Attached below is an image of a writing sample with Noodler's Ottoman Azure, and below that, the review proper. Regarding the image, "lorem ipsum" is a nonsense language used by printers to showcase a font/color (ie: it takes focus away from content and puts it on aesthetics). The water test was performed by submerging and agitating a sample swatch of the given ink in reverse osmosis water for thirty seconds, then letting it drip dry.

A key has been added, written on Clairefontaine paper, with a number of different inks for reference.

Standard Disclaimer: Image provided only to give a general sense of the color. The vibrance and nuance are typically lost when an ink is digitized.



Review

When I write a review, I first focus on color, and award an ink 0 to 100 based upon that alone, separate from other considerations. I then deduct points from the color score for defects (ie: lack of flow, creep, etc), to arrive at an overall score.

Color

When I first wrote with Ottoman Azure, I thought I had an ink that could best Noodler's Navy. After writing several pages, though, I realized I much preferred the Navy's darker color, and more vivid shading. This isn't to say Ottoman Azure is a mediocre ink. Quite nice, verging on great. If you like blue as opposed to dark blue or blue-black, at least give this one a try.

Azure is without a doubt the best word to describe this.

Color Score = 90

Deductions

Noodler's Ottoman Azure did not fair well on my water test.
-4

Overall Score = 86

Thanks for that good scan! I can see how so many people love this color.

The only thing I don't like about Ottoman Azure is the lack of water resistance. Lovely ink, really almost the color of those lovely tiles....

Peter

It's VERY similar to Noodler Blue, with a touch more turquoise IMHO

Thanks for the nice review. I love this ink, especially in medium and broad nibs - incredible shading!

I have a hard time understanding why you'd conduct a water test on an ink that isn't meant to resist water and include that in your score?

Ottoman Azure is susceptible to water not out of design, but because of the dyes used to arrive at the color, etc. If this ink could have been made as a water proof/resistant, it would have been. Many people look for water resistance in an ink. I've found that only people who seek out inks labeled as "washable" find washability desirable.

Thus, I've deducted points, because for me, from a practical standpoint, an ink that doesn't resist water should be docked, whether or not it is advertised as resistant.

I've said this in another of my reviews, and I'll repeat it here: I score inks globally on what I think are appropriate/desirable/necessary characteristics, regardless of how they are advertised. If you don't agree with my deductions, ignore them and focus on how I rated the color.

Why should an ink, or anything else, be something it is not advertised to be? I don't get it. I do not expect espresso to be tea, whether it is advertised as such or not.

I always wonder about the water resistance when I read a review, so like the format used a lot.

I like the info on water resistance also. PR's American Blue will wash away in a mist, Sailor's Jentle Blue-Black is fairly hardy. Both aren't advertised as permanent, but it's useful for some of us to have that kind of information.

Doug

Please see the above two posts. Ink is not advertised as putting a mark on the page when you press nib to paper, but one would expect it to do so. Similarly, these inks aren't advertised as "washable" or "bulletproof," so one inevitably wonders where they stack up. For some people, choosing Legal Lapis (advertised as water resistant) or Noodler's Navy (not advertised as water resistant, but also not advertised as washable) might very well come down to how the Navy performs on a water test, and without that information available, those interested would be left in the dark.

I offer these reviews as a service to the community, and I don't think they are bias or unfair, but they are fundamentally subjective, so take that into consideration when you read them.

Thanks to another FPN member for sending me a vial of Ottoman Azure via the Ink Exchange.

The files I present are calibrated correct values in the file, with an embedded ICC profile for Adobe RGB. You should be able to compare any of the scans side-by-side to see the difference, because the exposure and adjustment is exactly the same in each ink scan. To aid color perception on your monitor, there is a thin white border to show the paper color (the paper is faintly blue in sunlight) and a gray matte. The matte is perfectly neutral, so judge the color relative to that.



In the close-up you can better see the shading and variation, and in the extreme close-up you can see how much feathering it has.



So what color is it? Hue is 215°, and the color wheel is R=0 G=120 C=180 B=240 so it's on the Cyan side of perfect blue. Perception is as a kind of Blue, but it's numerically about half way between Cyan and Blue.

Starry Night is nearly the same Hue, but so much darker that it is a different perception. Lake Placid Blue is half way between perfect blue and this Azure. And PR Midnight Blues is between Azure and Lake Placid.






These images are hosted on my site, only to relieve the server burden. I specifically grant the right of FPN to re-host them, back them up, or otherwise to maintain continuity of this content, as they see fit.

Also some inks, while not advertised as such, are relatively water resistant such as Pilot's Blue. I like to know about water resistance qualities in ink reviews in general, because it's useful to know if I can expect a certain level of resistance.

This scan looks exactly as my Noodlers Blue. My Ottoman Azure is different colour, darker with more green inside. Almost similar to Diamine Prussian Blue.

Just another vote for the inclusion of water resistance information in an ink review. It's something I look for in any review I read, and something I test with any ink. I've found some odd results, esp with vintage inks- sometimes, a "washable" ink is more waterfast than the "permanent" inks. In the end, JJ's score isn't something you have to follow- if you have standardized your life around his ink review score but find the docking of points for lack of water resistance to be deeply disturbing then take his score and add the points back in. *ding!* instant review score that doesn't take water-resistance into account.

*shrug*

Great post on my favourite fountain pen colour! Noodler's Ottoman Azure has been my #1 ink colour since it was first released several years ago.

One way that I've described it is a "true blue suede" -- as contrasted with Private Reserve's Blue Suede (which is more of a green or teal suede). Its highlights, in a stub, italic or flex nib, is similar to the way blue suede looks when you brush it a certain direction, with the dark and light shading/highlights. What an amazing colour!

As for the water resistance debate, my personal take is that I do appreciate the extra info on colour fastness of an ink (Greg Clark did similar tests, if I remember correctly, although his Ink Sampler didn't have a 'rating' system), but when looking at the "score" of an ink, I will tend to add the minus points back in and keep any negative scores as a result of the lack of colour fastness as a very useful footnote...

Cheers,
Jimmy.