Tono & Lims Kaleidoscope Pure Ibuki - 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: A soft, sandy olive-brown. Retailers describe Ibuki variously as a light brown with yellow undertones, a dark yellow, and a pastel tea brown with yellow and pink shading — my swatches sit warmer and greener than "yellow" suggests. Written and in the swab bar it dries to a pale mushroom-tan; pooled in the drops it deepens into khaki and olive-brown, with visible pink-red separation at the edges of the heavier drops. Light-toned in normal writing, so worth knowing it reads pale on the page.

Shading: Strong. Wide range between the light dip-pen strokes and the pooled areas, with clear tonal steps and darker halo edging where the ink gathers.

Sheen: None observed on Tomoe River.

Shimmer: None. The Pure line is the non-shimmer version of the Kaleidoscope range.

Flow: Medium.

The interesting bit: Tono & Lims is a Japanese brand founded in 2018 after Takashi Ono met Mr Lim, who runs an ink lab in South Korea, at a stationery festival — the inks are formulated and made at Lim's Lab in Korea. The Kaleidoscope series was built around the idea of shifting perspective, with each colour released in a shimmer version and a plain "Pure" version; Ibuki is a standard edition. The name いぶき is usually read as "breath", though it's also the Japanese name for the Chinese juniper and for Mount Ibuki, and retailers have listed it under all three. It's a fluorescent ink and glows yellow under UV — but reviewers consistently note the glow is only really visible while the ink is still wet, and it fades as it dries - I have never seen it.

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.

Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.

I'm a collector and I'm always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.