Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-iro Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

For the longest time, I thought Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki was my favorite blue ink from the Iroshizuku line. It's bright, has great shading properties, dries relatively fast, and looks great everywhere. I always shied away from Ama-iro because it looked too light — almost transparent. Well, I eventually cracked and decided to give Ama-iro a shot, and I'm really glad I did.

I've never used an Iroshizuku ink that I disliked, so I was sure that Ama-iro would be a nice ink that lacked the "wow" factor of others. The name translates to "Sky," which is very fitting given the light, bright blue hue. In my book, they could also call it "Bora Bora" because it looks like the clear blue waters of Indonesian island paradise.

Like I said, I didn't go into this ink thinking I would care for it. To my surprise, I was completely wrong. This is just another example that shows you should never assume anything. Immediately after inking it up, I was enamored with the light blue shade that had a beautiful shading behavior. In a matter of minutes, I went from "meh" to "love it."

What makes the Ama-iro so great? Well, the color. If you've used an Iroshizuku ink before, you know what to expect. It's an incredibly well-behaved ink with beautiful color characteristics, great flow, and pretty bottles. The Iroshizuku inks are my favorite of any other brand. That said, I was 100% sure that I would never find an ink that compares to my beloved Kon-peki, and I'm sure there are plenty of folks that hold that same opinion. Let it be known, this opinion has not changed, but Ama-iro is nipping at the heels of this special title. It's closing the gap with every stroke from my pen.

The sky can be different colors depending on weather conditions and what locale you're currently in. For me, this color reminds me of a clear, sunny day in Colorado — somewhere around 6,000 ft. elevation. They're clean, crisp, and rich with color. That's exactly what this blue is like. It's not just a flat light blue — it's rich and has amazing depth.

My favorite characteristic of this ink is its ability to shade to a medium blue. I've used the ink in several pens, and I love using it in wetter, broader nibs that can really show off the shading. It really is something to behold.

Another favorite feature of this ink is the dry time. I clocked it somewhere between 10 and 15 seconds when using a Japanese medium nib and a European medium nib. Not the fastest dry time, but definitely impressive.

Apart from that, all the other characteristics of this ink are in line with all the other Iroshizuku line. Great flow, easy to clean up, no bleeding or feathering, and minimal show-through.

If your favorite blue ink is Iroshizuku Kon-peki, you should give this ink a try. It's a great cousin to add to your collection for those days when you need some bright sky cheer.

JetPens sell this particular ink in two sizes: 50ml bottles and 15ml bottles. Pick up the smaller size if you aren't sure it's the right color for you! I hope you are as pleasantly surprised as I was.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Tom Bihn Field Journal Notebook Giveaway

As with my original review, I am giving away my review unit of the Tom Bihn Field Journal Notebook to one lucky reader. Huge thanks to the crew at Tom Bihn for sending this product my way.

The Field Journal Notebook I am giving away is Navy, as pictured above, but I want to know what color you would pick from the 13 awesome choices currently available. Be sure to leave that in your comment - I'm only picking a winner who follows the rules!

Here are the rest of the details:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Friday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is open to US and international residents.
2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. The contest winner will be posted on Saturday, June 4th. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Thanks and good luck!

Fresh From Japan: Zebra Sarasa Dry and Uni-ball Air

My friend June Thomas teased us all about her pending tour of Japan in Episode 189 of The Pen Addict Podcast. She made it back safe and sound, and a little care package from her made its way into my mailbox last week.

Aside from the tissue and mask handouts (which are amazing!) I was anxious to try both of the pens. The Zebra Sarasa Dry I had only seen on the Zebra Japan site, and while I own the Uni-ball Air, the Micro tip size is a new one for me. Here are my first thoughts on both of these pens:

Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel 0.5 mm Blue

The first question I had about this pen wasn’t to see if the fast-drying gel ink worked, but how close this pen compares to an all time favorite: the Zebra Sarasa Clip. It does, but just a little. The clip is too bulky on the Dry Gel model for me, although the grip may be a bit better. They are close.

The more important aspect, of course, is the ink performance. It lives up to the marketing, drying almost immediately after going on the page. I ran my finger along the line when writing, as in this video, and there was no ink smear or ink transfer to my finger. Clean, and impressive.

Finally, how new is this ink technology from Zebra? I was thinking this Japanese model was newish, but as I dug around, Zebra USA has marketed the Sarasa Gel as Zebra Sarasa Rapid Dry Ink Gel for what looks like a year or two. I rarely visit office supply stores any more so I haven’t noticed this. Plus, this model of Sarasa is nowhere near as good as the Clip model.

So this begs the question: Has anyone used one of the Rapid Dry models, and does is work as well?

Uni-ball Air 0.5 mm Black

This oddity of a pen has been around in the US market for a while, but only in the 0.7 mm model. I bought a pack of those, and wasn’t sure what to make of it. More of a felt tip marker than rollerball, the Air leaves wide, wet lines. The 0.7 mm is fine, but I of course prefer the 0.5 mm model that June sent me. It’s still wide, but now it is closer to one of my favorite off the shelf pens in the Paper Mate Flair.

Since it is a liquid ink pen and due to the style of the tip, a lot of ink gets transferred to the page, causing some feathering and bleeding. I am a fast writer, and no matter how fast I go I can’t outrun a small amount of ink pooling at the end of my letters. That’s ok, as long as you understand what this pen is good for and if it suits your needs. Tiny writers need not apply.

Both of these pens are decent choices when used for a specific need or in the right circumstances. That makes them good, but not great. Thanks for sending me these to test out June!