So many blues, so few choices. :(

[arcfide]

Okay, so I've now collected up a little sampling of various blue and blue black inks, and I'm discovering that I'm deeply annoyed with the ink world right at this moment. 

 

I just can't seem to find anything like Platinum Blue Black, and I want to have something in the same class but maybe in a more permanent form, like a pigmented ink, or *something*. 

 

I've picked up Waterman Serenity Blue and Mysterious blue, and they are very nice colors (surprisingly to me), as are Sailor Blue and some of those other indigo leaning blues, but they are almost all universally not lightfast or water resistant at all, especially in comparison to Platinum Blue Black. 

 

On the other hand, Noodler's blues are uninspiring and just downright misbehaved on the whole, making them unsuitable as a "do everything, be everywhere" ink for me, which is what I'm looking for here. 

 

And then there is the dearth of pigmented blues that really hit the mark. I'm probably going to try some Sailor Storia Night next, but I've tried the Sailor Seiboku and while I really like the ink, it's definitely more like Tsuki-yo in its colorings (which is fine, it goes well with the "midnight" theme that I have going with it) with that almost Teal lean to it. On some papers, like Midori MD paper, it comes achingly close to the right color, but I generally don't use MD notebooks as often as other notebooks that I might favor more. Souboku is obviously too dark. Platinum Pigmented Blue is too shaded and bright, and the same goes for MB Permanent Blue.

 

Argh! My findings relating to the rest of the IG classes is much the same. Most of them are either too dark or too light, or they aren't particularly well behaved compared to Blue Black in terms of flow and the like. 

 

It's not like I don't have enough Platinum Blue Black, or that it isn't working for me, but I can't help but be kind of annoyed that there isn't *something* else in a pigmented or otherwise highly permanent form that can compete with it. How is it that so many of the blue colors out there are either excessively bright or otherwise lean so far towards the teal end of the spectrum? 

 

*sigh* It would be nice to at least have *some* choice. I'm not even asking for the same color, just something in that same general class. Seiboku is maybe the closest I have seen so far among permanent inks. Depending on the paper and the application it sometimes seems to be in that right region of blue and other times it seems more like Tsuki-yo. 

 

Ah well. I guess I'm asking too much. Maybe I'll just have to stick to using MD paper with Seiboku. It's really weird. MD paper with Platinum Blue Black makes that ink come out more green to me, but Seiboku comes out more blue on the same paper. Huh? On the other hand, MIO and A.Silky paper bring out the blue in Platinum's BB, but seem to reduce the intensity of Seiboku. 

 

I need to get some Tsubame white and see what happens on that paper. 

[silverlifter]

I'm a fan of R&K's Dokumentus Dunkleblau - I have had it in my daily carry pen for the last several months and it performs admirably: no hard starts, no clogging. It dries quickly and is ISO certified. It may be a little darker than what you are looking for, but is on most papers a genuine dark royal blue.

 

I'm also a recent Sei-boku fan, as well as owning a boatload of IGs, and the Dunkleblau fills the niche spot you are talking about nicely for me.

[Carrau]

This has been covered to some degree before.  
https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/342417-alternative-to-platinums-blue-black/

You haven’t mentioned two perennial favorites on FPN, Pelikan 4001, and Pilot Blue Black-examples in above link.

[XYZZY]

1 hour ago, arcfide said:

I'm probably going to try some Sailor Storia Night next

 

I would recommend starting with no more than a sample.  The Sailor Storia Night Blue is blue, not a blue black.  One thing that doesn't show up in any of the photos that I've seen is that it dries with a flat chalky appearance, as do the other Storia inks that I've tried.  You might see that chalky appearance mentioned in reviews, but you'll have to read them since it's probably not reflected in the images.  On a positive note, it has the flow and lubrication that you'd expect from a Sailor pigmented ink.  

 

 

[arcfide]

I like the extra blue-ness of Platinum's Blue Black, more than the heavier-handed blue blacks that are more black than they are blue. This makes me think that I might enjoy Storia Night, depending on its shade. 

 

The issue with many blues is that they are too soft. I love that Indigo/Royal blue that comes from having just the touch of red sheen potential (even if there isn't any visible sheening) and the deepness of color that comes when you're somewhere brighter than the typical dark blue, but haven't over-saturated or lightened the color so much that you get into BSB or Kon-peki territory (both great colors in their own right, mind you). Waterman Serenity Blue is actually pretty close (maybe a touch too light) when it is wet, but it dries to a paler, brighter blue than that. 

 

My speculation on why Platinum Blue Black is so relatively unique in this regard is that, being an IG ink, they are able to get that slightly deeper tone through the IG component, but can enhance the richness of the blue tone through the dye. If you don't put much IG in, then the color might come out lighter and paler than desired, but if you use a pigment instead of the dye to get permanence, then the pigmented color doesn't have the multi-tonal chemistry, and so it's hard to get a pigment that both has the right hue but also can retain the right saturation. The overall color hue between Platinum's BB and Pigmented blues is actually remarkably close before the BB IG takes over and the dye fades, and I don't believe that is unintentional. However, the shading of the Pigmented Blue creates a remarkably different effect compared to the shading of the BB ink. 

 

I've looked at a lot of Pelikan 4001 Blue Black and Pilot Blue Black scans, and I've been tempted a few times, but when I do the comparisons, I'm pretty certain that they won't "do it" for me, and really, I'd probably always just look at them as "less Platinum BB inks." Whereas something like Seiboku I can kind of appreciate on its own merits, like Tsuki-yo, even if they still might make me wish I had Platinum BB at times. 

 

I think I'd be a happier camper if I could be satisfied with just using non-permanent dye-based inks, because then I'm sure I could hone in on the shade I wanted, but every time I do that, I find myself going back to permanent inks in short order. 

[arcfide]

Okay, I feel like Seiboku has thoroughly redeemed itself at this point. While it still doesn't have that pop that I quite want on some of my papers, I have found that with a Itoya Profolio Oasis notebook it delivers an satisfying color and fast dry times. This makes it a great pair with that paper. 

 

But where it really appears to shine for me now is on plain copy paper. With the plain copy paper, I'm seeing a lovely, rich blue color that is absolutely my jam. Very nice! No bleedthrough, feathering, or any other undesirables afflict my eyes or paper in this case. Very nice, indeed. 

[lapis]

Get Monteverde's Horizon Blue, get MB's Royal Blue and Permanent Blue, get Visconti's Blue, get Aurora's Blue......

[arcfide]

1 hour ago, lapis said:

Get Monteverde's Horizon Blue, get MB's Royal Blue and Permanent Blue, get Visconti's Blue, get Aurora's Blue......

 

Are those highly water resistant and relatively archival? Like I said above, if all I cared about was color, I'm sure I could have a wider choice, but that's not all that I really want in an ink. 

[RJS]

A thread covering most of my favourites. OP, I second or third the suggestion to try Pilot Blue Black. Resistant to water, lovely colour, impeccably behaved, cheap, etc. There's no negatives.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I  have little use for permanent inks.

 

You have to order a hand full of inks from Germany and smuggle in Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black,*** a worlds famous ink..........illegal in the States. They use wimpy US rates instead of strong Norway rats for the ink drinking contests. So you have to smuggle it in.

In the US is a minor ink market, Pelikan didn't screw up a grand ink because of US rats.

 

I like two toned shading inks.....some folks hung up with supersaturated inks call them wishy washy or pastel.

I've only got 8-10-12? blue inks. Not done blue in a while.

 

My Next 50Shading Inks

A List Of Fpn's Member'sShading Inks

 

 

**** having 6-8 BB inks, never got around to trying Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite which is only a couple years old.....look it up in Ink Reviews. Some folks like it a lot.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

On 1/25/2021 at 5:40 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

I  have little use for permanent inks.

 

You have to order a hand full of inks from Germany and smuggle in Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black,*** a worlds famous ink..........illegal in the States. They use wimpy US rates instead of strong Norway rats for the ink drinking contests. So you have to smuggle it in.

In the US is a minor ink market, Pelikan didn't screw up a grand ink because of US rats.

 

I like two toned shading inks.....some folks hung up with supersaturated inks call them wishy washy or pastel.

I've only got 8-10-12? blue inks. Not done blue in a while.

 

My Next 50Shading Inks

A List Of Fpn's Member'sShading Inks

 

 

**** having 6-8 BB inks, never got around to trying Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite which is only a couple years old.....look it up in Ink Reviews. Some folks like it a lot.

Should have used New York Sewar Rats. Makes the Norway rats look like Mickey Mouse I tell you what.

[sebastel23]

1 hour ago, TitoThePencilPimp said:

Should have used New York Sewar Rats. Makes the Norway rats look like Mickey Mouse I tell you what.

 

my guess, the sewer rats are too smart to have themselves get involved.