Waterman Inks

[onetake]

Dredging up an old topic... I'd purchased a sample of Serenity Blue from Goulet, used it up, got another one from Anderson's, used that up, decided I liked the ink so I pulled the trigger and bought a bottle. I'm disappointed. The stuff from the full bottle (which I shook before I opened it, as I always do -- I did that with the samples also) looks darker and more purple, almost like Quink Washable Blue. I have no problem with QWB, but I already have a bottle of it. I wanted the Serenity Blue that I had experienced from the samples.

 

See if you can tell the difference in the picture below. These are facing pages in a notebook. I used the same pen (Pelikan M201 Mars Red, F nib) for both pages. The last of the Anderson's sample is on the left, and the first fill from the newly-opened bottle is on the right.

 

Edited September 29, 2015 by onetake

[cattar]

That's interesting.

Like you, I like the color on the right.

I use bottled Serenity Blue in a vintage Osmiroid with an Esterbrook flexy M nib. The color looks like that on the left, what Waterman used to call Florida Blue.

I bought my bottle near the time they changed the color names.

[onetake]

I'm okay with the color on the right, but the reason I bought the bottle was that I wanted the color on the left.

It makes me wonder if the change that people were worried about when the names changed a couple of years back is finally happening.

Has anybody else had this happen to them? This is a bottle I purchased from an Internet retailer last week.

Edited October 1, 2015 by onetake

[onetake]

I also did a comparison with my bottle of Quink Blue. Both are in the same area of purple-leaning blue, with the Quink appearing slightly muted compared with the Waterman.

[whych]

The quink blue black is identical to the Waterman blue black (mysterious blue, I think), so I think it is safe to say the inks are pretty much the same.

I don't have any modern Quink blue or black to compare, but I expect they would be similar to the Waterman colours.

(Stay away from Quink washable black - it dries a dark grey)

[onetake]

It's really too bad that I can't count on getting the "old" Serenity Blue when I buy a bottle of this stuff anymore. Does anybody know of a similar-colored ink?

[arcadeflow]

I've seen people claiming that Quink and Waterman are the same now, but I also see people saying they are different.

 

Maybe quality control has gone underhill and they are not achieving tone consistency?

[onetake]

All I know is I've now purchased two bottles of the stuff from two different sources in the last two months. They look pretty close to each other -- and different from the Serenity Blue that I was expecting.

 

So... anybody want to point me to a close substitute (colorwise)?

[Grafeus]

I have a fresh bottle of Serene Blue (new box, new label) and it definitely has the hue of the ink in the left page in your photo. Could it be that, on the right page, the feed of the nib was freshly replenished and released a greater quantity of ink (and hence a deeper colour) on the paper? Just a thought.

[AlanO]

I have a recent bottle of Serenity Blue (bought in the UK), and I don't see any sign of purple in it.

 

Alan

[onetake]

Interesting. I did think it might have been as Grafeus explained, but even after writing for a while the ink's color was quite consistent (very little variation in the shade of purplish blue).

 

Maybe it's a U.S. vs. Europe thing?

Edited October 22, 2015 by onetake