Jump to content

Which Royal Blue Ink To Get?


AMlines

Recommended Posts

What do you want the ink to do?

Not fade out one me after several years of storage.

Not get effected by moisture and humidity in the air. The notebook will be kept in places (often with no air-conditioning) that see a good amount of rain.

Not feather, bleed, or ghost. The last two being particularly important.

If you want two toned shading, you will need 90g/24 pound paper in any ink....outside of 80&90 g Rhodia.

I would prefer a simple even rich blue shade.

But if a two tone shade satisfied the criteria above, then I can go for it.

Pelikan 4001 and Lamy are dry inks that shade. Waterman blue....don't remember the 'new' name is a wet one so is not much in shading..

There are Japanese wet inks too.

I am guessing wet inks will be less suitable for my purposes. So, I guess I should get a dry ink?

I replaced my Waterman ink with one that is a bit more saturated....something Noodlers often are. A saturated in is boring monotone ....because it's is saturated, or supersaturated it can't shade.

Not just Noodlers, which is cheap ink in the States, now available in Europe for E14.00 or so.

For the same price I replaced that Waterman Blue with De Atramentis Royal Blue.

It tenges towards royal purple.

Thanks, I'll check these shades out.

What you need to do is to go to Inky Thoughts and look up blue ink, then once you have a list, go to Ink Reviews, and look for our Ink Guru.....Sandy1's :thumbup: :notworthy1: reviews.

She will show you that nib width and a different good paper will make an ink look completely different.

I will-eventually. But, right now I am trying to get a basic ink that works for my use scenario. And, getting into the details will take quite some time.

For every 3 inks you buy, you should buy some good to better paper............good paper costs two mechanically delivered cans of Coke more than common printer paper. Better paper costs two cups of Starbuck's coffee more than the crud you stick in your computer..................what ever you do don't buy or use pure Ink Jet paper for writing....it is the feather king.

I will be using a notebook for journaling work, probably a Leuchturm 1917 or Rhodia. I am also figuring out a decent notebook to buy, which is the one I will take notes on, and want to keep for several years.

Other than that, there will be a good amount of writing on normal A4 sheets, but keeping them around in the long-run is not an issue.

Writing is 1/3 nib width/flex, 1/3 paper and 1/3 ink, and in that order.

Thanks. That's usefully put!

Amberleedavis, or in one of the other ink section has some color 'charts' that you will find interesting.

 

The Word on any of the Baystate inks, is to have a designated pen just for that ink, in it stains and is hard to clean.

Thanks for the forum, I'll be staying clear of this one now.

Visconti makes a real nice bright blue.....again on my wish list..............and I'm not heavy into blue.

Yes, others have recommended it too and I'll keep this top of my list of probables.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • AMlines

    18

  • Honeybadgers

    5

  • sandy101

    3

  • DonM

    3

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I am rather partial to Diamine Royal Blue due to its vibrance. Behaviour-wise, I have no problems in dry pens like my Pilot Custom74 F or Platinum EF and SF. Whether it fades or not, I cannot tell just yet. It certainly is not waterproof.

 

Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is great with wet pens even on cheap copier papers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thumb's down for Baystate blue- it's too temperamental and as others have pointed out it stains somethin' fierce. Plus it's been alledged to react badly when mixed with other inks if your pen hasn't been thoroughly cleaned before topping it up with BSB.

 

Waterman makes a solid, well behaved, affordable, and easy to clean blue. Serenity blue I think. I don't know if it counts as a royal blue, but it's '95 Corolla of inks. Boring but you know it's gonna start every time you need it to and won't offer up any nasty surprises.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have looked around for years and tried all sort of ink samples to find a pleasant “ballpoint blue” ink that is well behaved and easy to clean. I’ve settled on these three Blue inks. They are safe, bright blue, well do not fade, easy to clean, and reliable. I always have one of them in my pens.

Visconti Blue, Aurora Blue, J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like MB Royal Blue.

It works great on fountain pen friendly paper and very good on non fountain pen friendly paper.

I use it everyday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stock well behaved blues are Aurora Blue, Pelikan Königsblau, Waterman Serenity Blue. More intensity can be gained with Diamine Sapphire, GvFC Cobalt Blue, S T Dupont Royal Blue, Visconti Blue. All of these are well behaved in my experience. I am no inky expert but I use all of these fairly regularly, most often on Leuchtturm 1917 paper with medium to fine nibs, some flexible some not.

X

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not fade out one me after several years of storage.

Not get effected by moisture and humidity in the air. The notebook will be kept in places (often with no air-conditioning) that see a good amount of rain.

Not feather, bleed, or ghost. The last two being particularly important.

 

For those characteristics I'd use Sailor Sei-Boku. But of course its tone is nowhere near Royal Blue.

 

4001 Royal Blue definitely fades, but not to the point of obscurity. I always viewed it as a school/work ink, where archival was not a top consideration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OP, you might not get every quality you want from one royal blue or royal bluish ink. For the joy of writing, I like Akkerman #4, Aurora Blue, S. T. DuPont Royal Blue, Montblanc Royal Blue, and Waterman Bleu Sérénité. Of the RBs I've tried, I would say these are least likely to distract you while writing in class or for class. For longevity, I like Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue. It's darker than the others, but it is clearly blue with a violet tinge, and I have found it to be highly water-resistant, much more so than the reviews suggest. I can't say any of these inks are resistant to sunlight for any period. For instance I store all my kept writings indoors and away from windows. But I have journal entries using Aurora Blue, Montblanc Royal Blue, and Waterman Bleu Sérénité (Florida Blue) that are 9 years old and plainly readable, though somewhat faded. Visconti Blue (mentioned by others) has hardly not faded at all in those 9 years.

 

 

Edit: substituted "not" for "hardly."

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have looked around for years and tried all sort of ink samples to find a pleasant ballpoint blue ink that is well behaved and easy to clean. Ive settled on these three Blue inks. They are safe, bright blue, well do not fade, easy to clean, and reliable. I always have one of them in my pens.

Visconti Blue, Aurora Blue, J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir.

Thanks. The first two are coming up in several posts here. At this point it seems a safe bet for me to start off on my fountain pen adventures :)

But I will check the Saphor too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stock well behaved blues are Aurora Blue, Pelikan Königsblau, Waterman Serenity Blue. More intensity can be gained with Diamine Sapphire, GvFC Cobalt Blue, S T Dupont Royal Blue, Visconti Blue. All of these are well behaved in my experience. I am no inky expert but I use all of these fairly regularly, most often on Leuchtturm 1917 paper with medium to fine nibs, some flexible some not.

Thanks. Ill check these out too.

Im thinking of choosing between leuchtturm, Rhodes, Clairfontaine. Leuchtturm seems a bit heavy, and Im looking for a lighter book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

For those characteristics I'd use Sailor Sei-Boku. But of course its tone is nowhere near Royal Blue.

 

 

Ill check this out as my requirements take priority too. Writing detailed notes Ive come to feel that a bright shade like royal blue allows for an easier flow of thoughts than say black. There may be some scientific basis to this or it could be just an idiosyncrasy or mine.

 

4001 Royal Blue definitely fades, but not to the point of obscurity. I always viewed it as a school/work ink, where archival was not a top consideration.

While on the subject, which inks (royal blue, blue, black) would you recommend for archival writing?

 

And how many years is that normally? 10, 20? More?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OP, you might not get every quality you want from one royal blue or royal bluish ink. For the joy of writing, I like Akkerman #4, Aurora Blue, S. T. DuPont Royal Blue, Montblanc Royal Blue, and Waterman Bleu Sérénité. Of the RBs I've tried, I would say these are least likely to distract you while writing in class or for class.

Interesting that you bring this up. Can you elaborate a bit on what you mean by distractions while note taking?

 

I thought black being the darkest shade should be less distracting than RB. The reason I want RB is because it makes the text stand-out and aids in comprehension than other shades. Red is too bright for my tastes.

For longevity, I like Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue. It's darker than the others, but it is clearly blue with a violet tinge, and I have found it to be highly water-resistant, much more so than the reviews suggest.

Thanks, I’ll look this one up too. When you say longevity how many years do you have in mind? I’d like to have the ink be clearly legible, if a little faded, at least 15 years from now. After that point I can scan my writing and keep it in my records.

 

That’s also the reason I am interested in moisture/water resistance. Humidity is an enemy of the ink as well as the notebook paper.

I can't say any of these inks are resistant to sunlight for any period. For instance I store all my kept writings indoors and away from windows. But I have journal entries using Aurora Blue, Montblanc Royal Blue, and Waterman Bleu Sérénité (Florida Blue) that are 9 years old and plainly readable, though somewhat faded.

What exactly does exposure to sunlight mean? That the sun rays are directly falling on the notebook from a window? Or, even indirect sunlight counts?

And, what is the best way to be storing a notebook that one wants to preserve over the long run?

Visconti Blue (mentioned by others) has hardly not faded at all in those 9 years.

Many others have recommended the Visconti and I’ll definitely give it a serious look. In fact, I am choosing between Visconti, Aurora, Diamine, Waterman, Iroshizuku Asa-gao.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Parker Quink Royal Blue Premanent from the mid 40's.

 

Looking for a black SJ Transitional Esterbrook Pen. (It's smaller than an sj)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What you would very probably have used at school was Parker Quink Royal Blue 'washable'. It is still very widely available, cheap and works well, although I am aware they have changed the formulation to remove the "solvo X' cleaner that used to be in there (phenol based I believe).

Worth a try.

Lifelong daily fountain pen user

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lately I've taken a liking to the Robert Oster inks. Specifically School Blue and Blue Water Ice. I don't think you can really go wrong with Iroshizuku Kon-peki either. And one that's hyper paper-dependent on what color blue you actually get - I really like Robert Oster's Lake of Fire. It's like a choose-your-own adventure book! It can vary a lot from one paper-type to another, but I really like each color it 'becomes'.

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know." - Harry S Truman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are a lot of great blues out there worth getting samples for (Iroshizuku Asa gao and Aurora blue are both pretty great), but if I could only have one blue, it would probably be Namiki. It's constantly inked in one of my pens and is the only bottle I keep at work. Specifically, it's really well behaved on cheap paper and has some water-resistance/permanence, while still being really low maintenance in pens (no staining, nib creep, etc.). It's also very affordable.

 

It's also good to keep in mind that your taste might differ from some of ours (I have given away quite a few bottles of ink that didn't work for me but were popular brands and colors), so you should look into getting samples of some of the recommendations that sound good to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I may, I would like to put forward Montblanc Permanent Blue. It is archival permanent and very well behaved so it should meet your requirements, and to me, the blue is a very nice one.

If you are to be ephemeral, leave a good scent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...