PILOT Iroshizuku Bottled Fountain Pen Ink, Kon-Peki, Deep Blue (Turquoise Blue) 50ml Bottle (69212)

When something comes in a bottle that is a work of art in itself, my whole experience is elevated. And my life is enhanced by this elevation. Pilot knows the wonder of what one’s words and experience means to us. I use a fountain pen to find myself in such a world of meaning. And the color of this kon-peki ink delights my soul and my eyes. It’s the most delightful green-blue, or is it blue-green, and does it really change moods according to the weather or is it just playing with me?

I’ve been using fountain pens since I learned to write in Europe in the 1960s, and I've always had a deep appreciation for the smooth, elegant experience of writing with one. Currently, I’m using a Caran d'Ache Leman Blue pen that I purchased during a trip to Geneva, which I absolutely love. I was on the hunt for a good ink to match my pen, and I tried the ink that Caran d'Ache makes, but it didn’t quite live up to what I was hoping for. Then I discovered PILOT Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, and it’s a game-changer. The flow is smooth and consistent, and the color is a beautiful, vibrant turquoise that is noticeably brighter and more vibrant than the ink I had been using. It has a great depth and richness, making writing feel like a pleasure each time. I highly recommend this ink to anyone who enjoys using a fountain pen. PILOT offers a wide range of colors, but this is the only one I’ve tried so far, and I’m very happy with it. It definitely elevates the experience of writing!

These Pilot inks are awesome quality and the colors are dynamic. This one has great shading and rich base color. Plus the bottle looks very classy on my desk.

Beautiful blue color.

First things first - this is a large bottle of ink. Considering the quality of the pigments, which have no smell whatsoever, the cost is on par with many "small" bottles of calligraphy ink that I've bought by other manufacturers. It's a wet ink that takes between 30 seconds and a minute to dry, however, it flows smoother than a gel pen. It doesn't bleed much on cheap paper, either - a huge surprise. More importantly, it flows and flows. Using a Zebra Comic G nib, I can easily write a full sentence if I'm not writing with thick downstrokes. The color is absolutely beautiful and is great for both art and writing. More importantly, it is the best ink I've ever used in refillable fountain pen pistons. Incredible! Not once has it dried up in a pen. Every other ink I've used dries up within a day and I find myself fussing with my pens - even cartridges designed specifically for this person. This ink is the "cat's meow" and most people that use it will agree. The bottle's design is amazing and there's a slight point at the bottom so you can use every last drop. This is the ink you want to purchase, in my opinion.

Beautiful, intense, transparent cyan (blue slightly shifted to green) ink. Very well behaved - flows nicely without being too wet or dry. Works nicely on Apica and Rhodia, and even less fountain-pen friendly Moleskine without bleed-through or feathering. Moderate shading - less ink shifts it slightly greener, more shifts it to a darker blue. Crisp edges. The color is vibrant but without sacrificing readability. Might be a bit too vibrant and forward for an office environment (well, a stuffy one). This is one of those inks that on the face of it can be thought of as non-distinctive because another ink might be more vibrant, or shade more dramatically, but this just does everything well. The real question is it worth the premium price? Personally, I'd rather have an ink I really like than two lesser inks, and think this particular ones is worth it. But I don't think that's true for every Iroshizuku ink (at least not for me). The standard Pilot inks are a whole cheaper, are well-behaved, but just aren't as vibrant and crisp.

The Kon-peki (Cerulean Blue) is a beautiful ink to look at both on paper and inside my demonstrator pen. In my pen it is a translucent dark shade when light penetrates the ink, a very fetching effect that can't be captured well without seeing it in person. The ink works best with higher quality paper like Rhodia, but it can potentially work just fine on cheap regular paper. I say potentially as it acts just fine on the copy paper I use and even some of my notebook paper; however, some of the notebook paper I used it on exhibited feathering and bleed-through, making my fine nib look like a wet-writing medium-broad nib. That is not why I gave it only four stars as obviously a lot of inks don't work well on cheap paper. The reason I gave four stars was the bottle. The packing was fine, intact, and beautiful, though box for the bottle had a small dent in the upper-left corner. However, the ink bottle had a large scratch in on the back of it. I do not know how it occurred, be it due to complications during transit or an error caused while crafting it. The rest of the bottle was fine and just as I thought it would look like, and the scratch was relatively minor despite the fact it spanned the vertical height of the bottle; if the scratch were to be a crack, however, then I would not want to imagine the consequences. Despite that, the product itself is entirely fine and very high-quality. It is quite pricey so it is up to you to decide whether it is worth the purchase or not. Though I am concerned about the issue with the scratch, I don't expect to have this issue on future purchases as it is definitely not something that is intentional--after all, I've purchased other products from Pilot and they work great. Use my review to be aware that as with most products out there, it may not always be as you expected and may have unintentional flaws in your particular order. Also the bottle is heavy and made of glass so don't drop it. Picture One: The dent of the box I spoke about. Not serious at all so I didn't speak much of it. Picture Two: The scratch I took a star off for. Nothing serious either, but for a glass bottle it is a concern in my opinion.

Pilot's Iroshizuku ink, what can I say that has already been said before? Let's just get this out of the way, this is bar none the best ink I've tried to date. What makes it great? It's flow. Even in a pilot vanishing point fine (new model) it glides across the paper with literally no pressure. Comparing this to parker quink or waterman inks that are usually dry with the vanishing point fine nib. The color of the ink is something else. I was never much of a blue fan until I saw this ink. It's just stands out on the paper. Speaking of paper, I had no issues with this ink on pretty much all types of paper. Cheap, expensive, they all work well. It does spread on my control paper (is use it to test feathering and such) but so does every fountain pen ink (pencil only paper). In addition to that, this ink dries quickly enough. I'm a lefty and haven't had any smear issues. I was actually worried about that when I first bought the ink due to reported long dry times but it seems that the Japanese fine nib I'm using negates that. If your a lefty, make sure to use a fine nib with this ink just in case. Now let's discuss everything else. The bottle, it's great. There's a indent at the bottom of the bottle to help drain every bit with a fountain pen. The bottle itself looks fantastic. Not something you would want to toss and could make a good decor piece. Price wise you are paying quite a bit more compared to other inks out there so I would not call this a good value. If anything, this ink is like driving a sports car. The experience itself is worth the extra money. If you enjoy writing with your fountain pen, this ink may just take that to the next level if you haven't tried it already. There's just something to be said for a ink that looks so nice and writes so smoothly, even on dry nibs.