Pilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink - Tsutsuji 50mL

Tsutsuji is a very beautiful, vibrant colour, with green or gold sheen, which is visible out of wet writers; I find this distracting because it hides the ink’s base colour—but not as much as Lamy Vibrant Pink’s sheen does though. Also, I’ve observed a gold outline when using a wet Sailor 1911L 21kt H-B.

It’s pinker than Yama-Budo, and it can’t be mistaken for Momiji. It is brighter and less blue than Diamine Claret, still my favourite in the magenta family. Thanks to its saturation, it is readable even in extra fine nibs; it’s not eye searing or fluorescent, but I find its vibrancy makes it difficult to read back copious notes without eye fatigue. For me, this ink is better suited when proofreading as it offers great contrast between the black text and the corrections.

It has a wet flow without feeling watery under the nib, and tends to seep into my TR paper; it doesn’t feather—except on cheap paper and Oxford Optik—but almost bleeds through, making the ghosting quite obvious. There is little shading and I find it dries slowly on the papers I used.

The ink is lovely, but Diamine Claret still wins the race!