems to be pretty random. -- I agree with you, Ha Ha looks completely unusable.
Oddly, Yamadori has started giving me flow issues. It's hardstarting in my Menlo which has never had that issue before.

The hundreds place always looked like saturation level for the Studio inks. On the other hand Yamadori is very saturated and could quite easily be responsible for flow issues in some pens.

[DrPenfection]

May I interject here - I also have issues with Yamadori from time to time, and Souten as well. They are the only Sailor inks that seems to give hard starts. So, I generally use them in my wetter, broader nibs and that seems to help.

I must say that while HaHa and Nekoyonagi are light, that when I use them with my broader nibs, they are fantastic. Since over half of my pens are broader nibs, this isn't a problem. I use them fairly regularly in my journaling. Love, love, love them. Nadeshiko, however, is probably my favorite of the Manyo line.

[PenInvestigations]

I don't even own a broad nib, so I suppose that may be part of my problem. Though I do have some pretty juicy nibs all the same. Now that I've thought more about it, I'm not using my Menlo as often as usual. I should probably clean it out and save those saturated inks for my main pen of the moment,

[ttiot8]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Manyo inks look like they are less saturated than the Shikiori inks. Yamadori is certainly more saturated than the teal ink in the Manyo range.

Likely you are correct, Chrissy. I still find certain inks of the Manyo line to be fairly saturated - Yomogi, Kuzu, Akebi, Kikiyou and perhaps Kakitsubata.

Sadly I bought Manyo Ha Ha and feel like I wasted my money. It's far too light to be legible when writing with a "normal" FP.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the way the numbers work in the Ink Studio range is that lower numbers are less saturated than higher numbers and there is some unknown meaning to their first digits.

I love Haha but I have a tendency to use pretty broad and wet nibs. I don't mind light colors.

[PenInvestigations]

Rachel Goulet said that the hundreds place is saturation level, the tens place is color range, and the first digit seems to be pretty random. -- I agree with you, Ha Ha looks completely unusable.
Oddly, Yamadori has started giving me flow issues. It's hardstarting in my Menlo which has never had that issue before.

I put Yamadori in my Pelikan M200, and no problems whatsoever now. Even though it's got a fine nib instead of a medium. But my Pelikan does run rather wet. Just more proof that ink behavior depends so much on the pen.