Are These Good Inks?

[glowy01]

I had a question on a few inks:

Are the Pilot Irushuzi (or whatever they are) worth the price?

Are the J. Herbin 1670 inks as awesome as they look?

Is the Alexander Hamilton ink any good? link below

http://www.andersonpens.com/De-Atramentis-Alexander-Hamilton-35ml-Bottle-p/da-1126.htm

[Abner C. Kemp]

Everyone has a different definition of "good" so I'm not sure I can give you an easy answer. The entire Pilot Iroshizuku line is very nice, behaves well, flows well, and cleans out of pens well. The 1670 inks are very neat but they have particles in them which gives them the sheen, which means you will need to clean your pen more frequently or risk of the particles clogging your feed. De Atramentis makes very nice inks, I don't know much about the Alexander Hamilton in particular but I'm sure it's a nice ink.

[pickwickink]

The Pilot Iroshizuku are my favorite inks and to me are worth the price. They are quite a bit cheaper on Amazon and most are Prime, if you have that.

[ac12]

 

I had a question on a few inks:

Are the Pilot Irushuzi (or whatever they are) worth the price?

Are the J. Herbin 1670 inks as awesome as they look?

Is the Alexander Hamilton ink any good? link below

http://www.andersonpens.com/De-Atramentis-Alexander-Hamilton-35ml-Bottle-p/da-1126.htm

 

 

Iroshizuku, as nice as the ink is, I can't bring myself to pay $30 a bottle for it. Others do. So this is a personal value decision that no one else can make but you. Similarly for ANY of the expensive inks.

 

How an ink looks will depend on the pen, the ink, the paper and the writer. In the case of the 1670 inks, if you write on absorbent paper, some/much of the reflective particles will be sucked into the paper where you can't see them. So you don't see the true potential of the ink. You need to write on a hard non-absorbent paper, that will keep the reflective particles on the surface of the paper. Similarly with sheening inks, you want to write on a hard paper, not an absorbent paper. And you need to also maintain the pen, so the particles don't clog the pen. For me, I don't use hard paper much and that is too much effort to maintain the pen.

[DrDebG]

Great question!

 

As other have said, the Pilot Iroshizuku inks are wonderful inks. But, everyone has to determine if they are willing to spend the money.

 

I personally am not fond of any of the "shimmery" inks. I find the glitter too hard to get out of my pens.

 

I do like DeAtramentis inks. They are well behaved and lay down a nice line.

 

All of this depends on what pen and paper you are using. If you have a dry writer, you may not want to use a shimmery ink in it. And you would need the kind of paper that has more of a smooth finish, like a Clairfontaine or Tomoe River paper for the shimmer to really shine through.

[Renly]

I tried Kon Peki on a sample I had gotten and the first time I tried it I didn't really think it was anything special and emptied it out without finishing it. Months later I tried it again just because I didn't feel I did it justice and seeing how well behaved blue and blue black from pilot were, I wanted to give it a fair review. I inked it up again and I loved it. It behaves so well; never dries on my pens, never any hard startups, little feathering if at all, flow is awesome, seems wet but dries pretty fast, works well on cheaper paper and looks beautiful and cleans easy. I bought a bottle off ebay which you can get for about 18$. After seeing how much I want to dip my pen into this bottle I decided to buy 6 more Iroshizuku inks. They arrive tomorrow, I bought them off amazon they're 18-21$. My pen only takes about .5 mL. 50 mL bottle. That's a little less then 100 refills. To me it's worth it. There are some inks that are just as great though but pilot inks for me seem to be consistantly good.

 

 

I'm not a fan of shimmering inks.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Renly

[amberleadavis]

Glowy01, Spend some time reading the ink reviews and comparisons. I think you will find a lot of opinions and you will have a great time. Welcome aboard!

 

[randomist]

How expensive Iroshizuku is will depend where you are and where you get it from. Whether it's worth it will depend what you're looking for in an ink, and the relative pricing of other inks for you. I'll share my thoughts since I just went through this decision.

 

I initially wrote off Iro's as they're £30+ here in shops ($42), but finding them on the Amazon market place for £14 (<$20), including tax and delivery, actually makes them cheaper than Noodler's inks delivered here. You do swap some ink volume for the fancy bottle but I'd say that was a fair trade-off. I haven't received my bottle yet but the direct from Japan (and wait patiently for delivery) route made it cheap enough to be worth ordering for me. I spent hours on Google and in the end it was the kind people here at FPN that had the answers I needed to be confident in ordering.

 

My expectations are of a spectacular bottle, a very well behaved ink with a pleasant but unremarkable colouring and plenty of flow. If you want something that really jumps out of the page like the J. Herbin 1670 inks or Diamine Shimertastic, I don't think Iro line has what you want. Possible exceptions might be the Iro's with sheen, rather than shimmer, I'll let people who have the inks in their possession comment on that.

 

My understanding of the glittery inks like 1670 and Shimmertastic is that they need very good paper and a wet, preferably broad writing pen to get the best out of them. They're also high maintenance and the shimmer particles can fall out of suspension in the pen, so you have to keep the bottle before filling and the pen while writing agitated. If you want that effect there aren't very many options.

[inkstainedruth]

Truthfully, my experiences with Iroshihzuku have been hit or miss. The ones I've tried have mostly all been super wet, so you have to be somewhat careful about what pens they go in (I thought Yama-guri in the semi-vintage Pelikan M400 would be a great combo for doing drawing with; I was wrong... ; the ink was just too wet for that pen). That being said, I would never want to be without Yama-budo and Yama-guri. Still trying to make up my mind about Take-sumi (which is really interesting -- it's just that I don't use black ink much). I have Ama-Iro in a Parker 51 at the moment, and it's definitely too wet an ink for that pen (which may have a M nib on it); I do like the color, but it seems similar to inks I've already tried, which are less expensive to buy.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I've liked most of the De Atramentis inks I've tried (with the exception of the Document inks). Have not tried Alexander Hamilton, but it's on my short list to sample at some point in the near future. As for the Herbin 1670 inks and Diamine Shimmertastic ones, I've liked some for the color and disliked others. They DO work better in pens with broader nibs, and the pens have to be agitated frequently. But I haven't had really bad clogging issues (except perhaps with the original formulation of Herbin Rouge Hematite, which has the big gold flakes in it). And the ones I've tried only needed a little bit of extra maintenance in flushing thoroughly.

Edited April 7, 2016 by inkstainedruth

[Pensei]

Just to make specific something that has been hinted: to the OP, I'll say that any time I'm considering an ink, I just put the name in the search box (above right), and invariably I am treated to an interesting and entertaining variety of opinions, almost always with great photographs. Also, go to the ink review forum and use the stickie for finding reviews on a specific ink. Finally, I'll just add my vote for Iroshizuku inks. I guess I have eight of them, and I love them all.

[dapprman]

I'm a fan of Pilot Iroshizuku inks, got 4 at present, however I also rather like the products of J Herbin, which are considerably cheaper. Wonder if others who really like one, also really like the other.

Edited April 7, 2016 by dapprman

[Pensei]

To answer that question, I also like Herbin along with Iroshizuku. Beautiful, nature-inspired colors, nice shading, and good performance characterize both. Herbin is, granted, significantly less expensive, but with the larger bottle, at Amazon prices, not really a quantum leap.

[PaganArcher]

I don't have any experience with the Iroshizuku inks unfortunately, but I do have two of the 1670 inks from J. Herbin. Both are frequently used on paper from Clairefontaine and Tomoe River to Leuchtturm and Southworth Résumé (100% cotton) and I get plenty of shimmer from both and the sheen from EoC. I find them to be fairly well behaved all things considered.

[Sandy1]

 

Hi,

 

Question & Answer:

 

1 : A fair question with a tricky answer: Setting aside performance profile, if only the subtle differences in appearance can be appreciated, then those inks are 'worth it'. I appreciate subtly in an ink, and for the most part prefer that the reader read what I wrote without undue distraction. I consider the iro inks to be shibui (Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibui)

> For personal writing I often use coated writing papers, such as Rhodia, to wring-out the potential of the iro inks, so the cost of paper is greater than that of the ink. Also, as those inks are quite pleasurable to use, one may write at length, so cost of excess postage may come into play.

 

2 : I do not care for sparkles with my ink. IMHO they are like wearing sequinned garment : only some people can pull it off. e.g. The Supremes*; Liberace. I am not not one of them - not for a lack of trying - and I think it unkind to torque the boy by the bowser^**. Please purchase a sample of the glitter inks then give them a fair go in pen/s that can be thoroughly cleansed with ease.

 

3 : No idea. I invite you to read the Ink Reviews and consider purchasing a sample. I am always interested in the offerings from Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen, though not all are to my taste.

 

 

Wheee!

 

Bye,

S1

 

* The Supremes @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxny2KMd0TI&nohtml5=False

** Lee Kernaghan @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2cTu_pG27U&nohtml5=False

Edited April 8, 2016 by Sandy1

[haruka337]

It's an issue of preference.

 

I do not like wet inks that are not lubricant, so I do not like J. Herbin's Standard line nor their anniversary line. This brand also pairs poorly with most of my fountain pens.

 

Iroshizuku is one of my favorite lines. Plays well with all of my pens and the papers I regularly use. Oh! And that color range!

 

I've never paid more than $20 for a bottle (shipping included) and have paid as low as $10. This Rakuten seller sells the bottles for a wonderful price. The more bottles purchased, the more the price drops. However, I live in the USA, so shipping isn't expensive from Japan, but I imagine it would be prohibitive for those in Europe. I could be wrong, one can always inquire for a shipping quote. Iroshizuku also comes in affordable 15 ml bottles.

 

When in doubt read reviews, purchase samples and make a choice to buy or forego.

 

Oh, and welcome to FPN.

[Algester]

The mere mention of value is subjective trust me I'm exposed to it... After all when you feel that people paying over 100USD for 50ml of ink is normal then you know where I'm coming from...

The 1670 inks are ok I only like 2 of them though rouge hematite and gris orage

Not to say I'm a Pilot fan but I'm also on the verge of completing the line... Not to mention its currently affordable in my country boucing around 17-20USd

And as for that 100USD for 50ml well most likely your free to drop by the link on my signature... At least it aint gaudy as 3K euros for 10ml... Who knows

Edited April 8, 2016 by Algester

[visvamitra]

Personally I prefer J. Herbin to Iro. It's all a matter of taste but when I think about it and count I see that I practically don't use Iroshizuke I have (except for Yu-Yake which is one of my all time favourite inks). I write with J. Herbin and Sailor a lot, which is strange combination as they aren't really similar.

[webgeckos]

...

 

Is the Alexander Hamilton ink any good? link below...

 

I don't know about the ink but its a great musical

[Beechwood]

 

 

 

ETA: I've liked most of the De Atramentis inks I've tried (with the exception of the Document inks). Have not tried Alexander Hamilton, but it's on my short list to sample at some point in the near future. As for the Herbin 1670 inks and Diamine Shimmertastic ones, I've liked some for the color and disliked others. They DO work better in pens with broader nibs, and the pens have to be agitated frequently. But I haven't had really bad clogging issues (except perhaps with the original formulation of Herbin Rouge Hematite, which has the big gold flakes in it). And the ones I've tried only needed a little bit of extra maintenance in flushing thoroughly.

 

My Shimmertastic inks clogged the feeds on two of my pens Ruth, I have asked Diamine about this on the basis of 'is it just me', Diamine say that it is a known issue and if it happens flush the pen through with water.

 

Not easy with all pens and especially if you only use cartridges, it also still leaves you with the issue of the remaining ink in the bottle, mine is on its way to the ocean.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Shimmering inks can behave well in a cheap, wet writer with a ball-type cart ( frequent shaking and the ball keep the shimmer particles nicely distributed). I like them so much I've started to invent my own.

 

As for Iro$hizuku, I keep buying samples and end up buying full bottles.