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Permanent, Blue Inks


Caeruleum

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Hello,

I am looking for a blue(ish) ink with certain features for everyday use and am thankful for suggestions.

The following characteristics are desired:

-blue colour

-permanence (waterproofness, and resistance is fine, but resistance against time, light and solvents wanted)

-no permanent staining

-little feathering

-little bleedthrough

-no smearing and smudging when dry, and when touched by fingers or hands which might transfer moisture onto the paper

-some shading

-interesting color (I'm open for opinions. I don't love flat royal blues)

-being produced by a larger company with some years of experience for the sake of reliability (Noodler's, Private Reserve, De Atramentis, Rohrer&Klingner and some other manufacturers don't score well here)

 

To sum it up, a well behaved, permanent blue, I guess. Low maintenance and cost are a plus.

 

I have tried several inks which fit some of those criteria.

(Platinum Pigment Blue fulfills many of those demands, stains quite seriously however and can look quite flat in my opinion.

Noodler's Navy offers a nice color with shading, partial permanence and relatively good behaviour but smears a little when dry and a lot when in contact with slightly wet fingers.

Pelikan Blue Black is quite permanent but boring in my opinion.

Platinum Blue-Black is mostly waterproof, but neither permanent nor interesting.

Pilot/Namiki Blue is almost completely water-resistant, but not permanent, looks okay, but rather flat.

Pelikan Topaz looks and behaves amazingly in my opinion but is by no means permanent.

Diamine Midnight Blue looks well but isn't permanent either.)

Sailor Sei-Boku could fit most criteria, but is also said to stain and smear somewhat.

 

I look forward to all suggestions and thank you.

Edited by Caeruleum
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MB permanent blue is ISO certified for permanence and has awesome shading.

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MB permanent blue is ISO certified for permanence and has awesome shading.

 

+1. You might also try Monteverde's Documental Blue. It's very well behaved.

Rationalizing pen and ink purchases since 1967.

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MB's Permanent Blue is (probably and/or definitely) the best permanent blue. A bit expensive but for that quality of permanence + maintenance, you can't go wrong. Also, you can get it anywhere, especially anywhere in the EU.

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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Noodler’s Bad Belted Kingfisher offers something different in color, and although it doesn’t shade much, it meets many of your other requirements.

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Regularly, when this comes up, I mention Koh-i-noor Document Blue. It fulfils all your requirements (except permanent staining, you don't say what you don't want stained), and is cheap to boot, only $5 a 50 ml bottle, including postage.

Also the Pilot inks - Blue or Blue-Black, if you want something a little darker.

 

There are no inks, as far as I know, that are certified to be archival over time, the same way that inkjet inks are certified.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


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Take a look at the KWZ IG inks, they come in many different blues (and other nice colours).

9a45-kwz-ink-iron-gall-samples-1-0-1-120

 

Anyway, my favorite permanent blue i Sailor Sei-boku.

YNWA - JFT97

 

Instagram: inkyandy

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Thank you for all your recommendations.

Concerning staining: I don't want to end up with stained demonstrater piston fillers and converters.

Iron gall should be fine in most modern inks but comes with some downsides. MB Permanent Blue and Sailor Sei-Boku definetely look good.

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Sailor Sei-Boku could fit most criteria, but is also said to stain and smear somewhat.

 

Sei-Boku does seem to stain a little bit, but it doesn't smear at all, at least in my experience. Personally I find the color very boring (I don't like blues all that much :P) but it's a really good ink. Works really well on bad paper too!

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Do you also mean resistance to UV light. I am afraid that is a problem for a blue ink.

Some fade, some change colour & then the unfortunate disappear completely.

The most amazing blue I have seen is Noodler's Baystate Blue. An electric spark in a bottle.

It stains converters, washbasins and flesh, but under UV it is the unfortunate one that disappears.

At the moment I am using Camel Royal Blue, which is a bit more exciting than Parker Super Quink Royal Blue.

A blue/black will have more fade resistance. There I use cheap Hero stuff extracted from cartridges because I can't get it in a bottle.

Diamine Majestic Blue looks blue/black as it comes. In a wet writing pen it had a red sheen.

To make it look like the colour samples I saw I diluted it

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Pilot blue or blue black as dcwaites suggests

They are overall good inks, but only waterproof not permanent unfortunately.

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Do you also mean resistance to UV light. I am afraid that is a problem for a blue ink.

Some fade, some change colour & then the unfortunate disappear completely.

The most amazing blue I have seen is Noodler's Baystate Blue. An electric spark in a bottle.

It stains converters, washbasins and flesh, but under UV it is the unfortunate one that disappears.

At the moment I am using Camel Royal Blue, which is a bit more exciting than Parker Super Quink Royal Blue.

A blue/black will have more fade resistance. There I use cheap Hero stuff extracted from cartridges because I can't get it in a bottle.

Diamine Majestic Blue looks blue/black as it comes. In a wet writing pen it had a red sheen.

To make it look like the colour samples I saw I diluted it

Cellulose reactive contents and pigments make it possible to have true blue inks which are very permanent.

Others like Lamy Blue Black fade over time even stored in closed files.

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Sei-Boku does seem to stain a little bit, but it doesn't smear at all, at least in my experience. Personally I find the color very boring (I don't like blues all that much :P) but it's a really good ink. Works really well on bad paper too!

Agree with all this, except that the colour is boring. I love the colour! :puddle: But we can't like the same things all of us, that would make a boring world.

YNWA - JFT97

 

Instagram: inkyandy

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Pilot blue black has good fade resistance according to what I've read, although this property means little to me.

In a notebook it doesn't fade much. If exposed to UV it fades almost to nothing.

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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In a notebook it doesn't fade much. If exposed to UV it fades almost to nothing.

all I know is that Amberlea Davis (the moderator of this forum and the ink expert we all respect on FPN) led a study (that I linked above) where samples were left out in the summer sun for long periods of time and pilot blue black was found to rate good compared to the other inks as far as fade resistance....
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all I know is that Amberlea Davis (the moderator of this forum and the ink expert we all respect on FPN) led a study (that I linked above) where samples were left out in the summer sun for long periods of time and pilot blue black was found to rate good compared to the other inks as far as fade resistance....

 

I would never dispute Amberlea's results, nevertheless I did the same to many inks and among blues off the top of my head (in just one week in a summer sun) results were:

 

pilot blue black was deep dark blue (used in a firehose vintage Pelikan) and turned to weird light-medium grey

iroshizuku kon-peki didn't change at all in any way

irohsizuku asa/gao became a tiny bit lighter (but really not much, hardly noticeable) with no colour shift

graf von faber castell cobalt blue didn't change at all (some of the most UV resistant maintenance free blues)

diamine sapphire became a weird light grey

diamine asa blue went through a colour shift but did a lot better than sapphire

 

Later (in 2-3 weeks) kon-peki and gvfc cobalt blue didn't change either and the change of asa-gao wasn't big, while pilot bb became a pale grey.

 

So, yes, Pilot BB stays legible (in a way most ballpoint refill pens do, ballpoint - not gel, some gel refills are very resistant), it becomes grey and pale and slowly disappears. It is a very water resistant (much more resistant than gfvc cobalt blue) ink, but in terms of UV... nothing to write home about. A good cheap ink (if bought in a 350ml bottle) anyway.

Edited by aurore

Seeking a Parker Duofold Centennial cap top medallion/cover/decal.
My Mosaic Black Centennial MK2 lost it (used to have silver color decal).

Preferably MK2. MK3 or MK1 is also OK as long as it fits.  
Preferably EU.

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Caruleum and aurora, your enthusiasm about ink properties is inspiring. As just a user who has not done any extensive testing, my experience is limited mostly to what I read. I think its great that we have people like you and Amberlea on FPN, who through your testing, can push the limits of our knowledge about the inks we use. Thanks for sharing your experiences :thumbup:

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