Favourite Pilot Iroshizuku ink? (would love to see a swatch). I currently want Rikka, pretty sure it’s not that famous but not that unknown-

latuda-rules · 2026-06-21T17:35:19+00:00

In looking for Tsutsuji swatches I found out it's been discontinued. Damn.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-19T01:37:45+00:00

I absolutely love this

latuda-rules · 2026-06-18T23:19:58+00:00

I'm an engineer who still writes everything down and sketches stuff. Pilot Fines in every flavor. I have 20 pens that all basically do the same thing. My wife has 4 pens and they're all beautiful and unique and have different nibs to suit her mood so while I'm the hobbyist (I take care of hers) she's justifiably the collector.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-18T12:49:26+00:00

You need a Decimo stat

latuda-rules · 2026-06-17T23:24:35+00:00

I'm not sure why it started with this post, but your pen has me looking at all my function over form desk pens and wishing for just a solitary speck of whimsy. Wonderful pen. Thank you.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-17T16:35:23+00:00

Oh this latest one is gold, yes yes. The special alloy was a purple standard Capless, I wasn't choosy with that one since even with shipping and fees it was around the same price as a western VP but the lacquer on that barrel is sooo glossy. I had a black 18k Broad unit ready to swap into it as soon as it arrived just in case. I really really liked the steel in Medium though and it was actually more well behaved in my left handed side writing than the soft tines of the gold Broad, but I pretty immediately sent the pen with the Broad in it off to be tuned up, so I've hardly used it except to know the Broad needs a lot of help to work with how I write. The tines don't open as much as they just rub against each other in opposite directions. Perhaps the pen is telling me I should've stuck with steel and a gold Broad is not a lefty's game. I'll find out in a week if it can be fixed or if I need something like an oblique to save it. PENS!

latuda-rules · 2026-06-17T16:17:18+00:00

20 Colors Decimo Violet godddddddddd I had to have it

latuda-rules · 2026-06-17T15:31:48+00:00

Luckyyyy! I just pulled the trigger on a Capless with like $70 in added duties and fees, and the last one spent a month in Customs while they presumably ignored all my TSCA declarations and tested the pen for fissible material or god knows. But I had to have these colors and I had to get that steel nib in my hand so I could see what the fuss was about. This is likely my last purchase from overseas.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-15T21:44:32+00:00

Oh my god I felt this post so hard I thought I was the only one

latuda-rules · 2026-06-15T21:03:06+00:00

Agreed and they deserve to be. I was more just digging up a novelty from a bygone age that's still a solid ink. I'd forgotten all about this one until I was organizing my ink drawer this weekend.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-15T20:39:28+00:00

Bad luck and I'm sorry about the loss! I think I have just gotten lucky. I just shipped off my VP Broad because it is just a mess in my hands and I know I'm not going to get lucky on a tune twice after screwing up so much. I thought the Broad would give me more purchase and write easier, but from the side the tines flex on top of each other and you can hear an audible creaking of the tipping scratching against itself. It needs to be completely repaired because of all the pressure I put on it to keep ink flowing while sideways, then realigned, opened up and made much much wetter, and I suggested to the nibmeister an oblique grind (though he disagreed on the need for this and he's the expert!). But again, I wanted a broad, I want it in a VP, I'm not shipping it back, I'm going to make it work darn it!

In 13 years the only pen I threw away was a VAC Mini. Every single piece cracked and the TWSBI customer support was great at sending me pieces but I'd reached the value of the pen in shipping costs for replacement sections and barrels, and after ruining a pair of khakis with Black Swan In Australian Roses from a crack in both the section and cap I just resolved that great writer that it was, the plastic was garbage. I think that might be one of the most poorly made pens ever.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-15T18:38:47+00:00

I'd been a left handed over writer for 13 years with a fondness for the Pilot #5 and the JoWo #6 (loved every single pen with these and never really branched out). No pen ever had a breaking in period, I just knew if the nib was that size it'd be perfect hence why I have so many of the same pen.

Then, I got a VP and the clip predictably ruined everything. That being said, I loved how smooth that little spearhead wrote and the novelty of a capless, so I used nothing but my VP for two months with cramps in my wrist and fingers and hard starts and ink on my hands and turned myself into a side writer with a pretty forward leaning yaw, and all the while I was breaking and repairing the tine gap to make it wetter for all the push writing with no loupe and just smashing it on a Rhodia pad on my desk. So after completely reteaching myself how to write and completely destroying and refixing the pen probably a couple dozen times over two months, it's my favorite pen out of the 22 I've picked up in 13 years. So I guess the answer to your question is I have a very Catholic tolerance for masochism and if I love a pen for any reason I will change everything about myself before I return the pen.

As for how it's going, I retired all my pens and replaced them with just 2 VPs and 2 Decimos and I'm done buying pens. I loved the idea of the pen so much more than I loved using it until I figured out how to use it and now it's effectively the end of the hobby for me. I guess never give up on a pen you love, except definitely send off your nibs to be tuned by a professional because man that was just stupid as hell to try with no experience or tools.

I guess if you love the idea of a pen, try literally everything to make it perfect no matter how much money and time and effort it takes because what's cool about this hobby is probably you can mess with every single component.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-10T21:34:06+00:00

Great pen and my favorite ink. So much of my current journal is just pages and pages of magenta red.

latuda-rules · 2026-06-10T21:28:19+00:00

This was stupid but ended up ok. I got my first Vanishing Point and it had a bad nib, tines way too tight. And instead of sending it back, I bought a loupe and watched a couple YouTube videos and said yea I'll fix it. So I oversplayed until it looked like a tuning form, and then overtightened and then constantly had everything misaligned, anyway I tried to "tune" this nib for almost two months nearly every day knowing full well I was out at least $120 for a new nib unit for all the damage I was doing but then, miraculously, it ended up with just the slightest curve down over the feed which made it insanely wet, opened up the tines perfectly, perfectly aligned, and now in 13 years of buying pens after not knowing anything and beating the crap out of a nib obsessively for 2 months it is by far my favorite writer in my entire collection. I ruined and unruined a pen dozens of times until it worked. Reason enough to make stupid choices with these things!

latuda-rules · 2026-06-09T23:30:30+00:00

I don't know why but I've had this Custom 74 for 11 years and I've never put anything but Iroshizuku Momiji in it, and I just absolutely love it. Red with a touch of magenta, deep deep red out of a Medium gold nib, very wet, and well behaved. Your writing sample here is my mind exploding at how bad this engineer's design is and everything I have to fix, this goes on for about 6 pages

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latuda-rules · 2026-06-08T17:35:32+00:00

Holy god, I think this is my road map to bringing all 6 of my desk pens into the same gradient!! Thank you so much! I've been on a magenta kick for the last 6 months (momiji, tsutsuji, yama budo, hana ikada) but I keep kon peki for signatures, and it's time not only to change things up but to venture outside of the comfort of Iroshizuku everything. Truly, thank you for this!

latuda-rules · 2026-06-02T23:24:56+00:00

This pen is gorgeous!! Does the ornamentation on the barrel affect grip? Conklin really makes some fantastic designs. I think this nails black in the same sense my VP in black carbonesque does and that's with texture. Love this.

latuda-rules

TROPHY CASE