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Ink Review : Iroshizuku Kon-Peki


namrehsnoom

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Ink Review : Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki (deep blue)

 

fpn_1466847398__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

Pen: Lamy Al-Star Ocean Blue, M-nib

Paper: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm

 

"two eagles soaring

in sun-baked deep blue sky

shadows on the ground"

 

When an ink review opens up with a haiku, you just know that it will cover a Japanese ink. And you would be right ! This review examines Pilot Iroshizuku kon-peki, a wonderful cerulean blue ink.

 

As most of you know, Iroshizuku is Pilot's luxury line of fountain pen inks - read: your wallet will feel it, these inks are expensive. The name Iroshizuku is a combination of the japanese words Iro (coloring) and Shizuku (droplet). The name is meant to bring forth the image of dripping water in a variety of beautiful colors. All the inks in this series are named after natural landscapes & plants, with each ink trying to capture the depth and essense of color of its namesake.

 

fpn_1466847418__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

Kon-peki is a stunning sky-blue ink. Think of yourself hiking a mountain trail on a bright summer day, just past noon, without a cloud in the sky. You hear eagles calling, and you look up. See that sky ? That's kon-peki ! A truly wonderful color, very similar to Pelikan Edelstein Topaz (which I personally like even more). Kon-peki is a true blue ink, as shown in the chromatography. It seems to be a single-component dye.

 

Kon-peki exhibits some really nice shading - it's prominent, but not in your face. The overall effect is aestetically pleasing. Love it ! The ink is also very well lubricated, and writes well in all nib sizes - even with EF nibs. Writing becomes a pleasurable experience.

 

fpn_1466847501__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

Iroshizuku kon-peki is a well-behaving ink on a variety of paper. I didn't see any feathering, even on the cheaper Moleskine and regular notepad paper. On this fountain-pen unfriendly paper, the ink dries in the 5-10 second range - that's superfast ! (and probably why there is no visible feathering - the ink is just drying too fast for feathering to occur). Be aware though that significant show-through and some bleed-through are present with the cheaper paper - you won't be able to use both sides.

  • Rhodia N° 16 notepad 80 gsm - drying time 15-20 seconds, no feathering, no show-through nor bleed-through
  • Paperblanks journal paper - drying time ~10 seconds, no feathering, no show-through and no bleed-through. Looks great on this ivory paper
  • Generic notepad paper 70 gsm - drying time ~10 seconds, no feathering, minimal show-through. Bleed-through only in heavily saturated spots (like with ink swabs)
  • Moleskine journal - drying time ~5 seconds - superfast ! No feathering, significant show-through and some bleed-through

The ink is smudge-resistant, but I wouldn't call it water-resistant. With a good soak, that lovely sky-blue swiftly dissipates. However, enough residue remains for you to make out your original writing (even after 30 seconds of running tap water) - not bad at all. Note that this might not be readily apparent in the scan, but trust me on this: you can easily read what remains on the paper.

 

Conclusion

 

Iroshizuku kon-peki is a champ ! stunning color, nice shading, well lubricated and a great behavior on a wide range of paper. You really can't go wrong with this ink.

That being said - I must confess that for me personally, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz is a very similar sky-blue, and even lovelier - it's a tad lighter of color, and seems more vibrant to me. And in Europe at least, Edelstein inks are almost 3 times cheaper than the Iroshizukus. For more info on Topaz, and a comparison with kon-peki, see the following links:

 

my overall score: A

 

fpn_1466847432__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

fpn_1466847446__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

fpn_1466847463__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

 

fpn_1466847483__iroshizuku_-_kon_peki_-_

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Excellent review. Funny thing with lamy nibs is that fines are often wetter tan mediums and it seems that's also the case with your pen and nib :) I have also Lamy fine that's broader than Lamy medium. I guess they don't really try to align with german precision idea.

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I have also found Diamine Mediterranean Blue a suitable and much cheaper alternative. I sold my only bottle of Kon-peki for this reason. :)

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Funny thing with lamy nibs is that fines are often wetter tan mediums and it seems that's also the case with your pen and nib :) I have also Lamy fine that's broader than Lamy medium. I guess they don't really try to align with german precision idea.

Yeah.... time to do some nib-swapping to obtain a set with more consistent size progression. Fortunately Lamy nibs are cheap to replace :-)

When writing with one pen this goes undetected, but it does indeed become visible when putting the different nib sizes side-by-side. Thanks for pointing this out - I think I'll put some time into preparing a dedicated and consistent ink review pen set.

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Great review. You really put a lot into it. I wish I liked Kon-Peki, I have tried it numerous times and always end up liking Navajo Turquoise so much better. :|


 It's for Yew!bastardchildlil.jpg

 

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Good review. Notice how different it looks in different parts of your report, depending on the nib and paper. That's true of all inks, I guess, but seems more pronounced here.

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Great review. I love this ink, it does have a lot of variation, if I haven't used it for a while it looks a lot darker, on smaller nibs it looks very close to Ama Iro.

Edited by pseudo88

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

 

B. Russell

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  • 8 months later...

Great review.. I agree it's pricey but if I'm on this path I'm on it all the way. I fell in love with the color when I saw it and even more when I used it.

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Great review.. I agree it's pricey but if I'm on this path I'm on it all the way. I fell in love with the color when I saw it and even more when I used it.

If you like kon-peki, you'll probably love Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. Check out https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/308761-ink-shoot-out-pelikan-edelstein-topaz-vs-pilot-iroshizuku-kon-peki/ to help make up your mind (here I compared the two)

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