Lennon Tool Bar - Winter Bamboo…

Lennon Tool Bar - Winter Bamboo Shoots - Ink drop

Winter Bamboo Shoots is from Taiwan’s Lennon Tool Bar. It’s part of their 2019 limited series, which includes inks inspired by the changes winter brings. The name Winter Bamboo Shoots honors the revered plant. Struggling through 10 cm of hard, winter soil, bamboo shoots emerge from the ground to discover their fate. Some are harvested to provide delicious nourishment, while others are left to grow skyward, projecting life against the cold, wintery backdrop.

Visually, this is a lovely, complex ink. I was surprised to see how much the color varies based on the paper used. In the splatter image (Rhodia 90 g), we have a rich, vegetal, deep olive with slightly brownish undertones. This was consistent on coated papers. In the swatch card image (rough, uncoated card stock), we see a lighter, more juvenile, sandy-straw green. This was prevalent on uncoated papers. The splatter shows darkened areas within pooling, but neither sheen, nor halo showed in writing. Shading brings out some of the lighter tones, and it adds a lot of personality.

Lennon Tool Bar - Winter Bamboo Shoots - Ink Swatch Card

As a writing ink, Winter Bamboo Shoots was quite nice on coated papers, and produced sharp, clean strokes. Shading was strongest here, too. Drying times averaged 15-20 seconds. On uncoated papers, this ink doesn’t perform as well. Strokes suffered from fairly extensive feathering. Shading was muted, and less frequent, too. Drying times, however, were a fast 5-15 seconds. It was pretty good on Fabriano and office copy, but poorer results were found on Apica.

Light or dark, this is a very attractive ink. If you’re using coated, premium papers, then I happily recommend it, and I’m sure you’ll be pleased. If not, there’s just too much feather. If you’re using uncoated papers, stick with the harvested winter bamboo shoots, and enjoy them in a nice, warm soup.