Aussie Giveaway: Pilot Iroshizuku Ink Sampler Sets

[A Smug Dill]

NOTE

With a view to delivery by letter post before Christmas, this giveaway is open to recipients with street addresses or PO Box addresses in Australia only.   Australia Post Parcel Locker or Parcel Collect addresses are specifically excluded, irrespective of whether Australia Post may be prepared to redirect delivery behind the scenes to a registered user's residential address on account of the article not being a parcel and thus ineligible for delivery to such facilities.

 

Fellow Aussie fountain pen enthusiasts,

 

I'm offering a 0.7ml sample each of the 24 regular Pilot Iroshizuku ink colours, arranged in the following three sets, to three individual recipients -- assuming there will be sufficient interest.

 

0.7ml Pilot Iroshizuku ink sampler sets

Red set	Green set	Blue set
momiji	tsuki-yo	ama-iro
fuyu-gaki	syo-ro	kon-peki
yu-yake	ku-jaku	tsuyu-kusa
kosumosu	shin-ryoku	ajisai
tsutsuji	chiku-rin	asa-gao
yama-budo	ina-ho	shin-kai
murasaki-shikibu	tsukushi	fuyu-syogun
kiri-same	yama-guri
take-sumi

 

Each set will be sent by regular letter post at my expense (but you can thank @mariom for that).

 

If you're interested in getting one of these, please post a reply in this thread and let me know your preference(s). You can list and rank all three if you like.

 

I'll pick the unlucky recipients from the entries I can see there on Friday, 13 December 2019 first thing in the morning.

 

In principle I'll select the recipients randomly. However, if say you're the only entrant put your hand up for the blue set -- albeit only as a third preference -- but you and five others have listed the green set as the first preference, then you'll receive the blue set and not be in the random draw for the green set, in order to spread the Christmas cheer more widely. On the other hand, if you're the only one who expressed an interest in the blue and green sets, then you'll receive both.

 

If you "win" a set and you want to receive it by Christmas, I'll need your delivery address no later than midday on Monday, 16 December to give Australia Post six clear business days after posting to deliver.

[saulyleeplans]

Hey,

 

Can I put my hand up for a red set please? Or a blue set as 2nd pref.

Edited December 11, 2019 by saulyleeplans

[Jamerelbe]

Hi @A Smug Dill, thanks for the generous offer! I'd be interested in the red set too (as a first preference), followed by the blue, followed by the green - if there's availability.

[A Smug Dill]

Good morning, and happy Friday 13th!

 

The random number generator tells me @saulyleeplans gets her first preference. @Jamerelbe, of course you too "win" a set.

 

Given the surprising lack of interest, and the fact that I haven't actually made the sample vials up and packed them yet, I'm happy to either give you the red and blue sets respectively, or let you each nominate up to ten Pilot Iroshizuku colours and just make up tailored sets for you (even if both of you want samples of the same colours).

 

I'll be in touch by PM.

[Jamerelbe]

PM reply sent - thanks so much for the generous offer!

[taimdala]

AWWWWW!!!! Goshdarned International Date Line!! It's still your yesterday, @A Smug Dill, where and when I'm sitting, gorrammit.

Congratulations on your wins, everyone! I have a few (sadly only a few) of these as samples and this ink is AMAZING. I'm sure you'll be happy with your ink.

Edited December 13, 2019 by taimdala

[A Smug Dill]

Goshdarned International Date Line!! It's still your yesterday, @A Smug Dill, where and when I'm sitting, gorrammit.

While it may have taken the moderation team something like 60 hours to approve my initial post here, such that this thread became visible to everyone, it has nevertheless been up and accessible for over one whole calendar week.

 

The first expression of interest, from @saulyleeplans, seemed to only have happened after I mentioned the lack of interest in the Aussie-only giveaway to her in an ongoing conversation by PM. In contrast, a similar giveaway that I've put up without geographical restriction to scope, which only became visible about three days after this one did, attracted ten expressions of interest within the first 25 or so hours after it can be seen.

 

Previous giveaway offers of notebooks (postage to be borne by me, and product already reviewed by me to attest to its extraordinary fountain pen friendliness) and a Nemosine Singularity demonstrator pen (domestic postage to be paid by the recipient, for a product already well known to the FPN community and well-regarded generally) were met with similar lack of interest. I don't know whether to conclude that "we" Aussies are just "too good", too "rich", or just have such affordable and ready access to products, that on the whole "we" are not interests in giveaways of samples and such. The level of interest expressed from outside of Australia certainly seems to indicate that it isn't that I made the giveaways so mean and unattractive that it's just a waste of time to even read the particulars of the offers, especially since I haven't excluded Aussies from the said worldwide giveaway offers, but no Aussie has put forward an expression of interest for those either.

 

I used to be dismayed by the lack of giving or trading of pens and ink samples among Aussies, when even the Kiwis seems to have more of a sharing thing going, never mind what I see on FPN is happening in-country in the UK, US, etc. Now I'm forced to conclude there's a good reason for it; the demand is just not there.

 

Therefore, I will no longer be agitating for or contributing to Australian-focused "sharing" initiatives going forward into 2020.

 

TL;DR — I'm done with offering to fellow Aussie fountain pen hobbyists. It's not worth the time for me to even start the new giveaway threads, or for the moderation team to read, ponder, debate and approve them ahead of publication.

 

I was considering signing up for the next Pelikan hub and bringing ink samples with me, but I'm not going to do that now either.

 

Never mind. Merry Christmas, everyone.

[tamiya]

I'm dense & crosseyed... only just realised you had TWO threads (this & https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/350741-giveaway-pilot-iroshizuku-ink-sampler-sets/) running concurrently... thought I was seeing double all this week.

 

No need to feel too cut - I'm sure there's Ozzies appreciative of your efforts, they're just closet introverts

 

Me personally, happy to pass let others enjoy as I've already got my favourites... plus Pilot Oz circulated their Iroshizuko Testing Stations in 2018 to LPS where I've spent many a happy hour

 

(And come away thinking I gotta get this CM nib on those tester pens )

[A Smug Dill]

The last few days got busy and ugly, but luckily I managed to get to the post office literally one minute before it shut its doors at 5PM sharp today. I don't even know which postboxes still have a latest collection time of 6PM around here; quite a few has changed to 5PM, and since I needed stamps, I may as well just lodge the items over the counter and get them "checked" by Australia Post staff that they qualify as large letters. I didn't get enough "spare" time earlier in the day to construct the frames inside the packages with styrofoam as intended, though; but I think the packages will survive their journeys to you.

 

So, with six full business days until Christmas, hopefully you guys are going to receive your custom ink sampler sets as requested, on or by the 24th. Merry Christmas — I didn't have the time to fish out and write you Christmas cards to send along with the packages, sorry.

[Newjelan]

I’m sorry you didn’t get much interest “A Smug Dill”. Although I haven’t been on the FPN site for 3+ weeks, I wouldn’t have applied for the giveaway because I can afford to buy whatever I want. Maybe there are plenty of Aussies like me and think that they have enough and giveaways should go to people more deserving or in need?

 

It was a great initiative and as I’m planning some pen giveaways in 2020, I hope you continue as well.

[A Smug Dill]

I wouldn’t have applied for the giveaway because I can afford to buy whatever I want. Maybe there are plenty of Aussies like me and think that they have enough and giveaways should go to people more deserving or in need?

 

That's fair enough. I'm coming to the conclusion that there is really no demand and no call for making ink samples more available/accessible to Aussie fountain pen hobbyists, because perhaps they're all like you and me who would just buy full retail bottles of whatever we feel like, on the allure of marketing/review images of the inks alone.

 

The fact that I was able to acquire (full retail bottles of) the inks that I have must mean that other Aussies can do that as well if they so choose, whether those inks are regional exclusives (e.g. Diamine Jalur Gemilang and Purple Rain), shop exclusives (e.g. Diamine Cult Pens Iridescink and Sailor Kujukuri Coast series), limited editions (e.g. Rohrer & Klingner Aubergine and Kastanienbraun) or simply hard to get outside their country of origin (e.g. PenBBS inks); never mind the inks that one could order online from nominally Aussie sellers (e.g. Kobe INK Story and Colorverse).

 

So, now I'm more inclined to send samples to well-followed reviewers such as Kelli McCown (@mountainofink) who are open to receiving "donations" and may get around to publishing reviews of those inks. After all, as far as I'm concerned, if I send Kelli samples of (say) PenBBS inks, and on the strength of her awesome reviews a small number of other hobbyists decide to jump straight into the deep end and order bottles from Vanness or on eBay in spite of the daunting prices and perhaps shipping charges, then my objective for sharing samples of what I have would be even better accomplished than if I split 4ml of an ink and sent it to five or six other forum members who in all likelihood won't be keen enough to make the leap themselves.