De Atramentis - Jeans Blue

[Sandy1]

Kindly adjust the brightness & contrast of your monitor to accurately depict this Gray Scale.

As the patches are neutral gray, the colour on your monitor should also be neutral.

Figure 1.

Grey Scale.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FPN049.jpg

 

Figure 2.

• Paper: HP1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.
• Swatch drawn using a Pilot 78G+BB nib
• Swabs: Waterman Florida Blue. De Atramentis Jeans Blue (DAJBl) : 1, 2 & 3 passes; and 1-pass swabs with DAJBl diluted to 50% & 33% solutions.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN085.jpg

 

WRITTEN SAMPLES: Moby Dick

 

Note - Narrow Nibs:

• A decision was taken to more accurately depict how narrow nibs are used. Consequently, a smaller row height is used for 2 rows: one written in mixed case, and the other printed in upper case. The third row is the normal height. It does look dreadful, but I hope it conveys useful info. If not - please let me know.

Figure 3.

• Paper: HP1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN086.jpg

 

Figure 4.

• Paper: Clairefontaine 'Triomphe'.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN087.jpg

 

Figure 5.

• Paper: Rhodia lined.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN088.jpg

 

WRITTEN SAMPLE: Grocery List

 

Figure 6.

• Paper: Pulp - from a one-a-day cartoon calendar.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN089.jpg

 

Figure 7.

• Paper: G Lalo 'Verge de France' Ivory.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN090.jpg

 

Figure 8.

• Boxed text from Figure 2. Hi-Res Scan.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN091.jpg

 

Figure 9.

• Boxed text from Figure 3. Hi-Res Scan.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN092.jpg

 

Figure 10.

• Boxed text from Figure 4. Hi-Res Scan.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN093.jpg

 

OTHER SAMPLES:

 

Figure 11.

• Paper: HP1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.
• Wet samples, Smear / Dry Time, Swirlies.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN102.jpg

 

Figure 12.

• Shingle Sample: 12 pen+nib combos on 4 papers.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN101.jpg

 

Figure 13.

• Boxed lines from Figure 12 - HiRes Scan.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN096.jpg

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

• Decidedly & discretely different without being a mere novelty.
• Somehow tactile: it wants to be petted / touched. (??)
• Sits comfortably upon the page.
• Not slick / slimy.
• Reminds me of old well-brushed felt on slate snooker tables, although the colour is not the same at all.
• This is a wet ink with a range of density and shading.
• This could easily be a 'Must Have' for anyone except bphollin.
• Daily writer? Quite possible.

USES:

Business:

• When Black, Blue-Black, Dark Blue, etc. have too much dead weight, DAJBl can easily be the go-to ink.
• The appearance is very firm, yet with flexibility.
• If an 'edge' needs to be applied, it needs to come from the words written - not this ink.
• The colour has power, co-operative authority, and good underlying energy.
• Internal & external correspondence.
• Signatures. Especially if it is a multi-signature document, and you are amongst the first to sign.

Illustrations / Graphics:

• For charts, graphs, etc., it is sufficiently distinct from Dark/Navy Blue, Forest/Hunter Green, and deep Browns, Reds, etc.
• If using typical 'lowest bidder' office paper, this ink feathers too much for narrow tight lines.

Personal:

• I find this colour to be somewhat of an enigma. It is quiet but animated.
• Latent.
• Not a WooHoo!! ink.
• It is inviting, and offers pleasant re-reads.
• Can be used younger to/from older, Gents to/from ladies & visa versa; ditto Lady-Lady, not sure about Gent-Gent. (Chime in please!)
• I wrote the Thank-You card for this ink using it in the Conway Stewart. It looked just fine, but a tad dark.

Billet Doux:

• A stretch.
• You won't end-up on the sofa, but being served tepid tea & left-overs to eat alone, without candlelight, is a distinct possibility.

Alt Use:

• Likely OK for correcting / annotating work of students with tender psyches.
• OK for annotation/mark-up, but watch for feathering and smudgies on glossy/coated material.
• Not the colour for festivities: a tad too dark, staid.

Well-Known User/s:

• Carla_Bruni has De Atramentis Jeans Blue in her Carene.

PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE & CHARACTERISTICS:

 

Flow Rate:

• Tends to be more than a tad wet.
• OK with all sampled nibs & feeds But on the Pilot C74 + SFM, which is a wet writer, a not so tidy result is generated when writing small text.
• May overcome balky feeds or stingy nibs.

Nib Dry-out, 10 minutes uncapped:

• Just had to touch the nib to the paper, (knock on the door), then start write-in.
• This reflects the wet & willing nature of this ink.

Start-up:

• VroomPurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Lubrication:

• Very nice. Enhances the writing experience.

Nib Creepers:

• Zero.

Staining:

• No.

Clogging:

• Never happen - too wet.

Bleed Through:

• Not on any of the papers.

Smell:

• Very faint scent of ink.

Hand oil sensitivity:

• A bit.

Archival:

• Likely no more or less than any dye-based FP ink.

Water Resistance: (Figure 11)

• Next to none.

Smear Results: (Figure 11)

• Rather poor, but typical of a wet ink. OK beyond 20 seconds.

Bulletproof:

• Makes no such claim. Ink not subjected to forgers' chemicals/techniques. Alas, I am laser-less.
• Unlikely to withstand small arms fire or edged weapons.

Clean Up:

• Quick & thorough with plain water. :-)

Mixing:

• No stated prohibitions / limitations.
• Likely mix-able, but it's just fine as it comes.
• There may be a temptation to fiddle with the ink to reduce the feathering.
• For non-work / office use, I could imagine some practitioners diluting the ink with just a bit of water; or even lightening it just a tad with Noodler's 'Whiteness of the Whale'.

THE LOOK:

 

Saturation:

• NoNoNo.

Shading:

• Dependent on nib & paper.

Feathering:

• Unfortunately yes - on the HP1124. :-(
• No feathering on Rhodia, Clairefontaine 'Triomphe' or either G Lalo-s.

Variance depending on pen+nib combos used:

• Reasonably consistent - from Asian XF to Western/European B.

PAPERS:

 

Lovely papers:

• 'Triomphe' does it again.

Trip-wire papers:

• Anything that may promote feathering; or is not a typical writing paper.

Tinted Papers:

• Ivory, cream, champagne: Quite possible. (Ivory shown.)

Stronger base-tints: Nope.

• Whitelines: Could be rather nice actually. So sorry, but I am without.

Postcard / coated card stock:

• Very iffy. Slow to dry completely. Easy to smear / smudge. Look elsewhere.

Is high-end paper 'worth it'?

• Definitely.

MAJIK:

 

Anything beyond special?

• None noticed, but it's early days yet.

Personal Pen & Paper Pick:

• Pelican M640 (Sahara) + 600 Series 18C B nib on Rhodia. (I would use the unlined Pad #18 version.)

OTHER THAN INK:

 

Presentation :

• 35 ml. bottle, no box. (I received it as a gift, so the average purchase will not be gift-wrapped nor sealed with a hug & a kiss.)

Country of origin:

• None stated on bottle.

Type:

• Dye-based fountain pen ink.

Container:

• A nicely proportioned clear glass cylindrical bottle, with a base diameter of approx. 2 7/8", 4.9cm., soaring to a black-capped summit of approx. 3", 7.5cm. The centred round opening diameter is 7/8", 2cm. The bottle features a slightly recessed central 'core' where the label is affixed, and the User may grasp the bottle with some assurance.
• The Label is very clear as to the contents. In the absence of a box, it is passing strange that the label does not bear any UPC, Bar Code, etc.
• The 'Bakelite' screw cap does not have pronounced grippy nodes, material or texture; and is not child-proof. (Hon, where's the pipe wrench?) Tsk.
• The cap seal is some sort of soft 'cushiony' plastic (foam?). Likely an improvement over coated card stock.
• Single tank, no filling aids, no sediment collector. Go directly to Gaol. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

Box:

• None. (OK, I know it cannot be stacked. But if you're stacking ink, then the lack of a box should be low on your list of concerns.)

Eco-Green:

• All bits easily recyclable.

Cap likely benign.

• Bonus points for not using a box.

Availability:

• At the time of writing this colour seems uncommon. (It was a gift, so I haven't asked where it was purchased - yet.) The label is English language only, but sports a pen nib, and a poor representation of the ink colour, so non-English speakers may well enjoy with confidence.
• If discontinued, I think most would loudly groan, stamp their feet a few times, mutter a few impolite words/phrases, then shift to a very similar colour with ease, partly due to similarity to a few other inks.

FIDELITY:

 

Is colour name appropriate / accurate?

• No! Phooey.
• The litho-ed label on the bottle has a background colour that is significantly more blue than the ink. Ack! 2xPhooey!

YICKITY YACKITY:

• For personal use, a slightly dry round nib would be good. A stub-shaped nib might be OK, but a Cursive Italic or Straight Italic seems contrary to the ink's character.
• Does well with dry-ish narrow nibs.
• The bit of flex in the Conway Stewart 388 gives a nice result, but needs a better practitioner to evaluate the suitability of this ink for use with flex nibs.
• De Atramentis 'Jeans Blue', will be quite close to the front of my ink array.

SIMILAR COLOURS:

• Rohrer & Klingner 'Verdigris'
• Pilot imasuzuki 'tsuki-yu'.
• Others? Please chime-in

Figure 13.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_DeAtramentis_JeansBlue/FPN098.jpg

That Visconti Blue is so very nice nice nice.

=.=.=.=.=.=.=

IMPLEMENTS & PAPERS USED:

 

These pen+nib combos:

• Pilot Human Engineering + XF steel nib.
• Esterbrook J + 9550 XF steel nib.
• Pilot Custom 74 + Soft Fine Medium -SFM- 14K nib.
• Lamy Safari + F steel nib.
• Pelikan M200 + M200 series M gold-plated steel nib.
• Lamy Safari + M steel nib.
• Conway Stewart 388 + flex-ish skinny B 14 CT nib.
• Sheaffer Prelude + B steel nib.
• Pelikan M200 + M600 series B 18C nib.
• Parker Duofold + UK 14K 'N' nib. (Wild card)
• Pilot 78G + F gold-plated steel nib. (Shingle sample; Written Sample - Pulp paper; labels & lines.)
• Pilot 78G + Bodacious Broad Italic gold-plated steel nib. (Shingle sample, titles, wet tests & written swatch on Figure 2.)

On these papers:

• HP 1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.
• Clairefontaine 'Triomphe'.
• Rhodia lined.
• G Lalo 'Verge de France' white. (No written samples.)
• G Lalo 'Verge de France' ivory. (One written sample.)
• Pulp - one-a-day cartoon calendar page. (Only written sample.)

=.=.=.=.=.=.=

 

Scanner Densitometer Readings: Generated from the Drawn Swatch on Figure 2.

• Red 99; Green 130; Blue 147; Luminosity 127.

-30-

Edited April 10, 2010 by Sandy1

[Ed Ronax]

Excellent review, thank you.

[Biber]

Looks just like my bottle of PR Sonic Blue.

 

b

[kazoolaw]

Thank you for assuming I have the technical skill to understand, much less accomplish, the adjustment of the color scale of my monitor.

 

On the other hand, I appreciate the time and skill you put into your review. Very nicely done.

 

gary

[Sandy1]

Looks just like my bottle of PR Sonic Blue.

 

b

Hi & Thanks for contributing.

I knew there were other similar colours out there, but I haven't seen them all in person - too many of those itty bitty website swatches that are 'iffy' at best. If you have the time, could you please take a moment to post a swab?

Best Regards,

S1

[Sandy1]

Thank you for assuming I have the technical skill to understand, much less accomplish, the adjustment of the color scale of my monitor.

 

On the other hand, I appreciate the time and skill you put into your review. Very nicely done.

 

gary

Hi gary,

 

I've had a few PMs on dialing-in one's monitor.

 

• I totally agree that colour calibration is not absolutely required for viewing. And there's not so many monitors out there 'worth calibrating'. (If I'd stop buying pens & inks & paper, I would be able to afford an Eizo. But...)
• At present, I'm running on a wee MacBook, with minimal adjustment potential, so I know how the vagaries of ambient light, screen angle, etc. can easily skew the view We are also running on the interweb, so what I get off the scanner is then 'dumbed down' / compromised for web compatibility.

So, I removed the colour calibration swatches and left it at a Grey Scale.

• This way, one may use the Brightness and Contrast adjustments to show the corresponding range of tones. Also, it should be apparent if one's monitor has a significant colour shift ; usually in one direction: too Green, too Blue, etc.

It's your call after all. I just try to make it possible for others not to waste their time. It only takes me a few minutes, which is nothing compared to the rest of the work I contribute in doing a Review.

So yeah, it may be a bit of an ego thing: 'My work's important enough for the reader to see it correctly.' Yet, 'I respect the viewer to the extent that I will give them every possible assistance in viewing my humble offering.'

 

Also, those 10 wee patches tend to forestall Replies along the lines of, "I think your scans are off." and/or "Maybe it's my monitor, but..."

 

Best Regards,

Sandy1

 

EDIT - Typo. Tense.

Edited April 10, 2010 by Sandy1

[RayOski1]

EXCELLENT REVIEW

 

That said is not saturated enough for my taste

[jorgerp1]

Wow. This is THE review. Wonderful

[Sandy1]

EXCELLENT REVIEW

 

That said is not saturated enough for my taste

Hi,

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

& hey, I'm not selling ink, just call 'em the way I see 'em.

(unless it was my review of the Lamy 'Green', were I really did lose my objectivity.)

 

Maybe I should just do the scans and do the physical properties stuff, and leave it at that. Hmm.

 

So, good - I saved you some 10 to 15 bucks.

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

Wow. This is THE review. Wonderful

Hi -- thanks for the feedback! I hope you found the review useful, (or at least not a total waste of your time). -- Bye, S1

[Bug]

dang this is one in-depth review. many different pens on multiple papers with high-res scans.

[RitaCarbon]

Wonderful review! With such extraordinary details. Almost like reading a book about the ink.

 

Thank you very much, Sandy.

 

Rita

[Miles S]

I am totally impressed by your review prowess. I now know that I will never submit a proper review of my own, as it would pale in comparison, as an albino compared to George Hamilton. Damn nice work, thank you

[Sandy1]

Wonderful review! With such extraordinary details. Almost like reading a book about the ink.

 

Thank you very much, Sandy.

 

Rita

Hi Rita,

 

You're so very welcome!

 

I think that I'm improving my 'lexicon' of ink. As one of my first uni Profs told me: "If you can't write it down, then most people will think you don't know what you're talking about." (Otherwise known as the 'publish or perish' syndrome of academia.) But this isn't academia...

 

I'm just happy that I can write stuff about ink that other people find useful and perhaps amusing: Show & Tell is all.

 

Bye,

S1 Blue Nose

[Sandy1]

I am totally impressed by your review prowess. I now know that I will never submit a proper review of my own, as it would pale in comparison, as an albino compared to George Hamilton. Damn nice work, thank you

 

No way Miles_S: Thanks!

But - You are not doing a 'Tom Sawyer' on me!! Pretending you can't do something just to leave it to others? Nah. Nice try though! & wrapped in such a nice compliment c/w animated emoticon - almost almost almost

 

I reckon we each do things in our own way. I imagine your way is different. So start. Start with your daily writer ink - the ink you see most often. And know inside out & backwards.

 

Its not hard - I'm a blonde gal, so if I can do it .....

 

Bye,

S1 Blue Nose

[lovemy51]

Looks just like my bottle of PR Sonic Blue.

 

b

you took the words right out of my keyboard!

 

thanx for the nice and long review, Sandy!

Edited April 12, 2010 by lovemy51

[Sandy1]

Hello,

 

Due to concerns about bandwidth, a number of images were deleted.

 

ByeBye