Pilot Iroshizuku Ink

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Blackhorse

Blackhorse

Trading Post Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
B of B Supporter
Council Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
13,292
Reaction score
1,906
Location
Oregon City, Oregon - USA
Great ink. Arguably the coolest bottle of any. Used to be really expensive. I’ve paid as much as $30 or $35 a bottle way back when. Now the price has dropped to less than $20 for a 50ml bottle.

Sure, I like Robert zoster, Colorverse, Krishna, Bung Box, and lots of the other small batch boutique ink brands out there. But I have a special place for Iroshizuku.

And I honestly can’t think of any other product that has had such a major reduction in cost with no loss of quality.

Sometimes...the world is good to us.


So how’s the following for a match made in pen heaven...





Iroshizuku Kon Peki in a TWSBI Eco Transparent Blue.
 
Nice bottles. Great colors. But some do creep quite a bit on my Pelikan's. To be fair, my Pelikan's do have juicy nibs. I have not dug out an old Parker, but I suspect in a slightly drier nib that these inks would write wonderfully.
 
Hmmm.  I have 3-4 of these Pilot inks and have swapped them around among various Waterman, Pilot, Platinum, Pelican, Lamy...and a raft of nice Chinese knockoffs and I’ve never had any nib creep. And I tend to let things sit around. Just lucky I guess. Maybe the relative humidity or barometric pressure or the ju ju Chicken Head sacrifices I perform to the lord of nibs.

Or maybe the ones I have just aren’t creepy.


 
Here's a creepy nib.  This is my 1955 Pelikan 140.  The ink is currently Noodler's "The Violet Vote".  Formerly "Iraqi Indigo".  It's an eternal ink.  And very creepy in this pen.  It's wet on the nib.  And where the nib is mounted.  It is tight.  Always been a juicy nib.  Especially when it gets low on ink.  Then it can start tossing drops as you cap and uncap it.  But it has a nice flex to the nib.  

 
You did remind me though. I should empty my Sudoku pen and change it to a fall color. The Iroshizuku Momiji is their autumn leaves color. Writes really smooth.
 
Yeah. Purple can be funny. So often a bit chalky, or weak. Thin. But this one is nice and deep. Also, unobtainium. A limited release was done in 2016. But the color did not match. Some component became unavailable.
 
My two favorite purples (and an honorable mention) are:

1. Lamy Dark Lilac (Ltd Ed 2016 Ink) ink no longer available, the $30 Lamy Safari Ltd Ed pen’s are now going for $80 in the few places that have them. I have one with a black nib & scoured the internet for ink and found cartridges in Canada & thevUKmforvgreat prices so .i ordered a bunch.

2. Diamine Majestic Purple (a really fine ink with excellent saturation and good manners)

3. Noodler’s Purple Wampum (nice and dark, feathers on cheap paper)
 
Top