Five Blues Without Sailor's Sailor

[lapis]

As discussed recently in Vis' review on Diamine's Tudor Blue, I was wondering how it would compare with the new Sailor's Sailor ink, which I don't have.

 

I know, I know, there doesn't have to be any resemblance, but I just thought off-hand that there might be some resemblance as somebody once said that elsewhere (I forget where). Also, swabs don't always help and/or such calamities often end up to be different and/or misleading (IMO), depending on the sellers and their sites.

 

Getting back to what has been resurrected in the above-mentioned site, here are a few lines of those inks -- Diamine's Tudor Blue, Diamine's Oxford Blue, Diamine's Sapphire Blue, Diamine's Mr Pen Radiant Blue and Noodler's Baystate Blue -- constructed with a Pelikano M and a Lamy 1.5-mm Joy, all on Rhodia 80 g/m² – 21.3 lb paper:

 

 

I'm afraid that the new Sailor Blue is nowhere near any of those up there... they're too green or red or black or light. Got any ideas?

 

PS: FWIW, the flows/wetnesses of these vary considerably:

BSB ≈ Oxford >> Radiant > Tudor > Sapphire

[yazeh]

Hi Lapis according to Mountain of Inks, it's closest to KWZ Azure 3.

[lapis]

Thanks! Very contributive!! I had of course also thought of Horizon, but my Horizon didn't have the shading shown there. That shading and/or the great variation between the "fresh" and "shaded" portions of it (in all four of the upper Sailor swabs) seem to be its specialty. I hadn't thought of the Azure #3 (which I do have). How embarrassing. Sorry, Konrad! Guess I'll have to whip out those two inks and extend the above images....

[yazeh]

Most welcome.

I have Horizon Blue. With time (probably thanks to evaporation) it has a nice noticeable sheen. She also mentions in the comments, Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim as another replacement ink....

IF you scroll below you can see both swabs together.....

Edited October 22, 2020 by yazeh

[lapis]

Most welcome.

I have Horizon Blue. With time (probably thanks to evaporation) it has a nice noticeable sheen. She also mentions in the comments, Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim as another replacement ink....

IF you scroll below you can see both swabs together.....

 

That sheen shown there is tremendous!

[lapis]

Robert Oster's Tokyo Blue Denim is one I don't have for sure.

Along with Tudor -- same pens, same paper -- here is Monteverde's Horizon Blue and KWZI's Azure #3:

[yazeh]

It's funny how the nib transforms the ink. Looking at Azure 3 in medium, I would've never suspected that it is the same ink as written with the medium....

The same goes for the shading.. almost none with the medium and shade galore with 1.5.....

[lapis]

Great! That's the first thing I thought of, myself. Now everybody knows that different nib widths and section flows yield lines that have different surface-area-coverages, saturations etc. but the diff here between the nibs is astonishing. It seems almost as if "more width" ð "more green". The same thing pertains (at least a bit) to the five images up top. Yes, the nibs were all cleaned and dried and polished prior to re-use. (I've always seen more shading with broader nibs.)

[yazeh]

[RJS]

It's funny how the nib transforms the ink. Looking at Azure 3 in medium, I would've never suspected that it is the same ink as written with the medium....

The same goes for the shading.. almost none with the medium and shade galore with 1.5.....

I was going to say exactly the same thing. Incredible that an ink can perform THAT differently with two different nibs on the same paper.

[RJS]

Out of interest, does that medium nib show shading with ANY ink or are 100% of inks flat with it?

Edited October 22, 2020 by RJS

[lapis]

Out of interest, does that medium nib show shading with ANY ink or are 100% of inks flat with it?

I'll have a look at that later. The nib is in the process of having 3 baths... detergent, bleach, water..............

[lapis]

Here's a little table just to show how different an image of one and the same ink can look in various companies' websites. No, I'm not against that at all; I'm happy to see as much as possible and I thank all stores who get around to carrying out their homework in this regard. The following focusses only on a few blues I'm trying to compare. Some sources' ink colors look quite similar, some don't.

 

Completely apart from all that jazz, I'm starting to get tired of looking at these (I think) and may just stick to Horizon (instead of KWZI Azure #3, because mine is too dark) and forget about Sailor's Sailor, simply due to the availability and price. For bottles of these, a few of today's prices look like this:

 

 

Ahoi!

[RJS]

The price difference is wider in the UK, with Sailor's Sailor costing more than 5x as much as Horizon Blue (30ml), and nearly 4x more than the bigger Monteverde bottle.

[NeverTapOut]

Lapis...

I like your writing samples. I have been burned buying blue inks. The color swatches made by the stores never match what I receive in my world and I know it is because of a variety of reasons. I have been looking at Diamine Sapphire for a while. How does it compare to MB Royal Blue?

I always appreciate your insight.

Now If I could only get Akkerman #10...

Regards,

David

[lapis]

Back again!

 

 

In comparison with Diamine's Sapphire Blue, MB's Royal Blue is definitely wetter and smoother. Although MB's Royal is of course "different" from any of these other blues, it is "almost" or "somehow" the closest to the Sapphire as far as intensity/saturation goes. The Sapphire is a tick more vivid, likely because it has more green and/or less red than MB's Royal. All in all, Diamine's Royal, Majestic and several others -- including maybe Presidential and Imperial -- might also be looked at but that has long since been done elsewhere (sorry, I forget when and where).

 

[NeverTapOut]

Thank you Lapis. I appreciate you taking the time to do the comparison.

[TSherbs]

I'm liking that Tudor version....