Does anyone know whether the ink that comes in Pilot Varsity pens is the same colour as the equivalent ink in Japanese Pilot Ink bottles (I've seen bottles of Pilot red, blue, blue-black and black from Japanese sources online)? I realize that Namiki and Pilot are essentially the same, and can get Namiki Blue easily enough, but it's nothing like the ink in a blue Pilot Varsity, which is a deep but vibrant colour, reminiscent of Levenger's Cobalt but without the latter's flaws.

TIA

Simon

I can try to get hold of a blue Varsity and do a comparison for you. Alternatively I can send you a box of blue Pilot cartridges if you PM me with your address. (The cartridges only fit Pilot's/Namiki's own pens, though.)

Hi Simon,
I just got one of the blue pilot varsity pens last week. The pens have a rich deep purplish blue as you say, and to my surprise are quite water resistant. If you want an ink that is similar, you can take any deep saturated blue ink, and add a bit or Private reserver tanzinite to it, and you can get a pretty similar color.

Someone else was looking for an ink to match the varsity blue pens last week also.
on this thread
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...=72470&st=0

I did some mixes, see if any of those might suit you.
The glacier blue/tanzanite mix is probably the closest match to the ink in the varsity blue pen. Glacier blue isn't a super saturated blue but it gives the mix a bit of water resistance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29358521@N03/...839382/sizes/l/

As best I understand it, the Pilot Varsity pens use different inks from the ones that Pilot sells for regular fountain pens. The ink in the Varsity pens is indeed much more bright and vibrant....and I love the blue. I suspect that this ink would not be safe for regular fountain pens.

Let me add that I have always been a big fan of the inks used in Sharpie markers. I suspect that they, too, would not be safe for fountain pens.

That was me. I ordered some glacier blue from Swisher. I will let you know how it looks compared to the pilot varsity blue.

Look at Michael McNeil's post in for sale. The ink in his avitar. What ink and color would you say that is? On my monitor, it looks alot like the pilot varsity blue to me.

Most kind of you to offer, but this is hardly worth the inconvenience - I was planning to try some of Pilot's new inks, so I might as well add a bottle of this to my order; it's cheap enough.

Simon

Thanks for the scans - several of those colours look most enticing!

Simon

I wouldn't put any money on it, but to me it looks like violet vote, a little too light to be the varsity blue, on my monitor anyways.

The scans give you an idea, but you can see a bigger difference between the inks on paper than on the screen, they look a little better too.

I don't think my scanner is very good, so that doesn't help.

Superbleu,

I think that you are right. It is lighter. Varsity blue is darker. You think that it is Violet Vote. Interesting.

I ordered some glacier blue. I want to see it by itself and then put some tanzinite in it for puple.

Thanks for the scans the other day.

The Varsity is cheap enough that, when I found out that my wife enjoyed the purple color therein, I just bought several of that color, pulled the feed out(gently) and poured it into an old big Pelikan bottle that I had in storage. Then I eyedropper filled them with Nightshade and sealed them back with heavy contact cement. They work very well and the wife has a massive bottle of her favorite ink color.

Good thing I didn't put any money on it, I PM'd him and the ink he used is vintage Sheaffer Skrip washable blue.

Does anyone else have nightmarish feathering problems with the Varsity ink? I love the color, but depending on the weather it spreads like mad. I enjoy the ability to pop the nib and pour in different ink. Private Reserve works very well in the Varsity.

Superbleu,



I did also. I was a bit surprised tat it wasn't violet vote.

I got my glacier blue. I like it right out of the bottle without any purple. I bought a rotring core from him. So, the ink that resulted on the page was virgin.

Pentierun,

Does anyone else have nightmarish feathering problems with the Varsity ink? I love the color, but depending on the weather it spreads like mad. I enjoy the ability to pop the nib and pour in different ink. Private Reserve works very well in the Varsity.

I haven't had any trouble with feathering.

Someone else asked him also, he said 3 people asked him the same question, and I pointed him to this thread.

Good deal you like the Glacier blue straight. It is a quick dry ink, the trade off is it does tend to feather on lower quality paper. It does become a nuisance you can add some tanzinite and it will help minimize the feathering.

The varsity blue ink does feather a little more than the black, but nothing too crazy. I don't notice the weather affecting it. Then again the weather doesn't change much here, it's ALWAYS raining in Seattle.

The bottled Pilot/Namiki Blue differs in many ways from the Varsity ink. Color and feathering properties are different, but most importantly (to me) the Varsity ink washes right off with water, while the bottled Pilot Blue has admirable water resistance, though not quite bullet-proof.

I have used Pilot Blue in many different pens though not yet in a Varsity pen. Gotta try that next time.

Today I received in the mail several bottles of Pilot (including Iroshizuku) ink from Japan and, on the off-chance anyone cares, can answer my own question re the blue (the only Varsity I have at hand where I have a bottled equivalent). The answer is a definite "no." Standard Pilot Blue ink has no hint of purple and isn't as dark (this also makes it different from the blue Pilot cartridges I have, which are more purple and darker). Pilot Blue is almost the same as Namiki Blue, the main difference being that the latter is a touch paler, as though slightly watered down (I guess batch variation could explain the difference). I've not compared their water resistance.

Simon