Tono & Lims - Hiiragi

Tono & Lims - Hiiragi - Ink drop

Today’s ink is Hiiragi from Tono & Lims. It’s part of their Fixation series. Like all inks in the series, it’s a pigment ink and is highly water-resistant. The name refers to a flowering plant. Hiiragi (Holly Osmanthus or Holly Olive in English) is native to Japan and Taiwan. The undersides of its thorned leaves are a lovely, matte, weathered olive green that closely matches this ink.

Tono & Lims - Hiiragi - Color Range and Variation

This is a good-looking, really interesting green! It’s pale, and unsaturated, but isn’t insignificant on the page. It’s very reader-friendly, too. Hiiragi is a very organic, almost fibrous, dark olive green. The color reminds me of dried bamboo leaves. It’s a very calming, comforting color that projects wisdom and well-placed confidence. This is also a nice shading ink. Variation was visible on all six test papers, and it was particularly strong on coated premiums. Coated papers also showed a subtle edge halo, which added definition and clarity to strokes.

Tono & Lims - Hiiragi - Pigment

Hiiragi is a nice writing ink, with crisp, clean strokes on all papers tested. I preferred coated premiums aesthetically, but it was equally successful in performance on uncoated papers. Strong water-resistance is always appreciated. Drying was a bit long on Rhodia at 25-40 seconds, but the other coated premiums dried in 20 seconds. Uncoated premiums took 15-20 seconds, and office copy was a quick 5 seconds.

Tono & Lims - Hiiragi - Ink Swatch Card

I really like Tono & Lims Hiiragi, and think you will, too. To me, a beautiful, waterproof ink is a great thing. There are at least fifteen inks in the Fixation series, and I’m definitely going to give some more of them a try!