Giveaway: Pilot Iroshizuku Ink Sampler Sets

[A Smug Dill]

@Jebus, thank you for letting me know!

 

Good to know that this method of distributing ink samples worked well shipping to New Zealand, USA and Belgium — no damage, no leakage and no trouble with Customs. For less than A$4 in material costs (not including ink) and postage, I think that's a pretty economical way to send up to 12ml of ink. Hopefully more fellow members will be wiling to offer or trade ink samples knowing that is possible to do cheaply, and open each other's eyes to more things to want and to buy!

[Dmact]

Package received! Thank you so much, these colors look awesome already. Unfortunately two leaked in transport but due to your imaculate packaging it was well contained. The tsuyu-kusa leaked fairly heavily but its still at the .5 line so plenty to play with. And the yama-budo (OMG WHAT A COOL COLOR!) leaked JUST a little bit.

 

I totally blame US postal service, your packaging job was exemplary and i dont see how you could have done better.

 

I cant wait to have at these, only now i have to decide what pen to flush and which color to try first!

 

Thanks again for the generous sampler

[essayfaire]

Package received! Thank you so much, these colors look awesome already. Unfortunately two leaked in transport but due to your imaculate packaging it was well contained. The tsuyu-kusa leaked fairly heavily but its still at the .5 line so plenty to play with. And the yama-budo (OMG WHAT A COOL COLOR!) leaked JUST a little bit.

 

I totally blame US postal service, your packaging job was exemplary and i dont see how you could have done better.

 

I cant wait to have at these, only now i have to decide what pen to flush and which color to try first!

 

Thanks again for the generous sampler

I use yama-budo all the time; it's my favorite ink for grading. Enjoy!

[A Smug Dill]

The tsuyu-kusa leaked fairly heavily but its still at the .5 line so plenty to play with. And the yama-budo (OMG WHAT A COOL COLOR!) leaked JUST a little bit.

Sorry to hear that, but thanks for letting me know all the same.

 

Maybe I'll have to find a better way to verify that those centrifuge tubes are properly sealed and don't leak. I usually shake each tube individually (with a paper towel wrapped around it) vigorously in my hand to check, and in case of these sampler sets, packed the tubes in cotton wool and cling wrap a week before sending and allowed them to lay on their sides in the meantime. Next time I might stand the filled tubes on their lids overnight or something.

 

yama-budo is one of only two Pilot Iroshizuku colours of which I bought more than 50ml; I first received it in a set of three 15ml bottles, and shortly after trying it I decided I just had to get a 50ml bottle of it. The other is ku-jaku.

[Misfit]

I was given a sample of Yama Budo at pen club. I liked it enough that when my brother asked what ink I would like for Christmas, that was one I included in my list. He got the big bottle. My only other 50ml is Kosumosu. Wish I had known of the smaller bottles when I got that one. Luckily I did get the smaller one with Syo-Ro. Much as I’d like to like this ink, I am not there yet.

 

Happily a pen pal reported seeing the gold sheen Yama Budo is known for on Tomoe River paper. I used the pen with that ink on Rhodia paper too. I think that letter was to another pen pal, but would not swear to it.

[essayfaire]

 

yama-budo is one of only two Pilot Iroshizuku colours of which I bought more than 50ml; I first received it in a set of three 15ml bottles, and shortly after trying it I decided I just had to get a 50ml bottle of it. The other is ku-jaku.

I haven't tried ku-jaku because I have a large bottle of tsuki-yo and thought they would be too similar. Are they?

 

[A Smug Dill]

My only other 50ml is Kosumosu. Wish I had known of the smaller bottles when I got that one.

I hope you like writing with it. At one point last year, I only had my fourteen 50ml bottles that I acquired years ago, and was ranking the ten colours I didn't have to prioritise what I'd order next. (I found a Japanese seller that was prepared to sell 3x15ml "gift boxes" of any three Pilot Iroshizuku colours by custom selection.) I agonised it over several days, but one colour consistently stayed at the very bottom of the list.

 

Of course, eventually I ended up with all of them; it just felt odd to have only 23 out of 24 colours in the line-up!

 

The one bottle that I regret getting a 50ml bottle is yu-yake, which was one I bought when I first discovered Iroshizuku inks six years ago. I love orange as a colour, I truly do, but yu-yake is just a bit too muted. At least I don't hate it as much as I did Noodler's Operation Overlord Orange, which ended up in the trash — the only bottle of ink I've ever thrown out like that.

 

Oh, and I wish I got a 50ml bottle of shin-kai and a 15ml bottle of shin-ryoku, instead of the other way around. My wife and I like green inks, and shin-ryoku is nice enough and "safe", but we just have too many green inks that look similar. Not that shin-kai isn't also similar to many blue-black inks, I suppose. (Quite specifically, the 50ml bottle of shin-ryoku was intended for use in her green Platinum Izumo tamenuri pen, and the 50ml bottle of yama-budo is for my red Platinum Izumo tamenuri pen. She's sorta moved on from that arrangement but I haven't.)

 

Luckily I did get the smaller one with Syo-Ro. Much as I’d like to like this ink, I am not there yet.

I like that one, and I have a Pilot 78G pen that has a body of almost exactly the same colour, too! It's a pity I can't keep that pen always inked up with syo-ro because the cap of that pen is not very effective at preventing ink evaporation when unused.

 

I haven't tried ku-jaku because I have a large bottle of tsuki-yo and thought they would be too similar. Are they?

I wouldn't say so. My recollection is that tsuki-yo ("moonlit night", or I think some other people translate it as "moonlight") is significantly darker. That colour used to live in my Pilot Capless raden 'galaxy' Vanishing Point pen.

[essayfaire]

 

I wouldn't say so. My recollection is that tsuki-yo ("moonlit night", or I think some other people translate it as "moonlight") is significantly darker. That colour used to live in my Pilot Capless raden 'galaxy' Vanishing Point pen.

That sounds like a lovely pairing; I use the tsuki-yo predominantly in my blue carbonesque. With the F nib colors that are too light don't look quite right, so perhaps I'm best staying put. The color online looks nowhere near as blue as the color in my bottle.

[Dmact]

So far I'm really digging the yama-budo. I have it in an estie 9788 flex nib. Its a REALLY fun combo. A bottle of this is 100% in my future.

 

Kasumosu i have in an osmiroid stub nib. I think i forgot to perfectly clean that pen because it seems a little have a slight purple in it on the page soooo i will have to see if a nib cleaning is in order. Either way its shade and low opacity are both against it for me to fall in love.

 

6 more colors to test means i need to buy more pens... Thats my logic and im stickin to it.

[Colourfingers]

I'd like to jump on board if I may please and I will let you surprise me with whatever inks you send.

[A Smug Dill]

@ColourFingers Sorry, this giveaway has long since been concluded, the recipients have been selected and the packages all shipped back in December 2019.

[Alex-Brush]

Count me in! My preference is #1, #2, #3. Thanks so much for generosity!

 

Edit: Hahah I did not see that I missed the deadline this is my first time exploring this part of FPN! Congrats to the winners!

Edited February 5, 2020 by Sumgai-Alex