Alternatives to Iroshizuku Asa Gao

[mercurius]

I am looking for recommendations for a blue ink. Normally I use Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, but I happen to have a small vial of Iroshizuku Asa Gao and love its particular shade of blue.

 

However, it's an expensive option and I would like to know if there are cheaper options that give the same shade of blue. Other factors I am looking for are: smooth flow, good drying time, minimal show through, doesn't stain the pen.

 

Thanks! 

[LizEF]

InkSwatch.com is your friend.   Inks similar to Asa-gao.

[inkstainedruth]

Wow. What a GREAT site!  Thanks for posting the link.  I could have way too much fun, and spend way too many hours on that site.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

29 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Wow. What a GREAT site!  Thanks for posting the link.  I could have way too much fun, and spend way too many hours on that site.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

It's an amazing resource.   I try to promote it whenever I can.

[WalterC]

I've searched in the other direction, searching for the Iroshizuku ink that best matched my other favorite blues -- Diamine Blue velvet and Waterman Serenity blue. Asa gao seems to be reasonably similar to both. Since you're in the UK, Diamine has an huge number of colors and their prices are usually good. https://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?brandid=3

        A blue ink that appeals to me is Mr Pens radiant blue: "If you are over forty you may remember Radiant Blue, a vivid blue ink that almost leaps off the page.  We take a Diamine Blue and we add four drops of our special ingredient which brings the colour alive. This is the result." 8.40 pounds including VAT for 80ml. https://www.mrpen.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p746.html  I haven't tried it myself because both MrPen and I are a little dubious of international shipping of ink. I wonder what the "special ingredient" is?

      

[knarflj]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Wow. What a GREAT site!  Thanks for posting the link.  I could have way too much fun, and spend way too many hours on that site.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 What she said.

[inkstainedruth]

2 hours ago, WalterC said:

        A blue ink that appeals to me is Mr Pens radiant blue: "If you are over forty you may remember Radiant Blue, a vivid blue ink that almost leaps off the page.  We take a Diamine Blue and we add four drops of our special ingredient which brings the colour alive. This is the result." 8.40 pounds including VAT for 80ml. https://www.mrpen.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p746.html  I haven't tried it myself because both MrPen and I are a little dubious of international shipping of ink. I wonder what the "special ingredient" is?

      

I remember seeing a review of Mr Pens Radiant Blue a few years ago.  The color looked AMAZING.  But looking at the link now, I'm struck by the fact that it looks just a tad darker than Noodler's Baltimore Canyon Blue....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[bunnspecial]

My own swatch cards coming in shortly, but Asa Gao falls in the category of inks that I broadly call "Cobalt blues", or basically darker hued, intense saturated blues. Inks in that range are my favorites for general writing, so I have a fair few.

 

The big boy in that category is Parker Penman Sapphire. You can find it, but it will make Iroshizoku look cheap.

 

One of my go to inks is Scribe Technical Consulting Indigo, which is made by the original creator of Penman and is meant to be "reminiscent of Penman inks." At $25/50mL, it puts you in the same ballpark as Iroshizoku inks.

 

Recently back on the market are Private Reserve inks, and either American Blue or DC Supershow Blue might satisfy you. These run $15/50mL(I think that's the volume at least).

 

I picked up Diamine Oxford Blue not too long ago, but it may be too dark for what you want.

[mercurius]

15 hours ago, LizEF said:

InkSwatch.com is your friend.   Inks similar to Asa-gao.

Superb resource - many thanks for sharing!

[Aysedasi]

+1 for InkSwatch - terrific - and thanks for the link!  Bookmarked!   

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, mercurius said:

Superb resource - many thanks for sharing!

 

38 minutes ago, Aysedasi said:

+1 for InkSwatch - terrific - and thanks for the link!  Bookmarked!   

 

You're very welcome!

[mercurius]

16 hours ago, WalterC said:

I've searched in the other direction, searching for the Iroshizuku ink that best matched my other favorite blues -- Diamine Blue velvet and Waterman Serenity blue. Asa gao seems to be reasonably similar to both. Since you're in the UK, Diamine has an huge number of colors and their prices are usually good. https://www.diamineinks.co.uk/listings.aspx?brandid=3

        A blue ink that appeals to me is Mr Pens radiant blue: "If you are over forty you may remember Radiant Blue, a vivid blue ink that almost leaps off the page.  We take a Diamine Blue and we add four drops of our special ingredient which brings the colour alive. This is the result." 8.40 pounds including VAT for 80ml. https://www.mrpen.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p746.html  I haven't tried it myself because both MrPen and I are a little dubious of international shipping of ink. I wonder what the "special ingredient" is?

      

Thanks for this information. Radiant Blue sounds worth investigating. My only reservation with Diamine and Asa gao is they both exhibit show-through which I dislike. If only I could find a blue that is exactly the same shade as asa gao but without that feature... 

[sansenri]

Thank you, I like the site very much, it does give interesting directions to explore, although some of the suggestions are a bit far fetched (among the alternatives to Asa Gao it lists Edelstein Topaz, which I'd compare much more closely to Kon Peki...)

[sansenri]

My humble opinion  is that you get closer to Asa Gao by mixing Pelikan Royal blue and Diamine Sargasso Sea (4:1) rather than comparing with Diamine Blue Velvet and Monteverde Horizon, both these two have a turquoise component in them which Asa Gao does not have.

Although photos and scans are never very true to life, do see my photo below.

You can see the slight turquoise tint in blue Velvet and Horizon in the lighter parts of the swab.

Asa Gao still retains a brighter slightly more purplish tint than the other three, while my mix is just slightly duller and less purplish.

 

 

 

[mercurius]

2 hours ago, sansenri said:

My humble opinion  is that you get closer to Asa Gao by mixing Pelikan Royal blue and Diamine Sargasso Sea (4:1) rather than comparing with Diamine Blue Velvet and Monteverde Horizon, both these two have a turquoise component in them which Asa Gao does not have.

Although photos and scans are never very true to life, do see my photo below.

You can see the slight turquoise tint in blue Velvet and Horizon in the lighter parts of the swab.

Asa Gao still retains a brighter slightly more purplish tint that the other three, while my mix is just slightly duller and less purplish.

 

 

 

Very interesting experiment- thank you! Personally I really dislike turquoise in inks. It sounds like a good solution. Is their any show through or other downsides?

[sansenri]

no, actually due to the small quantity of Sargasso, although being a rather saturated ink, the characteristics of the ink remain very similar to Royal blue in the behaviour. Not only, this gives the ink a stronger tone and avoids the typical fading which Royal blue shows particularly on some papers. It is a very safe mix, I've been using it for long. Also rather cheap, as you can buy the small 30 ml Diamine Sargasso bottle and use up the stock of Royal Blue...

[samasry]

3 hours ago, sansenri said:

My humble opinion  is that you get closer to Asa Gao by mixing Pelikan Royal blue and Diamine Sargasso Sea (4:1) rather than comparing with Diamine Blue Velvet and Monteverde Horizon, both these two have a turquoise component in them which Asa Gao does not have.

Although photos and scans are never very true to life, do see my photo below.

You can see the slight turquoise tint in blue Velvet and Horizon in the lighter parts of the swab.

Asa Gao still retains a brighter slightly more purplish tint that the other three, while my mix is just slightly duller and less purplish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like this mix idea bigly. This is Awesome.

I would even venture to say this has been the most  useful post I have ever seen  on this forum (from my subjective point of view).

 

Your humble opinion seems to have solved a problem I have been struggling with  for 2 years.

 

I have even started a  thread exactly for this purpose, linked below

 

Being  able to transform   Pelikan Royal Blue to something that even comes close to Asa Gao would be my Holy Grail  in the ink business,  as I have couple of these 1 Litre  Pelikan Royal Blue bottles sitting there not being touched for 2 years.

 

Kudos to  @sansenri

 

 

 

 

 

[sansenri]

well, thanks, that's probably excessive...

as I have mentioned, the result of my mix is not quite comparable to Asa Gao. Asa Gao seems to have more purple in it so possibly more trials would be needed to come closer, and clearly I'm talking only of the colour tone.

Then obviously, consider, as I did mention, that the characteristics of the ink remain very close to those of Royal blue, which is not bad at all, but certainly are quite a lot different from those of Asa Gao which seems to contain more additives to increase wetness.

 

For the purpose of using up Royal blue stock, this is however an interesting solution (fully tested so no concerns, the ink is very stable and behaves well).

 

[samasry]

5 minutes ago, sansenri said:

well, thanks, that's probably excessive...

as I have mentioned, the result of my mix is not quite comparable to Asa Gao. Asa Gao seems to have more purple in it so possibly more trials would be needed to come closer, and clearly I'm talking only of the colour tone.

Then obviously, consider, as I did mention, that the characteristics of the ink remain very close to those of Royal blue, which is not bad at all, but certainly are quite a lot different from those of Asa Gao which seems to contain more additives to increase wetness.

 

For the purpose of using up Royal blue stock, this is however an interesting solution (fully tested so no concerns, the ink is very stable and behaves well).

 

I understand your point

 

One thing I use to make the mix behave better:  I use  1 ml of liquitex with 50mL bottle of mix would make it lubricated enough and much better behaved than the original Pelikan Royal Blue. YMMV, I have seen some people use 5ML or more of liquitex. I am a bit conservative as I  think I can see bad side effects when I go above 1ML for 50ML ink mix.

 

I like your solution as it seems  superior to mine.   My solution, which was  15ML  MV Sapphire + 35 ML Pelikan Royal Blue,  resulted in an ink that looked like Lamy Blue or a bit darker.   Very well behaved and  much better than Royal Blue.  I have a strong feeling your  close to Asa Gao mix, with its known issues, is still  much better than what I have got so far.

 

And yes, I am like you,  want to stay within the Blue color,  I am not fond of  blue-black or adding blacks to the mix.

 

 

[sansenri]

You could probably try my mix and add some liquitex to it according to your experience.

In general I like Royal blue's behaviour as it is, I know it's a slightly dry ink, but as I like generous flow pens and nibs I usually do not need to enhance flow.

 

I have made quite a number of other tests, (also with Sapphire inks) but since Royal blue is already purplish the idea was to push it back towards blue, and Sargasso seems to work well in that.

 

Another mix that has given me satisfaction is again with a Diamine ink, Bilberry.

The proportions are 10:1. The resulting blue is somewhat similar to Private Reserve Black magic blue (a dark purplish blue).

Again here the small 30 ml diamine bottle can be useful to reduce costs.

 

Have mixing fun!