Sailor Ink Studio 173: Ink Review

Sailor Ink Studio 173 appears orange in the bottle and goes on a very light color, dries down to a more coral/peachy pink with some really lovely shading in larger nibs. This apricot hued ink is a bit on the dry side, but has enough shading and saturation to really turn some heads! See what more we have to say about it here!

Ink Review 

Supplies Used:

• LAMY AL-star with medium steel nib
• Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, 80g white paper
• Tomoé River 52 gsm white paper
• Leuchtturm1917 80g notebook

Smear Test (Dry Time):

• 20 seconds – Sailor 173 has a pretty slow dry time compared to some of the others in the Ink Studio. However, this ink feels dry when writing, so it's a good ink for larger nib sizes. 

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

• Low – Not water resistant at all!  Not only is the color a pale orange, but when it gets wet it practically disappears, so avoid writing anywhere where this could get wet.

Saturation:

• Medium – Upon first glance you may think this ink has very low saturation but you can see from the swabs that the second pass yields all the color you can coax from it. It's a surprisingly legible color in a larger nib. 

Ease of Cleaning:

• Easy – With mild/normal saturation, no sheen, no shimmer, and no water-resistance it does get much easier to clean than 173. 

Shading:

• High - This ink really stands out due to its lovely shading. The ink will dance between a creamsicle orange, grapefruit pink, and a gentle soft peach color. With mixed media techniques you can see a lot of change but in normal writing you will get a smooth flow between them. If you have extra ink in a spot or two, you might even see a bright orange halo around some of the lines! 

Flow:

• Low/Medium – Though not as dry as something like Sailor Haha, Ink Studio 173 is definitely on the drier side. It felt nice coming from the medium LAMY safari but may be a bit tedious in finer nibs or drier pens.

 Packaging and Aesthetics:

• The Ink Studio bottles from Sailor feature a relatively plain label but you receive a few goodies inside! Stickers are in the box to allow the marking of a converter or pen so you know what ink is in the converter. It's a very innovative and helpful way to keep track of your ink. The opening is large enough to fill a pen from, so no worries there either. 

If you're interested in similar colors, check out our Swab Shop where you can compare colors side by side.

Summary:

While orange inks aren't as popular as some other colors, the array of hues in this ink makes it an interesting ink to use throughout the year. The pale orange is great for the pastel colors of spring, the warmer orange and darker coral remind one of a summer sunset, and who doesn't love a delightful orange leaf in the fall? Combined with its drier writing experience, and quick drying time, this is a good ink to have on hand when you want something with a little flair. 

This color is available in 20ml bottles as well as our 2ml samples.