Is Iroshizuku Ink Worth The Price?

[Gaslight]

Maybe a bit late, but here are my 2 cents...

 

I use Tsuki-yo (a lot) and Chiku-rin (as often as possible, but there are not that many occasions when a green-yellow is needed).

 

I like the colours and the flow of the ink and of course the nice bottle. But I really love how well lubricated it is. I switched inks in my Vanishing Point from Diamine Ancient Copper to Tsuki-yo and in my Faber Castell from Tsuki-yo to Diamine Syrah.

 

the Diamine inks are nice, but in both cases I noticed that the writing experience is much smoother with the Iroshizuki ink.

[Chrissy]

Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to buy these inks for people in the UK please? I've seen the sellers on Amazon but am wary of getting hit by import tax/the Post Office's £8 "admin charge" for items that you have to pay the tax on.

If you buy it from hobby_japan on ebay it's currently less than £15 per bottle so it will not attract any tax or charges coming into the UK. That's even assuming it's marked as merchandise. (that's hobby_japan)

 

In fact it's only $14.10 per bottle plus shipping, and that's the cheapest I've found. And his shipping is quicker than other Japanese sellers I have bought from

Edited August 20, 2014 by Chrissy

[Floreat]

Brilliant, thanks again for your help Chrissy!

 

ETA I just ordered Yama-Budo, which will live in my Blackpurple Lamy Al-Star with the B nib. I like the sound of the sheen!

Edited August 20, 2014 by Floreat

[FountainPenCowgirl]

Speaking of Yama-Budo...

 

That's the only Iroshizuku color that I've bought strictly for the color. (A color I'd pretty much pay anything to keep in my rotation.)

 

The other Iroshizuku inks in my collection musts aren't there specifically for their color uniqueness. They're there for their always reliable, pleasurable performance. They simply fit my writing experience needs beautifully. That's what makes them worth the price for me.

Edited August 20, 2014 by FountainPenCowgirl

[FPP]

Speaking of Yama-Budo...

 

That's the only Iroshizuku color that I've bought strictly for the color. (A color I'd pretty much pay anything to keep in my rotation.)

 

The other Iroshizuku inks in my collection musts aren't there specifically for their color uniqueness. They're there for their always reliable, pleasurable performance. They simply fit my writing experience needs beautifully. That's what makes them worth the price for me.

I agree with you FountainPenCowgirl Yama-Budo is simply a stunning shade

[mejdrich]

Nope, not worth the price... That said, I, like many, have at least 8 bottles of the stuff and was inspired by this thread to fill an Aurora Optima demo with Kon-Peki - truly a wonderful ink... Yet, I have a hard time with the price... Then again, I burn through a $18 bottle of wine, each night, at dinner (sometimes, sadly, more than one) without batting an eye...

 

So, as someone may have mentioned earlier, life is too short for bad wine... Err, ink...

Edited August 20, 2014 by mejdrich

[LeonW]

The truth will set you free, from another wine connoisseur. The price of ink is suddenly brought into perspective.😆

[amberleadavis]

Are there drinking games going on here?

 

 

Oh, no, I don't drink the ink.... that's Plistumi.

[tonybelding]

The only Iroshizuku that I have tried is Kon-Peki. It's nice, it seems like a good quality ink. I didn't notice anything that really set it apart from other good quality inks. I decided I like Diamine Asa Blue a little better.

 

The Montblanc inks that I have tried were a bit drier and seemed to work better on less-than-stellar paper.

[Buzzie]

Like a 4-star restaurant, premium inks only survive by the repeated consumption by expert users, and the sophisticated marketplace culls the sub-par product.

 

How much ink does one consume? For what purposes? How many pens inked simultaneously? I have 3 ink categories:

 

"Work" inks: Over the past five or six years, I've collected (hoarded) scores of pens, almost all vintage. Most have been in need of rehab to sacs, nibs, feeds, polishing, etc. I keep a bottle of economical ink, such as Hero blue-black, etc. on the table for dunking, testing nibs while tinkering, checking fill, sample writing, etc. and it works well. Usually flushed out after a day or two or three.

 

"Fun" ink: Sometimes I have the urge to fire up a Mood ink or Impulse ink to match something like paper, pen color, the audience, or simply to wallow in the stimulation of exotic or seldom-used colors or brands - not always practical for long term daily use - usually popular-priced inks that don't break the budget. My mistakes are small ones.

 

"Serious" inks: My Iroshizuku inks are in this class. When I really want top-notch performance and a luxury ink to fill that super-special-pen-until-the-next-one fountain pen, I reach for the super premium inks. I perceive a difference. The costs? Well, considering that a premium bottle will likely last me a lifetime when used in rotation with my other higher-priced inks or fun inks, the added cost to me is only a few dollars per year per bottle. Livable, even on a retirement budget, when used selectively.

 

Wine similarities? When judging wines at competitions, an economical good wine may be eliminated prematurely by a finiky judge, but a sub-par wine will never make it to the top past multiple expert tasters. Extraordinary inks can be found in the economical categories, but seldom does one encounter a sub-par ink in the premium ranges. Most premiums are true luxuries.

 

Beauty remains in the eye of the beholder.

 

 

 

 

[Chrissy]

I have bought 3 bottles from hobby_japan that I particularly wanted. Ku-jaku, Yama-budo and Syo-ro.

[Diderot]

If you buy it from hobby_japan on ebay it's currently less than £15 per bottle so it will not attract any tax or charges coming into the UK. That's even assuming it's marked as merchandise. (that's hobby_japan)

 

In fact it's only $14.10 per bottle plus shipping, and that's the cheapest I've found. And his shipping is quicker than other Japanese sellers I have bought from

 

Thank you for this.

Although they don't seem to stock all, be worth getting some (or one) of the other colours.

[Rosa Mundi]

If you buy it from hobby_japan on ebay it's currently less than £15 per bottle so it will not attract any tax or charges coming into the UK. That's even assuming it's marked as merchandise. (that's hobby_japan)

 

In fact it's only $14.10 per bottle plus shipping, and that's the cheapest I've found. And his shipping is quicker than other Japanese sellers I have bought from

 

I ordered my first 2 bottles of Iroshizuku from him yesterday and got an e-mail of the items being shipped right away. I chose Yama-Budo and Ama-Iro.

[bobcorrigan]

Hi Bob

Hi Mishka - so here's the low-down on Yama-Budo after one day of writing with it:

 

1. What a gorgeous ink. Goes on smoothly, dries relatively quickly, an intense, plummy purple that's unlike anything I've ever written with.

2. Bleeds like a monster through Moleskine paper, no surprise.

3. Does not bleed through Tomoe River paper, again, no surprise.

4. Looks best IMO when used with a fine nib - granted my sample size is small, only tried it on a Lamy Safari using M and F steel nibs. One downside with using a Fine nib is it does not come out as intensely plummy, entirely a function of ink volume I think.

5. The packaging is lovely. I my desk weren't already so cluttered I'd set it out where I could admire the bottle every day.

6. $22 on AMZN, all in. No worries with delivery via UPS.

 

Kon-Peki next.

 

bob

[bobcorrigan]

Are there drinking games going on here?

 

One can only hope so.

 

Thanks everyone for the kind welcome!

[AllenG]

One can only hope so.

 

Thanks everyone for the kind welcome!

Ah!

You're Bob.

 

 

Hi Bob.

(Drink)

[Mishka5050]

@amberleadavis drinking ink and drinking game in general!

 

@diderot keep checking their stock availability, it changes (and the price too) almost every day

 

@bobcorrigan one is not enough

Forget moleskine - altho they make great diaries, their paper is not fp friendly...there are other brands (no kidding - tomoe river!? )

 

@alleng cheers!

Edited August 22, 2014 by Mishka5050

[Michigan]

I agree with most of the positive posts here. I also agree that their colors can be hit or miss.

 

My Montegrappa is too dry for Montegrappa black ink (go figure), but perfect with shin-ryoku, fuyu-gaki, kon-peki, and shin-kai.

 

However, the fuyu-gaki is just endlessly one tone of orange. Put it on thick or thin on Leuchtturm and it is just one color. Not enough variation.

 

Shin-kai has too much purple for my tastes in a blue ink. When I dilute it in my 146, though, it becomes this interesting bluer hue that shades very well.

 

Shin-ryoku is basically the perfect "pure" green--not too much blue or yellow.

 

Kon-peki is the Mary Poppins of fountain pen ink: Practically perfect in every way. The color and shading amaze in all my nibs.

 

Chrissy--I am filled with FPN love for you and your source for very cheap Iro. Amazon is now $30 a bottle for some of them. I think that is a 40% increase in a year.

[Algester]

I use Take-Sumi and Murasaki-Shikibu on my TWSBI Micarta and Mini I once used Yu-yake (my first ever Iro Ink) on my Sailor Lecoule...very bland then used it on my Lamy Vista BAM Holy...Inkygoodness gracious

[Kuhataparunks]

So I got to write a page with the ink I got, and all I can say is I'm not disappointed. It was surprisingly smooth in a Prera with an F nib; it provides a deep blue and has magnificent flow.

In an EF nib, its color is slightly lighter, just due to less saturated ink on the page.

But overall I'm very pleased with it and am curious how Kon-Peki compares to what I'm using, (Asa-Gao).

Happy Writing,

Mitch