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Pilot Blue Black


yogalarva

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This ink won over my heart pretty much instantly. As much as I detest royal blues, I do still enjoy blue inks when they have a bit of personality and character. I think that’s why I tend to enjoy iron gall inks, but I don’t enjoy the cleaning that comes with those. This ink, however, gives some of that same feel while being super low maintenance.

 

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Even in the very fine nib on Pilot VP, this ink flows well, never skips or has a hard start, and shows some shading, though not as much as you would probably see with a larger nib. I find that blue-black inks tend to go one of two ways: either they wind up a dark grey with bits of blue (which isn’t bad), or a dark shade of blue with little black. This ink is one of the second kind and provides a nice change from the more greyish varieties.

 

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I had heard rumors that this ink was highly water resistant, so when I ordered my bottle I was hoping that would be true since this would be a good ink for more “official” business, aka writing up my homework. As you can see, it is indeed almost fully waterproof, which is always a nice surprise for an ink that is not explicitly advertised with those properties.

 

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It also behaves nicely on all papers, though part of that could be that I have only used it in a super fine nib. Perhaps I’ll have to eventually come back and test it in something broader and report on any changes.

 

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Overall, I love this ink. Definitely could use this ink exclusively for a while, if I had to, but I prefer not to think about something like that occurring. I also like that’s it’s not too expensive, though it does not seem to be super widely available either. You can find the proprietary Pilot cartridges at many retailers, but to find the bottled version it looks like you need to either go to JetPens, where it’s $16.50/70 mL, or eBay where it will be more expensive because it will ship from Japan. However, you can also find giant 350 mL bottles of this ink there as well. I like it, but I don’t see myself liking it that much…

 

This ink was purchased with my own money and I am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like.

 

Full page scan of the review:

 

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Fountain pen blog | Personal blog

 

Current collection: Pilot Vanishing Point, TWSBI Vac 700, Kaweco Al Sport, Lamy Safari, Nemosine Singularity

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Excellent review of an excellent ink. :thumbup:

 

My monitor shows the ink in your review a bit lighter than in my experience where it seems to be more of a darker blue.

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I have been seriously considering a purchase. I am going through a blue-black phase. How is this ink for show through & bleeding on ordinary copy paper or perhaps with Moleskine?

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I have been seriously considering a purchase. I am going through a blue-black phase. How is this ink for show through & bleeding on ordinary copy paper or perhaps with Moleskine?

 

For really awful paper, it will bleed a bit, but I find that with a fine nib it's not too bad. Probably one of the better performers you'll find that's not a "high maintenance" ink like a pigmented or iron gall.

Fountain pen blog | Personal blog

 

Current collection: Pilot Vanishing Point, TWSBI Vac 700, Kaweco Al Sport, Lamy Safari, Nemosine Singularity

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Thank you. I can't think why I should not order a 350ml bottle.

Because it'll evaporate and get thicker and thicker by the time you finish it, unless you're painting your house with it or something.

 

The 70ml bottles have a very nice internal inkwell so you can use the whole bottle, which the 350mls do not. I'd suggest the 70 over the bigger bottle.

--

Lou Erickson - Handwritten Blog Posts

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I believe the Blue-Black is the Pilot Blue (waterproof) with a little of a very dark ink (non-waterproof) to give it the blue-black colour. When you get it wet, the dark component washes out, leaving the waterproof blue.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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This is a staple in my ink collection. A dark-blue blue-black ink that dries with a bit of blue and doesn't turn black or green, virtually waterproof, with excellent lubricity, not prone to feathering despite an above-average flow, and on top of all that, the aroma of phenol—what's not to like?

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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Almost total lack of shading (and smell) turn me off, but the other qualities, color, water resistance are good.

Edited by cellmatrix
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Almost total lack of shading (and smell) turn me off, but the other qualities, color, water resistance are good.

I've not tried this bottled ink of theirs, but does it smell like the ink the pilot varsity pens come with? If so, that's the worst smelling ink I've had the displeasure of smelling. It's amazingly nasty to me. ick.

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  • 1 month later...

Having used this ink for a while, it really has grown on me. I first tried it in broad nibs and italics and did not like it. But using it in a fine nib with decent flow, its quite nice. I guess it just shows that inks can vary quite a lot depending on the pen type. I've been enjoying it lately in my Estie J with an extra fine 9550 nib. And, like the OP stated, I can also see a little bit of shading with it. The smell is not so bad either once you get used to it. Overall, I would like to retract my earlier negative comment and put in a positive rating on this ink, I'm finally starting to see what the OP liked about it. :thumbup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for the review.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

I liked the color. But..I found that it feathered significantly on Rhodia Webnotebook dot grid. This with a MD169 med. Not a really happy result. This came in the pretty 70 ml bottle.

http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/Badges/5EH4/postcard-mini.png http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/Runnin_Ute/fpn_1424623518__super_pinks-bottle%20resized_zps9ihtoixe.png

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