This was an overnight soak. The smaller square was applied after the soaked paper dried, and was the color originally in the larger rectangle. Hope this helps.





I noted with disappointment that the remaining color on some of my favorite inks wasn't a color I liked.

Paper is a Rhodia tablet. Pens used were a Visconti Opera Club and a Stipula Saturno.

I think I'm gonna make me some blue-black I actually like.....

Hmm, I seem to have forgotten to include Upper Ganges Blue.

Thank you for this, Deirdre.

And you forgot Swisher North Sea Blue

I know it's not an everyone's darling, but having included Antigua Blue - the North Sea Blue shall not be missed! Although I guess the results are the same

Nope, look on page one, near the bottom of the right hand column.

Thanks for this, very cool and informative.

It is disappointing to see how much of the ink washes away in most of these cases.... and in those cases where ink remains, it is an ugly color.

I suspect that there never will be a well-behaved, waterproof, fountain pen ink that is beautiful in color, both before and after soaking. Sharpie makes such an ink, but it works only in their pens, not in fountain pens.

Actually, I think I need to get some Noodler's Aquamarine. It stayed fairly close to its original color. I like the Navajo Turquoise, the Aquamarine would be a decent bulletproof choice in that range. The Gulfstream isn't too bad, either, but I think I'll try the Aquamarine first.

I already knew what would go and what would stay on the near-bulletproofs, so this soak test didn't upset me. There aren't any standard or near-bulletproofs that are going to remain standing as they were.

I suspect developing bulletproof inks isn't an easy science, or inexpensive. It may be why there are so few outside the black range.

Thanks for the scans, Deirdre. It's really appreciated.

Fantastic and informative review as usual, Deirdre. I'm surprised some of the lighter blues stand up the soaking so well. For comments I've heard I also expected the Aircorp BB to hold up better. Well, thanks for doing this. Is a lot of work!.

Oh! I'm sorry for my error. I'm running headless through the world. Thank you for hinting

looks like BBW and Dostoevsky lost a little of their original color... not completely eternal, then... some eternal inks smear a little bit of color (like FPN Galileo, or Legal Lapis), while other do not (or do so negligibly) like Iraqi Indigo and Djinn of the Eternal Flame.

thanks for this, Deirdre... your scans are always incredibly informative!!!

I'm surprised that Mannie blue has practically nothing remaining... darn, I was actually considering getting it for a gift for someone. Even if the remaining color is ugly on some inks, I think it's important that writing can be legible still. I think the near-bulletproof colors (here, things like Navy and standard Blue-Black, Ellis, and Aircorps) are some of Nathan's best inks, and I wish he'd make more like them, especially using non-black things as a base. I suppose we can just mix them ourselves... that's what I do.

Note Glacier Blue performs really darn well here. It is one such near-bulletproof ink with a non-black base. It is more vibrant than the full-bulletproof blue inks (actually, isn't it quite close to Lux Blue, though, IIRC?)

Glacier Blue is enough like Luxury Blue to be a less expensive alternative.

Still, I'm not loving many of the near-bulletproofs after the soak. I'd have hoped some would have a blue component remaining, even if it weren't the full-on blue.

Here's what I'll be keeping:
Antigua Blue (because it completely washes out)
Aquamarine
Baystate Blue
Boston Brahmin '06
Brittania's Blue Waves
Dostoevsky
FPN Van Gogh Starry Night Blue
Glacier Blue
Gulf Stream Blue
Legal Blue
Legal Lapis
Lightning Blue
Luxury Blue
Navajo Turquoise (cyan for mixing)
Navy (hate the color it washes out to, but love the color)
Ottoman Azure (just love the color)
Tahitian Pearl
Violet Vote


I'll be parting with:
Aircorps Blue-Black
Blue Black
Manhattan Blue
Midnight Blue
Nantucket Blue
Noodler's Blue
North Sea Blue
Pinstripe Homage
Squeteague (love the color, but not enough different from Legal Lapis to make the cut)
St. Elmo's Fire
Turquoise
Blue Black (Swisher)

As before, I'll probably figure out three-jar packages for them.

I'm so glad you did this test. That's way cool'a you, Deirdre!

What a great test! Did I miss something or was the FPN Starry Nights not tested with water? I only see the little box, not the long box...
I need me some of that Aquamarine now...

I received my bottle after the soak test, so it was not included.