Blue Chaos

January 3, 2018

That confirms it doubly, all German "Königsblau" are washables, and "löschbar" means "erasable", which is German's equivalent to the English "washable" in this context.

January 3, 2018

Another blue with good contrast, good behavior as a daily ink on various office paper types, and good economy: Pilot Blue-Black. (It's not one of the Iroshizuku inks; just plain Pilot.) If you get the huge 350ml bottle (IIRC it costs a little over $20 for 350ml) you'll have a steady ink supply for a long time.

It has the added advantage of being somewhat water-resistant. Not to the extent of the Noodler's inks, for instance, but Pilot Blue-Black will survive a water or coffee spill with no problems.

Pilot Blue is also good, but since you specifically mentioned "good contrast" as one of your preferences, I will not recommend Pilot Blue, as it is just a little bit muted, I think. Still more vivid than the Waterman blues, but not as vivid as the Diamines that have been mentioned so far. Pilot Blue does also have some water resistance, however, which may be a benefit in the office.

January 3, 2018

Another blue with good contrast, good behavior as a daily ink on various office paper types, and good economy: Pilot Blue-Black. (It's not one of the Iroshizuku inks; just plain Pilot.) If you get the huge 350ml bottle (IIRC it costs a little over $20 for 350ml) you'll have a steady ink supply for a long time.

It has the added advantage of being somewhat water-resistant. Not to the extent of the Noodler's inks, for instance, but Pilot Blue-Black will survive a water or coffee spill with no problems.

Pilot Blue is also good, but since you specifically mentioned "good contrast" as one of your preferences, I will not recommend Pilot Blue, as it is just a little bit muted, I think. Still more vivid than the Waterman blues, but not as vivid as the Diamines that have been mentioned so far. Pilot Blue does also have some water resistance, however, which may be a benefit in the office.

I second this recommendation!!!!! I know you're in Greece and I'm not sure what's available there. Brands to look at:

Pilot Blue Black

Any of the Diamines (they're pretty common and well regarded and probably available everywhere.)

Pilot Iroshizuku

Sailor Jentle

Montblanc (expensive but likely to be available and well regarded.)

Lamy (From what I have read, Lamy inks are generally good, reliable workhorse inks, nothing spectacular to write home about, they just work.)

Pelikan

I have no idea what you have available but any of these will be better than washable blue if you don't like washable blue.

March 23, 2018

DDP1,
I will gladly send you few carts of Majestic blue and Sapphire blue, if you haven’t made your order yet.

MsRedpen was so kind that sent me a few cartridges and couple of pages of hand written samples of various inks.

I really cannot thank her enough for doing such a nice thing for a complete stranger.

The Sapphire didn't disappoint me. It's a great colour with all the qualities that I was looking for. It even dries nicely on glossy paper. It would be perfect if it was more blue and less purplish, but for the time being I m happy with it.

I was considering the Blue Velvet and the Visconti Blue because they seemed more blue, but they don't seem to be available here.

Now, I'm wondering if the Asa-gao is the next step up and if it's worth it. Is it?

There was an issue with the Majestic samples that we 'll figure out soon once the next round of our snail mail goes around and there might be an interesting story to share.

I was really surprised by the sample of the Diamine Dark Forest. (Not available here) It is amazing how deep and serious it is, yet still green. If I were to name an alternative to blues and blacks, I d call some kind of dark brown, but this green is really amazing. I have no other word for it.

I now have some samples on actual paper from various inks and that is great for any future ink that may look interesting as I have something to compare it to.

One last thing that I 've found out is that all the FPs that I had seen in the past been used had horrible ink. Washable, too light, aged or simply bad. I was wondering why FP ink isn't as good as gel pens, but it actually is, maybe even better.

Thank you MsRedpen

Edited March 23, 2018 by DDP1

March 23, 2018

double post

Edited March 23, 2018 by DDP1

March 23, 2018

[...]

One last thing that I 've found out is that all the FPs that I had seen in the past been used had horrible ink. Washable, too light, aged or simply bad. I was wondering why FP ink isn't as good as gel pens, but it actually is, maybe even better.

Thank you MsRedpen

Same, that's the reason in the first place why I stopped using fpens and thought I'd never go back. All there ever was - in the shops or supplied with the pen - was either dreadful washable blue (pale to begin with and then fades horribly) or just simple black.

As stationery addict I had exhausted all the supply offered in shops - ballpoints, gel pens, rollerballs - and decided to give fpens another try. Liked the fpens, but noticed that the blue ink was as bad as my memory told me. Luckily I found out there's actually much more ink out there! Decent blues... Sadly, no decent ink available in shops, so I have to order inks.. Unless I want washable blue, that's available in ample supply in carts and bottles.. No thanks!

Seems you have gone a somewhat similar way as me and finally you came into decent ink! Have fun

March 23, 2018

MsRedpen was so kind that sent me a few cartridges and couple of pages of hand written samples of various inks.
I really cannot thank her enough for doing such a nice thing for a complete stranger.

The Sapphire didn't disappoint me. It's a great colour with all the qualities that I was looking for. It even dries nicely on glossy paper. It would be perfect if it was more blue and less purplish, but for the time being I m happy with it.
I was considering the Blue Velvet and the Visconti Blue because they seemed more blue, but they don't seem to be available here.

Now, I'm wondering if the Asa-gao is the next step up and if it's worth it. Is it?

There was an issue with the Majestic samples that we 'll figure out soon once the next round of our snail mail goes around and there might be an interesting story to share.

I was really surprised by the sample of the Diamine Dark Forest. (Not available here) It is amazing how deep and serious it is, yet still green. If I were to name an alternative to blues and blacks, I d call some kind of dark brown, but this green is really amazing. I have no other word for it.

I now have some samples on actual paper from various inks and that is great for any future ink that may look interesting as I have something to compare it to.

One last thing that I 've found out is that all the FPs that I had seen in the past been used had horrible ink. Washable, too light, aged or simply bad. I was wondering why FP ink isn't as good as gel pens, but it actually is, maybe even better.

Thank you MsRedpen

if you are on the quest for true blue your road can be very long

however you have had some right hints so far

Diamine sapphire is a lovely blue (one of my favourites) but it is sapphire, so leans on purple

Diamine Majestic is a nice blue, that I tend to consider a "sea blue" because it slightly leans on green

(if you check through the FPN threads you will also find that a mixture of these two, researched by a FPN member - dcwaites - is considered one of the closest replicas of the discontinued and much sought after Parker Penman Sapphire, a very nice blue. My easy subjective variant of this replica is a mix 1:1 of these to inks to reach a rather neutral but saturated blue).

Visconti blue I consider to be almost royal blue, less purple than Diamine Sapphire, rather similar in colour shade to Omas blue, Aurora blue, pelikan Royal blue, Montblanc royal blue

Asa Gao is a very nice vivid blue, but still not exceedingly neutral and somewhat similar to Diamine sapphire, if just a tad less purple and a tad brighter.

One of the most neutral blue inks I know and like is Waterman Florida blue (now renamed Serenity). It is an easily found ink.

Funny enough I bought my last bottle, still in the Florida livery, in Athens during a business trip, in a downtown stationery shop.

The fact it was still in the Florida box is what triggered the purchase in fact (I preferred the old name), and I was happy to get it despite the shop keeper kept saying the ink was new...

March 23, 2018

PS

reading your first post I saw you did consider Waterman blue (I suppose Florida / Serenity)

I do not consider it to be a weak ink, although it is true that when it dries it can fade slightly (similarly to but not as much as Pelikan Royal).

I you can find it, your best alternative then is probably Private Reserve Electric DC blue, very similar in shade to Florida, but slightly darker and much more saturated, and resistant to fading once on paper.

There are many more alternatives out there though, which is what all the fun is about...

March 24, 2018

Same, that's the reason in the first place why I stopped using fpens and thought I'd never go back. All there ever was - in the shops or supplied with the pen - was either dreadful washable blue (pale to begin with and then fades horribly) or just simple black.
As stationery addict I had exhausted all the supply offered in shops - ballpoints, gel pens, rollerballs - and decided to give fpens another try. Liked the fpens, but noticed that the blue ink was as bad as my memory told me. Luckily I found out there's actually much more ink out there! Decent blues... Sadly, no decent ink available in shops, so I have to order inks.. Unless I want washable blue, that's available in ample supply in carts and bottles.. No thanks!

Seems you have gone a somewhat similar way as me and finally you came into decent ink! Have fun

Not similar. Exactly the same way to the last letter!

March 24, 2018

Not similar. Exactly the same way to the last letter!

I wonder how many more like us are out there, forsaking excellent pens because of shoddy ink, not knowing there's so much better out there!

March 24, 2018

I'm using Majestic Blue in one of my Pelikans and it's great, although it has a red sheen. I'd like to try asa blue as well, but a really interesting blue is Platinum Blue/black , which is in fact a lot more blue than others. Have a look at this page http://www.jetpens.com/blog/blue-fountain-pen-ink-comparison/pt/387 and compare. You can find Noodler's, some Diamine (they are expecting more), Platimum and many other inks here in Greece too. I think you know where, but if you want more information, pm me !