Recent topics have inspired me and thankfully surprised me.


Thank you.

I had always thought of Pelikan blue-black being a grey, washed out ink. How is it in other pens?

Have this one and it does not look that dark. Looks more gray and washed out. Like your version better.

My experience is the same as well...

I'm very surprised from your scan, I tried a couple of pelikan blue/black cartridge on different pens, and I had always the some results: a dry grey/black ink.

Anyway I like your results, now we have only to understand the differences.

Ciao
Genny

Must be the pen. My Pilot 78G B does well with all inks.

I agree. This was one of my first inks. I hated it in my M605. I tried it in the 78G on a whim. When I write with the intent on having good penmanship, my lines are more premeditated, I write slower. My opinion of this ink is that it's a wet writer's ink. I will post scans of what it looks with one of my FPs.

Bump. I noticed that this review wasn't listed in the larger listing of all reviews.

Well, I bought a bottle of this ink a couple of weeks back, and I'm very surprised at the colour I'm seeing from the review. The ink I have is a very grayish blue-black, reminiscent of those ball point inks.

Your description is reminiscent of what I saw when I had this ink in my M605. I stopped using is then. It think in a broad wet pen, this ink can yield some positive surprises.

I love this ink. I don't understand all the complaining about how it's supposedly a washed-out, grayish ink. I've used it in three different Pelikans with medium-to-wet-writing F or EF nibs, and it's never looked washed out (though I haven't tried it in my super-dry M405 EF, which makes even Aurora Black look grayish). I am especially puzzled by the comment about this ink being reminiscent of ballpoint inks. The color of this ink is something I can't imagine seeing in anything disposable.

My impression is that Pelikan blue-black is as close as one can get to traditional iron-gall ink without having to worry about the problems associated with iron gall. It goes on dark blue, turns gray as it dries, and darkens to a bluish black over several days. The final result depends greatly on the paper you use -- on some types of paper, the blue tint disappears completely. If you use it on paper that's not too absorbent, you can achieve beautiful shading. As an added bonus, it's a high-quality ink that can be obtained relatively inexpensively.

Until I discovered Pelikan blue-black, I used to write with black ink almost exclusively. I now prefer Pelikan blue-black to black, since it's easier on the eyes and has a beautiful vintage look.

Before you discard this ink as a "washed-out, grayish color", give it a second chance. First, make sure you didn't forget to shake the bottle before filling your pen. Next, try writing on several different types of paper. Watch the color change as the ink dries. Let the paper sit in a drawer for a day or two, and look again at the results. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I was going to post on this topic the other day but you have done a great job in covering it. I even have three Pelikans (M, B and BB cursive italics) that do well with the ink. I also like the vintage look.

thanks for the nice review, Steadyhand, lovely writing too! and all the other feedback about the ink.

I love blue blacks and this is next on my list!

Looks great!

Did Pelikan change the formula? In my pens (and with my older bottles), it is a very vintage looking blue/black. Actually I am fond of the dark greyish color of the old Pelikan ink, but your writing sample looks lovely too. And I am envious of your handwriting

Ahh, that might be the difference. I never tried this ink in a really wet pen.

Elo,

Steadyhand, i recently reviewed the pelikan green and violet. why is your handwriting so great? you're making me feel miserable!!

Anyway, the pelikan blue-black was the first ink i ever used. It's my first love. i have a quinck blue-black that i haven't used yet, i hope it turns out as good as the pelikan. i love the dark tone, and the shading of this ink. I used it in a Parker 51, that had a somewhat fine nib, compared to my new Frontier medium nib. i'm yet to try it with a medium nib.

The three pelikan's i've used so far, are just great. I have them all as bottles. Never tried them as cartridges. As convient and practical cartridges are (especially the quink ones with the emergency reserve) I love ink bottles!

End of line.

I had the same gray experience in my VP. The penmanship is fantastic, by the way. A great look from a real reasonably priced pen. Thanks for the review.

(And thanks for posting a nice big scan!!)

Wow. Thanks everybody. Your supportive responses inspire to write more. I think the penmanship has more to do with the pen. I making a conscious effort to work on my handwriting. I've printed some of the Ann's posts to practice. Now there is an artist.

Again thanks, I'm really appreciative.

Dave

My goodness, thanks! (Really, I'm not a professional artist.) And thanks for all of the ink reviews--a good way to keep practicing your already good penmanship ! Hope you'll keep them coming!

Best, Ann

nothing like mine...

My Pel Blue Black is wonderful shade of dark gray-blue, I like it more than this dark Blue scan.


Nenad

This was my favorite Ink, and IIRC tone changes over time from blue to greenish to grayish
and also with time it becomes more and more permanent

Thank you, Ann. I thoroughly enjoy writing reviews and view as as the exercise. I sit down typically at midnight after putting down my children and preparing for the next day and look for an ink that isn't overly reviewed. BTW, your handwriting is absolutely awesome.

What a beautiful colour! Thanks for reviewing it, I'm tempted to try it now!

It has been exclusively in my Stub 78G because of the results of this review. I try to use it daily. Enjoy if you do get it.

I ended up buying the ink because of this review! Great discovery! I'm really pleased with it, it is a very rich blue. I think it looks like a deep royal blue rather than a black or grey blue. I'm using it in a Pilot Pluminix, which appears to have the same nib as a 78G broad/stub only in a medium, so I get very similar tone and shading to your scan.

I've found that both complainers and comfirmers are right about this ink-- it's got splendid gravitas in the right pens (it matches up brilliantly with a fine-but-wet Sheaffer vac-fill I use lots) but in drier... and frequently more modern ...pens it does have a slightly fey look. In a flex point, it's the very thing!

I am really happy it worked out for you. It is a go to ink although I strictly use it in my Broad 78g. I may try it in my Pilot Knight or Stipula Ventidue (OMG-I love this pen after replacing the nib to a fine) one day.




Once I found the right combo-after putting it away for months, I dont change a thing.

Now this may be just what I was looking for!

Please let me know if I should try it.

Have a wet Pelikan M605 Medium and a very wet Waterman Phileas Medium. I write mostly on recycled paper, so it absorbs quickly and shows up on the other side too, sometimes.

I've been looking for a bright blue that stands out from ballppints.

Tried Noodler's Navajo Turquoise, but too light for me once it dries. I liked the color when wet, though.
Trying Noodler's Eel Blue, but not a standout color and blots a lot on the paper. Shows up on the other side, even on a nice quality journal that I have.
Tried Pelikan Royal Blue, and that is better than the above two, but a bit light for me.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Someone was looking for the perfect blue-black a while back (Inky Thoughts), and I recommended Cross, as this was the truest blue-black ink I've ever used. I was told that this ink was nothing but Pelikan ink in a Cross bottle. I read here where many hav found the Pelikan blue-black to be too grey. There is no grey hue in my Cross blue-black at all, and I'm wondering if that is because I use this particular ink in cartridge form. Could the bottled version be that different? Also, the Cross ink is very wet. I'm starting to wonder if buying the Cross bottled version is a bad idea.

This looks nothing like Pelikan's Blue Black. It IS grayish and unsaturated. I would suggest less image manipulation from the scan to the screen if your hardware is uncalibrated...

Nenad

It may not look like your bottle(s) of Pelikan Blue-Black, but, this IS mine. May I suggest inking the same pen I used to reproduce the same parameters prior to making any further assumptions. A wet, broad tipped, Pilot 78G. There was no image manipulation of the scan. I have used the same scanner to review several inks that have never been questioned before.

If the image is not color edited, than your scanner is very good one. All Pelikan BlueBlacks I have seen here are totaly different color than this one, every bottle I had included, more blue gray than blue black. I have seen this happen with Waterman Blue Black also. It's greenish sometimes, rich blue the others...

SteadyHand, sorry if I had offended you in some way...


cheers,
Nenad

No offense taken, Nenad. Pardon my tone if I may have come off defensive. I will add that my original impression of this ink was formulated based on my M605. It appeared washed out and wasnt appealing at all. Several months later did I decide to try it in the 78G and that is how this love affair started.

Regards,

David

Nice work, I like the color variation.

Steadyhand, I like your review and handwriting, but man, your avatar is totally freaking me out!

I've only had experience with this ink in the cartridge, and like a few others here, have not loved the washed out grey-blueness of it. It was in a fairly wet Pelikano, but somehow still came out wimpy. But your scan makes me think it might be worth trying in another nib.

I find myself mesmerized by it, hoping against hope that next time he'll get it right...

Thanks everyone.

Guys I had to google the event. I typed "so you think you can dance face plant" and found a more complete clip. He was actually ok. He got right up and did a suicide.
Here is the link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/343544/so_yo...nce_face_plant/

Please be advised, this clip is rated "O" for Ouch!

If it really bothers anyone, I will change it. Just say the word

Good review, but I must of gotten a bad batch. Mine looked like this:
Click to view attachment

I feel more and more like my sample is a fluke. Maybe the flow of the ink in my 78g is more generous. I apologize if anyone picked this ink because of this review and were disappointed with it. That wasn't my intent.

It's a very protean ink. I love its dark heft coming out of most of my old flex-pens, it is entirely appropriate coming through a wartime Sheaffer, but out of most modern pens or anything short of middling wet, I get the same sort of misty blah colour. When you find a pen it works with, it's the best thing going, but otherwise it is kind of feeble. I don't think any of the opinions here are wrong, they're just based on idopathic conditions; if we all used the same model pen, on the same paper, at the same altitude above sea level while experiencing similar weather, we'd all likely be in utter accord on this ink's qualities.

I just tried this ink at my local pen shop yesterday. This is exactly what the ink looked like when I dipped it. You can't get much wetter than what I was putting on the paper. Definitely gray. The dealer also had a bottle of the washable Pelikan ink. Now that looked exactly like the original test specimen on this thread. I almost picked up a bottle.

I realized after posting to this thread that many people here prefer very saturated inks. I personally find saturated inks a little overpowering, especially in wet writers. Visconti blue, a favorite of many people here, is too bright for my taste. I can see how someone who likes Visconti blue might find Pelikan blue-black rather dull. So here is my conclusion: those who like subtle, unsaturated inks that produce a lot of shading and a vintage look will love Pelikan blue-black or royal blue. Those who prefer saturated inks that leave a lot of color on the page are likely to be disappointed. This is consistent with the variety of responses on this thread.

The darkness of Pelikan blue-black varies a lot, by the way. Coming out of the same pen, it looks sometimes grayish, and sometimes much darker, for no apparent reason.

The FPN ink reviews are truly wonderful for a novice like me. I love a greyish vintage look and, although I don't usually like the blue-black color, this review plus the comments has put Pelikan Blue-Black on my "try it" list. I'm going to order the 4-ink sampler from peartreepens (thanks again to FPN for that tip) to see for myself.

I'm so new and uneducated I didn't realize inks look different coming out of different pens/nibs. Thanks to the reviewer and others for this discussion.

I bought a bottle too, same gray. I wonder if I should mix in some blue?
b

With this ink, it's all about the flow of the pen you're using. I have two Pelikans that are very wet writers. This ink looks like the original sample in this thread from those pens- it's great. I have some other more moderate writers, and drier pens as well. This ink is awful in those- very dry and faded looking. This is an ink for a pen with a rich flow, not a lean one.

Hi Ray-Vigo,

I agree completely. In a meeting this morning, I was using the pen I did this ink review with- a stub 78g filled with the same Pelikan Blue-Black ink. I paused to see the color variation on the page. I'm still very satisfied with this ink and I only use it in my stub 78G.

For what it's worth, David's scans do like my bottles of Pelikan Blue Black 4001 - all 4 of them - it's one of my all time favorites. I once got Pelikan BB in cartridges and the ink in them was grey, and looked nothing like my bottled ink. What gives? I don't know - I always thought it was factory mistake, but perhaps there's a grayish Pelikan BB and a blue-black Pelikan BB out there.

This has been an interesting ink to say the least. 5000+ views is intense. Please post your own scans when available for comparison.

I must say that I just received a set of Cross Metropolis pens, including a medium nib fountain pen, and I had picked up a package of Cross Blue-Black carts awhile ago when I needed some fresh carts for my Pelikanos (which of course didn't work very well in the Pelikano, because the Cross cart shape is different than the standard). I popped in a cart in the Metropolis, and it looks exactly like the original poster's scan. A deep, rich, color, nothing at all like the "greyish" descriptions I've read here.

This has made me rethink my usual dislike of blue-black inks.

So this mean that Cross and Pelikan, even if they are both made by Pelikan, are not the same one... The original scan, as it appears on my laptop, could be the perfect BB I'm looking for !