Taccia Tsuchi
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 in cursive, and a soft cut when writing in print with high tonal variation that gives this ink an exceptionally striking appearance. Because of the high contrast in color where the ink pools, the color looks especially good with large nibs and flex nibs, as it emphasizes the two-tone shading effect.
I’ve also noticed a very slight dark 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, especially on the tittles of i’s and j’s, or periods and commas, etc.
Ink Splat
Droplets
Performance on paper:
Taccia Tsuchi behaves well on paper, and during my tests, I didn’t experience any noticeable feathering or bleed-through. This ink should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers.
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.
Water resistance
Chromatography
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.
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River Paper (white, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written in a Traveler’s Company 003 notebook refill (white, 10mm ruling) with a 1.9mm music nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a fine nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with an FPR Ultraflex nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written in a Traveler’s Company 001 notebook refill (white, 6.5mm ruling) with a 1.9mm music nib.
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.
Written in a 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook with an Asvine C80 (medium nib).
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