Wow! This is definitely one of the most interesting inks, that I have ever used. Today’s ink is Kaleidoscope HANA, a limited-edition ink from Tono & Lims. This is a shimmer ink, but it also comes in a standard version called “Pure” that doesn’t have any shimmer. I lie it when companies offer non-shimmer versions of their shimmer inks.

Visually, this is a real feast for the eyes. Hana is a color-shifting ink, and it’s quite amazing to watch. The ink hits the page as a grey-light purple. It quickly morphs into a dirty, yellowish blue-grey, and then slowly becomes a glowing, shimmering, light blue-violet over the next 90 seconds. As some of the images show, rainbows of color shift and evolve in areas of pooling.

The electric blue shimmer is a very fine particle (Tono & Lims shimmers rarely, if ever cause problems for me). This blue really works well with the final base color. As a final trick, Hana is UV light reactant, and glows brightly given the chance. Check out the ink splatter comparison images, both before and after adding UV light. This ink is a masterpiece!

As a writing ink, nothing was sacrificed. It performs very well on the page, and the end result is excellence. Strokes were razor-sharp on all six test papers. The ink acted very differently on coated and uncoated papers, but the results were consistent in the end. As a shimmer ink, it isn’t a strong shader, but there was variation on all papers. Stroke halo was strongest on Kokuyo, Fabriano, and Apica, but showed on all premiums. Drying was 10-15 seconds on most premiums (15-20 seconds on Apica), and 5-10 seconds on office copy. This is a solid writing ink.

Tono & Lims really are masters of ink innovation, and Kaleidoscope HANA displays their mastery to its fullest! This ink is simply incredible. You probably won’t use it for work, but time pen hits paper, you’ll be amazed!