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http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-nazwa.png I present to test the ink Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Black with a wonderful, very saturated blue-black. Perfectly given the nature of blue-black. Good performance, quite fast drying. I think that the ink is worth buying. Manufacturer: Diamine Series, colour: 150th Anniversary Blue Black Pen: Waterman Hemisphere, nib "F" Paper: Image Volume (80 g / m2) Specifications: Flow rate: good Lubrication: good Bleed through: possible point (copy paper, paper Oxford) Shading: noticeable Feathering: unnoticeable Saturation: very good A drop of ink smeared with a nib http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-kleks.jpg The ink smudged with a cotton pad http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-wacik.jpg Lines http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-kreski.jpg Water Resistance http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-woda.jpg Ink drying time http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-wysychanie.jpg Ink drops on a handkerchief http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-chromatografia1.jpg Chromatography http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-chromatografia2.jpg Sample text http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-txt.jpg Sample text in an Oxford notebook A5 (90 g / m2) http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-Oxford.jpg Sample letters in a Rhodia notebook No 16 (90 g / m2) http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-150th-Anniversary-Blue-Black-Rhodia.jpg

http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-nazwa.png Manufacturer: Diamine Series, colour: Blue Black Pen: Waterman Hemisphere "F" Paper: Image Volume 80 g / cm2 Specifications: Flow rate: good Lubrication: good Bleed through: unnoticeable Shading: noticeable Feathering: unnoticeable Saturation: very good A drop of ink smeared with a nib http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-kleks.jpg The ink smudged with a cotton pad http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-wacik.jpg Lines http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-kreski.jpg Water Resistance http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-woda.jpg Sample text http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-txt.jpg Ink drying time ca. 5-10 sec. Other tests carried out: Sample text in an Oxford notebook http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-Oxford.jpg Sample letters in a Rhodia notebook http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-Rhodia.jpg Ink drops on a handkerchief http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-chromatografia1.jpg Chromatography http://inks.pencyklopedia.pl/wp-content/uploads/Diamine-Blue-Black-chromatografia2.jpg

I have been told that Hero's blue-black ink is an iron-gall ink. Now I read somewhere on this site that Pelikan's blue-black is also an iron-gall. I have three questions please; 1) Are the above inks iron-gall? 2) Are most (all?) blue-blacks made this way? 3) Any problem using iron-gall in a nice German pen? Thanks for your help. Inquiring minds want to know.

This is a review of Birmingham Pen Co.'s "Pennsylvania Railorad Boiler Steam Blue/Black" ink. Another, earlier review of this ink: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/329493-birmingham-pennsylvania-railroad-boiler-steam-blue-black/ Birmingham Pen Company is a store in Pennsylvania with its own line of budget-friendly, mysteriously complex dark shades of inks: https://www.birminghampens.com/pages/about-us This particular ink is a classic "Blue-Black" that's more on the dirty grayed-navy side than teal--sure to please those who don't like their blue-blacks too green. The ink is not without quirks, but now that I understand it, I believe it can be very well-behaved on paper, given the right tools: Specifically, this ink has high flow, and if you use a juicy nib you might end up with a lot of ink on the page, taking a long time to dry or else quickly bleeding through cheap paper. HOWEVER, if you use a more conservative flow nib/feed or even something like a drier fine nib, the ink dries very quickly on any paper. You especially may want to use conservative amounts of this ink on cheap paper, as the inks absorbs readily and bleeds through if you put down too much. If your preferred instrument is a pen with an XF nib, you will probably be okay with cheap paper too. That said, on nicer fountain-pen-friendly paper, this ink looks great! As long as paper absorbency is not high, you begin seeing beautiful shading, as while the hue is dark, saturation is not high. It is not the kind of shading that dramatically goes from light to dark and looks distracting. Rather it is a gentle transition, especially if you write in unbroken cursive. Particularly with broader nibs, the shading looks quite striking (with the caveat of long drying time for some spots, but that doesn't bother me). There is no outlining to speak of nor noticeable sheen*. *The sheen is present, but only on very non-absorbent paper and only in very high concentration areas, where you might just about detect a hint of something metallic red. But just barely. Water resistance is respectable: the color components wash off, and clear gray line remains. Although this ink has a fairly conservative hue that's not out of place in any line of work, this ink's appearance is intriguing enough to use for personal correspondence as well. Pale cream Fabriano Bioprima paper and Col-O-Ring cards (top left card is an abbreviation of Birmingham Pen Co. "Grandview Avenue Midnight Horizon" blue): On "white" (rather creamy) Tomoe River and Col-O-Ring cards: Some lower quality paper: absorbent, no shading to speak of, bleed-through is present: Water resistance:

As requested, a scan of my Montblanc Permanent "Blue Black" I find my idea of waterproof differs from those frequently expressed. Many are happy if the page can be read after an encounter with water. I set the bar much higher, looking for something which is completely unchanged by its watery encounter. I don't like black. Blue could be acceptable, but blue black is the ideal. Full strength IG ink seemed promising, but a bad experience with Diamine Registrars put me off (varnish-like coating inside the ink window of an M200 after 4 days - took ages to clean). January '16 I tried Montblanc Permanent Blue and it did all I wanted. Ran happily in two Pelikans and an L2K, but was just a little too bright. By April I had acquired a bottle of Permanent Black for mixing. A little experimenting and it seemed the addition of just 5% black made all the difference needed. In July '16 this mixture took up residence on a Lamy Studio and has remained ever since. The ink is completely waterproof in all tests I have done, is (to me) an acceptable blue black and performs well with minimal maintenance. It has slightly stained the converter, there is some nib creep and it seems to need refilling before it's empty. To me these are minor irritations. Here is a sample page. Despite some fiddling, the image looks a bit too purple on my screen. With many BlBks being rather grey, it is warmer than most. But the water has had no effect at all.

Given that Bung box ink is rather dear here...I would like some advise on which blue black to indulge in...deciding between 4B and Silent Night has me in a quandary. Any sage advise? BTW this would be my first purchase of a true blue black ink. I'm extraordinarily picky about ink.

Hi everyone, so I've read a bunch and researched and have narrowed things down but I'm still having difficulty so I'm hoping for some help. I've narrowed it down to (I think) Sailor Sei Boku, and Noodlers 54th Mass., Bad Blue Heron, Bad Belted Kingfisher. I've a few questions I can't seem to resolve after checking out as much as I can find about these inks. I'm looking for a waterproof, archival ink that is a blue black colour. These all seem to fit the bill, but there seems to be some differences of opinion and differences in test results on the waterproofness of the Noodlers Inks. It seems to be based on the cellulose content of the paper from what I can tell? Is there a way to figure out the cellulose content of a paper before buying it ? I've looked a bit online for the papers I have but haven't been able to figure it out (Strathmore 300 series Bristol ) Canson Sketch (the popular one on amazon - side note - decent paper for fountain pens in my opinion). I have some Tomoe River paper ordered about a month ago -should be here soon. So thoughts on: 1. The colour - I can't seem to find colour samples of them in the same photo - to eliminate different camera settings/ white balances etc.. I have Platinum Pigment Blue and love the colour when it's wet and dark, but not as much the more watery looking finished product. It's ok though but don't love it. I have a Diamine 1864 blue black that looks awesome but it's not waterproof obviously. How do the colours compare to each other? I keep reading different things. Are they sufficiently different to warrant owning all of them ? If you could only have one blue black permanent, waterproof ink which one would it be ? The Noodlers seem to get complaints about feathering more than the Sailor. True ? Also, the Noodlers seem to be different colours bottle to bottle from what I'v read. I don't love that idea. Any other thoughts or opinions on this would be great. Leaning Sei Boku - Thanks.

I initially thought this ink leaned towards the purple but see now that it dries to a deep navy / blue-black. It's a very well-behaved ink, and I've since loaded it into a piston-filler (Lamy 2000), run through it, and had it clean out entirely with around 10 flushes, so -- as good as any of the easiest-cleaning inks (for me, anyway). I ran through the testing rubric on Tomoe River Paper, so it gives great line definition and nice, true color -- but dry times are off the chart. Regular paper offers an under-ten-second dry time with a European medium nib (Kaweco medium tested). If you like the color -- or are, like me, forever in search of more blue-blacks -- it's a great everyday ink: almost black in a bold nib, true navy in a fine-medium, and a steely-gray-blue in an extra-fine, and office-friendly in all three. On TRP: And on my everyday office paper, Staples' Sustainable Earth (bamboo) paper: On fancy-shmancy letterhead paper (unsure of bond designation, but like the vast majority of mass-market consumer products it probably wouldn't mean anything anyway - in any case, this is a custom letterhead from Crane's): And on a piece of paper I pulled out of the laser printer: All told, it's a very versatile ink - works well on any paper provided you choose an appropriate nib and has nice variation in color with different nib sizes; I'll be putting it into the rotation, as it has all the right qualities and it actually adds something to my blue-black collection... [edit: to repost pictures, as I believe I musta bunged it up somehow]

Birmingham Pens Emerald View Park Oxidized Brass Based on the positive review of some of the inks from the Birmingham Pens shop in Pittsburgh, PA I ordered the full sampler pack of 30 inks. I know some won;'t be to my taste, but many seemed quite interesting. The inks certainly win the award for the longest names. I stashed the samples away for relatively easy access, and this was the first ink I blindly selected for review. Interestingly (or not) it has also been reviewed recently. This is a dark gray ink with a strong blue undertone. To me it appears as dark gray in most light, but often will appear as a dark, neutral blue. It's quite neutral in appearance, and would go well in a business setting. Normally I don't favor gray inks but this one is quite nice. It is also quite water resistant. It has decent saturation, but is easy to clean from the pen. The ink seemed quite shady across a broad range of papers, and has some sheen on Tomoe River. The handling was very good with no show through or bleed through experienced, no hard starts or skips, just a pleasant writing experience. Pen: Pelikan M400 (M) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7 using Camera+ app The images were fairly decent, but the FPN uploader seems to modify the images making the ink appear darker and with less range than in reality. As always with ink reviews, you may want to order a sample prior to diving in on a full bottle.

Well ink loving friends, here is a review of some vintage Sheaffer's Skrip Permanent Blue Black with RC-35! There are some older reviews on our site, but not many. Let me share the story of my acquisition. Attending a preview for a living auction of someone in our area moving to an assisted living in Florida, I discovered a secretary's desk. It had been repainted a muted green, though I fail to understand the mentality that wishes to cover beautiful old, dark wood. The auctioneers weren't going to bother offering the contents separately, so near the end of the long day it came for sale. The desk itself was neat, but the contents were even better: some old pens, dip pens and nibs, other knick-knacks and bric-a-brac, and a bottle of Sheaffer Skrip ink. From a bit of research on the site this bottle comes from the era 1955-67. It was made in Ft. Madison while the Snorkel pen was on the market. It's somewhat easy here to find old bottles, less so with liquid ink in them. This ink was perfectly clear, still had a good inky aroma. In working on a project with my inks, I filled an Edison Beaumont pneumatic filler with this one. Here are the results. The images seem to have captured the ink as darker than in fact. This is not the darkest of the modern blue-black inks, it is lighter than most, but not light itself, if that makes sense. BB4B, OS Manganese, Sailor Shoushikan Sei-ran, and others are all darker overall than this ink. But these other inks don't have quite the same kind of shading as this one which ranges from fairly light to quite dark. Another review shows this ink as being much darker. But I can't elaborate on the provenance of this particular bottle other than what I have. I haven't experienced any problems with this ink. It is actually quite water resistant, so while it is said you can recover your writing under UV light if the ink is washed away, at least on the modern inkjet paper it was quite permanent. A nice trip down memory lane. Pen: Edison Beaumont pneumatic (M-steel) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7

DAYTONE BLUE BLACK INK REVIEW is simultaneously posted at my blog. Recently I received few Ink bottles from one of my friend from Indore and they are Daytone Fountain Pen Ink. Daytone Inks are manufactured by Daylight industries and they are in to ink manufacturing since 1956. More information can be found about the company here : Daytone Webpage Apart from Inks they manufacture lot of other stationary items. But this review is about one of the fountain pen inks that they manufacture. The inks that they manufacture ( 8 Nos.) are as follows: Blue Black Emerald Green Brilliant Red Crimson Turquoise Blue Deep Black Royal Blue Bright Violet Brown (In Process) My earlier Ink reviews are listed as below: Bril Royal BlueBril Laurel RoseCamlin Scarlet RedChelpark Black Also I would like to add that I got the inks as a gift from one of my friend and fountain pen enthusiast, Ricky Bhasin. This review is about BLUE-BLACK ink from Daytone. Daytone Blue Black Daytone BlueBlack comes in 60 ml plastic bottles and are priced at Rs. 20 Each (Indian Rupees). I found out that the ink is more of dark blue rather than blue black. It certainly is bit darker than Bril Royal Blue. But I was expecting something else from BlueBlack Ink. INK SPLASH Daytone Ink Splash on JK Cedar -100 gsm – Top View There is negligible sheen in this ink even if there is some massive ink pools on paper. DROP ON PAPER NAPKIN Daytone Blue-Black – Ink Drop COLOR MATCH Daytone Blue Black – Color Range WRITING SAMPLES Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Tomoe River Cream Paper Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on JK Cedar 100 gsm White Paper Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Bilt Matrix 70 gsm Off White Paper INK SWABS Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on Tomoe River Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on JK Cedar 100 gsm Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on BILT Matrix 70 gsm Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) PEN SCRIBBLE Daytone Blue Black – Pen Scribble on JK Cedar 100 gsm Paper The ink flow is smooth and the ink looks bit faded for blue black. WATERPROOF TEST The ink was quite water resistant and it was pretty mush clear and visible even after running it under tap water for 5 min and then keeping it in water container for another 5 more minutes. I must say I am pretty impressed with this property of the ink. Daytone Blue Black – Under tap Water Daytone Blue Black – After Waterproof Test CHROMATOGRAPHY Daytone Blue Black – Chromatography INK DRYING TIMES Ink drying times were tested on the Bilt Matrix paper and pen used was Jinhao 165. Daytone Blue Black – Ink Drying Test BLOW-UP WRITING SAMPLES Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Tomoe River – Blown Up Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on JK Cedar – Blown Up Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Bilt Matrix – Blown Up Close up Pictures show that there is no shading and also no sheen and also no feathering. CONCLUSION I don’t like this blue black ink too much but it has good water resistance. Manufacturer must take note of the fact that this ink needs to have more black character. My always goto blue black ink is Edelstien Tanzanite or Pilot Blue Black. Following are the summation of ink properties: Feathering : No Sheen : No Shading : No Lubrication : Acceptable Flow : Good Water Resistance : Good Drying Times : Medium

Here's a great example of one of the few fountain pen friendly iron gall inks left on the market (RIP Montblanc Midnight Blue… ). It and R&K Salix are about even on like-o-meter, but I find myself preferring Registrar's Ink due to its darker final color. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/DZc31c.jpg

Hi guys!! I require your guidance and expertise to try and make my own Blue Blacks. What I have at hand are the 40ml bottles of Parker Quink Black and Quink Blue. I was wondering if I could mix and make my own blue blacks using these two. I use a Lamy Safari F and 1.1 nib for my daily writing. I use ordinary notebooks nothing fancy. Could you please give me a ratio that would give me the right color for the ink or your favorite blue black color? I want it to look dark but not too dark that it really looks black. I hope you got me. How do I mix the inks the right way? Anything else that I need to look out for when mixing these shades please let me know. Thank you all! Pete :")

Manufacturers since 1864, Diamine Inks relocated to this purpose built 'state of the art' factory in Liverpool in 1925, where they successfully carried on using the traditional methods and formulas for ink production. Over the years the company has changed hands and are now located close to the world famous Aintree Race Course http://www.diamineinks.co.uk/images/DimaineFactory.gif http://www.diaminein...uk/AboutUs.aspx Diamine Prussian Blue is a timeless classic. This color will fit most situations and uses. While I'm not crazy about it, I reckon it's more than decent ink. It's reliable, well behaved and nicely performing everyday ink.It has muted tone that I find pleasing, the flow is satisfying and the line is smooth. I remember I experienced some bleedthrough on Moleskine but, frankly, it's crappy paper and almost every ink ever crated will cause bleedthrough or feathering on it. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Color range Tomoe River, Sheaffer Prelude Signature, fine nib Leuchtturm 1917, Sheaffer Prelude Signature, fine nib No-name notebook, Montblanc 146, medium nib

I have a number of blue black iron gall based inks, so I thought I'd do a comparison. In addition to the usual color comparisons, and water tests, I thought I'd see how they looked when newly applied vs dried for over 24 hours. I'll note that I bought Diamine's Registrar's Ink years ago, but had to get rid of it when it turned on me. After a couple of years on the shelf, the ink developed some dark gritty iron-like sediment in the bottom of the bottle which didn't mix when shaken, and the color of the remaining ink was watery grey, at best. When it was new, it was an exact match for Akkerman #10, which confirms my suspicions that Akkerman Ink is nothing more than rebottled Diamine. Not that that's a bad thing - I love Diamine Ink - but it helps with ones expectations. I hope Akkerman #10 doesn't turn on me... I found that most of the IG inks changed color almost instantly from light blue to dark blue or nearly black except for R&K Salix, which changes color gradually to a medium blue black. Already, as I write this I can see the colors darkening... My not-so-objective test also found the following: Smoothest (most lubricated) ink - Montblanc Midnight Blue (IG), followed by Akkerman #10 Driest (least lubricated) ink - ESSRI followed by Pelikan Blue Black Easiest bottle to fill from - Akkerman #10 unique glass necked 60ml bottle Hardest bottle to fill from - ESSRI's plastic 110ml bottle Fastest drying ink - ESSRI or Akkerman #10 Longest to dry - Montblanc Midnight Blue Most water resistant - ESSRI & Akkerman #10 (tie), followed by R&K Salix My favorite...hard to tell. Like my kids, I like each for a different reason. Pen used - Brause .75mm dip pen with overfeed Paper used - Clairefontaine Pupitre 90g Good luck in your own ink adventures.

Hi; Bought eight 30ml bottles of Diamine inks some time ago, have troubles since the begining. I got Pelikan, Waterman, Sailor inks usually happy with them but Diamine. When i just bought them, most of them were too wet. Bleedthrough almost on all papers, worst was Pilot MR medium nib, it was blotting while writing. After 2 years sitting in a drawer with caps firmly tightened, now they are not as wet as before. But colors shifted (most noticable is Oxblood) and now they are drier. Even Majestic Blue clogs TWSBI Classic frequently. Anyway i like Diamine's colors, price is good, but got enough trouble with them. Desperately looking for replacements especially for Diamine Blue/Black (a nice old looking blue-black with green hue) and Majestic Blue. Any suggestion wellcomed.

I bought a little glass pot of this ink powder from a local antique dealer about a year or so back and have been monkeying with different concentrations. It's a versatile ink depending on how dark you want it to be. I have always mixed it in small plastic needle bottles with distilled water (other than the time I used tap water as an experiment, which resulted in an odd green tint to the ink). It dries well, lubricates well, and has a unique look. http://imgur.com/1cLvweS

Ink Review : Diamine 1864 Blue Black (150th Anniversary Ink) Pen: Lamy Logo, F-nib Paper: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm Review In 2014 Diamine released their 150th Anniversary Ink collection, to commemmorate their 150 year existence (1864-2014). In this review I take a closer look at the 1864 Blue Black ink from this collection. 1864 ... the name evokes images of an industrial area in England, factories and smoking chimneys. Children with their dirty faces stirring large cauldrons with ink in the Diamine factory. In the writing room, the clerks at their standing desk use this blue-black ink to maintain the ledger, using utmost care to avoid smudging. This ink is a very dark blue-black, that sure feels 150 years old an not suited for today's fountain pens. The ink is too dark... too wet... it flows like a river out of your pen... too much... too fast... Personally I really dislike this ink. It attacks the paper, tries to dominate it. It doesn't cooperate with the paper like other inks do. This ink reminds me of Sauron and Mordor... an ink for the Dark Empire. The result is pure ugliness... this ink overwhelms the paper, and really jumps in your face in a rather unpleasing way. OK - but how does it behave on paper ? For this, I did some tests: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm - drying time ~30 seconds, no noticeable feathering, no show-through and no bleed-throughPaperblanks journal paper - drying time 15-20 seconds, some minor feathering, no show-through and no bleed-throughGeneric notepad paper 70 gsm - drying time ~15 seconds, no noticeable feathering, some show-through , some bleed-throughMoleskine journal - drying time ~5 seconds, noticeable feathering, major show-through and major bleed-throughThis ink had me screaming in frustration. It just behaves unpredictably. It all depends heavily on the combination of pen, nib and paper. On cheap paper and with wetter nibs it's just plain ugly. Especially if you have small handwriting. With an EF nib, the ink is much more pleasing to the eye. The flow is more controlled, the relationship between ink and paper is much more in balance. Still not my favourite blue-black, but with an EF nib I can tolerate this ink. It also shows its blue background, instead of becoming an ugly blackish blob. Message to self: only use this ink with EF nibs - the finer the better. Conclusion 1864 Blue Black is an unpredictable ink with wildly varying behaviour depending on the combination of pen, nib and paper. The ink is too wet, and looks ugly even in F or M nibs. It really needs the shackles of an EF nib to become usable. The ink also has no water resistance to speak of. my overall score: C- (or B when using an EF nib)

A while back, Pelikan introduced its Edelstein line of "boutique" inks in fancy bottles. I had looked at reviews and found many that were quite dismissive of this line. Perhaps people were expecting a Noodler's or Private Reserve from Pelikan. I don't know if the inks themselves have been re-formulated since their initial launch or not. But because the Edelsteins didn't get no respect, and were quite pricey, I bought other inks that seemed to have a better reputation. Recently I picked up Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite, as I wanted a fairly "safe" ink for a (for me) pricey Pelikan pen, and I'm a fan of blue-blacks anyway. Well, I think this ink rocks. It has great flow, excellent saturated color, fabulous handling. As I say, I don't know if the ink has changed, but the one review I found people seem to have varying opinions. I like the ink. I don't know how the other inks in the line are, but this one is worthy of consideration. Of course, if you like dark blue ink. As usual, the papers are MvL=Mohawk via Linen, Hij=Hammermill 28lb inkjet, TR=Tomoe River. The colors are fairly close to accurate. The ink is not very water resistant, but the heavy dye load means there's something left on the paper. I don't not have an ink blot for this one, I forgot.

This is my first review on FPN. Apologies for the bad handwriting and/or missing a few points. I've been meaning to review this ink for a long time and just saw viswamitra's brilliant review for the same but I thought I'll upload it anyway even though it's not as detailed. I love blue and blue-black inks and I like this one. It's not my favourite but I won't mind using it every now and then. It behaves really well on cheaper paper too, with no feathering or bleedthrough. You'll also see some Pink/Purple undertones in the sample and because it's not so saturated, the nib would make a lot of difference. Thanks! If you want to ask any questions or want more photos I'll gladly add them in the comments.Though I'm pretty sure viswamitra's review will have it all covered.

This ink won over my heart pretty much instantly. As much as I detest royal blues, I do still enjoy blue inks when they have a bit of personality and character. I think that’s why I tend to enjoy iron gall inks, but I don’t enjoy the cleaning that comes with those. This ink, however, gives some of that same feel while being super low maintenance. Even in the very fine nib on Pilot VP, this ink flows well, never skips or has a hard start, and shows some shading, though not as much as you would probably see with a larger nib. I find that blue-black inks tend to go one of two ways: either they wind up a dark grey with bits of blue (which isn’t bad), or a dark shade of blue with little black. This ink is one of the second kind and provides a nice change from the more greyish varieties. I had heard rumors that this ink was highly water resistant, so when I ordered my bottle I was hoping that would be true since this would be a good ink for more “official” business, aka writing up my homework. As you can see, it is indeed almost fully waterproof, which is always a nice surprise for an ink that is not explicitly advertised with those properties. It also behaves nicely on all papers, though part of that could be that I have only used it in a super fine nib. Perhaps I’ll have to eventually come back and test it in something broader and report on any changes. Overall, I love this ink. Definitely could use this ink exclusively for a while, if I had to, but I prefer not to think about something like that occurring. I also like that’s it’s not too expensive, though it does not seem to be super widely available either. You can find the proprietary Pilot cartridges at many retailers, but to find the bottled version it looks like you need to either go to JetPens, where it’s $16.50/70 mL, or eBay where it will be more expensive because it will ship from Japan. However, you can also find giant 350 mL bottles of this ink there as well. I like it, but I don’t see myself liking it that much… This ink was purchased with my own money and I am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like. Full page scan of the review:

I recently purchased a bottle of Lamy Blue-Black and was quite surprised by the performance. It seemed to do much better than any review would have had me believe. I initially purchased the ink more or less just to get the bottle (with the hope that I might actually like the ink), but after using this ink for a couple of weeks I have to say that I am really impressed with it. This leads me to believe that either Lamy has reformulated their reformulated version of Blue-Black, or that folks have been overly critical of what I have found to be a pretty good ink. Right now I am using this ink in a Jinhao X750 with a Knox 1.1 nib; and in a Jinhao X450 with an Anderson Pens 1.1 nib (identical to the Goulet Pens 1.1, but with different brand etchings, obviously). I have used the ink on a number of different papers all with fairly similar results. What I have found is that this ink does not write overly wet, but still tends to bleed through a little bit even on good paper. It is an unusual color, it has a nice chalky blue color that dries a little bit on the dark grey side. The most unusual finding is that the ink is actually fairly water resistant. I would not call it waterproof, but I wrote a sample on an index card with a sample written using Chesterfield Archival Vault ink (an iron gall ink) for comparison, ran the card under water, and the Lamy held up fairly well. I would never use it to address an envelope, but I have no issues using it as an every day ink. I performed three water tests with Lamy Blue-Black and all of them had the same results. The test consisted of me washing the index card under a fast moving tap for 60 seconds. While this could have been made more rigorous by actively rubbing the ink while under water or adding a soap, I feel that my test is adequate for general use conditions. Below is the index card before the test, an example of bleed through (on a Rhodia #12 pad...the bleed through is not as bad here as it is on many other papers, but it is still visible), and the index card after the test. So, either I am more accepting of Lamy Blue-Black, or it has been reformulated to be a better overall ink. I could believe either scenario, but I tend to think that I am just not as hard on this ink as other folks have been. If it is the case that I am not as harsh as other users, then I tend to think that this is due to the fact that I never tried the old iron gall formulation. In any event, taken on its own merits I think that Lamy Blue-Black is a good ink. It has either gotten a bad rap, or is now better than it used to be. I would be very interested in hearing what other folks think about this subject.

Here is a review of Dromgooles Blue Steel ink. It's an exclusive to Dromgooles Fine Writing and Stationary, a B&M store in Houston, TX, USA. I was given a sample by the Inky Goddess Amber. Some of the scans imply that the ink shades. It does not. Very very little shading on the papers I used. In looking at my notes of other inks, it actually is quite similar in color to Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo. It appears to be almost completely made from a single dye, one that matches Phthalo blue. Just a small hint of a blue-green when washed out. The first three scans are done at 150 dpi as a balance between space and clarity. I don't know how to do any kind of color correction, so the settings are the basic ones from the scanner. For some reason, the FPN software makes you download the PDFs which are the scans of the review but you can see the same think with the photos. Maybe not as clear, precise. Dromgooles Blue Steel005 150dpi.pdf Dromgooles Blue Steel006 150dpi.pdf Dromgooles Blue Steel007 150 dpi.pdf Here is an ink drop spread on a damp paper towel. I hope this shows up properly. Dromgooles Blue Steel010.pdf By way of comparison here are some photos from the iPhone. Not color corrected except by iPhoto. But they look reasonable. I want to end with — I like the ink. Not as wet as I might usually go for, but it's very good and very reliable. Appears to be non-staining. If it was easier to get, and in a bit larger size, I could see myself getting a bottle. I'm in the process of using up the lovely sample. My ink collecting right now is fairly narrow in range, and so while the color fits that profile, I'll just stick with Tsuki-yo for now.

It is no secret I love Aurora ink. It is my go to ink for all new modern pens. (I use 1940's vintage Quink B-B for new-to-me vintage pens, but that is just an irrational new vs. vintage thing.) However, from time to time, I would like to have a nice blue-black, also a slightly darker blue might be good. I've seen posts from 2009 and 2010 that indicate fairly consistent bad results mixing Aurora's black ink with their blue ink (their only colors.) Also, I had always (as long as I've been in the hobby and been aware of Aurora ink.) Then, I saw several reports in posts from last year of posters having no problems using Aurora B-B mixes. I did not see what ratios were used. There have long been reports of Aurora ink being safe in Aurora:[non Aurora ink] mixes, but I'm specifically interested in Aurora:Aurora. Can anyone provide any information about Aurora ink (black or blue or both?) changing in any way between 2010 and 2014 that would allow it to be safely mixed? My experimental mix of 7:2 blue:black had been sitting in a glass jar for 4 days before I scrutinized it to confirm no goop, particles or weird viscosity issues. I took a deep breath and filled my Sole with it. About 2 pages of notes in, and everything seems to be working well. Color is good (darker Aurora blue) as is flow. (Some early reports when mixing did not work were that the result was a black ink with no flow properties.) So, I'm now in the "well, it works for me" camp. But, I'd still like to know if the ink changed, or if the horse learned to talk. Best Regards, greg

Hi everybody, Firstly I would like to apologize as this would not be a thorough review. Just sharing my experience with an ink I just bought earlier. I got this ink from a local store for RM1.50 (~$0.40). My first impression of this ink is that this is more towards a grey ink than a blue black. However, the flow and wetness of the ink is quite good especially at this price. The ink is also surprisingly water resistant! I've read some reviews that it might be an IG ink, can anyone confirm this? These are written on rhodia lined pad with sheaffer agio M. Here are some pictures: Pictures of the bottle and the box which states no.62 on the side of the packaging The ink shades more on printed words than cursive Ink dries within 15 seconds Water resistant ink! That's it for now. Thank you for reading. Cheers Edited to add pen used