Monteverde With Itf - Blue

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

A friend here at FPN, (who shall remain nameless), asked me if I would do a review for Monteverde blue with ITF; I said, “of course,” and he volunteered a sample of it. After I used Monteverde’s blue-black with ITF, which I found painfully dry and lacking lubrication, I had basically written off Monteverde and had no plans of buying anymore of their inks.

 

However, the worm has turned; in the case of MVb, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. MVb is a nice, basic blue with a periwinkle tint. Its overall performance is very good and I could almost see using MVb has one of those “catch-all” inks, (i.e., home, school, office); albeit, a bit generic in overall appearance. However, MVb suffers from two principal shortcomings that might x from becoming a “catch-all” ink in your ink larder.

 

The first inhibitor lies in its shadow and bleed-through problems on school-grade papers; the second lies in its somewhat mundane appearance. While these issues are not bad enough to be a “deal-breaker” IMHO, they were just noticeable enough to be annoying. I will say that in all other respects; MVb is a fairly well behaved ink.

 

 

CATEGORICAL ANALASYS:

 

Flow: 5.0, I put this ink in four different pens with varying nib widths ranging from Extra Fine to a broad Italic and experienced no hesitation or resistance in any of the pens. From a quick scrawl to careful printing and punctuation tasks; MVb kept the pace.

 

Lubrication: 4.0+, While MVb is significantly “juicier” and far more lubricated than MVbb, it still has a slight dryness compared to Quink, Waterman and some Diamine inks I’ve used.

 

Shadow & Bleed-Through: 3.0, I rated MVb as average because it did exhibit some shadow and bleed-through on Mead notebook paper, but there was little to no shadow or B.T. on any of the other papers I used. Naturally, this varies from pen to pen and nib to nib; however, the ink did produce noticeable shadow and a few errant dots of bleed-through on my Mead standard grade NB paper- it wasn’t bad enough to be a deal-breaker; it was just enough to be a bit annoying. MVb did not exhibit any shadow/bleed-through problems on premium coated papers, parchment stationery, or the low echelon papers such as scratch pad paper and budget grade copy paper.

 

Shading: 2.5 to 3.0, Only minimal shading; color remains fairly even in fine to medium nibs, showing only a slight increase in shading in the broader standard and italic nibs.

 

Saturation: 3.0, The richness of the color is not particularly deep with MVb and it also clearly shows itself to be a fountain ink.

 

Ignition: 4.0-, MVb’s ignition from brief standings, both capped and un-capped is excellent. However, if the pen stands for more than 5 minutes or so, uncapped; or 2-3 days, capped, without use, MVb does tend to be a somewhat difficult starter- usually requiring a couple of short scribbles on a scratch pad to get it started.

 

Water Resistance: 2.5, Using a wet Q-Tip and dragging across the text line, MVb holds up rather well, as you can see; however, it is nearly obliterated in water drop tests.

 

 

FINAL ASSESSMENTS:

 

It is difficult to say, while MVb performed very well in most criteria and it is an ink I would use if I had it; I did find the color a little bland or run of the mill. It comes across as a basic medium blue with a slight periwinkle, (purple), hue. If this is your bag, then MVb would be an excellent choice; however, I prefer ink colors with a little more dimension. Performance wise, I give it a thumbs-up; appearance wise, I give it a thumb perpendicular to my outstretched hand.

 

Performance:

 

Appearance:

 

General Consensus:

 

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

 

PAPERS USED:

 

Staples Economy Grade Copy Paper

Staples scratch pad paper, (not pictured)*

Mead standard grade notebook paper

Staples 25% cotton premium laser paper

 

 

PENS USED:

 

Pelikan M-200 Series with an italic gold plate over steel nib

Sheaffer 330 Imperial with a medium steel nib

Cross Century, (‘80s vintage), with a fine to medium 14k gold nib

Waterman Phileas with an extra fine steel nib

 

 

* When a paper sample is not pictured, it is primarily because the given inks performance on the non illustrated paper matched its performance on illustrated samples.

 

 

Monteverde Blue Review, (on Staples copy paper):

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/quinkkid/MVbReview.jpg

 

MVb Sample 1, (Staples copy paper):

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/quinkkid/MVbSample1.jpg

 

MVb Sample 2, (Mead standard grade notebook paper):

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/quinkkid/MVbSample2.jpg

 

MVb, Sample 3, (Staples Premium 25% cotton laser paper):

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/quinkkid/MVbSample3.jpg

[The Royal Pen]

Wonderful review! The colour is a bit "average". Either way it is a good colour for those who just want to write. It would be a colour I wouldn't mind wasting.