EFNIR: Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-ho

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-ho

This is review #147 in my series.  Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Cleaning was quick and easy.  The zoom is pretty accurate, but the shading is harder to see with the naked eye, and my eye sees more of a green undertone (just a hint) than the digital image portrays.  Text in the scan is a little pale, as usual.  And the text in the screen capture is a little too dark.  Both seem a little flat (monotone, lack of shading) compared to what my eyes see.

And here is a screen of the final result, for those not interested in the video:

Scan of Completed Review:

Zoomed in photo:

Absorbent Paper Closeup (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper):

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap

Previous Review: Diamine Graphite.

Want to influence the inky sequence?  Take the "next ink" poll.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh?  Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy.  Comments appreciated!

[mizgeorge]

Thank you @LizEF a very timely reminder to get this whilst we can.

 

I love Ina-ho - it was one of the first Iroshizukus that I bought a backup bottle of, and I'll be sad when it's gone. There are alternatives, but I still find this a very odd decision.

 

Super review as always

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oh, how I wanted this ink, having seen it in a pen pal's letter....I was hoping for a replacement of my beloved, but completely long ago discontinued, Pelikan Khaki (only ever available in carts!).

 

It wasn't theee replacement, and I never went beyond the sample vial stage.  Now I have some Sailor Kobe gold ink that comes sorta, kinda, close.

 

Thanks once again for the review and adventures.  And magic.

[LizEF]

20 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Thank you @LizEF a very timely reminder to get this whilst we can.

You're very welcome!

 

20 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Super review as always

Thanks!

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks once again for the review and adventures.  And magic.

You're welcome!

[Tas]

Sad to hear this unusual colour will be leaving us.

🥺 All things, good and bad, come to an end . . . they say.

I've about 1/2 bottle left. The only Iroshizuku ink I ever fell for.
Thanks for the review.
 

[yazeh]

Great job Liz . I'm glad we left the darker shade for the more luminous shades.  It seems that Colorverse gluon minus the glitter is a close match... :)

[LizEF]

16 minutes ago, Tas said:

Sad to hear this unusual colour will be leaving us.

🥺 All things, good and bad, come to an end . . . they say.

I've about 1/2 bottle left. The only Iroshizuku ink I ever fell for.

It's still out there, should you want to get another.   (Of course, we seem to be in an inky heyday, so there will always be another ink to distract you...)

 

17 minutes ago, Tas said:

Thanks for the review.

You're most welcome!

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great job Liz

Thanks!

 

4 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I'm glad we left the darker shade for the more luminous shades.

Agree.  Lately the votes seem to go in color-groupings, so I get a bunch of the same range at the same time.

 

5 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It seems that Colorverse gluon minus the glitter is a close match...

I hadn't noticed that (not having that ink), but it's also fairly similar to inks categorized as "gold", so I think there won't be any shortage of similar inks for someone to find, if they wish.

[PithyProlix]

This seems like it might be another instance when I see a color much different than others. All the pictures I've seen of Ina-ho, including yours here, even viewing with different displays/devices, very clearly communicate 'green' to me, with only the slightest bit brown, if any, unless it is shading really darkly. I understand that 'ina-ho' means rice ear and there *is* a stage of the ear that is green before it goes to yellow-brown, with a transition of color in between, so it makes me wonder. (We actually have two large paddy fields of rice - two different kinds of rice which have similarly colored ears - so, even though I don't actually work the fields myself, I have a little expertise on this issue.)

 

OK, I'll stop being a fuddy duddy now and thank you for another great and useful review! 

[LizEF]

25 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

This seems like it might be another instance when I see a color much different than others. All the pictures I've seen of Ina-ho, including yours here, even viewing with different displays/devices, very clearly communicate 'green' to me, with only the slightest bit brown, if any, unless it is shading really darkly.

I see golden-brown with a green undertone.  But our eyes (or brains) are all different and no two people will (necessarily) see color the same way - even when standing right next to each other.  Throw in monitors / screens and there's really no chance of us seeing the same thing.

 

28 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

 

OK, I'll stop being a fuddy duddy now and thank you for another great and useful review! 

Fuddy and duddy welcome, as are you!  And thanks!

[inkstainedruth]

Not a color for me, but thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

4 hours ago, LizEF said:

But our eyes (or brains) are all different and no two people will (necessarily) see color the same way - even when standing right next to each other.

 

I just finished watching an excellent three-episode National Geographic series titled Test Your Brain. The episode titled You Won't Believe Your Eyes had some very interesting simple experiments on perception of colour, that I thought was particularly relevant to hobbyists making assumptions about what they will ‘see’ when using inks reviewed (or showcased) online, when it comes time to use those inks in their personal contexts.

[LizEF]

42 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Not a color for me, but thanks as usual for the comprehensive review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

You're welcome!

[AmandaW]

I love Ina-ho and was delighted to find it a match for a Kaweco Perkeo 'Indian Summer' that just arrived. Now I'm trying to decide whether to look for a backup bottle or trust that something else will come along. It is a big bottle - which is, um, a hundred fills for a converter? Indecision.

[LizEF]

12 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

I just finished watching an excellent three-episode National Geographic series titled Test Your Brain. The episode titled You Won't Believe Your Eyes had some very interesting simple experiments on perception of colour, that I thought was particularly relevant to hobbyists making assumptions about what they will ‘see’ when using inks reviewed (or showcased) online, when it comes time to use those inks in their personal contexts.

The simple "which of all these greys are the same" example for art students is, ahem, eye-opening...   And I keep noticing new games in the app store designed around color perception - they appear to be about "sorting" the colors, but I haven't tried any of them, just noticed they're out there...

[LizEF]

Just now, AmandaW said:

Indecision.

The problem of every ink-lover!

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I just finished watching an excellent three-episode National Geographic series titled Test Your Brain. The episode titled You Won't Believe Your Eyes had some very interesting simple experiments on perception of colour, that I thought was particularly relevant to hobbyists making assumptions about what they will ‘see’ when using inks reviewed (or showcased) online, when it comes time to use those inks in their personal contexts.

Sounds like some of the stuff I remember from one of the Time-Life Science series of books we had growing up.  I remember all sorts of fool the eye designs (is this an urn or two faces in profile?) and stuff like color afterimages that change the color of the thing you've just been staring at (don't remember what that's called).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

The simple "which of all these greys are the same" example for art students is, ahem, eye-opening...   And I keep noticing new games in the app store designed around color perception - they appear to be about "sorting" the colors, but I haven't tried any of them, just noticed they're out there...

Ah yes...  Freshman Color and Design 1 -- aka "Josef Albers Color Theory"....  Most of my art professors were graduates of the Yale School of Art and Architecture, where I gather Albers taught.  Scary to think what a box of Color-aid paper costs these days (a number of years ago I saw a box in the CMU Art Store for IIRC $60 US, and when I was a freshman in college it was around $14....

Of course I did appreciate the "ugly color" problem -- pick several sheets of Color-aid where you absolutely hate the color and make a design using them.  I ended using a bunch of murky dark greens and some burgundy/dark reds and when I was done I LIKED them, at least together (which I suspect was the point of the assignment...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AmandaW]

4 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Josef Albers Color Theory

 

There's an app for that. (Or was a few years ago, haven't check if it's still available, but it was pretty well done. I just don't have an ipad that works any more.)