Iroshizuku Kosumosu

Looking back through my posts, it appears that I've only reviewed 4 Iroshizuku inks to this point, and the last one was a couple of years back. Weird, right? I think it might just be that I haven't had great experiences with Iroshizuku inks, so I've unconsciously avoided them. Well, no longer! I know these inks are really popular, so they're getting mixed in with the rest of them.

This is a bright pink (obviously) that's named after the Cosmos flower. Oddly enough, I was watching a reality show last night (Ink Masters), and one of the artists was talking about a Cosmos flower. Then I was at the plant store today, and I saw this same plant. I didn't buy any, but I might. Kismet!

It's a really cheery pink, but it's not great for the paper-grading (for which I was going to use it) because it's not great on low-end papers. It tends to feather, spread, and bleed. Not ideal. So this one should stay on the good paper. If you're looking for a pink ink to use on higher end papers, this could be the one for you.

Check it out below and let me know what you think.

Thanks for giving me this sample for review, Anderson Pens!


The Written Review

 

Close-Ups?

Okay, so it says that there's no sheen, but you might see  a little bit of sheen if you lay it down heavily on good papers. I see just a smidge of sheen  where I smeared it. See if you can see it in the picture below.

Sheen?

Maybe just a little at the edges. I don't know, though...

Color Comparisons

Copy Paper Test

 Yeah, it comes right through. Sure, it could be worse. It's not great performance, though.

Chromatography
I think I see a little more sheen near the top of this chromatography strip than I do in the smear above. 

Video Review and Water Test

In the end, I'm not totally sold on this ink. It's a nice color, and it'll work well on nice paper, but keep it away from the cheap stuff. It just won't work all that well there.

You can find it in many places, including the Anderson Pens site where it goes for $28 for 50ml bottles or $2.50 for a 3ml sample.

(These links go to Anderson Pens, and they provided the ink for review, but they're not affiliate links. They give me ink, I write honest reviews. That's the deal.)

Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine

I got this ink from a friend at the Triangle Pen Club a while back, and I never really got around to trying it out until recently. It's a perfect time of year to review a green ink, and this one is very St.-Patrick-y. Spring-y. Anyway, it's a very happy green, and I quite enjoy seeing it on the page.


Written Review

Close-Ups

I say it's medium wet because it flows so well in the very fine nib of that Kakuno, but it doesn't go nuts in the very wet broad nib of my L-Tech. Good stuff. 

Obviously, the fine nib was used in the top bit and the broad in the bottom bit. 

 Is that a cat hair in my shot? Yep. Totally. Maybe a whisker, actually.

Color Comparisons

Copy Paper Test

 Not the best performance, but most of the bleed is from the wet, broad nib. It's to be expected, honestly. The fine nib sample isn't bad, though there are a couple of spots where you've got some bleed. Not great, but not bad either.

Chromatography

 This chromatography is so cool I had to give you two pictures. The one below is from the very end of the video clip. Fresh.

Video Review and Water Drop Test

I like this springy jewel-tone, but it's not quite as well-behaved as I'd like it to be for a wide nib. It's pretty good in a fine nib, though, and a true green.

Like other Edelstein inks, this one comes in an awesome 50ml bottle and costs about $24.

Samples, Samples, SAMPLES!

Wanna see what I've gotten recently? I knew you did!

 I'll post some photo close-ups and the video below. The samples are all from Anderson Pens. It was quite a package of inks! Thanks y'all!

Akkerman #24 Zuiderpark Blauw-Groen

This is an interesting ink. It's sort of a sea-green, I think, though it's named for a park. The ink sort of looks matte to me, though not the shiny-matte of a Sailor Kiwa-Guro.  I've used this ink quite a bit, and it seems to perform well on cheap papers and on fancier papers. There is a little bit of bleed and spread on the office paper sample at the end of the review, but it's not too bad. I didn't really notice it when I was using it.

Also, check out the chromatography on this one. It's awesome.

Thanks to Anderson Pens for sending this ink out for review!

Written Review!

Close-Ups!

I tried to capture some sheen in the picture below, but it's so very slight that it can barely be seen. You're unlikely to find sheen in this ink, though.

Comparison inks!

I really like green inks. This one isn't strictly green, but it's pretty sweet. 

Copy Paper Test!

 There's some bleed, some feather, and some spread in this sample. It isn't too bad, but it's there. Also, keep in mind that these are fine and medium nibs. I don't think it would do well on this paper with a broad (or wet) nib.

Chromatography!
Get a load of this one. It might be my all-time favorite. Very cool mix of colors. 

Video Review and Water Test!

It's not the most water-fast ink around, but the water wasn't able to wipe out the text or the grid completely.

This ink is really interesting, and if you like the color you should go for a bottle. If you don't know about the color, or you're worried about the performance, then you should probably snag a sample. It's a cool ink, and not one that's easily duplicated.

Bottles at Anderson Pens are $29. (And these bottles are very cool and functional)
Samples at Anderson Pens are $2.




Thanks go out to Anderson Pens for supplying this ink sample for my review. While the ink was provided, all opinions and such are my own.

Just a short video about a cool pen: The Sheaffer Intensity

I was doing some window shopping at one of my favorite sites the other day and I noticed that they had some of these pens on a deep discount. I looked back at my blog posts, and this pen was reviewed before I was doing much video, so there weren't any videos of it. Anyway, I hope that someone sees this video and gets this rad pen at a great price before it goes away.

I know this looks like an advertisement, but they don't pay me or ask for these things. I'm just a big fan of this pen, and I want to get them in people's hands. Sheaffer was recently bought by Cross, and it could be that pens that don't sell will be dropped from the line. I'd hate to see the Intensity go away.

Check them out at Anderson Pens where some of them are on a serious sale. $50 is a steal for this pen, I think.

Here's a review I did of it a long while back.

Franklin-Christoph Franklin Green

This one is a limited edition ink that was made for the Philly Pen Show this year. It's going to be a bit hard to find,  but you might come across some in the Franklin-Christoph stock room or at a pen show. My advice is to snap it up. It's a really great ink, and a cool color.

Written Review

Close-Ups!

These next couple are  from when the ink swatch was still wet. Cool, huh?

 I think I must have put down too much ink or gotten a weak page of Rhodia, because there was a good bit of bleed-through here and with the Pelikan Aventurine writing sample. That almost never happens, but this isn't my normal review pad.

The Bottle

Color Comparisons

Copy Paper Tests!

 This ink does pretty well. There's a little bit of bleed from the broad nib, but no problems with the other two. That broad is really wet, too.

Chromatography! 

Water Test and Video Review!

As with the other Franklin-Christoph inks, I really like this one. They're hitting it out of the park with these inks lately, if you ask me. All money, no duds.