So... recently I've become interested in non black colors. My favorite (and only) non black ink is Aurora blue, which is a rich (albeit slightly purple) blue.

I've read that blue is the least staining ink. But because of my interested in other colors, I also want something that is safe for good fountain pens and also "formal." I need to take a lot of notes at work and at home.

I think Visconti Sepia looks like a good choice, but have only seen one review so far. Has anybody one else used Visconti Sepia? If so, how do you like it?

Feel free to recommend some other colors. I know MB racing green is quite popular but I am not sure how "formal" green is.

The dark browns and sepias give a conservative, yet aged look, especially on cream colored paper.

I don't know Visconti Sepia, but if you can get Rohrer & Klingner Sepia, it has a very "formal" look, because it's
a very dark brown that leans toward black! You might also like Diamine Saddle Brown. The R&K Sepia can
look almost black if used in a very fine, yet free-flowing nib.

I have used Diamine Golden Brown, and liked that. I got a new bottle of Omas Sepia at the LA Pen show because
I liked the look of the samples of it that were available to examine at the Pendemonium booth.

I happen to like Visconti Sepia. To compare to a variety of other browns/sepias, here is a comparison:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...st&p=517888

MB British racing green could work in any but the most formal setting. BRG has an olive quality, but it is very dark. It is not as black as Zhivago, but it is more uniform than the bottle of Zhivago I had bought (which seemed to have black and green in not-quite-fully-mixed proportions). I was a little surprised myself at how well BRG would work in a conservative setting, depending on the other colors in a letterhead. It looks like J. Herbin's Vert Empire would also work in a conservative setting, but good luck finding a bottle.

MB Racing Green is really a very dark olive, and is near black. I consider racing green to be about halfway between there and PR Sherwood Green.

For formal, Noodler's Red Black, Noodler's Ellis Island Blue Black and Noodler's Navy -- all are near blacks. Noodler's Legal Lapis has a lot of green, but it is my current favorite.

For a bit further afield, I like Noodler's Iraqi Indigo, which really is a denim ink.

For my favorite color, any of PR Blue Suede, Noodler's Legal Lapis, Noodler's Navy, Noodler's Ottoman Azure, and Noolder's Squeteague -- all of which are various shades of teal.

I'd suggest Diamine Prussia Blue. I stands out, but is a true blue, no mistaking it for blue-black or teal.....

Thanks for your great suggestions, all.

The prussian blue is still blue so I was looking for something to add "excitement" to the color, while still maintaining formality (to be used at work). Difficult isn't it?

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

You can't go wrong with Waterman's Florida Blue.

Hello Chuancao,

J. Herbin Lie de Thé is a very nice brown which can have a lot of shading depending on the pen used.

Waterman South Sea Blue is also very nice it is a turquoise which is rather a ighther blue with a little hint of green.

I personally love J Herbin Poussière de Lune, a greyish purple that tends toward burgundy. I find it more "formal" than Waterman's Purple, that is if any purple can be considered formal The greyish look when it dries gives an aged look that I really appreciate.

Enjoy the colors!

P.S. If you try a color that you dont think you love try it again some time later. A few years ago I couldn't stand turquoise ink now I love them

I don't know what falls into "formal" ink colors but J. Herbin Cacao Du Bresil and Cafe Des Iles and Rohrer and Klingner sepia are nice brown/gray subtle inks with shading. Or Sailor Gentle gray or PR gray flannel is a bit darker or Diamine Umber (ditchwater green). Rohrer and Klingner Alt Bordeaux is a nice vintage looking burgundy, too. All of them have color and are not blue but they're not "in your face" colors, either.

Cedar

I have both Visconti Sepia (or Brown - seen it called both) and MB Racing Green. Both meet the professional appearance you're after, imho, and are nice and dark inks. For me as a lefty, I prefer the Visconti as it dries faster. Both are well behaved inks. MB Violet is also a dark purple, as is Caran d'Ache Storm. Purple isn't normally a professional color, but these are dark enough to qualify imho.

This is a good topic, as my working career, between the Army and many years of government contracts, has ingrained in me the necessity of using black ink. Maybe blue if nothing else was available. All I've used so far, besides a couple of cartridges that came with some of my pens, is Parker Quink Black, but I've now gotten to the point where I'd like to expand my possibilities without going "extreme" and the suggestions in this thread are definitely worth looking into...

I'm not disagreeing with you about the current interpretation of purple as a formal/non-formal color, but at one point in time, purple was THE formal color, so it's kind of amusing.

I love PR Blue Suede. I'm not sure what you mean by "formal," but it's a transition between real ordinary everyday blue and something exotic. I think it's more of a sea green. Very deep and pretty. Almost two toned.
skyp

PR Blue Suede is the closest color I've found in ink to my favorite color in the whole world.

That said, it's considered a "fashion" color rather than a "classic" color, and the "classic" colors are considered more formal in our current culture.

I'm not a formal person, so I don't particularly care about its formality. I write longhand because I enjoy it, not because of what other people will think of me. When I'm filling out forms and the like, that's what the black (or near-black) inks are for.

You can if you need water resistance!

PR Avocado, FPN Tulipe Noire, PR Tanzanite's a pretty blue that's got a twinge of purple running through it (might not make it too formal, however).... That's the extent of my formal collection...
My vote would be Avocado.

I'm surprised to learn of this and very interested! Can you tell more? When and/or where was purple considered formal? Was that a long time ago?

So TRUE! I lost a few words of a poem I was reading out loud to a friend due to badly placed snowflakes

More and more I am leaning towards the Visconti Sepia. To tell you the truth, I am not crazy about the Visconti black. it's a beautiful light black but I have doubts about its flow qualities. My only concern with the sepia is the flow issue as it seems it dries too quickly?

I love the design of the Visconti bottles though... though it IS very pricey at 15 a pop!

Will keep you posted. I will try to go next week.

Never heard the phrase "royal purple"?

Yes and no

I didn't know there was such a color but I knew that purple was prized. But did they use purple ink?

Was your earlier comment about formal purple regarding the general usage of the color or as an ink specifically?

i studied weaving and dying for a while.
purple was a big deal as a color and restricted to upper classes
when there were such things as sumptuary laws (laws that regulate what people could wear and consume).

purple was a big deal because the dye stuff that was used to make purple at that
particular time was quite rare and very expensive. can't remember the name but somebody will.

In order to use a color for business correspondence, I look for a color that is (usually) dark, saturated, and understated. The color should be pleasant without being pretty, comfortable to look at and not attention-getting. Of the browns I've used, Noodler's Walnut is the best (my opinion based on the above criteria), but if that's too dark for you, Omas Sepia is wonderful.

Most green inks are too bright and attention getting, or else too drab for my tastes. PR Sherwood works, but even it is a little too powerful, so I've got a mix of PR Gray Flannel with a little PR Velvet Black---I think it's something like a 75:3:2 Flannel:Sherwood:Velvet mix---that is a bit more subdued. And yes, you read that right. 25:1 dilution of Sherwood makes it "a bit" more subdued. Seriously, Sherwood is quite saturated. 10:1 Flannel:Sherwood is impossible to tell from straight Sherwood with the naked eye. Noodler's Zhivago is nice, but a bit cold and drab olivey for me.

Visconti Blue
Waterman Florida Blue
PR Lake Placid Blue

In France, and north of Spain for over a couple centuries only two colors were officially allowed into educational system, and even at some legal documents. Herbin's Poussière de Lune and Violette Pensée. In Spain, a colour a bit darker than today's Havana Brown was also used. You can read a bit about this topic here; http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...=30193&st=0
This was still in use till the late 50's (my mother studied with those inks back then). Then the biro took over.
Is also well known that the purple was reserved for many, many centuries for the Royals and for the highest levels of Catholic Church, as Pope and Cardinals. Nobody else was entitled to use it and they are subtle color differences between the one the Pope and Cardinals use even in these days.

That was my question, too. Deirdre's link refers to dyes used for clothing. I wonder, though, if even royalty used anything other POIGI -- Plain Old Iron Gall Ink -- to sign edicts and such. I suspect, but don't actually know, that royal blue/royal purple inks were a later development (19th century?), and were available to anyone, not just to purple-robed personages.

Edit:

This is fascinating. Can you point to any references that discuss the elite status of purple ink? Not long ago on TV I saw some footage of Benedict XVI, the current pope, signing one of the first official documents of his papacy (I forget what it was), and for the life of me he was using a black felt-tip pen!

Further edit:
I've been poking around the Vatican website for an example of a document signed in purple, but little joy so far. The few docs I looked at were all, as far as I could tell, signed in iron gall ink; for example, this 1797 peace treaty between Napoleon and the Holy See. A possible find is a 1439 decree on the union of the Greek and Latin churches, which is subscribed in what looks to me like red ink but may be Tyrian purple. [acronym="For What It's Worth"]FWIW[/acronym].

Both of these recommendations are spot on, [acronym="In My Opinion"]IMO[/acronym]. Walnut is classified as "near bulletproof", which is a plus for business use.

The Noodler's Legal Lapis might work...