Stipula Calamo Blu della Robbia

[Michael R.]

http://freenet-homepage.de/pensninks/StioulaBlu.jpg

 

Enjoy

 

Michael

[girlieg33k]

Wow... My bottle of Stipula Deep Blue looks nothing like the scan. Is this another bottle-to-bottle variant, perhaps? The difference is quite stark. The scan looks grey on my monitor, with just a hint of blue. Thank you for the review to show the variation.

 

P.S. Sorry I hit the submit button a wee bit faster...

Edited March 15, 2008 by girlieg33k

[Michael R.]

Do you notice how different this turns our compared to

girlieg33kk's review?

 

 

Is this really only because of monitor and scanning differences or is "color-quality" of inks changing this much during production?

 

Michael

 

 

PS: I was slower than girlieg33kk :-) this message was intented to be posted before girlieg33kk's response....

Edited March 15, 2008 by Michael R.

[blueiris]

Thanks for the review!

 

My friend just recently bought a bottle of this color, and it looks like a blue-gray color. I think he was expecting it to look more bluish, like in Kate's scan.

[Michael R.]

Looks like my hompage's server still has problems as I cannot access my files yet :-(

 

I apologize for any inconvinience as this post is worthless without the picture and hope that everything will be working again soon!

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[Michael R.]

My site is back :-) ...finally you'll be able to see the review!

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[simonrob]

Thanks for the review!

 

My friend just recently bought a bottle of this color, and it looks like a blue-gray color. I think he was expecting it to look more bluish, like in Kate's scan.

 

Yes, he was - it looks more-or-less the same as Michael's, not at all like Kate's. I wouldn't mind much (it's quite a nice colour if you like that sort of thing), except that I already have something similar (Diamine Prussian Blue) and don't have anything like Kate's....

 

Simon

[Margana]

Blu della Robbia is a regular in my rotation so I checked girlieq33k's review as well as Michael's against a page from my journal. Michael's color comes closer though my sample is a little less gray, a subtlety I can easily attribute to differences in monitors. It does make me wonder which review my next bottle will resemble.

 

I also compared my written sample to Diamine Prussian Blue but did not find the colors very similar. The latter is much grayer and greener while the former is more violet. Prussian Blue is more saturated while Blu della Robbia shows more shading. Both are very well behaved inks with comparable drying times. Michael, how would you compare the two?

[Michael R.]

I also compared my written sample to Diamine Prussian Blue but did not find the colors very similar. The latter is much grayer and greener while the former is more violet. Prussian Blue is more saturated while Blu della Robbia shows more shading. Both are very well behaved inks with comparable drying times. Michael, how would you compare the two?

 

Diamine Prussian Blue is a nice darker medium blue/blue-black with "some" grey and cyan/turquoise tones of medium intensity.

 

Diamine Indigo is more like a darker medium blue black with more grey tones but no turquoise nor purple/violet tones and less intensity.

 

Stipula Blu della Robbia is a darker medium grey with a definite blue hue; this hue is cyan/teal/turqoise when the ink is still wet but turns to a purple hue after the ink dried. Without comparison it might be "mistaken" as a blue :-) but comparing it to other blues or blue-blacks it looks like grey.

 

 

To me Diamine Indigo is closer to Blu della Robbia but still not the same. My batch of Blu della Robbia looks different from Diamine Prussian Blue.

 

I can post a comparison as soon as I have complete access to my website :-( ...at least images are viewable again but I'm not able to upload yet.

 

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

 

 

[Melnicki]

and just so everyone can be as thoroughly perplexed as I am...

 

Check out Wim's review of "this ink" by clicking here.

 

It looks like a third variation on this ink, although it looks a bit closer to girlieg33k's review.

[Margana]

The ink from my bottle of Stipula Blu della Robbia resembles a deep navy with purple undertones rather than a blue gray. I put a drop on tissue and then sprinkled some water on to see how the color would separate. It broke down to ultramarine violet, then ultramarine and finally blue violet at the outer edges, at least based on the color names at http://www.yaelf.com/colour.shtml.

 

Given the color variations from sample to sample, I'll just enjoy what I have and assume the next bottle could be very different. The flow, lubrication and shading properties suit my pens and writing style well enough that I will purchase it again despite the unpredictable color and think of it as Blu Sorpresa (Blue Surprise).

[CharlieB]

This is strange. We have three reviews of one ink, but three distinct colors. The only explanation I can come up with is that the batches that leave the factory are not the same formula. I've never seen this much difference in a single ink.

[Margana]

If Michael is willing to do a side by side comparison, I'll donate a sample from my bottle.

[bossy]

This is strange. We have three reviews of one ink, but three distinct colors. The only explanation I can come up with is that the batches that leave the factory are not the same formula. I've never seen this much difference in a single ink.

imo, It's due mostly to the contrast (artificial and unreal) variations made by

the posters pc software that creates the image(s). 'Photos', not scans with

correct white balance are the most accurate, I think.

Edited March 20, 2008 by bossy

[tcheuchter]

This is strange. We have three reviews of one ink, but three distinct colors. The only explanation I can come up with is that the batches that leave the factory are not the same formula. I've never seen this much difference in a single ink.

imo, It's due mostly to the contrast (artificial and unreal) variations made by

the posters pc software that creates the image(s). 'Photos', not scans with

correct white balance are the most accurate, I think.

 

What of the way it's being described? Quite different from the way each reviewer has described their bottles. They're seeing the ink 'live' not describing it from the scan.

 

[CharlieB]

What of the way it's being described? Quite different from the way each reviewer has described their bottles. They're seeing the ink 'live' not describing it from the scan.

 

I agree. What we have is an ink problem, not a scanner problem. There really are multiple versions of this ink out there.

 

I have a theory. My understanding is that Stipula makes two different blue inks, a Blue and a Deep Blue. I think the Blue was their original color, and they added the Deep Blue within the last 12-18 months. Could it be that the labels got switched on some of the bottles? The Blue has always been a lightish blue with strong gray elements, described by some as a steel blue. Some of the folks describing the Deep Blue are using terminology that sounds like a description of the Blue, whereas others are using terminology that sounds like dark blue ink with no gray.

 

Does anybody own BOTH of these inks? If so, a side by side comparison would be nice.

Edited March 21, 2008 by CharlieB

[simonrob]

What of the way it's being described? Quite different from the way each reviewer has described their bottles. They're seeing the ink 'live' not describing it from the scan.

 

I agree. What we have is an ink problem, not a scanner problem. There really are multiple versions of this ink out there.

 

I have a theory. My understanding is that Stipula makes two different blue inks, a Blue and a Deep Blue. I think the Blue was their original color, and they added the Deep Blue within the last 12-18 months. Could it be that the labels got switched on some of the bottles? The Blue has always been a lightish blue with strong gray elements, described by some as a steel blue. Some of the folks describing the Deep Blue are using terminology that sounds like a description of the Blue, whereas others are using terminology that sounds like dark blue ink with no gray.

 

Does anybody own BOTH of these inks? If so, a side by side comparison would be nice.

 

For that matter, does anyone's ink resemble the splotch of colour on the label on the bottle? Mine doesn't - the splotch is much bluer than the ink inside.

 

As for your suggestion, yes, such a comparison would be nice - though your description of "Blue" isn't how I would describe the contents of my bottle of whatever-it-is - it's a mid-to-dark grey (depending on wetness of nib) with blue elements (much less blue than, say, the sample at pendemonium's site).

 

(There's nothing particularly odd about any of this - as other threads have mentioned, at least some inks vary considerably -- and maddeningly -- from batch to batch.)

 

Simon

 

 

[Margana]

...For that matter, does anyone's ink resemble the splotch of colour on the label on the bottle? Mine doesn't - the splotch is much bluer than the ink inside...

Hmmm. Good question, Simon. The splotch on my box is very close in color to a swab sample from my bottle. Both are definitely paler than my writing sample written with a fine nib. Still all three are certainly the same color - just different intensities.

 

Since there are no batch dates, there is no way to verify whether all of these bottles of ink are "related." I should think ink formulas while exact as to proportions are dependent on the quality and intensity of the components leading over time to some small variations in both color as well as characteristics. Michael's sample is close enough to mine to be tolerable as far as I am concerned. The other two are not though they might be from the earlier, more blue formulation. That would explain things well enough for me.

[girlieg33k]

For that matter, does anyone's ink resemble the splotch of colour on the label on the bottle? Mine doesn't - the splotch is much bluer than the ink inside.

(There's nothing particularly odd about any of this - as other threads have mentioned, at least some inks vary considerably -- and maddeningly -- from batch to batch.)

My versions of Stipula Deep Blue appear darker than the splotches of colour on the labels as a matter of fact. The colour splotches look murky grey-blue to me, so again, I'm flummoxed.

 

Though bottle-to-bottle variants are not particularly odd, this one happens to be gnawing at me because I suspect several things are causing the variations. Also, I now have three bottles of Stipula Deep Blue and they all look the same in swab samples. I take swab samples of every bottle of ink when I first open it -- just to test the colour.

 

At the moment, I have two bottles at home. The other bottle is at the office. Before I bring the other brand new bottle to another office location, I've poured some of its contents to a PR mixing kit bottle and left it out by a window with indirect light.

 

I understand that Stipula Calamo glass bottles are treated to protect the ink from deterioration caused by exposure to the light. So I'm exposing the ink to light to see what happens. Likely it'll fade, but the colour could also intensify if evaporation takes place. We shall see what happens.

Edited March 22, 2008 by girlieg33k

[bossy]

I agree. What we have is an ink problem, not a scanner problem.

There really are multiple versions of this ink out there.

Yes, as these [unaltered] 2 different images from 2 different posters shows.

PR Purple mojo may have multiple versions also.