Scan of Dupont Night Blue. Two different pens used to test ink.

Wow.... this is a much lighter and bluer ink than I thought it would be. It looks almost the same color at the regular Dupont Blue ink. I had been hoping that the Night Blue would be a darker color and satisfy my desire for a blue-black ink that was very dark and had blue rather than green tones within the black.

I will be posting a scan of the regular Dupont Royal Blue. You are correct. This is a very light blue compared to what I was expecting. I purchased this as a replacement for my Diamine Blue Black.

Are you using bottled ink or cartridges of Dupont Bleu Nuit? I ask because I have Dupont Bleu Nuit -- and going by your scan (and your description), the colour is totally different. I'd describe it as a medium blue. While I realize colour-reproduction in scanned images can be a bit dodgy, the variation between your scan and what I have is quite stark.

I also stumbled upon a bottle of Dupont Blue Nuit Blue Black, which at first I thought would be the same color as the Bleu Nuit. However, when I popped open the bottle, it was different. The colour is a very dark cobalt blue. I was looking for a blue-black similar to Sailor BB, but with more blue in it, and I found it in Dupont BB. Unfortunately, Dupont BB is very difficult to source, and I'm now 3/4 of the way through the bottle. So I bought a bottle of Dupont Blue and Dupont Black to mix my own, attempting to get as close to the color of Dupont BB.

Dupont Blue, as far as colour, appears (to me anyway) to be a medium-blue. Dupont Black has a glossy, silky appearance -- and it is the darkest, richest black ink I've come across so far. Thus, I'm quite pleased with the results of mixing Dupont Blue and Dupont Black, with Bleu Nuit cartridges thrown in to balance out the two colours. When I compare it side by side with the original bottle of Dupont BB, it appears even slightly darker and does not have that slight grey tinge that the original Dupont BB seems to have, depending on the nib size that I happen to be using.

Edited: Corrected info.

The ink that I am using is from the bottle. I do not know how old the bottle is. The store where this was purchased sells a lot of pens, but does not specialize in S. T. Dupont products. I suspect that this ink was purchased by them about the time that the pen I purchased from them was procured. Since the particular model of pen has not been made since, I believe, 2005, (and they admit that it has been there a while), I would guess that the ink is no newer.

The bottles that I have are all marked S.T. Dupont Paris, Encre - Ink, blue nuit - night blue. The color patch on the bottle lid is quite dark, as is the ink when you open the bottle. Also, the bottle is marked "Made in France" at the front. I write rather quickly, so I can get a lot of variations of color from my inks. This ink is slightly darker when I write very slowly and deliberately. However, it does not get as dark as I would have expected no matter how slow I write. Rather than Night Blue, I would consider this ink more of a true Steel Blue.

One interesting thing that I noticed was that the pen that I purchased contained a small box of universal cartridges marked Blue Royal, Made in Germany on one flap and Royal Blue, Made in Germany on the other. The box itself was marked S. T. Dupont Paris and has a line drawing of a short universal cartridge on it. The ink in these cartridges is VERY light, and I have posted a scan of that ink on the FPN.

I would say that "difficult to find" is an understatement for the night blue. The shop that I frequent is the only place that I have been able to find this color.

Rumor has it that Dupont Blue Black is available in Europe but not in North America. I wonder if any of our European members have seen it in pen shops. I might be willing to pay the shipping to get some of this ink.

Another had to find ink in North America is Montegrappa Blue. I'm told that you have to buy it from either Europe, Malaysia, or Singapore.

Thanks for the explanation of the bottle of Night Blue/Bleu Nuit. I was going by memory when I initially posted the info on the various bottles of Dupont Bleu Nuit and Blue Black. When I checked the bottles this afternoon, I realized the info I posted earlier was wrong. This is what happens when I rely purely on my memory.

Anyway, I have two bottles: one marked "Made in France " similar to the one described already (the bottle came from Paris - see below on how I acquired this bottle) and I have another bottle labeled "S.T. Dupont Paris, Encre - Ink, Blue Black" which is marked "Made in Austria." So, perhaps, that explains at least one of the differences/variations in the colour -- nevermind that Bleu Nuit and Blue Black may entirely be different colours altogether in Dupont's bottled ink offerings.

I found the bottle of Dupont BB at a local stationery store several months ago. And yes, to say that it's difficult to find is an understatement. How I was able to find it was pure dumb luck. I wasn't even looking for it. It literally fell on me as I was reaching for something else on a shelf. Around the same time, I bought standard int'l cartridges sold as Bleu Nuit/Dark Blue (and marked "Made in Germany") -- which by the way also appears to be a different colour, or another variant of the Bleu Night/Night Blue than the original post above.

When I was traveling through Portugal and Spain recently, I tried to find another bottle of Dupont BB in several stationery stores but could not find it anywhere. Then a friend was sent on a work-related assignment to Paris, and I asked her to find Dupont BB for me. She came back with a bottle of Bleu Nuit not Dupont Blue Black.

Here are some scans of the three versions of Dupont "blue-black" inks that I currently have (Note: I'm not posting a sample of the Bleu Nuit cartridges because it looks very similar to the bottled version of Bleu Nuit posted as #2 below):

1. Dupont Blue Black - "Made in Austria"
Click to view attachment

2. Dupont Bleu Nuit - "Made in France"
Click to view attachment

3. Dupont Custom Blue Black mix - "Made in the Kitchen" *
Click to view attachment

*The recipe is: 5 parts Dupont Blue - 2 parts Dupont Black - 5 Bleu Nuit cartridges (I had some left over from traveling so I threw them into the mix.)

Edit: Corrected info and added scans.

Charlie -- with regard to Montegrappa Blue, it's not difficult to find... I bought a bottle from Swisher Pens.

I just saw girlieg33k's post above. I love the "Made in the Kitchen" color. Not having any Dupont Blue Nuit cartridges, I'm wondering how to adjust the recipe to use just two ingredients: Dupont Blue and Dupont Black. I'm thinking that I'll need to increase the ratio of Blue to Black from 5/2 to 3/1.

Thanks for the tip on where to find Montegrappa Blue. How similar is it to Omas Blue?

BUMP

I also want to try to mix this myself. Also curious about Montegrappa Blue.

How come no ink reviews lately?

That's a lovely mix, girlieg33k. In fact, that's exactly the color I was hoping for for the FPN blue ink. Best,
David

[quote name='girlieg33k' date='Dec 30 2007, 02:55 PM' post='461836']

Anyway, I have two bottles: one marked "Made in France " similar to the one described already (the bottle came from Paris - see below on how I acquired this bottle) and I have another bottle labeled "S.T. Dupont Paris, Encre - Ink, Blue Black" which is marked "Made in Austria." So, perhaps, that explains at least one of the differences/variations in the colour -- nevermind that Bleu Nuit and Blue Black may entirely be different colours altogether in Dupont's bottled ink offerings.]

Adding to the confusion: I really like the colour of all three of your scans, decided to try your mix and, just for the heck of it, called the local shop most likely to have DuPont ink. They didn't have bottles, but did have cartridges, including Blue Black, so I thought I would give them a try first. The cute little box they come in is marked on one edge Made in Austria - BLUE BLACK, alongside a little square that's near enough to your scan of Blue Black. On the opposite edge, however, it says BLEU NUIT, alongside another little square of the same colour. (So presumably someone at DuPont thinks Bleu Nuit = Blue Black.) And what's inside? The most washed out, insipid blue I've ever seen (the cups of water provided at the DC show for rinsing dip pens at the ink table are more saturated than this!), much the same as the writing sample in Punch's review except that mine ends up a bit greener (like Waterman's Blue-Black it turns greener as it dries - perhaps what's inside these cartridges is Waterman's Blue-Black diluted 3:1 water:ink!). I can understand why someone might like the colour (it would make a nice shirt), but it will likely come as a bit of a shock to someone who (a) thought he had bought blue-black ink and ( had optimistically relied on the little coloured square on the box. Weird.

Simon