I've completed my comprehensive review of Baystate Blue that I mentioned in my initial posting a couple weeks ago. Please note this was done with my own pens and papers, which is by no means completely comprehensive - your own experience may vary. I've tried to be as objective, balanced and neutral as possible - if you feel otherwise, please let me know.

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Summary: Noodler's Baystate Blue is one of those colors that people are either drawn to or repelled by - it is quite electric in appearance on any paper and with any nib. It is not sedate in any sense.

Baystate Blue requires some special handling as it can stain in unexpected ways and with real tenacity; if in doubt, do not use - as some pen materials can be permanently colored. Cleanup is generally good - but not perfect - with bleach solutions (from 25% to pure) or isopropyl alcohol. It is waterproof, but not "bullet-proof". A free-flowing ink, it can bleed and feather quite a bit on some papers depending on the flow of the nib being used.

As much as I love Baystate Blue, I find I personally cannot continue to use it. I've had a devil of a time with it unexpectedly getting on clothing, desktops, pen bodies, wooden floors and other surfaces due to its free-flowing nature in my wet nibs. In most cases bleach has been able to remove it - but not all - and therein lies my problem.
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Pens used:

• Bexley Tea Time in stub crisp italic
• Conklin New Nozac in broad crisp italic
• Pelikan M805 in double broad crisp italic
• Pelikan M805 in triple broad crisp italic
• Pelikan M600 in double broad crisp italic
• Pelikan M600 in broad crisp italic
• Pelikan M600 in medium crisp italic
• Platinum Music in crisp italic
• Platinum Preppy modified eye-dropper fine ball
• Sheaffer NoNonsense in broad italic
• Sheaffer NoNonsense in medium italic
• Sheaffer NoNonsense in fine italic
• Sheaffer NoNonsense in extra fine crisp italic
• Sheaffer NoNonsense in medium ball
• Sheaffer Snorkel in stub italic

Papers used:

• Apica 6A10 lined notebook
• Black n' Red lined notebook
• Clairefontaine Pollen vellum sheets
• Clairefontaine Triomphe blank pads (various sizes)
• Crown Mill Cream Laid plain sheets
• Fabriano deckled edge blank cards
• G. Lalo deckled edge blank cards
• HP Premium Choice 32# LaserJet plain sheets
• Levenger 3x5 lined note cards
• Moleskine blank notebook
• Moleskine weekly planner
• Rhodia Uni-Blank pad
• Richard Binder premium plain pads (various sizes)
• Sheaffer deckled edge plain sheets
• Southworth 25% cotton Granite plain sheets
• Southworth 100% cotton plain sheets
• Various office and printer papers

Flow rate: Towards the upper-end of the free-flowing range. Can actually drip from "wet" nibs if one isn't careful. My best results came from "dry" ball nibs and a Sheaffer Snorkel stub.

Lubrication/feel on paper: Just above the middle of the range; not too slippery and not at all dry. Quite controlled and pleasant to write with.

Color - in bottle: Very dark cobalt blue.

Color - wet: Electric blue.

Color - dry: Electric blue; very little difference between wet and dry. The closest Pantone match I can find is somewhere around "Reflex Blue" or "PMS 2738".

Color - different nibs: Color does not appear to vary between nibs.

Color - different papers: Shifts darker on colored papers; loses vibrancy on manila envelopes.

Color - similar inks: Aurora Blue, Omas Blue and Visconti Blue are in the same general color range in a vague way at best, but do not begin to match the vibrancy of Baystate Blue - which appears to be unique in fountain pen inks at present.

Tint: Very similar in color and tone to Windsor & Newton French Ultramarine watercolor pigment. A clean blue at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum.

Saturation: Deeply saturated, like many in the Noodler's line.

Contrast: Mid-dark level of contrast. Varies towards the darker end with different types of light sources and lighting intensity.

Shading: Little, if any. Lines are uniform from side-to-side and top-to-bottom.

Opacity: Towards the darker end of the spectrum; easily covers lighter inks, but does not cover all printed lines.

Feathering: Varies widely depending on the paper. One of the few inks I've found to feather on Clairefontaine Triomphe. Seems to do best on paper that has a slight absorbency to it like Rhodia Uni-Blank and HP Premium Choice 32# LaserJet. Also did well on the Southworth cotton sheets.

Bleeding: Also varied widely, with much the same results as above.

Fiber raising: Hardly any.

Drying time: Very quick. Scary quick when it found it's way onto things where it wasn't intended.

Smearing: None after drying.

Effect of hand oils: Goes right over the top without issue in my tests.

Nib creep: Little to speak of. However, several nibs stained and could only be cleaned with a bleach solution.

Effect of leaving cap off: I left a cap off overnight and it started flowing immediately when I next put the nib to paper.

Waterproof: Yes.

Bullet-proof: No; comes right off with bleach.

Lightfast: Yes, in limited testing.

Fugitive: No; a strong color with no evidence of shifting over time.

Effect when highlighted: No color smearing by the highlighter ink when dry.

pH neutral: No. pH rating is between 8 and 9 on the label.

Bottle: Noodler's standard 3 oz. bottle.

Cartridges: Not available.

Presentation: Noodler's standard card-stock box and colored label.

Price: $12.50 from Swisher Pens

Availability: On-line stores appear to have a good supply at this writing.

A perfect and comprehensive review. Outstanding in every way.

I love mine, but it'll be limited to my Cool Blue Starwalker unless I find another suitable host for it.

Outstanding review. Thank you for assessing the many different characteristics, and for doing so comprehensively and comparatively. Dang, but you've set the bar high

Thanks for the comprehensive review. I've decided to order some and I have a pen that I will dedicate it to. So we will see how it goes. I will have to be very careful with it as if I'm not it appears I'll get it on everything!
PMS

What an excellent review. I was slightly relieved to read this paragraph - until I read it I thought it was just me; that in my annoyance at the feathering I had become careless, getting ink on stuff I've never done that to before.... At least it comes off skin relatively quickly (within 12 hours, and without my taking any special measures, it had disappeared from my fingers).

Simon

Great barking cheese, what a review!

With a tip o' the hat back to you, sir,

John

A very good review you've done. Thanks.

Wow, what a review! Packed full of good information! Thanks for going to that effort.

I was glad to see it performed well on Southworth cotton. I've been planning to purchase some for a while now.

While Baystate can be sneaky mean if you aren't watching, I love this stuff. I love the vibrant color. It just plain dances around me. I do try to take care when I'm using it at work, but I haven't had any mishaps. I do the refilling at home. I have it in my Pelikan M200, and the pen and ink just seem made for each other somehow. It has a medium nib, and the ink flows well, but I haven't had a problem either with nib creep or with dripping/overflow, so to speak. Maybe I got the best of the batch. I do enjoy it.

I gave a blue Safari to a coworker who really liked it. Separately, I'd told her about Baystate. She said she wanted to try it. I filled the Safari with Baystate when I gave it to her, and I did warn her to be careful of staining. She's really thrilled with it. So, I have an FP and Baystate convert in my office.

As a proud former resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I just sacrificed a yellow Pelikan Future to the Noodling Baystate Blue gods.

Bad news first: It immediately stained any part of the yellow plastic in came in contact with. Even bleach (25/75) has failed to get rid of the stain. I assume this is partly because of the low-quality plastic in this pen (it's probably similar to the ABS used in the now famous yellow Safari), and that the higher-quality materials of better pens will resist staining (though I'd like to see some ocular proof of this--as well as a learned commentary from someone who actually knows something about plastics). So far I've been an agnostic on this ink, but after actual experience with it, I agree with those who think it needs some sort of warning label. The staining qualities of this ink do not fall inside the strike zone of what experienced fountain pen users expect in their inks.

Good news: The now bluish-yellow Pelikan is my dedicated Baystate Blue pen. I absolutely love the color. It is deep, rich, and vibrant. I've been up late grading essays from students in my literary criticism class, and the shift from Widowmaker to Baystate Blue gave me enough energy to get through to the end (that actually sounds pretty pathetic, doesn't it?). Many people have commented on the feathering problems with this ink: I haven't found the feathering to be any more problematic than that of any other inks I have (though it does feather on low-quality paper, but not more than other inks I have with this problem). One definitely needs to be careful with this ink, but I think my ink rack would be incomplete without it.

For both the ink and, especially, the review - Fantastico!

Bleach takes it off the skin in seconds. Doesn't matter whether it's pure bleach or the "common water" solution that Nathan recommended.

However, bleach doesn't seem to be able to touch Baystate when it's dried on oak parquet flooring - one of the unexpected drips I mentioned and didn't notice until too late.

If BSB dries completely on your fingers, bleach will greatly reduce the stain but it will not remove it. I let some of this ink dry on my fingers and then I literally poured bleach over my fingers and scrubbed. Removed a lot of it, but certainly not all. Maybe if I soaked my hand in bleach for five minutes??? Don't know, but a quick shot of straight bleach then rubbed and washed off did not fully do the trick.

However, I have taken down a cup of the "Kool Aid" and I now enjoy this ink and plan to continue using it. j

Bummer. I wonder about the yellow and blue combo. If you haven't already, maybe try regular ol' Isopropyl alcohol? I read here that someone a few years ago used it on their yellow plastic pen that had stained with PR blue ink, I believe. I gave it the long shot, being Baystate and all, and I used it on my red plastic pen that was stained even though some thought it would not work. It did work. There is a downside to this as the pen plastic didn't like Isopropyl, and some of the red pigment of the pen came off, too. Not enough to be noticeable beyond a slightly dulled finish, but I noticed.






Yeah, I'm still cautious with it, but I have yet another bottle of the stuff on the way.


(edited my grammar)

I tried isopropyl alcohol on the stains Baystate Blue left on my yellow Lamy; didn't make the slightest difference.

Simon

Excellent review, very comprehensive.

I still want this ink...

Excellent review. I got a bottle of Baystate Blue and have tried it in four different pens (all with blue or black sections). So far, it dries out in in all of them if I don't use the pen for a day. Since I rarely use the same pen two days in a row, I shall keep some water by my desk to dip my Baystate Blue-bearing pens before writing.

Wow, this review is chock full of useful information! I say we all chip in and buy this guy a scanner.

I have a Pear Tree sample in one of my Pelikans. It's definitely a vivid ink-- a bit too vivid, maybe, although I never thought I'd say such a thing. To my eyes, it strongly resembles an old marker we used to have lying around the house.

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Great review! As comprehensive as a scientific study.

I noticed that for fine-nib pens, Baystate Blue could become a killer by clogging up the nibs. But wet broad ones achieve their top brilliance with it. It's the most beautiful bluest blue I have ever seen.

Thank you for this excellent review!

Not necessarily. I've had it for three weeks in a fine nibbed Sheaffer Valor and for nearly that long in a black cross-hatched Pilot Elite with a Japanese fine nib (EF western) with no problems at all. Both start up as soon as they touch the paper even after sitting nib-up for a few days without use. I think it's a case of YMMV.

When you say that it stained some nibs, what was the nib material that became stained? Thanks for a very thorough review.

I image there is no more bit of information that one could think of in an ink review that hasn't been provided here yet! Very well done! It's not an ink review - it's a scientific approach to a very good ink! Hope you could do more reviews like that. I've enjoyed reading your review a lot - outstanding!

Here is another vote for terrible feathering! Although it does not feather on the office letter head, so a great signature ink.

I tried Baystate Blue in two of my pens: a Waterman Edson Diamond Black and a Waterman L'Etalon. The ink performed very well, with a nice bright blue color that hasn't changed since I set it to paper, but also a tendency to stain tremendously. After seeing it stain my kitchen sink I decided I'd had enough of it and discharged it from both of my Watermans. It turned the bottom rounded feeder of my Edson a purple color and I was not able to clean it off with a paper towel. After no success, I decided to grab a couple of Q-Tips and 70% isopropyl alcohol and voila! the Baystate came off of the feeder at once, with no damage. Thank goodness!

I'm going to be very careful about the pens I use it in in the future.