Pilot have been making fantastic inks for a while now. The Iroshizuku range are a marketing success - beautiful and practical bottle design, bright and interesting colour range along with quality inks that flow smoothly from the nib. Recently Pilot released three new Iroshizuku inks to add to its range; just in time for the Christmas stocking.
The three new inks released are:
The three inks are available for purchase now from most stores selling Iroshizuku or from Ebay. I bought mine from Engeika store http://wancher.ocnk.biz/diary . I have bought many items from Engeika and each time his service has impressed me immensely. However I recently bought a Wancher pen from him and I would never do that again. The pen was the worst pen I have ever bought. Its not Japanese made at all. I'll post a review on it soon. Suffice to say for now, the Wancher fountain pen is not something I would recommend. However, the Iroshizuku inks are fantastic, I can recommend them.
Image courtesy of Engeika - http://wancher.ocnk.biz/diary
The three Iroshizuku colours are brand new and I have to say they are just the thing for those keenly waiting for a new choice of Iroshizuku inks.
I like all three of these inks, especially the take-sumi - so much so I'm going to order another bottle of it as well. As you can see below its a definate charcoal black.
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| Take-sumi ink & Sunshine Sailor Sapporo - photo by Eclectic Psyche |
The take-sumi is a smooth ink, flows easily from the pen nib and gives a good saturated and smooth ink output. Its a decent shade of black not a full bodied black (like Sailor Kiwaguru or Noodler's Black) but its a black that can look a darkish grey at times and black at others depending on your paper, pen and the light. I really like its flow rate and colour variation. Interestingly, while it is a wet ink it dries quickly.
I now have the take-sumi on a pedastal as a new favourite.
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| Take-sumi ink - photo by Eclectic Psyche |
A brief review of the bamboo charcoal colour is below. The colour is actually better (deeper) than it appears in the sample test below. I'll try to upload a better image shortly. I've tried the take-sumi in four of my fountain pens: my Sailor 1911 large, Sailor Sapporo, Pilot Custom 74 and a Noodler's Ahab Flex - all of them are writing smoothly with the take-sumi ink. The colour is black but in each pen the grey shading shows up slightly differently (due to the different nib sizes and flex) but mostly its a matt black. It all adds up to make the ink even more intriguing to use.
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| Sample of ink - by Eclectic Psyche |
The take-sumi is a nice shading of black that compliments my Noodler's Zhivago quite nicely. The Zhivago is a great black with its green tinge, the amount of green evident depends on the nib size and paper absorption rate. The two inks, take-sumi and Zhivago, will be filling two of my favourite pens and travelling side by side in my pen pouch in future. I can see a daily use for both of them.
Get in quick and get yourself a bottle of the take-sumi (just don't get the Wancher pen). As mentioned I have the other two inks from this release and will post a review of them shortly.
Happy Iroshizuku writing!
Do the Iroshizuku inks stain or clog pens? I need a charcoal colour but I havent bought Japanese ink before. Do they stain like noodler's ink? Thanks for info.
ReplyDeleteHi
DeleteI have quite a few Iroshizuku inks and I haven't had any problems, so far, with those inks causing any permanent staining or clogging of pens. The inks are actually very wet, flowing inks. I did find the yama-budo (wild grape) ink took a couple of rinses and a bit of a soak to get out of my Sailor converter but it wasn't anything too troublesome. So, no, I don't think they stain or clog. But then I also have never had problems with Noodler's ink. I know some people have. Perhaps its because I rotate my ink a lot and avoid leaving ink in a pen for too long unused. I haven't tried the Baystate Blue ink yet and I know that's the main ink that has had some contentious feedback. Generally though I find rinsing and soaking removes most ink and failing that a little bleach can help as well for stubborn ones but be careful with the mixture. Overall, Iroshizuku ink is a safe ink.