I love the color of Legal Lapis - it's a gorgeous teal. But I only use it in my desk pen because the nib creep problem is so bad. Does anyone know of another brand of ink that has a color that looks like Legal Lapis? Or does anyone have a recipe for a mix that looks like it? It doesn't have to be bulletproof.

Judybug

I compared Pilot's Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo to Noodler's Legal Blue (thought it was Legal Lapis), and here's the result:



The Tsuki-yo is ever so slightly darker.

I haven't compared it side by side, but I think Legal Lapis is closer to Tsuki-yo than Legal Blue.

I saw the Tsuki-yo and Legal Lapis side-by-side recently when Ethernautrix had pens loaded in both. They were very close in color.

Alas, the Tsuki-yo is difficult to come by and (with shipping) expensive.

I've wondered the same thing, Judybug. I'm saving pen money rather than spending ink money, so I'm not going to spring for the Tsuki-yo (right now). However, I've noticed that my Parker Quink blue black sometimes looks a little like Legal Lapis, only less intense and less green. I wonder if mixing it with Blue Suede might bring it closer to LL?

A while back, I mixed up some Blue Suede with Polar Blue that looked a little like LL, but that mix, while quite attractive, had some flow/creep problems, so that probably wouldn't be what you're looking for.

Oh! I've also mixed Waterman Florida Blue with Blue Suede and come up with something LL like - you'd have to fiddle with the quantities to get the shade you want, especially since LL looks different in different pens.

I make the same mixes to get that elusive teal ink.

Another combo I tried recently is Waterman South Seas Blue with 2-3 drops of Havana Brown. It makes a blue teal with a deep undertone that creates nice shading. I'm still experimenting with it but I really like it so far. No flow problems either.

I love the look of Tsuki-yo. I wants it!

Pelikan Blue, Green and Black: Try it at 45/45/10 to start with, and then adjust from there for a perfect match.

I did this after buying a vintage BCHR pen, which the seller told me prefers Pelikan to all other inks. So since Pelikan ink is cheap here, I bought the three bottles and mixed me a "Legal Pelikapis". Not bulletproof of course, and less saturated. But the colour match is excellent and the ink is very well behaved.

QM2

Sheaffer Skrip blue-black is a little darker than LL, at least to my eyes. That might be a good base to start from, adding some blue.

I hesitate to make the suggestion because I'm one of those who don't see any green in LL, except on rare occasions. I'm more likely to see green in Skrip blue-black.

LL is my favorite ink, maybe because it's not the same color as your LL. Weird stuff.

I think that Diamine Blue Black is very close.

I find Diamine Prussian Blue to be similar to Noodlers Legal Lapis ( and somewhat water-resistance).

If you could snail-mail me a writing sample, I'll measure the color and show the exact delta from LL. If I measure the component inks individually too, I could suggest how to adjust the ratios to make a perfect match.

Basically, if you convert the measured RGB values to "optical density" values, the mixture will approximately add. In the mid 90's I worked for a company that made densitometers, including scanning robots that checked the huge web press sheets to make sure all the labels were the right color! I wrote code that did statistical analysis for QA and for adjusting the ink flow of the press. Seems like a lifetime ago now!

--John

Cool!

Try Noodler's Tahitian Pearl. Just about the same color but a better behaved ink (at least for me).

Andy