First Love Sapphire - Bung Box (Sailor)

[visvamitra]

Sailor is my favourite ink maker. Sadly their most interesting inks are available only in Japan or from internet retailers. There are few japanese shops famous for their wide and interesting range of Sailor inks. One of most well-known is Bung Box. A lot of people were taken by interesting bottles and intriguing colors. It seems however that recently many ink enthusiasts started to shy away from this line since Bung Box inks became much more bitterly expensive than other Sailor inks.

The line consists of quite a few colors. My list is incomplete and most of the names aren’t translated well. If you have full list of BB inks and/or could gheklp me with correcting english names, help me sort this out

1. 4B Blue/Black
   
2. BB Espresso
   
3. Dandyism
   
4. Emerald
   
5. Enshu Black
   
6. Fresh Oranges of Lake Hamana
   
7. Fuyiyama Blue
   
8. Hamanako Eel
   
9. Imperial Purple
   
10. Ink of the Witch
    
11. L’Amant
    
12. Luminous Green
    
13. Melancholic Gray
    
14. Mocha
    
15. Music Black
    
16. Nostalgia
    
17. Oamezaki Sunset
    
18. Omaezaki Ocean
    
19. Omaezaki Blue
    
20. Orange
    
21. Pink
    
22. Ruby
    
23. Sapphire
    
24. Silent Night
    
25. Soleil
    
26. Tears of Clown
    

Before I write few words about the ink allow me to start by saying thank you mmg122 for sending me samples of different inks.

First Love Sapphire is stunning color – silky smooth, saturated, rather well behaved. It shades a lot. While I’m not usually interested in blue inks this one appeals to me. I believe someone said it can considered as nice replacement choice for Parker Penman Sapphire. Maybe there’s som,ething to this words. While Penman Sapphire still costs more though, First Love Sapphire isn’t that far away, especially for europeans (price of the ink, shipment, taxes).

The ink offers no water resistance but apart from that it really does stand out from the sea of otger blue inks.

Ink splash

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

Software ID

Tomoe River, 90 g – Kaweco Sport Classic, eyedropper, B

Leuchtturm1917, Lamy Al-Star, Fine

Cheap no-name notebook, Lamy Al-Star, broad nib

Water resistance

Edited August 6, 2016 by visvamitra

[AndyYNWA]

It really is nice......

[ehemem]

Beautiful. And that's coming from someone who prefers Blue-Blacks. Too bad it doesn't have water resistance...

[Ergative]

How lovely. The blue/purple shading made me say "ooh" loud enough to get my husband's attention from the kitchen, although when I explained what had aroused my outcry he did not seem interested. Philistine.

[dcwaites]

I, too have a sample of BBS, along with the original PPS, and its other replicants like Noodler's Liberty's Elysium and Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue, and the blends Noodler's Inkyman Sapphire (thank you Amber) and my own Faux Penman Sapphire #9.

 

When used in the same dip pen the BBS comes out lighter and brighter than PPS, but shades and sheens more. But when used in a fountain pen over a few weeks, especially in a medium-wet medium-fine pen, the differences seem to disappear, other than that BBS dries more slowly. The original PPS is a relatively quick-drying ink, as, I think were all the Parker Penman line, and this, I think lead to the original problems with drying out in the pen.

 

I am still trying to decide if I want to spend a good handful of tens of dollars to buy a bottle, especially when I was able to buy a few bottles worth of PPS at a good price a few years ago, and I have quantities of PR DC SS Blue, NIS and FPS #9 on hand.

 

It was interesting to see the touch of green in the drop on the paper towel. My earlier attempts to replicate PPS did include a bit of green.

[migo984]

Thanks for your review, Vis. It's reminded me that I have a bottle of BBS that I don't use very often. I think it becomes over-shadowed by other blues that I use in preference.

 

It is a very nice ink though.

[OCArt]

My thoughts are similar to those of dcwaites. I have a bottle of BBS that I bought from someone on FPN and I found it to be VERY similar to Diamine Blue Velvet, PR American Blue and other similar inks. It's nice but not magical.

[TSherbs]

it's cool, but way beyond reasonable price range for me

[mmg122]

Apparently the story goes that the owner of BungBox likes PPS and requested Sailor ink mixers to create a similar ink for the BungBox line...hence, First Love Sapphire...and they are remarkably similar. I've begun using blue in my EDC pens after years of avoiding it. Liberty Ellysium, BungBox FL Sapphire and PPS are all interchangeable for me. Since the Goulet exclusive LE is the least expensive, I suspect it will win out as my goto blue.

 

Thanks for this review, Vis...beautifully done, as usual. Your ink splashes never cease to amaze/mesmerize me.

 

Mary

[cleosmama]

I really like this, but I find that Sailor Sky High/Soutan are impressive enough for me. But if I find it at the Dallas Pen Show, I might not be able to resist.

 

Thanks for your review Vis.

[whichwatch]

Thanks for a great review, as your reviews always are.

 

I tried BBS compared to PPS, Liberty's Elysium, PR American Blue, and several mixes of Amberlea Davis' Inkmyn Sapphire and I found BBS to be the closest match in my opinion.

 

I now have one bottle of PPS and two bottles of BBS, which probably for me represent a six lifetime supply. I always have at least one pen inked with BBS which I find is a beautiful, "just right" blue.

 

I enjoyed seeing your review of this gorgeous ink.

[visvamitra]

Thank you for kind words

[amberleadavis]

Yes, I do think this is a pretty ink. Thank you for all the effort you put in to doing these reviews.

[Pensei]

I think that tiny bit of green is what makes this such a special ink. Thanks for the fine review.

[Joban]

Very nice review. I have this ink and your review is spot on.

[Aelie]

Thanks for the review. I just tried out a sample of BBS last weekend, and it really is a special ink - it's the ink that comes closest to my idea of an archetypal blue ink. I already have inks similar to it, but I may still buy a bottle when I run out of my sample.

[KKay]

Great review, thank you so much. That color was gorgeous, and I LOVE SHADING.

[inkstainedruth]

Oh, this is pretty....

But the price! !

Not sure I can justify it....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[webgeckos]

Great review Vis.

 

I have a bottle of this and PPS, and it never dawned on me to do a side-by-side.

 

The blue with sheen that I have been using as everyday blue, is PR's Naples Blue, which HJBHalloween got me hooked on. To be really honest, I mostly draw with it, strange fictive drawings for my niece