Pelikan Blue-Black: Bottle Vs. Cartridge

[wastelanded]

I actually noticed when cleaning the syringe out that the cartridge ink went round the drain without a trace of blue, it was greyish black. It reminded me of Pilot black.

[wastelanded]

So here's an updated pic. Top two lines are the same as the original scan. The third line is the same ink and pen as the second line (Waterman Philéas M), written this morning. Now it's a darker grey, almost HB pencil shade, still not an atom of blue though. The line has narrowed as well.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2013 by wastelanded

[Daisy]

Cool that's it's darker, but the real question is -- do you still like it?

[whych]

I think with the old bottles of blue/black that I have the problem has been the way it was stored.

I bought a job lot of old Pelikan blue/black and black ink from a guy in Germany.

2 of the bottles were loose must have been stored differently to the rest of the inks which are 6 together in the plastic wrap to keep them together.

The 2 loose bottles are the grey colour and the rest are the blue black colour.

Never having used Pelikan blue/black before, I just thought the grey was the normal colour!

Could it be than that these bottles have been opened and had air in that has changed the colour while the wrapped ones have been untouched? Pelikan cartridges do get air in because I have many unused blue ones where the ink has evaporated.

What I have noticed as well is that the blue blacks dry to different colours depending on the paper used.

[wastelanded]

I think with the old bottles of blue/black that I have the problem has been the way it was stored.

I bought a job lot of old Pelikan blue/black and black ink from a guy in Germany.

2 of the bottles were loose must have been stored differently to the rest of the inks which are 6 together in the plastic wrap to keep them together.

The 2 loose bottles are the grey colour and the rest are the blue black colour.

Never having used Pelikan blue/black before, I just thought the grey was the normal colour!

Could it be than that these bottles have been opened and had air in that has changed the colour while the wrapped ones have been untouched? Pelikan cartridges do get air in because I have many unused blue ones where the ink has evaporated.

What I have noticed as well is that the blue blacks dry to different colours depending on the paper used.

 

That must be it. Somehow the blue component breaks down over time, leaving only the black part. The older the ink, the more black and less blue there is.

[wastelanded]

Cool that's it's darker, but the real question is -- do you still like it?

 

No, now it's too dark. Gris Nuage is in my sights now...

[whych]

I found it gets darker the longer you use it in the same pen and how quickly/how much you use the pen and how wet a writer it is. Dry writers stay the grey colour.

I prefer the darker colour because it is easier to read and stands out more.

Perhaps a solution is to add a couple of drops of water to it and to get the blue back a few drops of blue ink if you are using a cartridge pen.

The other thing I discovered is that when I washed my nib out that I tested the proper colour with, the water initally had a blue tinge, but went grey in a couple of hours.

This means there is something that reacts with the ink in the water.

Either way, a touch of blue should get it back to a blue black.

The other thing I have found with the Pelikan blue black that I have is that it is pretty water resistant and can take a rain shower without running too much or becoming illegible which is handy if you live on an island where the weather is changeable.

[bernardo]

Last month I bought a bottle of Pelikan Blue-Black, and also the same ink in long cartridges. I'd read that the cartridge version was a lot lighter than the ink from the bottle, but I didn't imagine this. Seen below, the top line is bottled PBB, Waterman Phileas M, the bottom is the cartridge, Kaweco Dia BB:

 

 

 

Once I got over the shock, the cartridge is actually not a bad grey ink, which is something I was looking for anyway!

 

I have a bottle of 4001 blue-black and it writes like on the second line.

[jgrasty]

I've got a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black on the way from Germany; can't wait to give it a whirl...

[wastelanded]

I've got a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black on the way from Germany; can't wait to give it a whirl...

 

The bottle I received from Germany was top-notch, it's a great blue-black ink.

[whych]

I've got a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black on the way from Germany; can't wait to give it a whirl...

 

The bottle I received from Germany was top-notch, it's a great blue-black ink.

The 'proper' Pelikan blue black is a very similar colour to Sheaffers if you want a cheaper alternative in US.

[Daisy]

Cool that's it's darker, but the real question is -- do you still like it?

 

No, now it's too dark. Gris Nuage is in my sights now...

 

I don't know if this interests you at all, but Omas New Grey is a very light -- almost silvery -- shade of grey. By silvery I'm not referring to anything metallic, but rather the hue of it. It's really something, if you like a pleasant light grey.

[wastelanded]

The 'proper' Pelikan blue black is a very similar colour to Sheaffers if you want a cheaper alternative in US.

 

I also love Sheaffer's BB, but I find it a bit more green than the Pelikan?

[wastelanded]

Cool that's it's darker, but the real question is -- do you still like it?

 

No, now it's too dark. Gris Nuage is in my sights now...

 

I don't know if this interests you at all, but Omas New Grey is a very light -- almost silvery -- shade of grey. By silvery I'm not referring to anything metallic, but rather the hue of it. It's really something, if you like a pleasant light grey.

 

Omas inks have cool bottles, but a little expensive aren't they?

[Daisy]

I also love Sheaffer's BB, but I find it a bit more green than the Pelikan?

 

I know you addressed Whych, but for my own part, I find Sheaffer BB to have no green tinge at all. On the other hand, I have only ever used the post-SITB formulation and bought my first bottle of it sometime last summer or fall, so it's possible older bottles do have a green tinge (intentional or not ) and I just missed the show.

 

 

Omas inks have cool bottles, but a little expensive aren't they?

 

I wouldn't know; I've only ever had the one Goulet sample.

[jgrasty]

I received my bottle of Pelikan Blue-Black earlier this week from an eBay seller in Macedonia. Here's a writing sample from a Wahl Lady Doric with adjustable nib:

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/pelikan-bb.jpg

[wastelanded]

I received my bottle of Pelikan Blue-Black earlier this week from an eBay seller in Macedonia. Here's a writing sample from a Wahl Lady Doric with adjustable nib:

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/pelikan-bb.jpg

 

Nice writing!