exPENsivePhotography

Pen & Message: Fuyugare

Pen & Message is a stationary store based in Kobe, Japan.  They sell some highly sought after inks including the holy grail Cigar; a colour-shifting, sheening ink like no other (apart from Sailor’s Four Seasons Rikkyu-Cha that you can purchase very easily and for a fraction of the price).  Despite the recent reissue of Rikkyu-Cha, Cigar is still regarded as the No.1 ink by many- the ink of all inks.  Plus since Cigar comes from Pen & Message it you get it in the cool diamond shape bottle- perfect for those with humoungous nibbed- fountain pens.

Because of the worldwide popularity of Pen Pen & Message inks, you cannot purchase them directly on-line unless you live in Japan.  So if you cannot buy them in person at their store you would have to use a forwarding service such as White Rabbit Express, which is how I got them.  Be aware they are currently limiting ink purchases to 1 colour/person.  I bought 1 each of the 8 piece set as follows;

1. Cigar (Brown)
2. Old Burgundy (Burgundy)
3. Quadrifoglio (Green)
4. Vintage Denim (Blue)
5. Saku (Blue)
6. Sanyasou (purple)
7. Suyuurushi (red urushi)
8. Fuyugare (grey)

Here is a pic of the Pen & Message inks;

*Picture taken from their website

Three of the inks were made in collaboration with Writing Lab namely; Quadrifoglio, Vintage Denim and Old Burgundy;

*Picture taken from their website

The ink I will be reviewing today is Fuyugare.

Here is the bottle…Omas Cinema taking a fill here getting ready for the writing samples…

Here is the box…

And the cap…

Here is a writing sample on Hobonichi TR paper …

Here is a writing sample on Rhodia…

I think it looks better on Rhodia.

Here it is on Original Crown Mill white card…

Nothing to shout about on laid paper.  Normally Original Crown Mill thick card stock elevates even the most bland or even downright ugly inks, bring out sheen, saturation or other qualities that might otherwise be missed on ultra smooth Japanese, or Rhodia paper.  That was a deliberately dry sample, look at Fuyugare here with a wet sample- it looks dark brown!

Here is a comparison with some other greys…Fugugare is the unlabled one at the top…

Here with some completely dissimilar but nevertheless grey inks…

On this full page of Fuyugare on Hobonichi Techo TR paper there is some definite bronze sheen (is it bronze or copper…trying to think of a shiny brown metal or mineral);

I must say chromatography doesn’t reveal much…

Is it waterproof?

Maybe very slightly but not really.

Verdict:

As with the rest of the Pen & Message line, Fuyugare has semi-unicorn status as it is a relatively difficult ink to get your hands on, and a Japan store- exclusive i.e. if you cannot go to the store in person you will have to use a Japanese shipping service.  No Japan Rakuten here.  It is not a Limited Edition ink, although the store itself enforces it’s own limitations by stipulating only 1 ink per person.  And of course the ink comes in the attractive ergonomic vase shape bottles.

A grey ink with sheen.  Considering none of my other grey inks, which include BunguBox Melancholy Grey, Pilot Iroshizuku’s Kiri-same, Fyo-syogun have any sheen at all, that is a massive plus.  The only exception being Kingdom Note’s Rhinocerous Beetle (Dorcus Hopei Binodulosus), which is a grey verging on black ink with a crazy green outline on some papers.  But that it is not a reliable or regular sheen.  Like Dorcus Hopei, On the face of it Fuyugare is just a very dark flat grey.  It has a very nice velvety texture as with most of the other Pen & Message inks, and I feel it would be “safe” in my super- finicky piston- fillers.    If you are on the look out for a saturated grey, ink that is easy to fill from, relatively rare