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hobonichi x kakimori | thoughts + my ink mixes!

jackalopejournals

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Mixing Kakimori bottled ink to match the Hobonichi monthly tabs in my A6 techo.

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✍️ Notes
SOOOOO… actually the price of Kakimori Inkstand ink has gone down directly from Kakimori! I last ordered ink directly from Kakimori in June of 2025 for $31/ bottle. It was their Inkstand colour line (specifically Smoky Black), which as of this video (September 2026) is $29, again directly from Kakimori.

I didn’t realize it until doing some fact-checking post recording, but I don’t believe that Kakimori Inkstand inks are available in the US. Their base Kakimori Ink bottles, however, are available from JetPens right now at that same price of $29.

You’ll also see colour specimen bottles on JetPens which I didn’t mention in this video but are always higher anyway! You could say that the Hobonichi full bottle ink is more like a colour specimen bottle (which I disagree with, because those are usually limited edition and I think the Hobonichi collab is going to stick around), but STILL those are $35 across the board, vs the $38 of the Hobonichi x Kakimori ink directly from Hobonichi, or $45 (!!!!) if you buy the bottle domestically in the US.

tl;dr, the Hobonichi x Kakimori inks are unusually expensive, even in the context of Kakimori ink collaborations in the past and especially with regards to their current pricing.

✒️ INK MIXES
January: 1 part Daruma, 1 part Harvest Gold, 1 part diluting solution (said something different in the video, my b!)
February: 1 part Daruma, 1 part Cactus, 1 part diluting solution
March: notes were a bit of a mess for this one! I think I did 2 parts Violet Purple, 1 part Harvest Gold, 1 part Puddle, 2 parts Blooming Pink, 1 part diluting solution
April: 5 parts Blooming Pink, 1 part Soil Brown, 1 part diluting solution
May: 1 part Meteorite, 1 part Harvest Gold, 1 part diluting solution
June: 2 parts Cactus, 1 part Harvest Gold
July: Existing ink - 2 parts Zabun + 1 part diluting solution
August: Existing ink - 1 part Meteorite + 1 part diluting solution
September: 😅 1 part Daruma, 2 parts Soil Brown, 1 part diluting solution? Maybe?? 😅
October: 1 part Blooming Pink, 1 part Meteorite, 1 part diluting solution
November: 2 parts Puddle, 1 part Harvest Gold
December: 1 part Daruma, 1 part Blooming pink, 2 parts Harvest Gold

🤑 EVEN MORE RAPID FIRE THOUGHTS ON COST 🤑
10 ink bottles of 35ml each at $30/ bottle (using $30 just for easy math) = $300 for 350ml of ink, vs $134 for 32.4 ml of ink in the 12 month mini ink bottle Hobonichi x Kakimori set 👀

Did not do the math for how often each ink is used but broad strokes $300/350 = $0.85 per ml of traditional Kakimori ink, vs $134/32= $4.18 per ml of the Hobonichi x Kakimori ink mini set. So it is way, way more cost effective to buy bottles and mix your own inks. Which does make sense, but I was surprised at just how much more cost effective it is!

For further comparison (because above we compared full size bottles with sample sizes which, yes, is a liiiiiitle unfair), Kakimori currently has two ink sampler sets, both are $41 and feature 5 bottles of ink containing 2.7ml. If we do the same math as above, $41/ 13.7ml = $2.99 per ml of ink, compared to $0.85 per ml of ink if buying the full bottles.

So still, even comparing sampler sizes that's $2.99 per ml of ink in Kakimori's current 5 ink sample set vs. $4.18 per ml of ink in the Hobonichi x Kakimori mini bottles, which feels like way too high of an increase (+$1.19 per ml) for the collaboration.

Anyway, math is hard! If ya'll have questions please let me know!

⏳ Timestamps
00:00 Thoughts on Kakimori Inks and Hobonichi
07:55 Swatching my ink mixes

4 Comments

@leedevee 2 weeks ago

When Hobonichi announced this collab (without the price), I immediately thought of you! 😊 Happy to see you have no need of those tiny bottles. I think Hobonichi really made a misstep here. The thing is: as much as I love Kakimori and think their full-size bottles are worth the cost, their own sample sets are already way, way overpriced, in my opinion. If you compare them, the regular line (e.g. Koton) costs 78.5 yen per ml, about $0,50. Their 2 sample sets however come to a bit more than 285 yen per ml, roughly $1,8. I’ll never understand how Hobonichi thought it was ok to go even higher, to 441 yen, $2,83 per ml. And those are Japan prices, the cost skyrockets abroad. I’m not a business person, but these could’ve been such cool products to get more people to try out Kakimori, play around with fountain pen inks, maybe buy full-size bottles later (if they’d decide to release those), now it just leaves a really bad taste. Such a pity.

@autisticbucky 2 weeks ago

this is sooo cool Lauren!! i always love seeing your Kakimori ink mixes :3 also my happy mail from you arrived, i meant to message you! thank you so much for your gorgeous stickers 💛

@LaurenWalton-g2s 2 weeks ago

This is so cool, I really want to try this!

@FayeWulf 2 weeks ago

I also noticed that the colour of the hobonichi is a little different for this year but I only have last years one to compare so I couldnt tell if it was a yearly thing or just this year thing.
This was such an interesting video to watch. I'm going to try to mix my own inks to match using the de atramentis inks and dilutor.