I love my Baystate Blue and I love all my Noodler's inks, but a lot of my pens can't handle Baystate Blue. I am looking for a well behaved substitute. As far as I can tell, some candidates are:

1) Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue

2) Private Reserve American Blue

3) Visconti Blue

4) Herbin Saphire Blue (Eclat De Saphire?)

I want a "get in your face " blue. What do you think?

Thanks

-Mario

I have a new bottle of Baystate Blue. I also have PR DC Supershow Blue, PR American Blue and Visconti Blue. None of them come anywhere near the colour of BSB.

I don't think that there is any other ink on the market that is like BSB.

From a recent discussion on the FPN, this is a response from Nathan himself --



Further on in the discussion, he goes on to talk about modern pens, and their problems with his inks.

I agree that none of these inks is as striking as BSB, but I do think that PR DC Supershow Blue is a wonderfully vivid ink. For me, it just about has the edge on American Blue when it comes to the 'in your face' quality that you're looking for.

Neil

PR Lake Placid Blue is a lighter, brighter blue than Supershow or American blue. Perhaps that might be more suitable, while still being a well-behaved ink.

First blue fave = ECLAT DE SAPHIR
Second blue fave = Florida Blue

Nothing out there looks quite the same as Baystate Blue, but you can create a fairly vibrant, saturated true blue by mixing PR American Blue or Supershow Blue with PR Tropical Blue (c. 50:50 should do the trick). I actually prefer it (not quite as "noisy"). If you want to make it dry faster, dilute with water c. 3:1 ink:water (this has almost no effect on the colour and increases shading).

Simon

I am with lapis here. My favorite blue is by far the Herbin Eclat de Saphir.

I find Omas blue to be more saturated and a better intensity match than éclat de sapphire, but éclat de sapphire is a better color match to Baystate blue. Both inks are nice.

Stephen

Mario:
I feel the same way about Bay State Blue. I keep going back to Aurora Blue. It is vibrant and has a very slight touch of purple to it. Most important, it is very smooth flowing and cleans out nicely. Another bright blue is Waterman's Florida Blue. Lighter than Aurora, it has all the fine qualitites of Watermans inks. Since I use pens with view windows, I avoid ink that will stain them. I know I'm safe with these two inks. When I want a bulletproof Noodler blue, I use Iraqi Indigo. This is a "subdued" shade with a kind of matte finish, so it won't satisfy those who want an "in-your-face" blue.
Cheers,
Gerry Berg

I have been buying my inks from Swisher Pens. Great prices and great service and they sell Herbin. I posted this topic because I am about to place an order and I wanted the combined wisdom of this great forum. However in their site they don't have Eclat De Saphir but rather Sapphire Blue. I assume it's the same ink (is it?).

How well behaved are Eclat de Saphir and DC Supershow Blue? I think those are the two I'm going with. I may also get a bottle of the Visconti Blue.

Thanks,

-Mario

I think a well-behaved blue ink is Waterman Florida Blue. Since I've stopped using Baystate Blue, I've subbed in this Waterman ink.

Hi Mario:

No way of using Baystate Blue, simply does not flow in any pen. Too bad, it is a beautiful color. I received my bottle three weeks ago, tried in three diferent pens, with too bad results, had to cleaned them, retiring the ink and tried another ink,

Julio

Mario:

I agree about BSB. I love it, but the dye (according to Nathan) stains too many of my nibs and doesn't work well with a lot of my pens. While at the DC show I went to the massive ink table and tried Glacier Blue. I really liked it a lot. Don't want to represent that it is like BSB - it is not. But it is very pretty.

I spopke with Chuck at Swisher as I couldn't find this ink anywhere. Turns out Nathan makes it only for Swisher. I ordered 2 bottles and hope to have them late this week. I would give it a try though.

Andy

Agree with those before me that nothing else is like BSB. That said, my second favorite blue is Visconti Blue. Very well behaved, rich, and vibrant, just not "jump off the page and smack you in the face" vibrant like BSB.

You say that auroa blue has hint of purple. I wonder how close this is to pilot vpen blue. That also has a sutle hint of purple in it.

My vote is for visconti. Get it in the refill bottles, that way you can save money.