Cobalt Blue - Graf Von Faber - Castell

[visvamitra]

Hi, I'd like to present you another review that I've made for polish fountain pen forum - that's why the text is not written in english. I'd love to prepare new scans (in english this time) but I don't have time. Anyway, I hope at least some of you will find it useful even tough you won't - probably - understand the text as polish is not the most popular language to learn But then I believe the colors have language of their own.

I'm huge fan of GvFC products. Cobalt Blue hasn't disappointed me even though blue is not my favourite color. It's good ink with good properties, a bit pricey, yes. But it's worth the money you pay for it.

http://imageshack.com/a/img819/1949/q1h6.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img820/9682/k6xo.jpg

DRY TIME

http://imageshack.com/a/img834/5159/uus8c.jpg

Waterproof

http://imageshack.com/a/img842/6213/mw9ye.jpg

SCANS

Calendar

http://imageshack.com/a/img853/4923/8s7j.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img819/2074/skxs.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img819/9247/qem6.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img822/4843/dod29.jpg

Notebook

http://imageshack.com/a/img840/5582/iu9m.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img822/4566/slly.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img840/6978/s5n4.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img855/7537/y5gx.jpg

RHODIA

http://imageshack.com/a/img841/3200/zjijp.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img829/4755/muev.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img829/6045/0n32.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img822/3238/dsnb.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img841/3845/f6pk9.jpg

[lapis]

Thank you!!! Excellent review as always. Everything fits in nicely with my own findings. I have and love all 6. iMO one of the best companies today.

 

Whew!

[mazinger55]

Thank you for these perfect pics, do you know if this in fades or maintain their original color?

[dneal]

Thank you for these perfect pics, do you know if this in fades or maintain their original color?

 

Assuming you don't mean when it's exposed to constant sunlight (most inks fade); then my experience is that it does keep its color.

[Chrissy]

I have this ink and I admit it's the only ink I bought because I really like the bottle.

 

Up to now I've only tried it with a F nib pen but it might be worth a try in one with a broader nib.

 

As far as price goes, it might seem expensive but it is a 75ml bottle. So per ml it isn't as expensive as you might think

[meiers]

Thank you for sharing. I was wondering about this ink. Looks like a must-have.

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting. It seems *really* dependent on the paper and pen used. The chromatography splotch made me expect it to be more teal, the spatter photo made me think darker blue. The photo of the dry time made it look more blue violet, as did the sample on Rhodia, but the sample on notebook paper made it look bluer (what I think of when I think "cobalt"), and the sample on the calendar had it leaning more blue black.

I may have to think about this one at some point....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Morbus Curiositas]

Very nice blue and as always a very nice review....

 

I believe those bottles are pretty too. Can you tell me what the price is?

 

 

I recently became a huge fan of your superb review work... Thanks for all the good stuff

 

Peter

 

 

ps In the suggestions underneath this article I saw your review of Moss Green and ten red inks... Must check that now...

[praxim]

Carried from a conversation started in the thread What pens are you using today 2016

First of all, it's terribly dry, causing skips & hard starts. Second of all, the colour is too boring. I coped with both problems last night, pulling out the cardtridge (no mess!) and adding a few drops of Visconti Turquoise. Much lovelier shade of blue, no flow issues anymore. I must add that the fine nib (pretty wet one) performed flawlessly with the previous ink.

OK. I have used it in two Dupont pens both with medium nib (a Montparnasse and an Orient Express), where it is very well behaved. The colour is better in the wetter Montparnasse.

 

Given other commentary in reviews of the ink, I gather it is considered a little dry so I will keep it out of F nibs and vintage Watermans. On the other hand, it might just be a solution for my sloppy M nib GvFC Intuition . Otherwise I was going to try one of Robert Oster's rarer colours in it; they are dry.

 

I agree with some other commentary here. The ink has no pop, especially compared with vivid Visconti Blue, but makes a good slightly darker shade than Waterman Blue without the green tinges of Waterman Blue-Black. It goes nicely on documents. I expect that when I eventually finish this bottle, I will get another.

 

[aurore]

A weird ink. Very weird. While GvFC Midnight which Visvamitra did not praised at all, in my experience perfoms flawlessly, patricularly it flows well in any pen with any nib and does not bleed, while this "Cobalt" ink flows... urgh... I would not call it terribly dry in general (though on the dry side for sure), but for some reason it flows terribly in some pens, a real pain. In my wet MB 146 ANY ink (incl. IG) flows well except this ink - it skips, causes hard starts (while GvFC Midnight flows like a dream in the very same pen), the same troubles with a lot of other pens, even in some Pelikan gushers. But worked quite well in Waterman Carene.

For this reason I would hardly recommend it. Though if mixed 1:1 with Midnight the flow improves and the colour is rather nice.

Edited December 10, 2019 by aurore

[lapis]

I'd say you got a bad bottle. Unusual for that company.

[aurore]

Could be. Though neither a sample I had before nor cartridges were all that different. A very moody ink in my experience.

[praxim]

Following up my comment from three years ago, I have used Cobalt Blue in four other pens since the two S T Duponts mentioned. I think it works best in a medium or not too fine nib. Given that, I like the ink still more than I did previously. It did prove especially suitable for the GvFC Intuition (M), negating my earlier agreement that it lacked pop. I have had no real misbehaviour on any but a dry Omas (EF).

[Honeybadgers]

I only have one, finally caved and bought stone grey and I love it. So well behaved, even in a wet lamy 2000 BB on COPY PAPER it barely feathers. I got the bottle for $19, and I am wishing I bought every color.

 

Honestly, for $35, I was kind of hesitant, but since it is a 75mL bottle, and the bottle itself is spectacularly nice, I'm probably going to slowly start acquiring quite a few more of these.

[aurore]

Following up my comment from three years ago, I have used Cobalt Blue in four other pens since the two S T Duponts mentioned. I think it works best in a medium or not too fine nib. Given that, I like the ink still more than I did previously. It did prove especially suitable for the GvFC Intuition (M), negating my earlier agreement that it lacked pop. I have had no real misbehaviour on any but a dry Omas (EF).

 

Agreed. I indeed had troubles with mainly very fine nibs. Surprisingly some of them are normally gushers. This ink behaves in them unevenly - it flows well, then stops but very soon starts flowing again. And hard starts are quite often. It isn't horrible, but it's just weird Midnight flows perfectly in all those pens.

Edited December 11, 2019 by aurore

[Intensity]

I only have one, finally caved and bought stone grey and I love it. So well behaved, even in a wet lamy 2000 BB on COPY PAPER it barely feathers. I got the bottle for $19, and I am wishing I bought every color.

 

Honestly, for $35, I was kind of hesitant, but since it is a 75mL bottle, and the bottle itself is spectacularly nice, I'm probably going to slowly start acquiring quite a few more of these.

 

I have 5 GvFC inks now. They are generally quite dry, which helps with the feathering as well as good stroke definition. As opposed to Pilot Iroshizuku inks that are very wet and free-flowing and can easily feather (some colors) even on good paper. They also give broader lines. I've really come around to love dry and moderate inks more. Even some of my KWZ inks are too wet for me now, increasing line thickness and reducing stroke definition too much for my liking. I wish I could order a "dry" version of Iroshizuku and KWZ, like Troublemaker ink flow system.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Intensity

[Honeybadgers]

 

I have 5 GvFC inks now. They are generally quite dry, which helps with the feathering as well as good stroke definition. As opposed to Pilot Iroshizuku inks that are very wet and free-flowing and can easily feather (some colors) even on good paper. They also give broader lines. I've really come around to love dry and moderate inks more. Even some of my KWZ inks are too wet for me now, increasing line thickness and reducing stroke definition too much for my liking. I wish I could order a "dry" version of Iroshizuku and KWZ, like Troublemaker ink flow system.

 

 

Totally with you on this. I've kind of fallen in love with pelikan 4001 black for this very reason.

[tinta]

Sorry,  I am not computer literate.  I do not know how to get (to read & see) the OP's ink review when it is expressed in this way.    I tried to copy the http code by swiping it then type "ctrl c"........

This did not work.

I have this Graf von Faber-Castell ink in a cart in my EDC Lilliput.    Seems dry enough, for the way my feed is adjusted, but not as dry as Pelikan 4001 Blue Black.

I wanted to read a few trusted reviews of this ink.  Visvamitra is one of my fave reviewers.

Edited December 6, 2020 by tinta

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, tinta said:

Sorry,  I am not computer literate. I do not know how to get (to read & see) the OP's ink review when it is expressed in this way.    I tried to copy the http code by swiping it then type "ctrl c"...

 

… and then paste the contents of the clipboard — where the copied text is stored — into your browser's address bar, to retrieve and display the image resource in your browser.

 

You can also select/highlight the UR, i.e. the "http://blah.com/blah/blah.jpg" string of text, with your mouse (or touchpad, or a swipe of your finger, depending on your computing device), then bring up the context-sensitive menu, e.g. by right-clicking with your mouse, and select "Go to address" (with or without opening a new browser tab or window).

[tinta]

Thank you Smug Dill, I'll try this. 

 

I have my mouse on the left side of my computer & to date have only clicked on the left button to achieve all things on FPN & everywhere on line.   This is the first time that I have seen images being posted in a discussion where a link to the image has not been provided.    Not everyone uploads pictures this way.  Before I reached out for help,  I encountered at least three other examples of the above http etc... way of posting images.  Each time I ignored the "un-clickable" codes (like pictures on defunct image hosting platforms),... but then figured that I'd better start learning how to deal with this way of posting images. 

 

I started reading FPN again today & imagined that there would be some changes. 

It took me quite a while to feel comfortable in the older version of the Network.