Shanghai Stationary - Fairy Dress
Shanghai Stationary Fairy Dress - Ink drop
The Netherlands-based Shanghai Stationary’s Fairy Dress is a lovely, medium purple. Some purples write dark to the point that they approach black, but Fairy Dress never loses its identity. You’re always aware that this is a nice purple ink. Each stroke gives you the confident color of a Beaujolais with a slight hint of red in the otherwise grape purple. I love the color as a writing ink.
Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River
There is some nice variation on many papers. Strokes run from light to dark in shading, but it’s never distracting and adds character to the color. I see occasional flashes of rose gold sheening on the swatches on some papers, but it isn’t really a feature in writing. This is an attractive ink. It’s very sophisticated and never cartoonish.
Ink Swatches on Iroful and Takasago Bank papers
Writing performance was mostly very good, including on standard copy paper. Flow is neutral, but comfortable. You can see some unusual feathering on the Cosmo Air Light swatch image and some minor micro-feathering on Rhodia and the Cosmo Air Snow writing sample macro image. I can’t account for this, but I didn’t have problems on other papers. It was clean and sharp on Midori MD, Iroful, Takasago Bank, Oasis, and Fabriano.
Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper
Chromatography is complex and shows good water resistance, too. I think it would be a fun ink for water washes and brush work.
Shanghai Stationary Fairy Dress ink writing samples
I’ve shown the beautiful 50 ml bottle, but you can also find it in a 10 ml size as part of 3-ink sets. Check out @shanghaistationary for more info. They’ve got a lot to offer!
Shanghai Stationary Fairy Dress - Swatch Card
Special thanks to Shanghai Stationary for sending this and several other inks over to try! As usual, when I accept inks or pens to try, I review the ones I want, and I always include all the negatives and positives that I find. I write these reviews based solely on my own user experience, and to give you the info that I’d want as a potential customer. Enjoy!
Shanghai Stationary Fairy Dress - Comparisons
Shanghai Stationary Fairy Dress - 50 ml bottle