InktendInktend / Ink library / Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley
A numbered series of Sailor-made city colors, each telling the story of a Kobe neighborhood.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Paper & pairing
Warm tones (oranges, yellows, ambers) show strong contrast between light and dark areas of each stroke, which is part of why they're popular with broader nibs. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.
About Nagasawa Kobe INK
Nagasawa Bungu Center is a Kobe stationery institution whose roots go back to 1882. In 2007, partly to commemorate the city's recovery from the Great Hanshin earthquake, it launched Kobe INK Monogatari (Kobe Ink Story), a Sailor-made series of numbered 'city colors' in which each ink captures a Kobe neighborhood, landmark or landscape. The line has since grown well beyond 60 numbered colors plus store-limited editions.
Storing and using the bottle
Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.
Frequently asked questions
Similar shades By colour distance
Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.