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Pilot Iroshizuku - Three Browns


jasonchickerson

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Iroshizuku's lineup of brown inks is a short list of two, or three if we include the golden wheat color, Ina-ho. Top is Rhodia Dotpad. Bottoms is Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton.

 

These three inks are excellent, interesting colors and very well-behaved. While not exactly unique, they are as good or better than their doppelgangers among other brands.

 

Tsukushi is very similar to Faber-Castell's Hazelnut Brown and J. Herbin's Café des Îles, while Yama-guri is a darker, more saturated R&K Sepia or J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil. I don't have enough experience with colors like Ina-ho to draw comparisons.

 

Here's a breakdown:

 

Tsukushi - burgundy undertone

Hazelnut Brown - lavender undertone

Café des Îles - no undertone (single dye ink)

 

Yama-guri - burgundy undertone

R&K Sepia - neutral/brown undertone

Cacao du Brésil - lavender undertone

 

While I won't be dropping Cacao du Brésil, I will be adding Yama-guri to my ink drawer. It is an incredibly organic looking ink, reminiscent of writing with a charred stick. It has an early man on cave wall feel. And, these inks dip very well on the right paper.

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Interesting. I have not thought much about the browns in Iroshuzuku line. May put Yama-guri on my sample ink list due to it having the undertone of burgandy. Never really thought of brown being a color I would use in terms of fountain pen ink. Yet, I know there are people who love browns.

Ea Alis Volat Propiis, per/Repletus Fontis Calamus!
She Flies by Her Own Wings, with filled Fountain Pen

 

Delta DolceVita, F-C Intrinsic 02, Pelikan M800 red/black striation, Bexley ATB Strawberry Swirl, Red Jinhao 159, Platinum 3776 Bourgogne. :wub:

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How do you do your swatches?.... With a knife?

 

 

They are lovely... :wub: :wub:

 

 

C.

 

Thanks, C. I make the swatches with a damp watercolor brush, then touch the bottom third of the swatch with the same brush wet to get the bloom and color separation.

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Interesting. I have not thought much about the browns in Iroshuzuku line. May put Yama-guri on my sample ink list due to it having the undertone of burgandy. Never really thought of brown being a color I would use in terms of fountain pen ink. Yet, I know there are people who love browns.

 

Brown ink was my first fascination with fountain pens. I'm relatively young, so I had never seen anyone use a fountain pen before I bought my first one. My grandparents were not white collar enough to use fountain pens; granddad was a mechanic who used those huge, rectangular pencils he sharpened with his pocket knife.

 

Anyway, I guess fountain pens seemed very turn of the century to me when I started, and so I was after that aged document look. Browns are still my favorite, followed closely by muddy greens. I'm surely rare in my tastes.

Edited by jasonchickerson
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Thanks, C. I make the swatches with a damp watercolor brush, then touch the bottom third of the swatch with the same brush wet to get the bloom and color separation.

 

 

BRILLIANT!!!... I think I will have to play tonight with watercolor brushes.. :lol:

 

 

C.

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Browns are still my favorite, followed closely by muddy greens. I'm surely rare in my tastes.

 

 

Not at all... we can start the club... I'll be the president .. ;)

 

 

C.

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I would volunteer to simply be Secretary, but red won't let me go! :wub:

Edited by fountainpenlady

Ea Alis Volat Propiis, per/Repletus Fontis Calamus!
She Flies by Her Own Wings, with filled Fountain Pen

 

Delta DolceVita, F-C Intrinsic 02, Pelikan M800 red/black striation, Bexley ATB Strawberry Swirl, Red Jinhao 159, Platinum 3776 Bourgogne. :wub:

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Thanks for this comparison, it's food for thought. I considered Yama-guri to be the only must-buy, but now Tsukushi seems to be (almost) equally inviting.

 

I read documents from the 1920s and 1930s for a living... and one thing that stands out (apart from the frequent use of crayons/coloured pencils for editing and comments ; ) is how well black inks from the period seem to keep their colour. And - of course - how great the handwriting often is.

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And - of course - how great the handwriting often is.

 

 

Sigh... the good old times.. Calligraphy was taught really early... :(

 

 

C.

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**** BauerInks.ca ****

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**** NICK STEWART - KWZI INKs TEST ****

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Thanks for this comparison, it's food for thought. I considered Yama-guri to be the only must-buy, but now Tsukushi seems to be (almost) equally inviting.

 

I read documents from the 1920s and 1930s for a living... and one thing that stands out (apart from the frequent use of crayons/coloured pencils for editing and comments ; ) is how well black inks from the period seem to keep their colour. And - of course - how great the handwriting often is.

 

Sounds interesting! Are you a historian then?

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Great comparison and you are far from alone in your love of browns & murky greens. My first ink purchases were Herbin's Vert Empire & Waterman's Absolute Brown ( And regretted I had waited too late for it to be Havana!) Flash forward almost a year & I am using Noodler's El Lawrence,Yama Guri, Maruzen's Sepia, OS Walt Whitman & Diamine's Terracotta. Have a bunch more sepia & muddy greens including The Missing Pen version of Racing Green & Diamine's Salamander. BUT I also love the Oranges.......... & the yellow greens (Does your Avatar involve Alt Goldrun?) I agree with you that I think there is something quite old fashioned about them. I have my Grandmother's autograph album from college & most of the signatures & inscriptions from her friends look like they were done in browns to me. Of course the dates are barely "turn of the century" so it may only seem so due to age & paper quality. No matter why we like anything only that we enjoy something enough to have a preference.

Thanks again for your comparison & I also quite like your swatch technique. Shows well what intended & looks nice @ the same time.

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I am using Noodler's El Lawrence,Yama Guri, Maruzen's Sepia, OS Walt Whitman & Diamine's Terracotta. Have a bunch more sepia & muddy greens including The Missing Pen version of Racing Green & Diamine's Salamander.

 

Dude!!!..... are we related??? :lol:

 

 

C.

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ONLY if you also like to keep a broad nibbed pen inked up with Diamine's Wagner & another one with Alt Goldrun @ the same time & can't really decide which you like better....& then decide DOES IT REALLY MATTER? because you like them BOTH so much!

Yeah.then I would say we are definitely "kin!" (BUT then as I consider myself "southern" we are ALL related!) I will gladly claim you tho......

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ROFLOL... YEP.. we ARE related.... :lol:

 

Love my Wagner and Alt Goldrun... on my wet broad stubs... :wub: :wub:

 

 

ONLY if you also like to keep a broad nibbed pen inked up with Diamine's Wagner & another one with Alt Goldrun @ the same time & can't really decide which you like better....& then decide DOES IT REALLY MATTER? because you like them BOTH so much!

Yeah.then I would say we are definitely "kin!" (BUT then as I consider myself "southern" we are ALL related!) I will gladly claim you tho......

fpn_1481652911__bauerinkslogo03.jpg
**** BauerInks.ca ****

**** MORE.... Robert Oster Signature INKS ****

**** NICK STEWART - KWZI INKs TEST ****

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking,

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BUT I also love the Oranges.......... & the yellow greens (Does your Avatar involve Alt Goldrun?)

 

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, my avatar is Frederich Goldschieder's Nubian Girl on a swatch of Alt-goldgrün. Have you tried J. Herbin's Ambre de Birmanie? It is a favorite of mine. In the right pen, a very useable yellow/orange.

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Indeed I am quite fond of Ambre de Birmanie (& can't see how anyone could not love an ink with a name like that!) I like it in a stubbed nib & am constantly amazed @ the shading it produces. I first tried Private Reserve's Shoreline Gold & altho it shades nicely after I tried the Herbin I have not used the Shoreline. I have recently been using the Australian Toucan (Gold) & altho not a great shader it is a very respectable gold color. I long to find a sample of Sheaffer's Kings Gold which seemed to be a favorite of many.

I still think my favorites may be Alt Goldrun & Diamine's Wagner. The day I saw a sample of it I immediately ordered the Music set (knowing none of the other colors really interested me!) just to get my paws on the Wagner. I cannot say which of them I prefer I just like them both. I think their complexity of color is what I am attracted to.....there seem to be a "lot of stories" contained in those inks! But then sometimes I just want the murk of the dark greens & then sometimes it is the dark browns..(I filled a Pilot 823 with the Maruzen Sepia so I seem to always have it @ the ready!)

Tonite I just read about the Hakasse sepia & even tho I have recently received & not yet used the Rubinato Sepia I "kinda think I might ought to have that Hakasse (dark, of course!) one."

Gosh...I sure hope I am not like "hooked" or anything?

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Sounds interesting! Are you a historian then?

 

Spot on! From a strictly fountain-pen point of view, it's rarely that interesting though, as most official documents back then were produced on typewriters. But every once in a while you come across great handwriting. For example, in one ministry in France they kept a particular clerk who produced memos in handwriting well into the 1930s. And for good reasons - I kept reading his memos even if I didn't care for the subject matter ; )

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Thanks, C. I make the swatches with a damp watercolor brush, then touch the bottom third of the swatch with the same brush wet to get the bloom and color separation.

 

Brilliant idea and very effective. :)

 

Thanks again for another lovely review.

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