Greetings everyone -

Noodler's Le Colour Royale is one of my favorite ink colors, but it bleeds in my Moleskine. I can use it in my EF, but have to turn my head against the "blood dots" (as I like to call them) on the reverse side of the paper.

Does anyone know of a similar color - a dark saturated blue? (leaning towards violet/purple is fine)

I don't have Le Colour Royale to compare it to, but PR's DC Supershow Blue is a nice dark saturated blue. It does not lean towards violet/purple to my eye. I'm not sure you will get better performance however.

Aurora Blue has a slight hint of violet, and is well saturated. Visconti Blue is very nicely saturated, but I can't recall if it has any violet. I've never used a Moleskine, so I can't comment on the bleed through problem. Neither ink bleeds through Cambridge pads or Clairefontaine, but I generally use pens with fine or extra-fine nibs.

I've considered the Supershow Blue. I've only had my first experience with Private Reserve inks yesterday, when I got a sample of Burgundy Mist fro Pear Tree pens. I liked it. Very saturated and very few blood dots.

As an aside, I've used this as a guide to color - http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/in...amp;colour=blue
but it really threw me off with the Noodler's Polar Blue. It looks so much darker on this page than it did when I wrote with it. It was light and chalky.....

I do have a an old disused Moleskine at home somewhere. I'll dig it out, write a few lines with DCSSB and let you know.

Private Reserve Tanzanite = Noodler's La Couleur Royale.

Oh Annie,

I have a sample of Tanzanite. The hue is similar but it's much, much lighter than the Le Colour Royale. Maybe if I mixed in a little Noodler's black.........

Omas Blue. It's bluetiful!

James

Hi James - I just looked at a handwritten review of the Omas Blue here in FPN. It's much to bright for me.

Here's my back story. I switched to FP's so i could write faster with less effort. My most favorite writing instrument for the last 30ish years has been a blue medium point Paper Mate stick pen, and for the last year, I've been trying to find a FP ink that emulates that color. Maybe I should be looking for a darker blue-black, rather than a blue-violet. I've tried Waterman Blue-black, (and I like it) but it's too light.

Maybe I should try PR's Midnight Blues, or Noodler's Midnight Black....

My PR Tanzanite is 10 years old so perhaps it darkens with age! I gave away my La Couleur Royale because it wasn't diffferent enough to keep. Diamine WES Imperial Blue has a purple tint and so does PR Black Magic Blue. Why not buy them all?

LOL - I might not buy them all, but I will certainly keep getting samples from Pear Tree Pens.

PR Black Magic Blue?....

-Bruce

I dug up an old Moleskine lined notebook and scribbled a few lines with DCSSB. There was bleedthrough. The pen was a Lamy 2000 fine nib.

I love Supershow Blue. I got my first bottle a few weeks ago and it is probably the coolest blue I own. It has the best shading of any of my blues. I only wish it was permanent.

I dilute all my PR inks with water. . . up to 50%. This makes them dry a lot faster.

Stephanie - if you like, I can send you a sample of Supershow. Just PM me your address and it will be on its way Monday.

If Supershow is a bit too bright, it's my understanding that Supershow Electric is a bit darker.

Does your Supershow Blue show reddish or magenta shading at saturated points of letters? I stopped using it because it started looking like casino carpet coloration! Maybe those areas are showing super-saturation?

I LOVE this ink want to use it...I wonder if diluting it is the way to go. Does the color become diluted too?

Yes, Supershow Electric Blue is darker than Supershow Blue. However, if you are having bleedthrough and feathering with LCR, you WILL have it with DCSSEB.

I have tried to use it in my moleskines, and it looks as if my writing grows legs due to the horrendous feathering.

If you love the colors you have, I would have to recommend trying a more FP friendly paper...Paperchase makes some really nice notebooks, or Rhodia, or Clairfontaine, or....there are simply too many to list...

Aurora Blue ?

I'll second this. It's dark, it's saturated, and it's a tinge on the purplish side. As an added bonus, I've found it to be quite 'waterproof' in that it leaves a very legible blue remnant on the paper even after soaking for 30 minutes in warm water.

I've not found it to have any issues with feathering, either . . .

I'll third this recommendation. I'm using it now in my Decimo. I love this color.

Not to jump on the bandwagon, but I really like Black Magic blue, too. Dark blue with purple overtone. And it does have a decent water resistance.

i have the following blue colors, and i love a saturated blue with some shading.

waterman florida blue: this was the first non-sheaffer/non-parker blue i used. it used to be somewhat different, had more violet in it than it does now to the point that when i first saw le coleur royale i actually thought it was a recreation of the original florida blue. i'm liking it more lately cause its a good blue and low maintenance, and it shows shading.

PR midnight blue: this is, in my opinion, the closest color to japanese indigo that i have seen in fountain pen ink. it is very saturated, and it looks to me like almost black with blue tones. i like this color, but would like more shading.

PR supershow blue: cool color, is not particularly exciting to me

PR tanzanite: reminds me somewhat of old waterman blue, but very intense and definitely leaning to violet. i like this color a lot, wish it shaded more.

montblanc blue: this color is edging towards crayon blue, has shading, probably not intense enough for people who love really saturated colors.

PR american blue: this is the same blue almost as the blue in the US flag. i like this color, has some shading

PR black magic blue: this is a very very deep blue violet, very saturated. i really like this color.

Aurora blue: this is very very bright boinky blue violet, on the blue side of that color. love aurora blue but there is pretty much no shading to it.

pelikan blue: nice blue, tending towards blue violet just slightly, does shading, probably looks not-intense next to PR colors.

sheaffer blue: very safe, nice blue, not even remotely intense next to PR colors, but will not stain your fingers or anything else. had i children using fountain pens, this is their color.

parker blue, not penman: why? washable, boring, almost the same price as PR.

lamy blue: very dark and yet not exciting.

duke blue: now called blue black because it IS blue black

namiki blue: see sheaffer.

herbin myosotis blue: prettier than sheaffer same washable qualities

herbin bleu nuit: this is a gorgeous and subtle color. if you love shading, this is a great color.

yard o led blue black: apparently this is made by diamine. its gorgeous, very vintage looking, shades, and low maintenance.

rubinato jasmine blue: beautiful dark cobalt blue scented with jasmine. hideously expensive but worth every penny.

parker penman blue: one of the most gorgeous blues ever created. NEVER had one bit of trouble with it EVER.

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what i have learned about ink:

you cannot put ink in a pen, sit the pen on its side for two months and then blame the ink if the pen does not write or gets clogged. you cannot even blame the ink if you leave the ink in the pen and the pen is standing in the pen jar nib up for two months. ink evaporates.

although this may hit people as sacrilege, i clean all my pens with a solution of windex and water. all of them get cleaned this way, from my 1920s giant orange duofold to my montblanc 146, to my sheaffer gold nostalgia and all points in between.
windex. water. gets everything out.

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what i learned about noodlers ink:

noodlers makes colors that i find interesting. i'm particularly fond of zhivago and tianamen. noodlers expertise appears to be in the area of near-blacks from what i can tell from using the inks. they are fairly low maintenance inks, in my experience, although what i have read here has convinced me that i am not going anywhere near baystate blue. i wish that these inks shaded some, and i am one of those who would not buy iraqi indigo because of the label. but i say: God bless Nathan for making real ink in the age of Microserfs, and i thank him with all my heart and hope that he goes brick and mortar retail someday soon. i like to shop local when i can.

Namiki blue is very water-resistant; I don't think that Sheaffer blue is.

in my experience, namiki is not resistant to tea.
but then i tend to overturn cups, not just a few drops.

my mileage no doubt varies.
thank you though.

Hear hear...or is it here here? The former seems to make more sense as exclamation, so I'm going with that for now.

I don't always appreciate Nathan's seemingly-defensive attitude when people who have problems with his ink are critical of its performance or its behavior. That said, I'll use his inks as long as he makes them, gladly recommend them based on my experience with them, and would hate to use only "food coloring" (as one of Nathan's posts calls certain inks) to the exclusion of Sequoia, Legal Lapis, Ottoman Azure, Red-Black, and Dragon's Napalm, etc. And Iraqi Indigo/Victory Violet will never grace my ink shelf.

I've never thought about the near-black bias in Nathan's offerings, especially because he has so many non-black offerings (the russian inks, firefly, white whale, blue ghost, and various others that don't venture into near-black). But you're right, and I think his near-blacks are terrific. I'm especially fond of red-black when it separates, rather than combines to look reddish-brown. Shading is tricky for some of these inks, but I've found his non-bulletproof inks to be reasonably nice in that department...especially Ottoman Azure, which seems to be a Noodler's version of Supershow Blue ... at least at my desk.

Wow. Sorry this is so long. Apparently your post struck a nerve.