I'm a big Omas fan, but have fallen more and more for Sheaffer Blue. It seems to work well in any pen across the board, it is one of the safest and most gentle inks, and actually it is a very pretty blue. I have felt a lot of Sheaffer inks are washed out, but after seeing it on John Mottishaws site, I guess I figure if it's good enough for John, it's good enough for me to try. I have been increasingly impressed over the last 3 or 4 months. It's not glamourous, but it is a very very nice ink and economical. Roma/new Blue/ whatever the next variation from Omas is still my favorite Blue, but it's very close.

I have no connection to no pen company or store anywhere as a disclaimer.

Agree totally on Slovenian Skrip Blue. More than serviceable, it's downright pretty -- and safe. A good ink to have around.

Sheaffer Skrip Blue from Slovenia doesn't just look good, flow well and treat any pen well; it is also one of the world champion inks for bad paper :bunny1: .

Skrip Blue from Slovenia is erasable-eradicable by sulfate/sulfite eradicator pens like the Pelikan Super-Pirat. This is very convenient. As with most eradicable blue inks, eradicating this one leaves a slight yellow-gray trace behind, but only if you're looking very closely.

The price makes this ink an amazing value .

Just wish that Skrip Blue was easier to find in the UK. I used to be able to find it easily but not the last six months. I wonder why?

John

Ooh, that sounds unfortunate. I guess you're talking about finding it on the shelf at "brick & mortar" shops. Maybe you could pester the decision-maker(s) of your favorite shop(s), or their remote upper-management superiors if those are the decision-makers, to resume ordering Skrip.

*walking up to microphone*
Attention, actionnariat du Groupe Bic! Est-ce que vous croyez à l'encre Sheaffer Skrip, votre produit dans lequel votre direction a récemment investi tant beaucoup d'argent (la réformulation, le nouveau flacon et le capsule colorisé du cartouche, et le déménagement de production à la Slovénie)? Moi, j'y crois, mais je n'ai pas vu beaucoup d'evidence que la direction a de la motivation quelconque pour profiter de Skrip dans les marchés anglophones d'Europe et de l'Amérique du nord. C'est dommage.
*walking away from microphone*

Bottled Skrip is not widely available on the shelf at the big general-merchandise and office-supply chain stores here in the USA, and has not been for many years (even the old formula). I get my Skrip from a specialty b&m shop. In fact, the only bottled FP ink I see around here on shelves in b&m general merchandise and office supply stores now is Parker Quink Black!

You could tell the store managers that all of the Slovenian Sheaffer Skrip colors are better-behaved on cheap office and school paper than the Waterman and Pelikan colors are, and the new Skrip Blue looks much better than the old one; therefore, Skrip is more likely to keep customer-service costs down and keep customers repeating their purchases.

Furthermore, all of the new Skrip colors are no more acidic than pH 6 and no more alkaline than pH 8, which makes them gentler on pens and more "archival" in quality than the old Skrip colors and most current Waterman, Pelikan and Parker Quink colors (according to the 2006 edition of Clark's Sampler book).

To top everything off, Skrip Blue is still sulfate-sulfite eradicable.

Newbie question here: where besides Slovenia can Skrip be made, and how do you know you are buying the Slovenian kind?

Hi,

Skrip is currently made in Slovenia.

The new cartridges you buy in the store should have Slovenien cartridges and bottles.

It is a nice dark blue and goes on my safe inks list.

Dillon

Currently all Sheaffer Skrip ink is made in Slovenia. The bottles look like this picture. And it should say made in Slovenia on the packaging somewhere. Any other bottle style is an older formulation made in the U.S.A.

Thanks! How would you compare it to Waterman Florida Blue?

Skrip Blue is a little bit lighter than WM Florida Blue.

Apologies for the trumpet-blowing but we have Skrip in bottles and cartridges
http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/sheaffer/sheaffer_ink.php

HTH,

Martin

Agreed.

You can compare them on this page.

Martin

Thanks, folks. Seems like for me there's no reason to switch from Florida Blue, which I really like.

The Slovenian Skrip Blue is a nice blue and given that it is less expensive than most other inks and very safe to boot, it is the ink I keep at work.

best, Dan

The new Slovenian ink must be more intense and saturated than the old stuff. i just bought a bottle of old Skrip blue and it is very washed out and pale looking. I was pretty disappointed with it. It is even more washed out than Quink blue and Pelikan royal blue.

Matt C

Matt: Sheaffer Skrip Blue from Slovenia is easier and more pleasant to read than the old blue. The old blue could have served as a dictionary illustration for the, "of colors," usage of the word "faint."

The new blue is more saturated the old blue but not saturated in comparison to the blues of the independent American ink brands. The new blue lubricates writing a little bit but not too much. The new blue is "safe" (easy to flush gently out of fragile, old pens), according to several FPN members.

The new blue is also pH 6.3 according to Clark's Sampler, almost neutral, compared to the old blue's acidic pH 4.1 and the big competitors' pH 3.6 (Waterman Florida Blue), 3.0 (Pelikan 4001 / Cross Blue), and 2.6 (Parker Quink Washable Blue).

The new blue is a tiny bit lighter than any batch of WFB I've seen, darker than any batch of P4001B and PQWB I've seen, and impressively better-behaved on bad paper than any of those.

Like the old blue, the new blue is sulfate-sulfite eradicable (Pelikan Super-Pirat and similar products). Eradication, really just a chemical change in order to stop reflecting those blue-to-violet frequencies, leaves behind a fainter-than-faint, yellow-gray mark. This teacher wouldn't mind at all receiving an assignment written in Slovenian Skrip Blue and eradicated in several spots.

The standard disclaimer applies: I have no financial or personal connection to the people who work for the Sheaffer brand or the parent company, Bic.

The bottle has "SLOVENIA" engraved on its bottom. I'm not trying to dis anyone, but I find the ink too pale and washed out. I like the really bright Private Reserve inks. I guess I'm a shallow guy.

Doug

As far as I know, all Skrip ink is now made in Slovenia only.

It's true that this ink is not high-contrast or bright like most Private Reserve, Noodler's and Levenger colors, and I certainly respect the preference for those (enjoying them myself). However, it is much improved over its predecessor, and its behavior on bad paper and its eradicability keep me loyal.

Thank you Goodwhiskers for your insightful information. Maybe I'll have to get a bottle of the new blue.

Anyone interested in a bottle of the old Skrip blue?

Matt C

I think GW has it exactly right. I'm an Omas guy, but like Aurora and some other inks. It's not PR or Noodlers, but it's not Parker Quink or Pelikan either. Slov Blue is lighter than WFB and an probably a little less intense and thick than Omas. But I have zero concern about putting it in my Omas Celluloid. I hate Pelikan and Parker Quinks, I love Penman Sapphire, but won't risk using it in my expensive Itilians or Germans. To me Slov Blue is close enough to Omas Blue that I use it and like the color. When I found out it was what John Mottishaw used to test Omas pens, I decided to try it and now is an ink of choice. If you like the intensity of Noodlers, PR or Penman and have to have that level of intensity, you probably won't like it, but for the money and safety, it's a very very good ink.

In the interest of accuracy, I went back last night and cotton swabbed it. Side by side Waterman FB, Penman Sapphire, Parker Quink, PR Lake Placid and Omas New Blue. While I'm not good enough with cameras to load it, there is a clear difference in the saturation and vibrance of Omas and Penman. Also WFB is much darker. For whatever reason Slov Blue writes better for me, but I don't want to oversell it, especially for someone who is looking for a more vibrant blue.

Based on the foregoing comments, I bought a bottle of this ink (which I actually found locally) and must say that it's absolutely transformed a few balky pens into wonderful writers. This ink just flows superbly! In addition, I really like the shade of blue, although with some pens it looks a bit light.

I agree with the positive evaluation. If I was restricted to only one ink, I would pick new Skrip Blue. 9

I bought a bottle of Slovenian Skrip blue a few months back and just left it sitting in a drawer since then.

Filled a Sailor 1911 with an EF nib last night and was perturbed to find that it wrote a faint, greenish blue line. Tried it with a medium nib...same results! It has a very obvious light greenish tinge to it...not the vibrant blue that I was pretty sure I saw the last time I tried it.

Is it because I left it in a dark drawer for so long? The bottle cap was definitely screwed on tight. I must say that this is quite a letdown...sigh....

I would shake up the bottle.

Dyes do tend to settle out of solution at times.

Tried that too....maybe I should shake it harder. My recent accident with a bottle of old Skrip Brown was quite traumatic!

I think you didn't get the blue but the blue-black from Sheaffer. The blue-black has a vintage looking grey-greenish hue. The problem is, (also for ink-shop-personal as I noticed), that Sheaffer doesn't mention the color of the ink on the bottle. You have to judge the color from the example on top of the bottle. On top of the blue-black it indeed looks like a nice darker blue without any green in it. That's why several months ago I also discoverd at home to have bought a bottle of Sheaffer blue-black instead of blue.

Hmm...I wish someone told me that earlier!

Seriously, when I tried out the ink at the store, it seemed like a really nice blue to me. But then again, I could have been in a mild state of euphoria commonly caused by the presence of lots of fountain pens...bad judgement?

Will try it again tonight...must shake the bottle harder!

i find the ink a little washed out...but i love the reliability and safeness of the ink. every new pen i get i always use this ink in it first as a trial run. Its not my favourite ink from a colour perspective, but from a perfomance perspective there aren't too many inks that are better.

Its the ink that will work with anything...I always have a bottle lying around.

sammy

Just picked up a bottle of Skrip Blue today. Gave it a test drive in my fine-point Waterman Phileas and in an Esterbrook J with a medium 2668 nib.

The ink is clearly blue to my eye. No shading to green or red, just blue. The medium line was somewhat darker than the fine line.

I'm not partial to the color blue and have been looking for a blue to have on hand for occasional use. I think Sheaffer Skrip Blue will do the trick.

Chris

It seems that Sheaffer ink has disappeared from retailers in direct proportion to the availability of such inks as Noodler's and Private Reserve. I don't see it available at Pear Tree Pens, isellpens.com, or Pendemonium (it appears that somebody forgot to stock most of their inks). I see that it may be available at Swisher Pens, but their website is painful to navigate. Any recommended sources that I've overlooked?

Jared

I too have found Sheaffer a bit hard to come by. I think PenHero sells it and Pendemonium has about half the colors.

On Pendemonium the did post this about Noodler's:

We apologize for being out of stock of so many different Noodler's Inks at this time. Our lack of Noodler's Ink is not the fault of the Noodler's Ink Company. We will have more Noodler's Inks in the future, but due to current economic conditions we are unable to give you an exact date. Thanks for your patience!

My suspicion is the economy might be squeezing them. They are always pleasant to deal with, have answered questions, and ship with lightning speed. I took a quick survey of inks and depending on manufacturer, they have a decent selection. Just depends on what you are looking for.

Chris

Sounds kind of crazy, but you might try a university bookstore if there's one nearby. My university carries bottled Skrip in a range of colors--as well as Rhodia pads, Miquelrius journals, and Moleskines... Just a thought.

I wonder if it's disappeared because it doesn't move as quickly as the newer designer inks? All the same, it surprises me that it's not easy to find in bottles, whereas the cartridges are easy to pick up at craft stores like Michaels, or places like Staples.

I've bought mine from Stylus in Edmonton, AB - no on-line shopping, but they answer e-mail promptly and have excellent service. Ditto Reid's Stationers in Calgary.