Review on Authentic Kaimei Sumi Ink 180 Ml - Premium Japanese Import for Artists and Calligraphers by Kristen Reid

This is my fourth bottle of Moon Palace ink. I fill my small container straight from the copperplate calligraphy bottle, although I occasionally add a few drops of water if it thickens a bit when it's sitting open. It's a smooth, very black ink that writes beautifully with a pen. It doesn't destroy nibs like inks that contain a lot of shellac and washes off easily with water. This ink has a great consistency and sticks so well to my sharp points that I don't even have to add gum arabic. It has an earthy, natural flavor that I really like, although some reviewers object. I have recommended Moon Palace ink to others in my calligraphy classes and they love it too, although the teacher prefers gouache which is more expensive and needs to be mixed with water and gum arabic to the perfect consistency. The size of this bottle is really big, especially since it's so cheap! (Not for fountain pens and not waterproof.) The label on my bottle was entirely in Japanese. It doesn't dry very quickly so I sometimes blow dry it for a few seconds when I'm working on a project. Moon Palace is great for practicing on the heavyweight 32 lb premium printer paper which I buy in reams of 500 to print my recommendations. I also use it in my Pilot Parallel Pen, refill empty cartridges or the whole pen.