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Pelikan Blue-black


SteadyHand

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Good review, but I must of gotten a bad batch. Mine looked like this:

post-5044-1207190005_thumb.jpg

 

I feel more and more like my sample is a fluke. Maybe the flow of the ink in my 78g is more generous. I apologize if anyone picked this ink because of this review and were disappointed with it. That wasn't my intent.

 

I just tried this ink at my local pen shop yesterday. This is exactly what the ink looked like when I dipped it. You can't get much wetter than what I was putting on the paper. Definitely gray. The dealer also had a bottle of the washable Pelikan ink. Now that looked exactly like the original test specimen on this thread. I almost picked up a bottle.

"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional and illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"

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I realized after posting to this thread that many people here prefer very saturated inks. I personally find saturated inks a little overpowering, especially in wet writers. Visconti blue, a favorite of many people here, is too bright for my taste. I can see how someone who likes Visconti blue might find Pelikan blue-black rather dull. So here is my conclusion: those who like subtle, unsaturated inks that produce a lot of shading and a vintage look will love Pelikan blue-black or royal blue. Those who prefer saturated inks that leave a lot of color on the page are likely to be disappointed. This is consistent with the variety of responses on this thread.

 

The darkness of Pelikan blue-black varies a lot, by the way. Coming out of the same pen, it looks sometimes grayish, and sometimes much darker, for no apparent reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The FPN ink reviews are truly wonderful for a novice like me. I love a greyish vintage look and, although I don't usually like the blue-black color, this review plus the comments has put Pelikan Blue-Black on my "try it" list. I'm going to order the 4-ink sampler from peartreepens (thanks again to FPN for that tip) to see for myself.

 

I'm so new and uneducated I didn't realize inks look different coming out of different pens/nibs. Thanks to the reviewer and others for this discussion.

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Good review, but I must of gotten a bad batch. Mine looked like this:

post-5044-1207190005_thumb.jpg

 

I feel more and more like my sample is a fluke. Maybe the flow of the ink in my 78g is more generous. I apologize if anyone picked this ink because of this review and were disappointed with it. That wasn't my intent.

 

I just tried this ink at my local pen shop yesterday. This is exactly what the ink looked like when I dipped it. You can't get much wetter than what I was putting on the paper. Definitely gray. The dealer also had a bottle of the washable Pelikan ink. Now that looked exactly like the original test specimen on this thread. I almost picked up a bottle.

I bought a bottle too, same gray. I wonder if I should mix in some blue?

b

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  • 3 weeks later...

With this ink, it's all about the flow of the pen you're using. I have two Pelikans that are very wet writers. This ink looks like the original sample in this thread from those pens- it's great. I have some other more moderate writers, and drier pens as well. This ink is awful in those- very dry and faded looking. This is an ink for a pen with a rich flow, not a lean one.

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With this ink, it's all about the flow of the pen you're using. I have two Pelikans that are very wet writers. This ink looks like the original sample in this thread from those pens- it's great. I have some other more moderate writers, and drier pens as well. This ink is awful in those- very dry and faded looking. This is an ink for a pen with a rich flow, not a lean one.

 

Hi Ray-Vigo,

 

I agree completely. In a meeting this morning, I was using the pen I did this ink review with- a stub 78g filled with the same Pelikan Blue-Black ink. I paused to see the color variation on the page. I'm still very satisfied with this ink and I only use it in my stub 78G.

Edited by SteadyHand

Pelikan:M205 DemoLamy:2000,Safari,Al-Star,1.1 JoyPilot:3-78G's:B, M, F

Parker:51"Special"Stipula:Ventidue(new version)Rotring 600Sheafer:Snorkel

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If the image is not color edited, than your scanner is very good one. All Pelikan BlueBlacks I have seen here are totaly different color than this one, every bottle I had included, more blue gray than blue black. I have seen this happen with Waterman Blue Black also. It's greenish sometimes, rich blue the others...

 

SteadyHand, sorry if I had offended you in some way...

 

 

cheers,

Nenad

 

No offense taken, Nenad. Pardon my tone if I may have come off defensive. I will add that my original impression of this ink was formulated based on my M605. It appeared washed out and wasnt appealing at all. Several months later did I decide to try it in the 78G and that is how this love affair started.

 

Regards,

 

David

 

 

For what it's worth, David's scans do like my bottles of Pelikan Blue Black 4001 - all 4 of them - it's one of my all time favorites. I once got Pelikan BB in cartridges and the ink in them was grey, and looked nothing like my bottled ink. What gives? I don't know - I always thought it was factory mistake, but perhaps there's a grayish Pelikan BB and a blue-black Pelikan BB out there.

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This has been an interesting ink to say the least. 5000+ views is intense. Please post your own scans when available for comparison.

 

Pelikan:M205 DemoLamy:2000,Safari,Al-Star,1.1 JoyPilot:3-78G's:B, M, F

Parker:51"Special"Stipula:Ventidue(new version)Rotring 600Sheafer:Snorkel

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I must say that I just received a set of Cross Metropolis pens, including a medium nib fountain pen, and I had picked up a package of Cross Blue-Black carts awhile ago when I needed some fresh carts for my Pelikanos (which of course didn't work very well in the Pelikano, because the Cross cart shape is different than the standard). I popped in a cart in the Metropolis, and it looks exactly like the original poster's scan. A deep, rich, color, nothing at all like the "greyish" descriptions I've read here.

 

This has made me rethink my usual dislike of blue-black inks.

Paige Paigen

Gemma Seymour, Founder & Designer, Paige Paigen

Daily use pens & ink: TWSBI ECO-T EF, TWSBI ECO 1.1 mm stub italic, Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
I must say that I just received a set of Cross Metropolis pens, including a medium nib fountain pen, and I had picked up a package of Cross Blue-Black carts awhile ago when I needed some fresh carts for my Pelikanos (which of course didn't work very well in the Pelikano, because the Cross cart shape is different than the standard). I popped in a cart in the Metropolis, and it looks exactly like the original poster's scan. A deep, rich, color, nothing at all like the "greyish" descriptions I've read here.

 

This has made me rethink my usual dislike of blue-black inks.

 

So this mean that Cross and Pelikan, even if they are both made by Pelikan, are not the same one... The original scan, as it appears on my laptop, could be the perfect BB I'm looking for !

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So this mean that Cross and Pelikan, even if they are both made by Pelikan, are not the same one... The original scan, as it appears on my laptop, could be the perfect BB I'm looking for !

 

As far as I am aware, the Cross inks are the same inks as those packaged as "Pelikan 4001". The only significant difference of which I am aware is the fact that the Cross cartridge shape is slightly different than the Pelikan cartridge. The original scan appears nearly exactly how the ink from my Cross pen and cartridge appears (mine is a bit *darker*, actually).

 

I suppose I originally took a dislike to blue-black, because I seem to recall thinking the color looked rather drab in my youth. The color I'm currently getting from my Cross setup is vibrant, deep, and mysterious. I will say, however, that if I write with the nib upside down, less ink gets deposited on the paper, and it then begins to appear more like the greyish-blue color others have described, so I have to conclude that Pelikan (and/or Cross) blue-black is really best suited to pens which tend toward a heavier flow.

Edited by amper

Paige Paigen

Gemma Seymour, Founder & Designer, Paige Paigen

Daily use pens & ink: TWSBI ECO-T EF, TWSBI ECO 1.1 mm stub italic, Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing

 

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As far as I am aware, the Cross inks are the same inks as those packaged as "Pelikan 4001". The only significant difference of which I am aware is the fact that the Cross cartridge shape is slightly different than the Pelikan cartridge. The original scan appears nearly exactly how the ink from my Cross pen and cartridge appears (mine is a bit *darker*, actually).

 

I suppose I originally took a dislike to blue-black, because I seem to recall thinking the color looked rather drab in my youth. The color I'm currently getting from my Cross setup is vibrant, deep, and mysterious. I will say, however, that if I write with the nib upside down, less ink gets deposited on the paper, and it then begins to appear more like the greyish-blue color others have described, so I have to conclude that Pelikan (and/or Cross) blue-black is really best suited to pens which tend toward a heavier flow.

 

Thanks :)

 

I really think this ink could be nice in my ProGear M, which is kind of wet :D I'll definitely give it a try !

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As far as I am aware, the Cross inks are the same inks as those packaged as "Pelikan 4001". The only significant difference of which I am aware is the fact that the Cross cartridge shape is slightly different than the Pelikan cartridge. The original scan appears nearly exactly how the ink from my Cross pen and cartridge appears (mine is a bit *darker*, actually).

 

I suppose I originally took a dislike to blue-black, because I seem to recall thinking the color looked rather drab in my youth. The color I'm currently getting from my Cross setup is vibrant, deep, and mysterious. I will say, however, that if I write with the nib upside down, less ink gets deposited on the paper, and it then begins to appear more like the greyish-blue color others have described, so I have to conclude that Pelikan (and/or Cross) blue-black is really best suited to pens which tend toward a heavier flow.

 

Thanks :)

 

I really think this ink could be nice in my ProGear M, which is kind of wet :D I'll definitely give it a try !

 

 

I believe that the key to this ink and its shading depend on the wetness of your pen. The wetter the pen the better. Good luck. If you go with cartridges, Im skeptical as to how efficient they will be.

 

David

Pelikan:M205 DemoLamy:2000,Safari,Al-Star,1.1 JoyPilot:3-78G's:B, M, F

Parker:51"Special"Stipula:Ventidue(new version)Rotring 600Sheafer:Snorkel

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Everyone needs to see TrevorML's sample in the Parker 45 giveaway thread on the Writing Instruments forum (Swan flex nib and Pelikan BB)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I echo the comment about pens with heavy flow. I have a Pelikan 100 and Pelikan 400, both very wet writers, and Pelikan Blue-Black is beautiful coming out them: it has an inky, vintage appearance, being a murky blue with nice shading and absolutely no green in it. In a wet pen, I find this ink to be unquestionably the most beautiful blue-black I've tried. All the other blue-blacks have some kind of green to them, which doesn't sit very well with me; as a matter of fact, some are so green that I would call them green-blue or teal.

 

Cheers,

 

absent_minded

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It's a very protean ink. I love its dark heft coming out of most of my old flex-pens, it is entirely appropriate coming through a wartime Sheaffer, but out of most modern pens or anything short of middling wet, I get the same sort of misty blah colour. When you find a pen it works with, it's the best thing going, but otherwise it is kind of feeble. I don't think any of the opinions here are wrong, they're just based on idopathic conditions; if we all used the same model pen, on the same paper, at the same altitude above sea level while experiencing similar weather, we'd all likely be in utter accord on this ink's qualities.

 

Pelikan Blueblack either works or does not work with a pen/nib.

 

I have a broad vintage Pelikan 400 nib and this is the nib that works perfectly with Pelikan Blueblack. Unfortunately it is very difficult to find broad vintage Pelikan nibs so this will stay the only pen I use with this ink.

 

Mine is a bit on the black side but definitely not grey and I really love this ink coming out of my precious wet broad nib.

 

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  • 5 months later...

How different does this look on your Pelikan M605? I have one with a Medium nib, a wet writer, and wondering if it would be any good (i.e. not grey and washed out)?

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How different does this look on your Pelikan M605? I have one with a Medium nib, a wet writer, and wondering if it would be any good (i.e. not grey and washed out)?

 

Hi rdugar,

 

It is different. I dont get half the shading that I get from the stub 78G. My M605 is a fine point though. I have never written with a medium point pelikan so there is a possibility that it may have a different character.

 

David

Pelikan:M205 DemoLamy:2000,Safari,Al-Star,1.1 JoyPilot:3-78G's:B, M, F

Parker:51"Special"Stipula:Ventidue(new version)Rotring 600Sheafer:Snorkel

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can the differences in blueness and greyness be partly due to how hard you press on the paper? I say this because paradoxically a new M625 with broad nib adjusted for generous flow is giving me a grayer color / greyer colour than my drier writing M800 with medium nib. But I find I press harder with the drier pen.

 

I was surprised to find that greater flow didn't make my ink darker. By the way, I like the Pelikan blue-black look AS LONG AS I don't have any non- blacky blues around to emphasize the difference.

 

Tom

 

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I used this ink today for the first time in several years, putting it into a Pelikan M1000 with fine nib that I recently purchased on eBay. The ink looked lovely and shaded nicely.

CharlieB

 

"The moment he opened the refrigerator, he saw it. Caponata! Fragrant, colorful, abundant, it filled an entire soup dish, enough for at least four people.... The notes of the triumphal march of Aida came spontaneously, naturally, to his lips." -- Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, p. 212

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