Waterproof Inks

I am very pleased to report that the waterproof black inks I recently purchased have given me no trouble at all in my fountain pens! When I use watercolour paints or water-soluble pencils on sketches drawn with these inks, no black ink is released by the water and brush.

Pilot Security Black is marginally darker than Platinum Carbon Black - although this is only apparent when the inks are carefully compared side by side. I'm using Security ink in a regular DPP-100 Pilot Desk Pen, and the Carbon ink in a Platinum Carbon Pen. Sometimes the Pilot won't start on the first stroke, but that's the only thing I've noticed. Neither ink appears to settle or do anything unwanted inside the pen.

Ujuku were out of Sailor Kiwagura stock, so I should get that ink in a couple of weeks, but so far I'm thrilled - these inks have worked out perfectly!

I never thought I'd buy...

...an electric pencil sharpener. But here I am, spending AUD$115 on one.

I own a lot of Derwent pencils, and for years I have happily sharpened them with a normal hand sharpener. Yesterday, all that changed when my Prismacolor order arrived - almost 200 pencils, and not one of them pre-sharpened! I knew this to be the case when I ordered the pencils, but I didn't realise the implications at the time...

Looking at my beautiful new pencils, I knew I had a problem: I have rotator cuff and wrist tendonitis in both arms - so there was no way on God's green earth that I would be hand-sharpening ~200 coloured pencils!

So, I am now the proud new owner of an X-Acto SchoolPro Electric Sharpener:

Pilot Iroshizuku Ink

The end of 2007 brought five exciting new inks from Pilot - Iroshizuku Color Drops, a range of blue inks with hues derived from nature:


While blue is not my favorite color preference, the Iroshizuku inks asa-gao, ajisai and tsuki-yo have soft undertones of blue-violet and green-blue, making them quite appealing.

I hope the initial Color Drops range is a sign of things to come from Pilot - imagine a small series of this ink in beautiful reds or greens!

Welcome - 2008

Ah... 2008 is now upon us, whatever shall it bring?

Well, for starters I know 2008 will bring me the following goodies from the Ujuku Shop:

• Platinum Carbon Ink
• Pilot Security Ink
• Sailor Kiwagura Ink

I'm looking forward to using these black waterproof inks on my Art Spectrum "Draw & Wash" pads, which provide a perfect feather-free surface for ink sketching.

I'm hoping the new inks won't pose too much of a flow problem with my favourite sketching pen - a Japanese WELL Eyedropper pen from the 1940's. The WELL has a rather nice flexible shiro nib, making it a much more enjoyable sketching tool when compared to the modern Sailor and Platinum desk pens usually suggested for use with these waterproof inks.