Ink Swatch Wednesday: Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro
I almost forgot today was Ink Swatch Wednesday! Got wrapped up in Polaroid Week this week. 😅
I am revisiting Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro because I recently filled my Very Peri Kaweco AL Sport with it, because it has a broad nib, and I wondered if a strongly chromoshading ink would make me like writing with a broad nib. Spoiler alert, Dear Audience, it truly does!
I can't remember how many inks I tried with this Kaweco broad nib (I also experimented with a TWSBI broad), but I don't think I experimented that much after maybe one or two inks, as it seemed like I was writing with a marker. In general, I don't like inks that don't have some kind of noticeable shading or shimmer, because they make whatever fountain pen I'm writing with look like a marker or a fineliner. 😛 And since I have small handwriting and use Japanese notebooks (Hobonichi) with very small grids on the paper, I tend to use fine, extra fines, or specialty nibs like architects. I had no real motivation to keep experimenting to find inks that work for me iroad nibs.
On a whim I decided to try Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro and things clicked. I could better see the multishading effect of the ink which basically quelled any other reservations I had about writing with the broad nib, even in my Hobonichi.
Transcription of the writing sample above:
Kaweco AL Sport Very Peri, B
Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro
(figure-8 doodles, horizontal and vertical lines, "reverse writing" written with the nib upside down; it doesn't work well for this nib)
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
I love this combo because of how much the nib shows off the awesome chromoshading of this ink. It also happens to match the pen color quite well. (doodles of a heart, a sparkle, and a star surrounded by tiny dots)
I am not sure if I used Date Gokoro in one of my wetter medium nibs. I feel like I must have, but if so, I shouldn't have been so surprised at how good this ink looks in this broad nib. 🤔 The combination of the drier flow of this ink and the strong chromoshading helps the broad nib really show off the ink attributes. If it had been wetter flowing, we might have veered into "marker" territory again.
At any rate, now I will be on the lookout for other inks that might work well in the Kaweco broad. I have a few inks that are drier and have noticeable shading (Troublemaker chromoshaders, for example).
I'll need to experiment with shimmer inks in this broad nib, too. I know people have generally said Kaweco broads are good for shimmers, but I will have to see it for myself. I think I tried Robert Oster Rose Gilt Tynte in the TWSBI broad nib and for some reason I did not like it as much. But that's just one data point.
Anyway! The moral of the story is to always keep an open mind about fountain pen things – nibs, inks, papers, etc. – because preferences change. And don't underestimate the power of finding a nib and ink combo that work really well together! It can be magical when you do. I am not yet to the point of only inking a pen with a specific ink, as I like swapping inks around too much, but never say never. 😀
