Looking For A Vibrant Blue That Wont Ruin My New Pen

[Dj Shift]

I just bought my first non-cartridge pen today. It's a TWSBI Vac 700 in clear with a fine nib. But with this big milestone just comes the next. Now i need to buy my first bottle of ink. But here's where i'll need a bit of help from all of you color experts: i have no idea which one i want.

 

Being a senior in high school i would like to start off with a blue. I like my colors to be really bright but also professional at the same time. I'm looking for something that wont clog or ruin my new pen but also wont feather or smudge too much. I need it to be easily readable so i wont get yelled at when it comes time for a teacher to grade one of my essays. I need an ink that will be able to hold up well on the cheap papers the school prints our assignments on. But the two biggest factors i'm looking for in this first ink: i need it to be relatively inexpensive but still look good while moving around in the barrel. Other than that, i'm not very picky when it comes to the shade of blue the ink is.

 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations,

Sam

[Tangster]

Diamine Royal Blue, Pilot/Namiki Blue, Parker Permanent Blue and Lamy Blue are a few of my go-to blues for cheap copy paper. I would also recommend Diamine Prussian Blue, but it's a pretty dull steel-grey blue...

 

I also quite like Diamine Sargasso sea, but it does bleed and feather on cheap paper. Has a very nice deep blue-purple look in a demonstrator though.

[Mathemagician]

Kon-peki has to be the brightest blue that isn't BSB, and all of the pilot iroshizuki inks are extremely well behaved. Plus it has some nice outlining type effect on certain papers with certain nibs

[lamylover]

Aurora Blue. / Mont Blanc Royal Blue. / Waterman Serenity Blue (=Florida Blue).

[Dj Shift]

Diamine Royal Blue, Pilot/Namiki Blue, Parker Permanent Blue and Lamy Blue are a few of my go-to blues for cheap copy paper. I would also recommend Diamine Prussian Blue, but it's a pretty dull steel-grey blue...

 

I also quite like Diamine Sargasso sea, but it does bleed and feather on cheap paper. Has a very nice deep blue-purple look in a demonstrator though.

The Diamine Royal Blue looks like a nice color. I'll put that on my list of possibilities.

[Dj Shift]

Kon-peki has to be the brightest blue that isn't BSB, and all of the pilot iroshizuki inks are extremely well behaved. Plus it has some nice outlining type effect on certain papers with certain nibs

That one looks amazing but it's so expensive.

[Mathemagician]

true, but I don't go through that much ink as a student (mostly because I buy way too many inks). Other than that ink, a good cheaper one if you want something permanent I love noodlers bad blue heron

[Dj Shift]

Aurora Blue. / Mont Blanc Royal Blue. / Waterman Serenity Blue (=Florida Blue).

Ipad ran out of battery in the middle of my reply. Hate when that happens. That aurora blue looks great! Also on the list for sure.

[Brian C]

Check out the inexpensive Hero inks. They can be had on ebay for about $5 shipped.

[Sham69]

kon-pecki is the only extremely beautiful and vibrant blue that will not stain your pen; but it comes at a cost

 

http://edjelley.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/handwritten-review-099.jpg

[Dj Shift]

So many great recommendations.

 

The Noodlers looks nice. It'll be another one on my list.

 

The Hero blue looks great too. And for $5 dollars i'll definately have to give it a try as one of my firsts. But the reviews i just saw on it all say it smudges for quite a while. Would you say it's a good school one?

 

2 votes for kon-pecki. It does look great (as does the bottle it comes in). Maybe i'll give that one a try near the front of the list too.

[Sham69]

The Noodler's is great, really great. However nothing will compare to Kon-peki as far as vibrance and performance are concerned (without the staining of ones pens). Although it comes at a premium.

[SeeksAdvice]

Ones I've had experience with

 

From Pilot-Iroshizuku:

- Asa-Gao: A pretty intense "royal blue."

- Kon-Peki: Not quite "sky blue," but fairly intense.

- Ama-Iro: Iroshizuku's "sky blue"

 

From Diamine:

- Sargasso Sea: It won't stain your pen, had it in a 580, but holy expletive is it a handful on mediocre paper. Also hard to clean out thoroughly. Love the color, and bought a bottle after sampling. Sadly, just made one fill out of it due to performance issues.

 

From Noodler's:

- Blue Eel: No water resistance at all, but surprisingly user friendly.

- Midway Blue: Not a bad blue, just have to be careful. In some stingier writers it comes out turquoise

[OrganicsStudio]

[Dj Shift]

3 for kon-peki. It's in the lead at the moment.

 

So, basically what i'm getting from this is to only use Iroshizuku in the clear pen but i can try out the other brands in a metal barrel pen when i get one?

[SeeksAdvice]

Please note, that other inks will work just fine in the demonstrator. I have used Diamine, some Noodler's, Iroshizuku, Sailor, Platinum, and Montblanc without too many issues in my 580 demos. Kiwa-Guro and Carbon Black took some extra cleaning.

Right now, I have one of three TWSBI 580's loaded with Diamine Poppy Red. Somewhere, hopefully not frozen solid in my car, I have a TWSBI 580 inked with Noodler's Mata Hari's Cordial. My third TWSBI 580 is going to get inked with either Noodler's or Diamine tonight. As you can see, all three of my TWSBI's are loaded, or will be loaded, with something other than Iroshizuku inks at the moment.

There are certain ones to avoid, ones that are rather notorious for staining. They can be used if you don't mind the color change, or only use the pen for that particular color (i.e. blue, red, etc.). Some, I've had issues with personally.

- Qin Shi Huang from Noodler's - love the vibrancy, but will leave the pen barrel pink from personal experience. May even exceed The Blue that Shall not be Named for staining. Use it anyway because the office folks like it for contrast.

- Kung Te Cheng from Noodler's - actually left a lingering purple-blue stain in some threading of a 580 from personal experience. Great and durable ink though. Well worth having and using.

- Polar Brown from Noodler's - while not a TWSBI pen, left some ugly yellow stains in ink window of a Sailor Pro-Gear Realo

- Polar Blue from Noodler's - can stain some plastics pink, such as the body of J. Herbin roller balls. Somewhere I have a pink Herbin RB from that.

 

Some inks, such as Noodler's Bay State line are nearly legendary for their ability to stain. The only one I have experience with that line is the Blue that Shall not be Named, and it's ability to stain stuff it came in contact with nearly got FP's banned from the office. Not sure if it's been reformulated a bit lately or not, as I got a sample of it from Goulet's on a lark, and found it to be decently behaved in my M400. My curiosity is piqued, and I just might have to load the remainder of the sample into an empty 580.

My comments regarding Sargasso Sea are more directed toward trying to flush it out of pens than longer-term color change in the pen. My biggest problem with it is that we use ghastly paper that even IG based inks have issues with, followed by dry time, followed by cleaning difficulties.

Simply stated, you can use many different ink brands/types in a TWSBI. I tend to like Iroshizuku inks for their low maintenance characteristics and good color.

[Buzz_130]

I've used several brands of inks in my demonstrators, and they've all worked incredibly well. Noodler's, Diamine, Iroshizuku, Waterman, Sheaffer, Platinum, Sailor, and even Athena. As long as the ink is designed for fountain pens, you'll be fine.

 

My Vac 700 is currently loaded with Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. Good color, great properties, and great price.

 

While I love Iroshizuku inks, and I get them much cheaper here in Japan, I'm not sure if they are the student recommendation. Noodler's or Diamine might be a better choice for new pen.

 

Buzz

[JonSzanto]

Aurora Blue. / Mont Blanc Royal Blue. / Waterman Serenity Blue (=Florida Blue).

 

These would have been my picks, with maybe 2 and 3 reversed. I got hooked on Aurora Black as my go-to black, and when I picked up a bottle of the Blue a few months ago I knew I had found a real keeper. Great inks in looks and performance. Have fun!

[migo984]

Mr Pen Radiant Blue (an in-house blended Diamine Blue).

 

From web-site: "If you are over forty you may remember Radiant Blue, a vivid blue ink that almost leaps off the page. We take a Diamine Blue and we add four drops of our special ingredient which brings the colour alive. This is the result".

My note: It isn't quite as vibrant in real life but is a very bright blue.

http://www.mrpen.co.uk/contents/media/l_radiantmrpen.png

It's UK supplier, which might not suit you. It's a good price though.

 

I also like Herbin Eclat de Saphir - lovely bright blue, just needs a tiny bit of extra care. in cleaning

[SeeksAdvice]

I also like Herbin Eclat de Saphir - lovely bright blue, just needs a tiny bit of extra care. in cleaning

 

 

No thanks, you can keep the fungi. Already had a bottle of Pelikan succumb to SitB, not interested in what appears to be the leading brand mentioned around here for SitB.