Tono and Lims - Kujirano Blua 01

Tono and Lims - Kujirano Blua 01 - Ink drop

Tono & Lims Kujirano Blua 01 was first released along with a darker blue called Kujirano Blua 03 at the end of 2020. These and at least two other inks were created for online retailer and community Kujirano General Store (@kujirano_gs). The colors are inspired by a tale of giant whales traveling through the sky and the people who live in the villages on them.

Tono and Lims Kujirano Blua 01 fountain pen ink color

Kujirano Blue 01 is described as a color that “reminds you of the dullness of the storm and the dimness of the sea floor.” That actually matches the feel of the color at times, but it’s far more attractive than that image may inspire. It’s an interesting color, and to call it an aquamarine would not be enough to properly capture its complexity. It can appear anything from a Caribbean blue to a creamy, light, blue-green jade depending on the paper and nib you pair it with. Yellow undertones play an important role, and written strokes consistently go from green to blue as saturation decreases from end-to-end of each.

Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River

Writing performance is nice on many high-quality papers, and the results are fairly clean and fairly sharp strokes. However, that sharpness is really dependent on those papers. This is a very wet ink, very comfortable in flow and feel, and this wetness leads to spots of micro-feathering on some papers, and some spreading on cheap office copy paper. We don’t buy inks like this to be wasted on cheap office copy paper, though, do we. As you can see in the writing sample images, it does very nicely on most good papers.

Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper

The complex color and fantastic color separation in saturated areas make Kujirano Blua 01 really interesting, and there is definitely a mysterious beauty. As an art ink, I think there is a lot of potential for greatness here. For writing, it’s also a very nice, clean and crisp ink on the right papers. However, if you’re stuck using the wrong papers, those profiles will not be as razor-sharp as you may like. You are kind of the one in control of how this ink performs.

Tono and Lims Kujirano Blua 01 ink writing samples

I bought this ink at the Spring 2024 Seoul Pen Show. The original seller sold out, but a quick check online, and I was able to find a couple of sellers still carrying it in stock.

Tono and Lims Kujirano Blua 01 - Swatch Card

Tono and Lims Kujirano Blua 01 - Swatch Comparisons

Tono and Lims Kujirano Blua 01 - 30 ml Ink Bottle and Box