Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki

May 1, 2015

I haven't been posting a review here in a while, so as you can imagine, I'm getting a bit behind on them. Thankfully, during that time, I devised a neat little system to keep me organized when writing, filing, organizing, and posting reviews. Now, everything is a bit more streamlined and I know exactly which ones I need to post and which ones I don't.

This is an ink from Pilot's premium line, known as Iroshizuku. They are based off the colors of nature in Japan, and has many different color choices. Amber sent me this orange ink to play with, and I have to say that I'm not too impressed with this one. I much prefer other colors in the Iro line.

This review will follow my normal standard format for reviews, with pictures following a small blurb. The pictures were taken with an iPhone 6, back camera, in artificial lighting. Effort has been made to show the true color, but your milage may vary depending on your monitor. If you would like to see all my ink images, you are free to go to http://inkyreviews.tk/

Here is a preview of the ink. This is a solid orange ink.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Ink.jpg

This review was done with a Noodler's Konrad Acrylic pen, using the standard Noodler's Flex nib. This particular Konrad had the feed modded a little bit to increase the flow.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Nib.jpg

The review was written on HP 32lb Premium Laser Paper, which can be found at Staples for the whooping price of $19.99, or on Amazon for $15.39. This is my new "standard" paper I will be using for all my reviews, writing, and comparisons. I still have a bit of HP 28lb, which is now discontinued, but I am going to be moving to this one now, as it is much better, IMO.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Paper.jpg

Here is the swab of the ink. It was pulled from my latest project, a crowd-sourced ink swab database found here http://inkymadness.tk/. This is my own swab that I am using here, but many other people's swabs of lots of inks can be found there! You are free to contribute your swabs as well by emailing them to me at admin@inkymadness.tk.

http://inkymadness.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki.jpg

The ink is an extremely wet ink and has a high amount of lubrication. There is barely any shading. When it does shade, it goes from a light to a medium color. There is no spread. On the wet parts, there is feathering and bleed through. This is my best paper, and it still does this. There is no show through, only bleed. The ink is extremely saturated but it has no problems with clogs. I did get one burp, but probably because the pen is super wet.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Characteristics.jpg

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Characteristics%202.jpg

The ink dries extremely quickly, in about 6 seconds.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Dry%20Time.jpg

Here is a poorly drawn ghost to show how the ink looks with sketching, and coloring.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Ghost.jpg

I left the comparison section blank on the review form, but I will be showing swabs of similar inks here. This is a my new format that I am trying out for the comparisons. Tell me what you think. The swabs used here are from my latest project, a crowd-sourced ink swab database found here [http://inkymadness.tk/]. This is my own swab that I am using here, but many other people's swabs of lots of inks can be found there! You are free to contribute your swabs as well by emailing them to me at admin@inkymadness.tk.

Left to right. The images were stretched to fit in one row. Color was not altered.

1. Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki (This ink)

2. Noodler's Habanero

3. Noodler's Dragon's Napalm

4. Diamine Autumn Oak

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Comparison.jpg

Here is a water test. The top grid had drops of water placed for 10 seconds, then vigorously wiped downwards. The bottom text did not receive any drops of water and was only wiped with in the same motion as the grid. The ink performed averagely on this test. There is definitely some lifting on the grid, but the lines are still visible. There was a bit of wet smear, but since the ink is an orange, the smear is light.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Water.jpg

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Water%20After.jpg

Lastly, here is a scan of the review. Use the scan to read the rest of the review. I did not intend for it to show color accuracy. The pictures are the most accurate representation of the color.

http://www.inkyreviews.tk/Pilot/Fuyu-Gaki/Scan.jpg

That's all folks! I would give this ink a 6/10. If you liked this review, stay tuned for more to come!