Quick And Dirty: 5 Nice Blues

[senzen]

Here's a quick comparison of five blues: Sailor Souten, Iroshizuku Tsuyu Kusa, Kon Peki, Ama Iro, Callifolio Equinoxe 6.

 

Tsuyu Kusa is my one true blue. Kon Peki at first disappointed me, but I now really like it, it looks spectacular coming out of a pearwood Ambition. Ama Iro and Kon Peki are spectacular but look very different according to the pen, nib, how many days ago it was inked... I'm not sure if I want to try on another pen, maybe one that evaporates less like an m400, for Ama Iro. Equinoxe 6 and Souten were spur of the moment things, after having seen them for a while online, and so a risky purchase, as they could look too close to the others. To my eye they are easy to distinguish, in terms of more green going from Tusyu Kusa to Souten to Kon peki to Equinoxe 6 to Ama Iro.

 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the comparison. I've tried a few of these (and have a sample of Kon-peki which I have still to try).

Tsuku-kusa is an underrated ink, IMO. It's got a nice quality to it. Souten was okay, but I actually prefer the old -- and apparently new again -- Sky High (and I don't care what people say about chromatography tests or anything else -- the two inks are NOT the same to my eye: close, yes, but discernably different).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[senzen]

Thanks for the comparison. I've tried a few of these (and have a sample of Kon-peki which I have still to try).

Tsuku-kusa is an underrated ink, IMO. It's got a nice quality to it. Souten was okay, but I actually prefer the old -- and apparently new again -- Sky High (and I don't care what people say about chromatography tests or anything else -- the two inks are NOT the same to my eye: close, yes, but discernably different).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

There's a... Calmness, honesty about Tusyu Kusa, it's not as exuberant but it makes me want to write more. You should try your Kon Peki sample with different pens, it varies wildly, also depending on how fast the pen evaporates, I had to rotate it in several pens until it looked right to me. I had no idea there were different versions of Souten, it's always great to read your posts and replies, there's always something new to learn! I'm just glad it didn't turn out to be a doppelganger, it's a beauty for sure.

[inkstainedruth]

Well I don't know if there's different versions of Souten. I have a bottle of Sky High, which got discontinued, and it was replaced with Souten, which a lot of people swear is the same as Sky High. But then this year Sailor has reissued some of their older colors (Sky High, Epinard, etc.). So it's anyone's guess....

And of course everyone is using different pens, and different paper....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Aelie]

When I first discovered that inks come in more than two colors, I got myself samples of Ama-iro and Kon-peki. I figured that I wouldn't be buying more than one bottle of blue ink (Hah!), and I picked Ama-iro after using up both samples. That was two years ago though, and I wonder how much I would like Kon-peki today.

[amberleadavis]

Very nice. Don't forget to add this to the blues thread (see link in signature below).