Jentle Black 
Sailor



       Black inks are my choice when it comes to daily use, the colour is not the most exciting but for a lot of what I do I prefer an ink doesn't steal the show. For this reason I have a few qualities that I look for; first off the colour needs to be a deep black for a good page contrast, second it has to be easy to clean so I can switch tools regularly, and lastly it needs to preform in the presence of water. Water will sometimes make black inks turn blue or purple or even remove the ink completely. The Sailor Jentle Black has some of the qualities that I do look for in a black ink.

Jentle Black - test plate after 3mL of water

     Jentle has a charcoal gray tone to midnight black colour range with moderate shading on both Hilroy and Clairefontaine papers. The ink dries reasonably quick for a wet flowing ink, it seems like this quality would be desirable in drier type pens. I experienced no feathering or bleed through just normal ghosting on cheap paper (as expected). Water doesn't remove the ink from the paper and the washed ink still shows a grey tone. The test plate shows that this ink is easy to clean just a small traces of diluted ink left behind. .

Sailor Jentle Black is a good preforming ink that features qualities that I find important in a black ink, easy to clean being a favourite. I find the colour great for sketching / drawing with and can be used with water for shading effects. Great black ink that I use in all my pens. The bottle it comes in is also worth mentioning, within the bottle fits a tool to get the most out of the bottle by filling a smaller reservoir within the insert. Plus the size was a good fit for my drawer.

Jentle Black on Clairefontaine paper

Jentle Black on Hilroy paper

Ink diagrams prepared using:
1.  Speedball C-4 nib in dip pen
2.  Esterbrook #0 nib in dip pen