Substitutes for Parker Penman Sapphire

[kazoolaw]

My bottles of Penman look nothing like the screen shot in dcwaites post above, which appears nondescript.

[DasKaltblut]

I get red sheen in MHB, even on cheap paper.

[Uncial]

Here is a picture of some of the sheen with MHB

https://imgur.com/fpngallery/1Ukhd

 

Diamine's Majestic Bue has a slightly more prominent sheen but the colour isn't so strong a match for PPS. I got a teeny, weeny, weeny sample of PPS and I can't tell the difference between it and MHB. I wrote on Tomoe though. Perhaps if I'd written on a cheaper and more absorbent paper there may have been a difference. There's an ink blog by someone with an insignia like the base of wet coffee cup but in ink - anyone know who? I can't recall the name to search - who did a comparison of various Diamine's, a Noodler's, MHB, Bungbox First Love and PPS and i can't tell the difference between the MHB and PPS. The Noodler's ink is waaay off if I remember rightly and the Bungbox had pretty crazy sheen as far as I recall but was very close in colour.

[Chrissy]

Here is a picture of some of the sheen with MHB

https://imgur.com/fpngallery/1Ukhd

 

Diamine's Majestic Bue has a slightly more prominent sheen but the colour isn't so strong a match for PPS. I got a teeny, weeny, weeny sample of PPS and I can't tell the difference between it and MHB. I wrote on Tomoe though. Perhaps if I'd written on a cheaper and more absorbent paper there may have been a difference. There's an ink blog by someone with an insignia like the base of wet coffee cup but in ink - anyone know who? I can't recall the name to search - who did a comparison of various Diamine's, a Noodler's, MHB, Bungbox First Love and PPS and i can't tell the difference between the MHB and PPS. The Noodler's ink is waaay off if I remember rightly and the Bungbox had pretty crazy sheen as far as I recall but was very close in colour.

 

"dcwaites" PPS recipe #9 used Majestic Blue plus Sapphire Blue to get the blue shade and the red sheen match correctly. I've made it but added less water than he recommended. It gave me the correct blue colour plus the red sheen. That's one of the reasons I don't feel the need to buy Monteverde Horizon Blue. I have 3 bottles of PPS plus the two inks I need to make an excellent copy should I ever need to do so.

 

I don't use PPS very much anyway. It blocks up my Parker 45 really badly.

[DasKaltblut]

"dcwaites" PPS recipe #9 used Majestic Blue plus Sapphire Blue to get the blue shade and the red sheen correct. I've made it but added less water than he recommended. I got the correct blue colour plus the red sheen. That's one of the reasons I don't need to buy Monteverde Horizon Blue. I have 3 bottles of PPS plus the inks I need to make an excellent copy should I ever need to do so.

 

I don't use PPS very much anyway. It blocks up my Parker 45 really badly.

I see no one here trying to get you to buy Horizon Blue, only many saying that M Horizon Blue is the best substitute currently. That recipe was made before the current MHB was available.

[Chrissy]

I see no one here trying to get you to buy Horizon Blue, only many saying that M Horizon Blue is the best substitute currently. That recipe was made before the current MHB was available.

 

I was commenting on Uncial's post about Majestic Blue "not being such a strong match for PPS." Just mentioning the addition of Sapphire Blue to make the colour match better from "dcwaites" previous recipe.

 

I have nothing against Horizon Blue at all, unlike some who have commented about it not being the best substitute on this thread.

 

I never suggested anyone was trying to get me to buy Horizon Blue, just that there is a different substitute. This thread is actually called "Substitutes for Parker Penman Sapphire", not "Horizon Blue," so it was my understanding that I could give someone else information about another known substitute.

[EGdaTarHeel]

As someone who has a great interest in this, what is clear is there is no standard way to objectively measure this as peoples vision is variable per person and there is some variability in the remaining PPS supply as its old and some variations in the MHB and other similar inks.

 

DC has done a great job working this problem with minimal resources for many years. While not perfect his analysis is credible.

 

The bad news is the holy grail will go away and there is no perfect substitute. The good news is we have many choices which include MHB (am trying now) and Bungubox First Love (Sapphire) which is my favorite. Everyone on this thread has a slightly different set of desirable attributes for PPS they want. Im not sure that even with an exact clone everyone here would be happy which makes this fun!

[amberleadavis]

Don't forget, we have a whole PPS thread. My original goal was to show a bunch of blues in comparison to PPS, but lots of people wanted to PPS replacement. (See the link in my signature below).

 

At the end of the day, I learned that PPS was not actually my favorite blue ink.

[Chrissy]

Don't forget, we have a whole PPS thread. My original goal was to show a bunch of blues in comparison to PPS, but lots of people wanted to PPS replacement. (See the link in my signature below).

 

At the end of the day, I learned that PPS was not actually my favorite blue ink.

 

Thank you. I had forgotten that thread.

[amberleadavis]

We have an FPNer - Northstar who is willing to do the Parker Penman Sapphire Comparison again. He's willing to send me a bottle for us to do samples this time. Are people interested?

[katerchen]

At the end of the day, I learned that PPS was not actually my favorite blue ink.

 

Oopps

 

Well it's all about the journey, not the destination. That seemed like a fun project and much appreciated that you mailed and categorized all those sample vials and various papers.

[amberleadavis]

Oh, I loved the process! I also learned that I love blurples.

[dcwaites]

Don't forget, we have a whole PPS thread. My original goal was to show a bunch of blues in comparison to PPS, but lots of people wanted to PPS replacement. (See the link in my signature below).

 

At the end of the day, I learned that PPS was not actually my favorite blue ink.

 

And after all that, a year later, Monteverde comes out with Horizon Blue...

[tonybelding]

I still have an empty PPS bottle. (Best ink bottles ever!) Maybe I'll just buy some Horizon Blue and fill it up and pretend that PPS never went away.

[dcwaites]

Smart thinking 99...

 

Also, the PPS bottle is 50 ml, and the MHB bottle is 90 ml, so you get 1.4 bottle fills for your money.

[tonybelding]

Now I'm seeing that Monteverde have another blue called Sapphire, which looks almost identical to Horizon Blue to me, but it might be slightly darker and have more red sheen? What should I make of this?

[ErrantSmudge]

I have both, and have written reviews in the reviews section. Monteverde Sapphire is (a) darker than Horizon Blue and has a purple cast to it, bordering on being a blurple. They are two distinct colors.

Edited March 27, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[dvalliere]

We have an FPNer - Northstar who is willing to do the Parker Penman Sapphire Comparison again. He's willing to send me a bottle for us to do samples this time. Are people interested?

I'm interested.

[tonybelding]

I have both, and have written reviews in the reviews section. Monteverde Sapphire is (a) darker than Horizon Blue and has a purple cast to it, bordering on being a blurple. They are two distinct colors.

 

Good to know. I really dislike purple-tinted blue inks, and the purple often doesn't show up well in scans, so sometimes I've ended up with those inks by accident. (I've also come to suspect some people don't see the purple either, or at least not the way I do.)

[amberleadavis]

I'm interested.

 

 

Good to know.