Aurora Blue

[JJBlanche]

Attached below is an image of a writing sample with Aurora Blue, and below that, the review proper. Regarding the image, "lorem ipsum" is a nonsense language used by printers to showcase a font/color (ie: it takes focus away from content and puts it on aesthetics). The water test was performed by submerging and agitating a sample swatch of the given ink in reverse osmosis water for thirty seconds, then letting it drip dry.

 

A key has been added, written on Clairefontaine paper, with a number of different inks for reference.

 

Standard Disclaimer: Image provided only to give a general sense of the color. The vibrance and nuance are typically lost when an ink is digitized.

 

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7618/auroravf7.jpg

 

Review

 

When I write a review, I first focus on color, and award an ink 0 to 100 based upon that alone, separate from other considerations. I then deduct points from the color score for defects (ie: lack of flow, creep, etc), to arrive at an overall score.

 

Color

 

I think "royal blue" is the best way to describe Aurora blue. It's a deep blue, hinting at purple. Out of a group of ten sample pages, each with a different ink, two of three people picked this as one of their top two favorites (PR Ebony Green being the other).

 

That said, I personally am not very thrilled with this ink. It does have nice shading, and a certain vibrance, but when push comes to shove, it's just blue.

 

Color Score = 75

 

Deductions

 

Aurora blue was one of the worst performers on my water test. The remaining text is very light, and I can imagine that under certain circumstances, and using certain papers, there would be nothing left.

-5

 

It was also among the worst as far as drying time is concerned, but the smears aren't terrible (in fact, they don't really show up on the scan very well).

-3

 

Aurora has the most expensive mainstream inks on the market, at approximately $0.25 per milliliter in May of 2008. For reference, the average price for ink is somewhere around $0.15 per milliliter. This added cost may be well spent for some, but considering this ink's shortcomings, I can't warrant it.

-5

 

Overall Score = 62 out of 100

Edited May 29, 2008 by JJBlanche