Taccia Hiroshige Ainezu Fountain Pen Ink Review

For a color with a name as well-defined as Blue Black, the actual shade on the page is difficult to define. As a superfan of the color, I tend to classify many different shades as Blue Black. From basic Navy, to Grey-infused colors, to brighter Blues with a hint of Black - and that’s just for starters. The range of Blue Black inks is practically endless.

So, is Taccia Hiroshige Ainezu a Blue Black ink? For me, yes.

Ainezu has been out for several years, but only recently did I acquire a bottle. And that was only after I was sent an envelope full of ink swatches from a friend, where Ainezu jumped off the page. In fact, this envelope cost me three bottles of ink so far. Thanks Lisa - I think?

What did I see that made me want to add it to my collection? On the page it looked like Blue Black, but weirder. It’s a bit hard to explain, which made me want it even more. There is definitely a healthy dose of Grey, and maybe a hint of Teal that doesn’t show up in pictures and may simply be a figment of my imagination. Ainezu is certainly not straightforward, but remains simple.

Looking at my lettering with an Architect grind in my Skogsy Pens Cholla Micarta, the ink looks Grey in pictures, but leans more Blue in person. To see if I was crazy thinking there was Teal, I swabbed Ainzeu next to Graf von Faber-Castell Deep Sea Green on Tomoe River 52 gsm paper. There is maybe a hint if you look closely.

Is it closer to the Navy of DeAtrementis Benjamin Franklin? Ainezu makes it look bright, but not as bright as Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai. I love Shin-Kai for its character on the page, but it’s not the dictionary definition of Blue Black that I have in my head. LAMY Blue Black is close my platonic ideal of a Blue Black, especially one that is dark enough, and Grey enough. Is Ainzeu a combination of Deep Sea Green and LAMY Blue Black?

Maybe Ainezu is just Ainzeu, and that is good enough. I’ve only tried a few Taccia inks so far, and they have all been great performers. Ainzeu is no exception. My Broad Steel Jowo #6 Architect nib is not the most ink-friendly of nibs, but I had perfect flow and color with Ainzeu from start to finish. I will say their is not a lot of shading with this setup and my handwriting style, but I bet there would be more opportunity with a different nib.

I’ll try a standard nib the next time I ink up Ainezu, because there will be many next times. I’ll likely pick up more Taccia inks, too. At $20 for 40 ml in the Ukiuo-e Series, they are priced well enough to add some of the other unique shades in this set.

(Pen Chalet provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Taccia Sunao-Iro Sweet Color Ink Set Giveaway

With two pen shows still barely outside of my rear-view mirror, the giveaway coffers are loaded for awesomeness. For example, I couldn’t pass up this Taccia Sunao-Iro Sweet Color Ink Set that I picked up from Vanness Pens at the Atlanta Pen Show. This set contains three 20 ml bottles of ink-Daidai (Orange), Momo (Pink), and Murasaki (Purple). I’m giving away this set to one lucky winner, so read the rules below and enter away!

Taccia Sunao-Iro Sweet Color Ink Set Giveaway

Taccia Spotlight Forest Eye Fountain Pen Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

The Taccia Spotlight debuted a few years ago at the Dallas 2019 pen show. I remember Shu-Jen Lin, Taccia’s Brand Manager, telling me that they had just gotten them in time for the show and she was really excited to have a new offering. Taccia is known primarily for their gorgeous, artisan-made urushi pens, but they have always made sure to have pens that were more budget-friendly, like the Spectrum and Pinnacle.

The Taccia Spotlight is a classically-shaped resin pen with silver trim. All of the models of the Spotlight are demonstrators; this review is for Forest Eye, which is the only colorway that is multicolored, with swirls of green, yellow and brown against a clear canvas. The other available colors are Highlighter Vision (a fluorescent yellowish green), Pure Clear (totally clear), and Airline Blue (a medium sky, almost turquoise blue).

The Spotlight comes in a black Taccia-branded box with a black outer box sleeve. There is a Sailor converter with a green piston knob included, which looks really good with this colorway.

The green piston knob of the converter looks great in this pen.

Closeup of the green, yellow and brown swirls of the Forest Eye.

The pen is polished on both the interior and exterior, giving it a smooth clean finish. According to their website, the pens are not injection-molded but hand-turned. But the pen isn’t just lovely to look at, it also writes well because it houses Sailor nibs which are specially made and branded for Taccia. Unlike other steel nibs found in other Sailor pens like the Lecoule or Compass which are usually only available in MF, the Spotlight’s steel nib comes in a variety of nib sizes and the writing experience also feels different. The Spotlight steel nib feels more like a Sailor 14kt gold nib than the Lecoule steel nib; the pencil-like feedback is more like the gold nib, firm but not quite as nail-like as the Lecoule nib. Sailor does have some steel nibbed models, like the Procolor or Shikiori, that look more similar to the Taccia nib. Aesthetically, the Taccia steel nib just looks nicer/fancier to me than the Lecoule nib.

L to R: Nibs from the Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Pro Gear, Procolor, Taccia Spotlight, Lecoule, and Compass.

Feeds from the same pens - The Spotlight has a similar feed as the Procolor, and is more similar to the gold-nibbed feeds than to the Lecoule/Compass feeds.

I like that the cap has an inner cap to help prevent evaporation. The nib wrote flawlessly even after not being used for a couple weeks.

The inner cap stops right at the collar of the feed/housing to minimize evaporation.

The Spotlight is a fairly light pen, weighing in at 0.845 oz/23.95 g capped and 0.42 oz/11.91 g uncapped. I excluded the converter in the weight, in case you wanted to use cartridges instead. Note that Taccia Pens only work with proprietary Sailor converters and cartridges. I don’t post my pens but you could do so with the Spotlight and it wouldn’t feel too back-heavy. Similarly weighted pens include the Pilot Custom 74 and Platinum 3776, both of which weigh in at 0.8oz/0.70 oz capped and 0.5 oz/0.33 oz uncapped, respectively.

Comparison with other pens L to R: Platinum 3776, Esterbrook Estie, Pelikan M600, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Taccia Spectrum, Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Sailor Pro Gear, Sailor Compass, Taccia Spotlight, Sailor Lecoule, Sailor Procolor, TWSBI 580 ALR, TWSBI Eco, Lamy Studio, Lamy Safari, Leonardo Momento Zero

The Taccia Spotlight, along with other models like the Spectrum and Pinnacle, are available in steel (EF, F, M, B & Music) or 14kt gold (EF, F, MF, M, B and Music) nibs. It has a retail/street price of $159/$127 (~140 EU/110 EU) for the steel nib and $269/$215 (236 EU/189 EU) for the gold nib. I think the steel nib is a nice option for someone looking for a next-level steel nib pen as there aren’t many Japanese steel nib pens in the $75-$150 range, but the gold nib feels just a bit on the pricier side, considering the street price for a regular issue Pilot Custom 74 is $200/$160, the Platinum 3776 is $220/$176, and even the Sailor Pro Gear Slim or 1911S which would be the most similar to the Spotlight is $225/$180.

Likes:

• Good looking, demonstrator pen that’s available in several colors and nib offerings in both steel and gold
• Reliable, well-tuned nib that writes well out of the box
• Inner cap helps with preventing evaporation

Things to consider:

• Pen may be too light for some users
• Price is a bit on the higher side, especially for the gold option, as compared to similar Japanese counterparts

Overall, the Taccia Spotlight is a really nice writer and very comfortable for long writing sessions. The inner cap sealed well, allowing it to start up immediately after a couple weeks of unuse.

(Brad purchased this pen at a discount from Vanness Pens for review purposes.)