What could suit better than to review and compare green inks a warm day in May when all buds have broke into leaves? As I write – after 10 PM it is still not real dark – the sun has set, but the light and the pink rays still lingers at the horizon and I can feel the scent of the bird cherry through the open study window. May has almost brought the spring into summer this past few days. +25 C and clear blue sky. Photo above is from yesterday.
This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to try an ink from Pilot’s Iroshizuku series. Since so many rank them very high, my expectations where sky high. I got this sample (and a few of the other greens) from a very kind pen friend – thank you once again! – and I was thrilled to try it. And, since my expectations was so high I was bound to be disappointed. No trumpets of heaven began to play and it didn’t turn the silver pen into a gold pen (thankfully).
Its flow and lubrication properties are excellent – on the wet side, but not gushing out the ink. It doesn’t feather on Moleskine or other feather prone paper qualities that I have tried it on.The shading is real good. I’d say that the shading and non-feathering properties is the two my favourite characteristics with this ink. The shade is a cold green leaning towards the blue. Not my favourite kind of green, but it is quite pleasant and the shading gives it character. This is an ink with a hefty price tag, and as the shipping to Europe is very expensive, I am not sure that it is so extraordinary that it justifies the substantial price tag. I thus remain reluctant to buy it. Especially not this one since it is almost identical to J Herbin’s Lierre de Sauvage, which also has excellent properties and can be had for a lower price if one fancies this colour very much.
I am very glad that I got the opportunity to try this ink, since it is so expensive to order, which is why I haven’t tried any Iroshizuku inks before this. It would be great if these could be sold in “sample containers” as Diamine does with their inks. That makes it easy and not-so-expensive to try the inks and it is one of the main reasons why Diamine is the dominant brand in my ink drawer.
If you are curious to see more green inks Inkophile has made a great green comparison here and a water test with the shin-ryoku here.
lady dandelion 
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That Noodler’s El Lawrence looks amazing, I’m going to have to put that on my wish list.
I love Iroshizuku inks, but I’ve held off ordering Shin-ryoku because of the blue tinge. I ended up getting Herbin’s Vert Empire instead – easy on the eyes, and dark enough (yet not too saturated) to use even with fine-nibbed pens.
I’m not that fond of green inks yet I have a lot of them. Quite the mystery. I second the opinion that Syo-Ro is a great blue/green ink. I liked this comparison if only for the fact that I don’t think I’ll purchase Shin-Ryoku since it is so much like Lierre Sauvage. Thanks.
The Iroshizuku inks I have (syo-ro, yu-yake, kon-peki) are all outstanding in every respect. Sy-ro is my all-time favorite with it’s lovely shading and it’s chameleon-like ability to appear a bluish green on some paper, and a greenish blue on others. The shin-ryoku color does appear in your shots a cold green and doesn’t grab my interest so much. Great review, and so good you could try it out without the expense! Perhaps I could send you samples of syo-ro, yu-yake, and kon-peki?
Great review! Still love shin-ryoku despite having so many greens in my collection. It has a little more blue than Lierre Sauvage but shin-ryoku responds like the flow and lubrication are enhanced as you’ve noted. It’s a good ink for a dry-writer or a very fine nib but that’s true with all the Iroshizuku inks I’ve tested. Lierre Sauvage has slightly less coverage and more transparency but unless I look at them side to side, it’s hard to see the difference. It’s more noticeable in terms of pen function especially in my 1970’s Pilot Elite pocket pens with script nibs. Stingy doesn’t begin to describe the flow issues but they improve greatly with Iro inks. Lierre Sauvage would be absolutely perfect in the shamrock covered model. Oh, wait. That’s a Pilot ink in a Pilot pen. Figures they’d be mates!
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