This ink battle is between Kyo No Oto Yamabukiiro and Colorverse Adobe. Both inks are in a pen fitted with a #6 Jowo M nib. The paper is Muji loose leaf plain.
Today’s ink battle is another bout of bottle versus sample. It determined if I keep my sample of Yamabukiiro in use, or relegate it to the “for dupes” baskets. If I keep it and go through the whole sample, then I’ll consider getting a bottle.
Ink Battles Explained
Between myself and Jim buying inks, we own far too many. This means I have some inks that are incredibly similar in color. And, because of that, I need to figure out which inks to keep and which to dispose of. Sometimes, I have samples of two or more similar inks that I'm trying to decide which to buy, or if I should buy one ink when I already own a bottle of a similar one.
Enter ink battles. I put the similar inks into pens with the same nibs (two Jowo #6 M, two TWSBI F, etc.), then test them out to see which I like better. Or, I may find out that, when used with the same nib, they’re sufficiently different to keep.
You can assume I have no problems with any ink that appears in an ink battle. I may find, when using the inks side-by-side, that there are performance differences, but the point of the battle is to choose a favorite ink, a "winner". These choices are often subjective, and you may disagree with me.
An ink battle — unlike ink dupes — is between inks I like. I enjoy using them enough to have them in my "for use" ink collection — as opposed to my repository of inks for testing dupes. If an ink performed poorly or caused problems, I wouldn’t keep it. And, if that were the case, an ink battle would be unnecessary.
Reminder: You can find all of the ink battle posts on the tag page.
There is a noticeable difference between Yamabukiiro and Adobe. They’re both gold inks, but Yamabukiiro is more of a green or “old” gold, while Adobe is more of a warm, yellow gold. They are roughly the same saturation, but Yamabukiiro is significantly darker because of its shading.
Yamabukiiro shows some of its green in the water test, and Adobe has a hard-to-see coral outline around its water test. Adobe has virtually no shading, but Yamabukiiro shades from a green-gold to almost brown.
Without relying on the scorecard, I can’t easily choose one of these over the other. They’re both solid inks. If you have a preference between green gold and yellow gold, go for that ink. Otherwise…
Scorecard
These two inks are evenly matched — for me — with Yamabukiiro just managing a win due to its shading. It will definitely be kept with the “for use” samples.
| Trait | Yamabukiiro | Adobe |
|---|---|---|
| Hue | 10 | 10 |
| Saturation | 10 | 10 |
| Lightness | 9 | 10 |
| Complexity | 10 | 9 |
| Bonus Points | 1 | 0 |
What do you think? Should I keep both? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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If two inks are as similar as the ones in your ink battles, I don’t see a reason for even having both in the first place, it seems buying stuff for the sake of buying. Or is it hoarding? I think people who collect stuff are a bit (or fully diagnosed) ocd or hoarders, myself included. 🙋🏻♀️
There is a lot to address in your comment, even though I doubt you’ll see this response because you used a fake email to post it. Still, I’ll answer the points in order.
I end up with similar inks for one of two main reasons:
There are multiple reasons someone may want two inks that are similar. Perhaps one ink works performs better on certain paper. Perhaps the person uses ink for art, and the slight color differences matter. Perhaps they purchased an ink they love, but it isn’t safe for older pens, so they went on a quest to find a similar ink that is. Perhaps they just like colors and want to appreciate the minor differences between colors. Not understanding why someone does something that doesn’t harm anyone in any way is not a reason to judge them.
Collecting items does not make someone OCD or a hoarder. One, you can’t be “a bit” OCD. Either you have OCD or you don’t. Two, while within the pen community we often joke about hoarding ink, papers, etc., most of us, if pressed, could declutter some, or even all, of our hoard. I would argue that everyone in the world collects something, even if it’s just memories. Humans like art, we like being happy. Collectible items in the stationery world can almost all be classified as some form of art, and they make the collectors happy. Again, as long as the collection is not harming anyone in any way, it’s not on us to judge. Let people find happiness; the world needs more of it.
Being the happy owner of Yamabukiiro, and after looking carefully, I continue to prefer the Yamabukiiro, but I think the adobe may do better for lesser quality paper.
What do you think?
I don’t think either is better or worse for lesser-quality paper. It really has to do with the nib width and how wet a pen is, in my opinion.
I say this because the adobe seems to have less color variation. No?
You tested both, have vastly more experience, so I will of course accept your opinion.
Z 👍
Oh! I think I understand what you mean. Typically, you’ll see less (or no) shading on lesser-quality paper. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t use inks that shade. They just won’t be as pretty. I don’t usually limit inks based on the paper I have to use. I pay more attention to nib width and wetness.
There are some inks that don’t do well on low quality paper no matter what nib you use, but I don’t think either of these fall in that category.
Thanks 🙏😊
Z.