(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!.)
I was super excited to see this Dromgoole’s Instagram post about their inky collaboration with Sailor and next thing I know, a set of the inks shows up in the mail for review! How awesome is that?!
This is Dromgoole’s first ink with Sailor and they are named Apricot Jam and Mint Jelly. Just a reminder that, despite their tasty sounding names, the inks aren’t meant for eating/drinking :-). These two inks were launched this past Saturday on October 19, 2024 and come in 20ml square glass bottles like the Sailor Shikiori and 50 States series.
As in the past, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib, while writing samples were done with a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib and a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib. The TWSBI Go is a wetter writer and the Lamy is a drier writer, so these two give me a good idea of how an ink will look from different pens. The notebook used for writing samples is the Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be below that and might also be shown with “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on paper like Cosmo Air Light, Rhodia, copy paper, or with drier or finer nibs, etc.
Apricot Jam is described as a “golden yellow with hints of orange”, but it is more orange with wetter pens. Even in drier pens, like the Lamy, the orange is more than just a hint. It’s also not a bright orange (like Sailor Apricot or Kin-mokusei), but more of a golden orange with a tinge of brown. It is a readable ink whether you use it in drier or wetter pens. The ink dried pretty quickly as well.
Mint Jelly is described as “shades of minty green” but when I swatched it, I was surprised at the color and double checked it against the IG post to make sure I had the right color. I also checked the box/bottle art which matches the ink. I had expected more of a light/pastel green or a bright spring green since that’s what Google says mint jelly looks like. The Mint Jelly ink, on the other hand, is more of a light but moody/dusty green.
Both inks had just a wee bit drier than average flow, with Mint Jelly a touch drier than Apricot Jam. As expected, the dryness is more noticeable in the Lamy. Both Apricot Jam and Minty Jelly had similar dry times around 30 seconds (or faster). Apricot Jam was fine in both pens but I didn’t love Mint Jelly from the Lamy. It was a very nice color in the Go though. I really like that both of these aren’t the typical orange and green inks that are out there and I especially love that they are lovely shaders too.
Only 500 bottles of each color were made with no current plans for restocking. Apricot Jam and Mint Jelly are currently available on their website or in store for $20 each (shipping is not included). I hope there will be more inky collaborations to come!
(Disclaimer: Thank you to Dromgoole’s who provided these inks at no charge for review purposes. All other inks and notebooks are my own.)