Iroshizuku Flow Differences By Color?

[Chouffleur]

Due to a lack of imagination I own the same pen (Parker 75 Custom Laque) in several colors. Having just received the Iroshizuku sample set from Vanness I put the closest color matching ink into each pen from that set. All pens have the same (Medium) nib. One writes a smoother line that looks slightly thicker than that of the others. Since I'm using the same inks on the same paper I wondered if this was an artifact of variation in the nibs or variation in the inks. I don't write that much (daily but not prodigiously) so it will be weeks before I empty the pen and refill it.

 

I thought I'd ask for a preview before the empirical test.

 

The different line is Shin-Kai - the others that resemble each other are Momiji, Take-Sumi, and Syo-Ro.

 

Thank you

[OCArt]

Yes, I agree that different colors have different levels of "wetness" and "smoothness." I thing the whole line of Iroshizuku inks are top-notch but I especially love the feel of writing with Yama-Budo (magenta) and Take-Sumi (black.)

[Intensity]

While there may be some difference in ink flow between colors, there is also sure to be a difference in individual nibs and pens overall, even if they are the same model and same nib designation. Those differences in combination are what you experience. If you can test each ink in the same exact pen, then you can make a fair assessment of comparative flow properties.

Edited August 5, 2020 by Intensity

[A Smug Dill]

If you can test each ink in the same exact pen, then you can make a fair assessment of comparative flow properties.

 

 

Also test a given ink in each of the pens in the "test suite" writing on the same sheet of paper (carefully protecting its surface or any coating on it from contamination or damage by skin oils, friction, etc. by covering unused parts with, say, a paper towel when writing), to ascertain whether the pens/nibs behave differently from each other; that's good information to have in anticipation of next time one wants to make any comparisons.

[MBDostoevsky]

While there may be some difference in ink flow between colors, there is also sure to be a difference in individual nibs and pens overall, even if they are the same model and same nib designation. Those differences in combination are what you experience. If you can test each ink in the same exact pen, then you can make a fair assessment of comparative flow properties.

 

Yes... it works both ways.... i have experienced that not every clone of the same model and nib size (even in same colour :-)) can give the same experience, keeping other things as constant as possible. Similar-sized and -styled nibs on the same pen model also differ. Some are off to a scratchy start while others provide a smooth buttery experience. It varies.

 

Iroshizuku inks are very well-behaved, pen-friendly and positive experience-oriented. However, they also vary due to variety of pigmentation and dyes involved to arrive at the desired colour. Colour mixing is both an art as well as science.

 

In the end ... enjoy these inks!

[senzen]

I've rotated the following Iroshizukus among the following pens, never noticed any great change in smoothness or line size because of the inks (except for old bottles which evaporated a little), but great change because of the pens in terms of how light or dark they come out; mostly with those that evaporate noticeably and have wet nibs:

 

Ajisai, Asa Gao, Tsuyu Kusa, Kon Peki, Ama Iro, Chiku Rin, Ina Ho, Yama Guri, Fuyu Gaki.

 

Vista F and M, Muji F, Metropolitan M, Studio EF, Reform (EF?), Artus 41 FK, Sonnet steel F, Ambition EF, Pelikan m205 F, m600 F, m605 F, 75 F, W5 (M?), Vacumatic (EF?), Carène F and M, Pro gear H-M, Man 100 F.

 

In bold those pens that make their inks come out noticeably darker, which is not usually my preference, in italic those that make inks look lighter.

[inkstainedruth]

What other people here have said. I've tried a number of Iroshizuku inks. When I started here, a number of people said that Asa-Gao was their "go-to" blue ink. But I found it drippy -- write a page and then get a blob of ink rolling down the nib. For three pages running. Fuyu-gaki, OTOH, was really well behaved -- I just hated the color.

And I just put Tsuyu-kusa into my Decimo and found that it wrote a lot darker and more vibrant a blue on the paperwork I had to sign at the dentist's office yesterday morning (and also on the credit card receipt) than I would have expected from that ink -- and also way more vibrant than on the cheap Piccadilly sketchbook paper that I use for testing inks. So besides variations in pens and nibs, and varying formulae of the inks themselves, there will be different results on different paper.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[aurore]

In general I prefer blue inks. Shin-kai is definitely not as wet as the other blue Iro.

[gerigo]

Flow differences by color should not come as a surprise for us but they do. That's because marketing around inks seem to connote that inks all work the same way. I actually found this out the hard way through a pen I have that for all intents and purposes, we shall say does not have a cap. It would either dry out too quickly, literally within the hour or it would flow too well that it wrote like a medium and not the EF that it's supposed to be. There was a period when I was only using FCs Urushi Red. It is generally a slight drier lower saturation ink that I like and works well on almost any pen. Well except for this pen. I tried all sorts of tricks to revive the pen after leaving the pen unused for anything over 10 minutes, including resorting to carry small sample vials of water to wet the nib to get it to write. During that time, I of course had this idea that all inks were the same.

When I ran out of ink while traveling a local shop had a bottle of FCs Spanish Blue, that I bought tried. Lo and behold the problem went away. The pen could actually now be left for long periods without drying out at all. I contacted FC to find out whether this miraculous ink had any unique ingredients, and discovered that ink components or their make up as it were are not equal. It seems that blue components are smallest and easiest on pen feeds. That red and black components are larger and require additional lubrication to pass through pen feeds.

As for Iro inks, I have not used them in a while as they tend to be lubricated enough that writing with it would change the characteristics of a pen enough to make it feel like a completely different pen. However I do use it for very find or very dry nib pens.

Now I am not a chemist so I can't tell you which specific color of ink performs in relation to others. This piece of information together with experience from this rather finicky pen has taught me a lot. Today I only use one ink primarily to find out about the performance characteristics of a new pen.

[MBDostoevsky]

wait till you get to Noodlers :-)