Ink Review #30

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

Overview

The color/properties:

Taccia Daidai is a vibrant orange that presents itself as a mostly solid color. There’s minimal shading, and on most papers, you won’t notice more than a soft gradient with low tone variation where the ink pools.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Daidai’s performance is okay, but not great. There was one spot of bleed-through on Kokuyo, and surprisingly, there was not only some micro feathering, but also some bleed-through on the Leuchtturm paper. The dry times were slightly above average, especially on Rhodia and Leuchtturm. The water resistance is hazy and may be difficult to read.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Right out of the gate, this ink refused to work with the needlepoint on any of the test papers. I also noticed a lot of dryness with the other nibs, but they all wrote without any hard starts or stops. Cleaning took longer than usual, but not as long as I expected it to.

• Performance in a pen: 8.5/10

• Performance on paper: 7.5/10

• Color saturation: 7/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 2/10

• Dry time: 8/10

• Water resistance: 3/10

• Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

I initially liked this color, it seemed like a nice vibrant orange to me, and for a decent price. Unfortunately, the enjoyment died down fast — even more so while working on this review — after realizing how dry it felt on top of a decreasing enthusiasm for the color itself. It doesn’t really resemble a daidai either. The color is so saturated, so synthetic. This one’s just not for me.

Color comparisons:

More images/info:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

• A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.

• A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad

• A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook

• A Midori MD A5 Notebook

• A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

• A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

• A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook