Ink Review #27

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

Overview

The color/properties:

Taccia Tsuchi is a medium brown that shades with a soft gradient and high tonal variation that gives this ink an exceptionally striking appearance. I think that because of the high contrast in color where the ink pools, there’s a lot of potential for experimentation on different papers, and could have especially good results with flex nibs. I’ve also noticed a slight sheen on certain papers. There’s not a lot, but it can be seen in writing where lines cross or the ink pools heavily enough.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Taccia Tsuchi behaves well on paper, and during my tests, I didn’t experience any noticeable feathering or bleed-through. The dry times were mostly average, but I did have slightly longer dry times with the finer nibs than normal. Otherwise, the larger nibs typically dried within the standard 20 seconds.

There’s some water resistance, and it does leave some shadowing behind, but the results are hazy and the remains may be too light, and too smeared to be legible.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Tsuchi performs well in the pen. The ink flowed with a consistent medium wetness across all the test nibs which provided enough lubrication for a comfortable writing experience. During my tests, I didn’t experience hard starts, skips, or stops, and I expect that his ink will behave well in most pens.

Cleaning the ink out of the pen was mostly easy, but I was surprised to find that it took longer than usual.

• Performance in a pen: 10/10

• Performance on paper: 10/10

• Color saturation: 5/10

• Sheening: 1/10

• Shading: 6/10

• Dry time: 7/10

• Water resistance: 2/10

• Ease of cleaning: 7/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

It’s interesting that “Tsuchi” is a Japanese character for earth and soil, but by the art on the bottle, it looks like they were going for wheat. Still, if they were going for wheat, I think Taccia did a good job replicating it. I think it would make for a nice fall brown. It has rustic, warm, and earthy tones that complement the season. The color stands out for its complexity; the shading truly creates a contrast that makes it memorable. Overall, the potential for experimentation with this ink is high, and I think that makes it stand out over many of the colors in Taccia’s standard line of inks.

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