Favorite vintage-friendly bright/more saturated blue, green, and in-between inks?

[mehlodious]

I've only just started dipping my toes in the world of vintage pens, and I currently have one happy Eversharp Skyline very conservatively inked with Waterman Mysterious Blue, but my usual daily writers have more vivid hues in them.

 

I scoured the various "inks safe for vintage pens" articles & posts, and: --

 

Tried:

• Waterman Inspired Blue (a bit TOO bright for me, not fond of that shade of turquoise)
• Herbin Bleu Calanque (love this, just biding my time/want to make sure it's vintage-safe).

Ruled out:

• Herbin Bleu Pervenche (seems similar to Inspired Blue/that turquoise shade I don't love)
• Herbin Vert Reseda & others that seem too light to be daily writers

Some others on my future to-try list:

• Waterman Harmonious Green 
• Sheaffer Green

 

I'm curious what other favorites you all have to recommend that maybe aren't as obvious. BIG bonus points for being nice shaders, maybe even sheeners (although I know not as common in vintage-safe inks). Thanks for the input!

[yazeh]

It truly depends on your pen. 

If your pen is wet and flexy, Iron gall inks.... while most are dry, if your pen is wet, dryness can become an acquired taste.  Otherwise KWZ inks.

 

Herbin line is perfectly alright for vintage pens. Though if you use Pinks/Red (Rose Cyclamen), it'll take you a week to clean it out

 

[mizgeorge]

With the exception of anything with shimmer, particles or nano pigments, I happily use the many (but not necessarily all) of the inks from all of these in my vintage pens (which is the vast majority of them)

 

Akkerman

Blackbird

Callifolio

most Diamine

de Atramentis

Graf von Faber-Castell

Herbin

Kaweco

some KWZ

Mont Blanc

Pelikan

some Robert Oster

most Rohrer and Klinger

Sheaffer

Waterman

 

and some others

 

I would happily use most of the 'old' Italian brands, but I don't have many (never felt the need and don't have many Italian pens).

 

I tend to keep most of my Japanese inks for Japanese pens (or modern ones), though I do use some Iroshizukis in vintage piston filled pens. Not sure why.

 

I never use shimmering, nano particled, highly saturated or pigment inks, in my old pens, especially those with latex sacs. And I never use Noodlers.

 

But those are very much choices based on personal experience and preference.

 

There are a number of threads knocking around about this subject - including:

 

 

 

[bunnspecial]

Lately, I've been tooting the horn of Montblanc Royal Blue.

 

It's a nice, kind, friendly washable blue in the vein of Waterman, but is a fair bit more saturated. Its about as wet/lubricated as Waterman.

 

I'd have zero reservation about using this ink anywhere I'd use Waterman or Pelikan blue, which basically means anywhere.

[ENewton]

In my vintage pens, I use Waterman, J Herbin, Montblanc, and Rohrer & Klingner inks.  

 

Rohrer & Klingner has been making ink since 1892, and its inks tend to be very easy to flush from pens without the use of anything other than distilled water.  There are several blues and greens:

 

https://www.rohrer-klingner.de/wp-content/uploads/schreibtinte_farbkarte.pdf

 

 

[mehlodious]

thanks all for the replies! 

@mizgeorge - I think something that gives me pause is determining how saturated is... saturated. I have a bunch of Diamine inks that I love, but I suspect that my sheeners should stay out of a vintage pen. I also read about someone saying that Diamine Blue Velvet ate a sac of theirs in some thread here, which also gives me pause, because at first blush there's nothing about it that indicates it ought to. Likewise, you mention "some Robert Oster", and my thought is that most of their blues/greens are also dry sheeners, and could be dangerous. How can you tell, other than trial & error?

 

@bunnspecial - much appreciate the recommendation! (and answering the request for specific ink shade recommendations! 😆 )

maybe I should have clarified - I've exhaustively read many of the threads talking about what brands are recommended, and rules of thumb about pH - and given that there's still some ambiguity among all of that, I'd love to hear more specific firsthand recommendations for blue-to-green shades that folks have safely used and enjoyed in vintage pens.

[mizgeorge]

OK, to be specific, the blues and greens I'm currently using in vintage pens include (inter alia):

 

Herbin Blue Calanque (it's fine!), Vert de Gris, Vert Empire & another blue I can't remember the name of

Montblanc Emerald, Jungle, Elixir Heritage Egyptomania Green, Homer

Iroshizuki Shin Kai, Kon Peki

Waterman Mysterious Blue, Inspired Blue, Serenity Blue, Harmonious Green (not really enjoying the green)

KWZ green gold, which I like, but prefer R&K alt goldgrun

R&K Salix

Kyo no oto hisoku and urahairo (both with a bit of flow aid) 

Blackbird woodpecker and mallard greens, Magpie blue

Diamine Eau de Nil, Aqua Lagoon Green Umber, Classic Green, Green Black & Evergreen

Pilot Namiki Blue

Robert Oster Australis Green 

 

Some of these are in piston fillers rather than latex sacced pens though.

 

Don't ask about the other colours - it could end up getting a bit embarrassing

 

 

[mehlodious]

You say embarrassing, I say impressive! This is a wealth of examples - thanks so much for sharing, @mizgeorge  

[bunnspecial]

3 hours ago, meh-lodious said:

@bunnspecial - much appreciate the recommendation! (and answering the request for specific ink shade recommendations! 😆 )

 

Happy to just pass along what works for me!

 

Without doing a side-by-side but in the same pen, I'd put the color of MB Royal Blue as roughly the same SHADE as Waterman Blue but just more saturated. If your really wanted to get down to it, they're far from identical, but I mention that to say that both are your sort of standard generic middle-of-the-road blue color.

[RJS]

Montblanc Royal Blue does closely resemble Iroshizuku Asa-Gao and Visconti Blue, but to my eyes it does not resemble Serenity Blue- they appear to me to be different shades

 

Edit: For what it's worth, I like and would recommend all four of  those inks.

 

Edit 2: Based on another thread here, I don't know how many formulation changes the Waterman/Parker inks have gone through in recent years, so just because my inks don't match it might not suggest someone else's bottles do match.

[bunnspecial]

55 minutes ago, RJS said:

Montblanc Royal Blue does closely resemble Iroshizuku Asa-Gao and Visconti Blue, but to my eyes it does not resemble Serenity Blue- they appear to me to be different shades

 

There again, splitting hairs, but to my eye Asa Gao is more of a deep cobalt blue. I'm also using it in a VERY different pen than I am any of the other popular blues(VP EF).

 

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but most Western(German/American etc) standard blues are fairly acidic, and are known to play nice with ink sacs and with celluloid. Japanese inks tend toward alkaline, and I might worry if there's trouble there.

[RJS]

Courtesy of @Algester

 

[RJS]

I wouldn't personally worry about something mildly alkaline in my pens. We eat things in the 7-9 pH range (and the from 2-7 range, similarly). 

[Runnin_Ute]

In Esterbrook pens (I have seven)

Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue 

Lamy Petrol 

Edelstein Star Ruby 

KWZI El Dorado 

Diamine Steel Blue and Saddle Brown 

Levenger Cobalt Blue 

 

51 Demi Vacumatic and Vacumatic Emerald Pearl 

Waterman Serenity Blue 

Robert Oster Astorquiza Rot

Blackstone Daintree Green 

KWZI Pine Green 

Levenger Forest Green 

Edelstein Olivine and Aventurine 

Diamine Blue Black and Saddle Brown 

Blackstone Uluru Red

 

51 aerometric 

Lamy Pacific/Turquoise 

Levenger Cobalt Blue 

Diamine Ancient Copper, Steel Blue 

Waterman Serenity Blue 

Akkerman Shocking Blue 

 

400NN 

Edelstein Olivine and Sapphire 

KWZI 150 Confederation Brown 

Levenger Cobalt Blue 

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black 

KWZI Pine Green 

 

140

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black 

Since arriving in August 2017 there have been two fills that were something else.  Those were Diamine Sherwood Green 

 

Typically except for the 140 which is always inked, the others go in and out of rotation, usually not more than two or three consecutive fills before rotating out.

[mehlodious]

that's some fantastic data - thanks very much! since Lamy Pacific worked for you, now I'm squinting at my bottle of Lamy Turmaline, wondering if I dare...

[Runnin_Ute]

Pacific is Turquoise rebranded as a "Special Edition". I wish they would have left the name changed to Pacific. Oh, this data is from my ink log beginning in November 2019.

 

Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue is a sheener, KWZI El Dorado shades nicely - it is currently in my M400 White Tortoise (B)

[essayfaire]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:13 PM, RJS said:

Courtesy of @Algester

 

Just to let you know, I just looked at this in 2023 and it remains a good resource!

[tde44x]

I am currently using the following in my vintage pens:

Pennonia Nettle Green

Diamine Earl Grey

Diamine Imperial Purple