Iroshizuku Asa Gao - Is Anything Better Than This One?

[amberleadavis]

What, no Paradise Pens in Vegas?! I purchased a number of pens there and Private Reserve back in the day! Where's the go to store in Vegas these days?

 

Best,

John

 

Visiting me for ink. - We do have two MB stores.

[jmccarty3]

+1 for Diamine's Regency Blue. If you want a similar dark blue in a Japanese ink, Sailor Shosaikan Seiran or Kobe #51 Kan-cho Midnight will do just fine.

[DrDebG]

While I love Asa Gao, I would highly recommend L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bleu Azure or Bleu Ultramarine.

 

https://vanness1938.com/collections/callifolio-inks

 

I am not affiliated in any way with Vanness Pens. They carry a number of ink brands that I like.

 

I can also recommend any of the Callifolio blues. I have them all and love them. I have a lot of blues (its my favorite color), and can also recommend Delta Blue and Pilot 4000 Blue.

 

I am currently "revisiting" many of the samples I have obtained over the years, including some great blues. Take a look here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/309608-such-lonely-ink/

 

Good luck! I would love to see what you come up with.

[sirgilbert357]

Looks like Asa Gao is one of the favorites here but waterproofness is a concern. As amberleadavis pointed out, 'easy to clean/maintain' should also be on my checklist for a well behaved ink.

 

I have the following blues on my list to consider:

- Pilot/Namiki blue (I'm expecting this one to be similar in behavior to Asa Gao)

- Sailor blue (heard good things about Sailor inks, the color looks good in pictures)

- Levenger Cobalt (from my experience with a Levenger ink (cocoa), feathering and bleed through is poor)

- Sheaffer blue (very similar to Aurora blue. Flows well and is fairly saturated)

- Visconti blue (heard good things about this one)

- Waterman Florida blue (or whatever it is called these days. It's that standard blue that works well)

 

Maybe I am in the minority, but Visconti blue was so dadgum similar to Asa Gao for me that if written side by side and left to dry, I couldn't tell which was which. Performance was similar, but I felt the Visconti feathered more than Asa Gao on the cheaper papers... just my observations.

[s_t_e_v_e]

I ended up getting the Sailor blue and the waterman Florida blue. I forgot how good waterman Florida blue is, I had only used it's cartridges a long time ago in my waterman graduate pen. It is much more saturated than I thought it was. I like this ink!!

 

I'm yet to ink up a pen with the sailor ink. I'll wait until I get the pens I ordered this week to get delivered 😊

[Erik Dalton]

I find quite well behaved Visconti Blue is a true blue without hint of purple.

+1 for Visconte blue. I've recently discovered it. Great color and even a bit of water resistance.

[dcwaites]

Having just changed my room lighting from fluorescent to LED I can see that Asa-Gao is quite different from Visconti Blue. Both, though, are very nice inks.

 

I must compare it to my blend Coconut Crab Blue.

[vrs-katana]

On 6/8/2016 at 10:39 PM, amberleadavis said:

If you have Noodler's Polar Blue or Ghost Blue, just add some of that to Asa Gao and you will radically improve the water fastness.

Hi,

Did someone try this combination. I am really unsure to mix Noodler's Polar Blue and Asa Gao but have both with me.

I have Indian ebonite pen with an EF nib (local hand made) which I love, but the polar blue is very pale when used with this pen.

Asa-gao is really amazing no skipping, colour is just right for work.

 

Only if I could make Asa-Gao water resistant ( doesn't really need a water-proof ink, and I can always use polar blue in a different pen), I might have my ultimate go to ink.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

On 6/7/2016 at 8:02 AM, s_t_e_v_e said:

This is the best blue ink (or even the best among all colors) I've used so far. Aurora and Waterman and Montblanc come in next on my list.

 

I was wondering if there are blues from other brands that are at least as well behaved as this one. I'm not looking at PR or Noodler's because I haven't had pleasant experiences with their inks for the same reasons already discussed at length in other threads.

 

My criteria for well behaved are:

- wet

- saturated, I absolutely loathe washed out inks. The color should stay the way it is or darker after drying.

- very low feathering and bleed through

- reasonable dry times

- consistent flow till the last drop in a converter without having to prime the feed

 

Asa Gao hits it out of the park for all of the above criteria and is currently my favorite ink. I haven't used Kon-Peki but I believe it is just as good. I hope there are inks from other brands that might be cheaper with similar or better characteristics.

 

I like :

Sailor Souten (Kon-Peki is very close and cheaper per mL)

Try some of the Sailor Inks in shikiori line.

 

[amberleadavis]

On 1/8/2023 at 9:13 AM, vrs-katana said:

Hi,

Did someone try this combination. I am really unsure to mix Noodler's Polar Blue and Asa Gao but have both with me.

I have Indian ebonite pen with an EF nib (local hand made) which I love, but the polar blue is very pale when used with this pen.

Asa-gao is really amazing no skipping, colour is just right for work.

 

Only if I could make Asa-Gao water resistant ( doesn't really need a water-proof ink, and I can always use polar blue in a different pen), I might have my ultimate go to ink.

 

Just mix in small vials to check.  Your milage may vary.  Ghost blue is a great ink to get the water resistance.

[Harry R]

I also have a soft spot for Asa Gao. Two other well behaved favourite blue inks of mine are J Herbin Eclat de Saphir and Private Reserve Naples Blue. Neither is waterproof but if anything I write with these inks gets wet I can just write it again 😁

[OCArt]

I just put ups water and fade tests HERE that include Asa Gao. 

[lapis]

Hmm... I thought that I had already added my own 2 ¢ here... for me, it's Horizon. After that, probably MB's Royal Blue. Noodler's "Blue" looks good but never really dries on paper. Visconti's is also good but a tick too dark.

[Mangrove Jack]

If water resistance is a factor, then, Pilot regular blue is quite water resistant. Its a nice well saturated blue, well behaved, fast drying ink and has never clogged any of my pens despite being in them for many months on end.

 

 

 

[vrs-katana]

WOW! it's been a year now. I mixed 3 parts Asa-gao and 1 part NPB, there were no issues what so ever.

When tested under water, Asa-gao washes off and the NPB stays, which is acceptable to me.

 

Converted an entire bottle of Asa-gao to this mix, its been more than 6-months and there is no issues and I can see the Iroshizuku bottle is clear without any particles or stuff.