Noodler's Baystate Blue

[dizzypen]

The full version of this review, along with all my others, can be found at The Dizzy Pen.

 

It is hard to capture the neon quality of this ink. I've done my best. (Click to sharpen and enlarge the images)

 

http://dizzypen.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/nd-baystate-blue-card.jpg

 

 

* I've noticed that overtime my writing samples are changing color to a rather average (and not neon) medium dark blue.

 

No Affil.

[JefferyS]

I guess I like it because of its neon quality. There are a lot of blues out there, and none of them really impress me as much more than blue fountain pen ink. Having used fountain pens for 50 years, my brain equates "blue" with "washable blue". So when people starting griping that BSB was staining things, I though "finally, a non-washable blue!".

 

I only have BSB in one pen (Gate City Belmont), and use it when I want a really bright, durable blue. I use Noodler's Eel in my scratchy pens. And I just put some Asa-Gao in a Pelikan. I use the BSB more than the others as it is my carry everywhere ink.

 

Do you find it to be too "in your face"?

[dizzypen]

Exactly right.

 

If I use it to write more than a few words it actually give me a bit of a headache. I didn't have any real problems with it. It's just too bright for me.

[publishing guy]

Exactly right.

 

If I use it to write more than a few words it actually give me a bit of a headache. I didn't have any real problems with it. It's just too bright for me.

I use it quite a bit ever since someone on this forum said it was the "brightest" blue available. Guess I'm a bit of an in-your-face type!

[rcarlisle]

Deleted.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2011 by rcarlisle

[JefferyS]

Exactly right.

 

If I use it to write more than a few words it actually give me a bit of a headache. I didn't have any real problems with it. It's just too bright for me.

I use it quite a bit ever since someone on this forum said it was the "brightest" blue available. Guess I'm a bit of an in-your-face type!

It's nice to be able to do that without using electricity. I don't use BSB for my note taking (in the journaling sense), but I am constantly revising my lecture notes. I have never used the exact same set of lecture notes two semesters in a row. And I make modifications using BSB before my classes and/or after my classes, and then make the revisions in the computer (to be revised in the future).

 

And I use Noodler's Firefly to highlight words in the lecture notes. It is also seriously bright.

 

 

 

[watch_art]

I love this ink for my grade book at school. It's perfect for all that spilled coffee. :roflmho:

[Sailor Kenshin]

You know, the scan, or whatever, really looks just like BSB.

 

I use it exclusively with my not-so-lofty Peli Jr., which is (barrel-wise) an exact match.

[ghazali]

This is the one ink that i have perpetually inked up in an FP. Though i don't use it for journal writing or note-taking, but it's great for attention grabbing jots on notepads and stickies.

[GardenWeasel]

I REALLY REALLY like BayState Blue. I've been keeping a Noodler's demo with flex nib filled with it, but have been watching for a Pelikan M205 demo to dedicate exclusively to BSB. I cannot imagine a nicer combination! Uh, of course the Pelikan M200 in yellow would be nice too... and then there is the...

[KrazyIvan]

You know, the scan, or whatever, really looks just like BSB.

 

I use it exclusively with my not-so-lofty Peli Jr., which is (barrel-wise) an exact match.

 

 

Not sure what went wrong when I sampled it. It never looked like what I see in the scan. It came out more purple in real life. This was in a brand new uninked pen that I bought specifically to use as a BSB pen. It was sort of a let down for me. If I could get the same results as the scan, I would be really happy.

[tonybelding]

Not sure what went wrong when I sampled it. It never looked like what I see in the scan. It came out more purple in real life. This was in a brand new uninked pen that I bought specifically to use as a BSB pen. It was sort of a let down for me. If I could get the same results as the scan, I would be really happy.

 

You cannot. I've found that scanners just can't pick up the purple-ish tint of BSB; they aren't sensitive in the right frequency band to get it. (And some people's eyes don't get it either, apparently.)

[dizzypen]

Actually, my sample isnt very purpleish to being with. Someone did a post related to this very topic. The current formula of bsb is less purple than previous versions. Try a sample from goulet. Perhaps it will be more the color you are after.

[JimB]

Actually, my sample isnt very purpleish to being with. Someone did a post related to this very topic. The current formula of bsb is less purple than previous versions. Try a sample from goulet. Perhaps it will be more the color you are after.

My sample (got it 10/11) is bright blue with a barely perceptible purplish tint that I'd never notice unless I compared it to my other blues, Waterman Florida Blue and Pelikan Royal Blue. Viewed on a white paper, it can't really be noticed as purplish, to me. On cream paper the purple issue never even rises to a suspicion. Again, your results may vary. I used Staples Sustainable Earth (sugarcane) notebooks.

[JimB]

Update- As much as I liked this initially, and was enthusiastic about it, it's just "too much," in a way that DizzyPen mentioned. I'll use it until it runs out, then I need to say adios to BSB. I guess it just clashes with my subdued personality.

[Gobblecup]

I think I would already have a bottle save the fact that the colour seems to change noticeably over quite short periods of time, and it may even soak through paper over time, at least according to many of the reports I've read. I'm not really an Electric Blue kind of guy, I'm much more a Royal Blue, Dark Green, Burgundy, Browns kind of guy. So I probably would at least try some out, if not for my general disinterest in the colour range it inhabits. But I must congratulate Nathan on making an ink both loved and widely controverted, his passion for his inks is always an inspiration!

[RayOski1]

I agree with Gobblecup. Nathan really has a creative mind. The chemistry talent is amazing. I would love to do some NMR spectroscopy on these inks, fortunately for my family work keeps me too busy.

[OPG4711]

I have 3 bottles of BSB - 1st edition, a later one and the newest one. All behave slightly differently with different colors and different characteristics (bleedthrough, feathering being the most notable).

 

But I have only 2 pens inked up for BSB - a Lamy Safari w/ Medium nib and one of Noodler's free, eyedropper pens.

 

IF you can live within those parameters, BSB works well and I love it - especially for check writing, although, I've switched over to Bad Belted Kingfisher for that now.

[fabrimedeiros]

I have 3 bottles of BSB - 1st edition, a later one and the newest one. All behave slightly differently with different colors and different characteristics (bleedthrough, feathering being the most notable).

 

But I have only 2 pens inked up for BSB - a Lamy Safari w/ Medium nib and one of Noodler's free, eyedropper pens.

 

IF you can live within those parameters, BSB works well and I love it - especially for check writing, although, I've switched over to Bad Belted Kingfisher for that now.

 

 

Great you have 3 botlles of BSB from 3 different "eras". I only have 1 bottle purchased in 2009 that's almost finished: there is only 0,5" of ink, and it's infected with mold. My BSB ink behaved very well, no feathering even on cheap papers.

 

I want a new bottle, but has the current version (or the latest versions) more feathering problem?