Inktend / Ink library / Aplausos
Aplausos
Small-batch Japanese-Korean collaborative inks released in playful, story-driven limited series.
Paper & pairing
Reds and pinks show the most dramatic shading of any color family: expect real variation between the edges and center of each letter. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.
About Tono & Lims
Tono & Lims is a Japanese ink brand founded by fountain pen enthusiast Takashi Ono in partnership with Lim's Lab, an ink producer based in South Korea. It is known for a huge, fast-moving catalog of small-batch inks organized into story-driven series such as Friendship, Legend, Baby Color, Earth Contact and Shaved Ice, plus countless retailer and pen-show collaborations. The playful naming and constant limited releases have made it a cult favorite in the fountain pen community.
Storing and using the bottle
Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.
Frequently asked questions
Similar shades By colour distance
Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.