How Many Blues Is Enough?

[Arkanabar]

As it happens, I have more than one blue ink -- in addition to Noodler's Blue, I have a packet of Blackstone's Cashmere Blue powder, a bottle of Sheaffer Turquoise, and a bottle I've dubbed "I Can't Believe It's Waterman Florida Blue!" (too dark, too saturated, and too lightfast).

 

But I only bought the Noodler's Blue, and future purchases will be either Noodler's Blue or Blue Eel.

[Hallel]

Blue is a tricky colour for me, when I first started getting into fountain pens, I avoided regular old blue like the plague. Too mainstream. Too safe. I was much happier with my exotic sounding J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune or Diamine Ancient Copper. No one could look at those inks on a page and think they came from a bic pen.

 

But as time went on and I moved from merely admiring the ink on a page to actually having to write extensively, I came back around to blue again. Blue is so calming and lovely, and a whole page of blue is pleasant to look at. Now I would agree with what others here have said, that blue inks have such a broad range that you could easily have half a dozen and not feel crowded with look alikes. If I had to choose my top ten inks, at least six of those would be some variation of blue.

[ajoe]

As with many things, the answer is 42.

[Bluey]

No number of blues are enough.

[KellyMcJ]

Replace "blue" with "blue black" and the question becomes "what is this 'enough' you speak of?"

[Fuzzy_Bear]

As with many things, the answer is 42.

Well, it is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything else. But don't panic, I have my towel.

[MHBru]

To the uninformed your question would not make sense in that they think all blues are the same... but we know better. Kon Peki and Ku jaku are not the same and therefore excluded. . I won't have two of the same color tho no matter what color it's called.

[dcwaites]

One can never have enough bottles of PPS. Or KTC. Or BSB.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Pseudo88,

 

You ask, "how many blues are enough"?

 

I don't know; I'll let you know when it happens.

 

- Anthony

[inkstainedruth]

Replace "blue" with "blue black" and the question becomes "what is this 'enough' you speak of?"

 

Said, no doubt in much the same tone of voice I used on bidding on a Parker 51 in Plum several years ago on the Bay of Evil (only in my case it was "What is this 'snipe' of which you speaK? I'm just gonna get plain outbid..."). And then won the auction for it , and for not even as high as my intermediate maximum bid.....

Or you can do what I did -- counted the blues and Blue-Black ink together...

Ruth Morrisson aka inksteinedth

[dcwaites]

The alternate question is -- how many clones of PPS is enough?

[amberleadavis]

The other day, I thought I had enough blues and then some friends sent me another blue and I was so happy. Any day n ow, I'm sure it will be enough. I haven't deliberately purchased new blue in years so I don't know how they keep ending up in my shopping cart.

[Tinjapan]

All of them.

[Tinjapan]

Well, it is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything else. But don't panic, I have my towel.

As do I!

[senzen]

Great answers! As it turns out, I just found one other kind of answer: how many pens you got? After the latest batch of inks (Ancient Copper, Ina Ho, Equinoxe 6 and Souten), and with the third Kaweco Sport converter fail, turns out I am one pen short for Ama Iro, and it can't be just any pen either, as it needs to be resistant to evaporation (since it changes colour so dramatically, I'm thinking screw cap), comfortable (chunkier barrel) and with a decent nib to make it justice; I currently don't have the budget for the one that looks interesting, a 912 with a WA nib, although I could make do with a 91 in SFM. So as much as I love Ama Iro, it's going to have to wait!

[senzen]

Blue is a tricky colour for me, when I first started getting into fountain pens, I avoided regular old blue like the plague. Too mainstream. Too safe. I was much happier with my exotic sounding J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune or Diamine Ancient Copper. No one could look at those inks on a page and think they came from a bic pen.

 

But as time went on and I moved from merely admiring the ink on a page to actually having to write extensively, I came back around to blue again. Blue is so calming and lovely, and a whole page of blue is pleasant to look at. Now I would agree with what others here have said, that blue inks have such a broad range that you could easily have half a dozen and not feel crowded with look alikes. If I had to choose my top ten inks, at least six of those would be some variation of blue.

 

Tsuyu Kusa is the path to zen for me, but I need to use Souten more.

[TSherbs]

Mick Jagger, when MTV launched: "Too much is never enough."

[Pentode]

I have some Pelikan Royal Blue 4001 carts that I'm actively trying to use up. Once they're gone I'll pick up a bottle of one good navy blue and call it done. I've just never been a big fan of blue. If I'm feeling really feisty, I might stock a good royal blue in addition to the navy, but it's unlikely.

 

Blue-black, on the other hand.... well, I'll never have enough of those! How many is enough? Just one more....

[abstract49]

About forty-eleven ought to be about enough.

[Driften]

It is strange how I can have several pens loaded with Kon-Peki and Ama-Iro and depending on the pen they are different colors. I have five blues right now but those two are my favorites. I was eyeing several more though, but I decided to try some teal's for a change. I cut down the number of inked pens to nine at the moment. Four are blue.