Sailor Sings The Blues

[BayesianPrior]

I have a few Sailor inks and I am always gobsmacked by their excellent flow and behaviour. There was a thread a while ago about loyalty to ink brands, and Sailor has mine.

 

Unfortunately, due to a conspiracy of geography of miserliness, none of the Sailor shop exclusive inks are within my possibility space. I've always liked the colour of Parker Quink Washable Blue when wet, and have recently discovered the less ephemeral Diamine Sargasso Sea (and its sheen!) Due to reports of staining, Sargasso Sea only inhabits my less expensive pens. I'm on a mission to find a well-behaved blue with similar saturation. Naturally I turned to Sailor.

 

I've compared Nioi-Sumire from the Four Seasons line, bog-standard Jentle Blue, and it's cousin Jentle Blue-Black. I have a bottle of Sei-Boku, but I don't consider it as well-behaved as the Jentle inks. YMMV.

 

Written comparisons on 1) no-name writing pad, 2) Tomoe River (sample graciously PIF'd by alc3261), and 3) Rhodia 80 gms (not 90 as incorrectly written).

 

Enjoy!

 

[BayesianPrior]

And now scans, in the same order: No-name, Tomoe River, Rhodia 80gsm

 

Edited May 6, 2016 by BayesianPrior

[mulrich]

Sailor blues are quickly rising on my favorite list.

[darazs]

All three blues look great.

 

I have some Jentle inks, and love the colors (especially Oku Yama!).

[lapis]

Thanks for the nice comparison. It's sometimes hard to find such valuable information, from one user on different papers.

 

Mike

[Chrissy]

Have you tried Souten? You might pick it up cheaply on ebay.com

[BayesianPrior]

Have you tried Souten? You might pick it up cheaply on ebay.com

 

I have not tried Souten, but then I'm not a turquoise kind of guy I'm after something deep and rich, which has a modicum of 'pop' off the page, yet is still subdued enough that I could read pages and pages of text without exhausting my eyes. Y'know?

Edited May 7, 2016 by BayesianPrior

[migo984]

I'm a huge Sailor ink fan and have lots of their inks but know some don't want to buy inks like Kobe (who sell a LOT of shades of blue) because of cost etc. But if you love Sailor then at least look at their range of Kobe Nagasawa blues.

 

As an alternative one ink I love is Platinum Aurora Blue, from their Mixables range (previously called Mix Free). It's a stunning, eye-popping blue, with saturation and sheen. As the name implies the set was intended to give you the ability to mix your own colours easily, but the inks can be used "straight from the bottle" if you want to. They are easy to get in the US - I think Goulet for one stocks them.

 

Apologies that I can't show you a writing sample as I'm 10,000 miles away from my bottle at the moment!

[jmccarty3]

As an alternative one ink I love is Platinum Aurora Blue, from their Mixables range (previously called Mix Free). It's a stunning, eye-popping blue, with saturation and sheen. As the name implies the set was intended to give you the ability to mix your own colours easily, but the inks can be used "straight from the bottle" if you want to. They are easy to get in the US - I think Goulet for one stocks them.

 

 

+1. This one's really impressive in broader nibs like Platinum's music nib.

[DrDebG]

One of my all time favorite blues is Nioi Sumire. I love the quiet elegance but with wonderful substance. Thank you for sharing.

[BayesianPrior]

Update [in case anyone cares]:

 

I am now of the opinion that the true test of an ink is how it looks as a block of text on a white page (considering the type of writing I do). I had been leaning towards the Nioi-Sumire as my blue ink of choice until I wrote two pages side-by-side, one with Nioi-Sumire and the other with Blue.

 

There is no comparison. The Blue is rich, reserved, noble, sheeny, and has, in a word, gravitas. A full page of Nioi-Sumire looks excited, lively, sheeny, and...immature? For my purposes, Sailor Jentle Blue wins hands down!

 

Naturally, the above is just my opinion, and I can definitely see a use for the rest of Nioi-Sumire sample...but filling notebooks is not it!

[VivienR]

Sailor inks certainly have some addictive effect. I'm really not a blue fan, although I really like their Blue-Black. Didn't like the Blue one, although I feel some urge to buy the Souten and Nioi-Sumire as well. Although except rare occasion, probably they will sit in my shelf... Sei-Boku is nice one, I tried it in few days ago, although I have it since around a year...

[haruka337]

Update [in case anyone cares]:

 

I am now of the opinion that the true test of an ink is how it looks as a block of text on a white page (considering the type of writing I do). I had been leaning towards the Nioi-Sumire as my blue ink of choice until I wrote two pages side-by-side, one with Nioi-Sumire and the other with Blue.

 

There is no comparison. The Blue is rich, reserved, noble, sheeny, and has, in a word, gravitas. A full page of Nioi-Sumire looks excited, lively, sheeny, and...immature? For my purposes, Sailor Jentle Blue wins hands down!

 

Naturally, the above is just my opinion, and I can definitely see a use for the rest of Nioi-Sumire sample...but filling notebooks is not it!

Isn't Sailor Jentle Blue grand?!? Their Black and Blue-Black are equally wonderful.

[senzen]

Yes indeed, what a great comparison! The first one reminds me of Asa Gao, the second of Myosotis, the third of Skrip Blue.

 

 

 

I am not using Skrip blue at the moment unfortunately.

Edited May 11, 2016 by pseudo88