Caran D'ache - Blue

[Sandy1]

Please take a moment to adjust the brightness & contrast of your monitor to accurately depict this Gray Scale.

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

Mac LINK

Figure 1.

Gray Scale.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/INK576.jpg

Figure 2.

Swabs: Waterman 'Florida Blue'. Caran d'Ache 'Blue'.

Swatch: Drawn with the Parker Sonnet.

Paper: HPJ1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK736.jpg

Figure 3.

NIB-ism LINK

Depicts nib line-width, and pens' relative wetness.

 

WRITTEN SAMPLES: Moby Dick

 

Row Widths:

Narrow nibs: 6mm.

Other nibs: 8mm.

 

Figure 4.

Paper: HPJ1124.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK741.jpg

Figure 5.

Paper: Rhodia.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK748.jpg

Figure 6.

Paper: G Lalo, Verge de France, white.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK746.jpg

Figure 7.

Grocery List

Paper: Pulp. One-a-Day calendar page.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK739.jpg

 

OTHER STUFF:

 

Figure 8.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK737.jpg

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

 

Type:

• Dye-based fountain pen ink.

Daily writer?

• Easily.

USES:

 

Business:

• OK for just about anything.
• Marginal for for mark-up / editing: not so zippy.
• Does not suit error correction or grading of assignments.

Illustrations / Graphics:

• Quite possible.
• Good choice for a Medium - Dark Blue.
• A good pairing with Royal Blue.

Students:

• OK.
• Doesn't seem likely to have problems on inexpensive papers.
• Fairly robust.
• Good for hand-written assignments.

Personal:

• Seems very routine, but not hum-drum, so if one were to have a pen on stand-by this would be a pretty good choice. (Though I'd pick R&K Salix.)
• If I were to receive a letter written in Cd'A Blue, I wouldn't be engaged by the ink, so the text had better be interesting and/or have a lot of folding money enclosed.
• To add a modicum of personality, this ink could well be used with a shaped nib.

PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE & CHARACTERISTICS:

 

Flow Rate:

• Not as thrilling as the Cd'A 'Colours of the Earth', but very good and reliable.

Nib Dry-out:

• Not noticed.

Start-up:

• Immediate.

Lubrication:

• Very nice.
• A pleasant surprise.

Nib Creepers:

• None.

Staining:

• No.

Clogging:

• Not seen.
• With the good flow and modest saturation, clogging seems unlikely.

Bleed Through:

• Not on any of the papers used.

Show Through:

• Not on any of the papers used.

Feathering / Woolly Line:

• Not seen.
• 

Smear/Dry Time (Figure 8)

• Glossy: 15 - 20 seconds.
• HPJ1124: 15 - 20 seconds.

Water Resistance (Figure 8)

-4- on the 4S Scale. :-)

"All legible, can be easily read and/or have light staining from re-deposit of soluble ink.

Use as-is for work papers & internal use.

Adjustments to a scanner may drop-out the stained appearance."

Smell:

• Almost without scent.

Hand oil sensitivity:

• None noticed.

Archival:

• Not claimed.

Clean Up:

• Fast and thorough with plain water.

Mixing:

• No stated limitation.
• Not required - it's fine as it comes from the pot.

THE LOOK:

 

• French Blue.
• I mean really - it couldn't be anything else.

Presence:

• Outwardly calm.
• Shows strength and energy.
• Has classy gravitas.
• Not overbearing.
• French Blue is so over-used and commonplace that the subtlty is too often overlooked.

Saturation:

• This is not a highly saturated ink.

LINK

LINK

Shading:

• This ink does display some shading, but it is modest and subtle.

LINK

LINK

Variance depending on pen+nib combos used:

• Hmm
• Rather more than expected.
• However, if the Sonnet BI, which is known to be a wide wet writer, is set aside, then the variance becomes more acceptable. But I don't set aside results. ErHmm.
• So if one is to maintain a similar look across different pens and papers, careful consideration as to the wetness of one's writer is required.

FIDELITY:

 

Is the name appropriate?

• Perfectly appropriate: it's a Blue ink from a French-Swiss company.

Are swatches accurate?

• If the label on the bottle is a 'swatch', then it is very accurate.

SIMILAR COLOURS:

• Many.
• Too many.
• Too many for me to count.
• Too many for you to list.
• But, here's a comparison to Caran d'Ache - Colors of the Earth 'Blue Sky'. LINK

 

PAPERS:

 

Lovely papers:

• Crisp brilliant white paper.

Trip-wire Papers:

• Only those which are not FP friendly.

Tinted Papers:

• With a wet writer, tinted papers could be used.

Is high-end paper 'worth it'?

• Not really.
• Cd'A Blue gives it up on the HPJ1124.
• (A cost-effective date, yes?)

OTHER THAN INK:

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Caran%20dAche%20-%20Blue/INK719.jpg

Presentation :

• 32ml. bottle in a box.
• No HazMat warnings.

Country of origin:

• Not stated.

Container:

• An Herbin bottle. (As molded on the bottom.)
• A clear glass not quite square-based bottle, approx 47mm on each side, with a height of 52mm.
• The off-centre round opening is a snug 18mm.
• Bottle has a dust collector posing as a pen rest.
• Single tank, no filling aids, no sediment collector. Bah!
• Oh my - such a train wreck of an ink tank. 2xBah!
• The Label does not indicate the contents other than 'Blue'.
• The hard plastic screw cap has adequate grippy bits.
• The cap seal seems to be plastic foam.
• The cap is not child-proof.

Box:

• Nicely coated.
• Has a cut-out simlar to the 'Colors of the Earth' series.
• Includes the word 'ink' in four European languages.

Eco-Green:

• All bits easily recyclable.
• Cap likely benign.

Availability:

• By coincidence.

ETC:

 

Majik:

• Unlikely.

Personal Pen & Paper Pick:

• None really.

Yickity Yackity:

• While this is a perfectly acceptable ink, with better than normal performance, it is a good example of why I have come to prefer Blue-Black.
• Ah kushbaby, you coud've slept through this Ink Review.

*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'*"*'

 

MATERIEL USED:

 

To be relevant to most members, I make an effort to use papers, pens & nibs that are readily available, for which I paid $100 or less, and are 'factory stock' - not customised.

 

These pen+nib combos were used:

 

• Esterbrook J + steel XF

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN446.jpg

• Waterman Phileas + steel F

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN752.jpg

• Pelikan P99 + steel M

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN753.jpg

• Lamy Safari + steel M

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN341.jpg

• Sheaffer Prelude + steel B

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN520.jpg

• Parker Sonnet + stock 18K Italic Bold

http://i783.photobuc...cans/PEN344.jpg

For lines & labels:

• Pilot Penmanship + XF with Noodler's Lexington Grey.

On these papers:

• HPJ1124 24 lb. Laser Copy.
• Rhodia, Pad 18.
• G Lalo, 'Verge de France' white.
• Pulp: One-a-Day calendar page.
• Glossy paper.
• Glossy card.

Images:

• Scans were made on an Epson V600 scanner; factory defaults were accepted.
• Figures shown were scanned at 150 dpi & 24 bit colour.
• Images linked were scanned at 300 dpi & 24 bit colour.
• Scans were not adjusted other than straightening using iPhoto on a MacBook, but most went straight to the file sharing thingy.

-30-

Edited July 29, 2010 by Sandy1

[IWantThat]

Beautiful color, very thorough review! Thank you

[Sandy1]

Beautiful color, very thorough review! Thank you

You're welcome!

[kenmc]

Do you suppose this is the same ink as the CdA cartridges?

[Sandy1]

Do you suppose this is the same ink as the CdA cartridges?

Hi,

 

It is speculation on my part, but I rather doubt it.

 

This ink is not from their current 'Colors of the Earth' group of inks; it comes from a time prior to release of that CotE group.

So just in terms of time line, I would say that the ink in current cartridges is all CotE. (Otherwise the cartridges would be less-than-full.) However, if one looks at the comparisons, there really is not a huge difference that could not be explained by aging / storage.

 

Bye,

S1

[kenmc]

I have a few boxes on the way - so I'll cpmpare it to my COE sky blue and blue night. THe shop owner seems to think that it is not COE. I wish it were sky blue - I find it to be the perfect blue ink.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Here's the link to the Comparison Cd'A 'Blue Sky' :: Cd'A 'Blue'

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/162857-comparison-caran-d-ache-blue-sky-caran-d-ache-blue/

 

I think you may be in for a pleasant surprise!

 

Also, there was a cache of cartridges found with about 1/3 of the volume 'missing'. The ink was reconstituted on the basis of volume alone: distilled water added to make-up the volume so the cartridges were full. No complaints (yet), so that may be the way to go when your cartridges arrive.

 

Let us know, OK?

 

Bye,

S1

[kenmc]

I am hoping they arive today!