Looking for a purply blue ink

January 14, 2022

Hi all - I've completely failed to keep up with all the new ink offerings of the past couple years and was wondering if you all could help. I am looking for purply blue ink with no sheen. I am hoping to find both a light version and a dark version (or anywhere in between). My current go-to inks in the spectrum are Monteverde Sapphire and Diamine Tudor Blue. I love the color of Monteverde Sapphire but really don't like the sheen so I can only use it on junky paper. I love the color of Tudor Blue (its almost perfect) - I would love to see what is out there that is close to it in the dusky sort of way that it is and maybe even if there is a something like it that is really bright and eye-popping! I've tried a bunch and these didn't make the cut....

DeAtramentis Standard Sapphire - in pen essentially black

Diamine Imperial Blue - too much sheen overwhelmed color

Diamine Regency Blue - swab was great, in pen the ink is essentially black

Diamine Midnight - copper or red sheen overwhelmed color

Diamine Oxford - more of a true blue

Ferris Wheel Press Tanzanite - swab was ok, in pen the ink is essentially black

J. Herbin - Bleu Nuit - more of a true blue

J. Herbin - Bleu des Profondeurs - more of a true blue

Monteverde Blue - washed out and watery

Monteverde blue black - washed out and watery

Platinum Blue-black - more of a true blue

Pilot Asa Gao - Washed out and dry feeling

Pilot Ajisai - washed out

Thank you!

January 14, 2022

Monteverde Charoite, almost identical with Private Reserve Tanzanite. Charoite has good flow and does not feather on cheaper paper.

January 14, 2022

Private Reserve has a few good blurples. PR Tanzanite was the OG blurple, but there is also PR Cosmic Cobalt and PR Black Magic Blue.

January 14, 2022

How about Aurora Blue? Not a "blurple" but not just an ordinary blue either.

J.Herbin Eclat de Saphir - more purple.

Sailor Ultramarine

If I wanted a "really bright and eye-popping" blue from Diamine I would consider Cornflower or possibly wait until around March for their latest Inkvent red edition ink Thunderbolt to come out. From your description of some of your inks it sounds like they might be evaporating inside your pen. That depends on the pen and how well it's cap fits. Try some of your inks in another pen with a screw cap.

January 14, 2022

I would also suggest J.H. Eclat de Saphir, very similar to Diamine Sapphire, but no sheen that I recall

January 14, 2022

Diamine Tudor Blue

Edit: Oh my goodness - you were talking about Tudor Blue in your original post and, somehow, I had forgotten by the time I replied! The mind is a terrible thing...

Well, at least I was on the right track!

Edited January 14, 2022 by PithyProlix
Doh!

January 14, 2022

S.T. Dupont BLEU NUIT/DARK BLUE Made in Austria Réf. 040111. Maybe a tick too dark blue and or even a half a tick black without enough purple, but I love the heck out of it. No sheen. Unfortunately available today only in cartridges so I buy them that way all the time and empty them out into a suitable bottle.

January 14, 2022

10 hours ago, AoKiu said:

Monteverde Charoite, almost identical with Private Reserve Tanzanite. Charoite has good flow and does not feather on cheaper paper.

My go-to for blurple. Dark but not blackish. It does have a bit of greenish sheen to it, but not overwhelmingly so.

January 14, 2022

January 14, 2022

Hello everyone - thanks for the suggestions so far. I will provide a brief summary of what we was said...

Aurora Blue - I have heard great things about this ink but when I tried it looked to me like typical washable (unsaturated) blue. Maybe my sample was off?

Diamine Cornflower - This could totally work! Where can you buy it though? Is it still available?

DIamine Sapphire / J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir - I need to try these in wetter pens, I think I tried them drier pens and I thought they looked a little washed out. May have to give them a second go.

Monteverde Chairote - This was on my radar at one point back in the day but for some reason I thought it was an actual purple and not a purply blue. I will have to look at it again!

Private Reserve Cosmic Cobalt - see below

Private Reserve Black Magic Blue - see below

Private Reserve Tanzanite - see below

Sailor Ultramarine - This wasn't on my radar at all. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

ST Dupont Bleu Nuit - Interesting option. Now the question is where to find it!!!

Fun / Not so fun story about PR inks. PR Tanzanite was the reason I got into pens 10+ years ago. I saw it on the paper and loved it and realized I couldn't find it in a rollerball. I bought a bottle and it was great. I then bought another years later and the ink color changed (new version was more purple than purply blue) and it kind of broke my heart. I researched PR and realized they were going through lots of changes at the company and formulation changes with their ink. I believe they just went through another round of changes joining yaffa. Can anyone comment on how the new formulations compare to the old?

January 14, 2022

I've gotta mention "Sailor Manyo - Nadeshiko".
It's a color-changing AND chromo-shading ink. It has a main hue of sky-blue with hints of lilac and pink in it.
On "CVS - Caliber" paper and on Rhodia, it changes color from blue to chromo-shaded purple as it dries.
The attached image doesn't show off the chromo-shading or color change as it's copy paper.

The Imgur Video link shows it much better...
https://imgur.com/a/OERb1CB

Edited January 14, 2022 by Detman101
video link update

January 14, 2022

4 hours ago, lapis said:

S.T. Dupont BLEU NUIT/DARK BLUE Made in Austria Réf. 040111. Maybe a tick too dark blue and or even a half a tick black without enough purple, but I love the heck out of it. No sheen. Unfortunately available today only in cartridges so I buy them that way all the time and empty them out into a suitable bottle.

Interesting option! Thanks for pointing it out. Do you know where to find them??? I looked for it a year or two ago and couldn't find bottle or cartridge!

January 14, 2022

8 hours ago, Dione said:

How about Aurora Blue? Not a "blurple" but not just an ordinary blue either.

J.Herbin Eclat de Saphir - more purple.

Sailor Ultramarine

If I wanted a "really bright and eye-popping" blue from Diamine I would consider Cornflower or possibly wait until around March for their latest Inkvent red edition ink Thunderbolt to come out. From your description of some of your inks it sounds like they might be evaporating inside your pen. That depends on the pen and how well it's cap fits. Try some of your inks in another pen with a screw cap.

Diamine Cornflower looks really cool. Do they offer it outside of the "flowers set." I can't seem to find it in a bottle!

January 14, 2022

6 minutes ago, CoolBreeze said:

Diamine Cornflower looks really cool. Do they offer it outside of the "flowers set." I can't seem to find it in a bottle!

Cult Pens or straight from Diamine. If you only plan to order around 5 bottles or less of Diamine it may be a little more cost effective to order from Diamine. Even though their prices are a little higher than Cult Pens their shipping charge is lower.

[Sorry for my stupid answer earlier...]

January 14, 2022

Oh, and another one to look at is Pure Pens Saltire.

Edit: Actually, scratch that. I just took a look online and it can have a prominent sheen that I don't get. But the color is on target, I think.

January 15, 2022

Levenger Cobalt Blue is likely in the range you are looking at

Edited January 15, 2022 by Runnin_Ute
Add photo

January 15, 2022

I’m not sure whether it has sheen, but Noodler’s Kung Te-Cheng is a difficult to pigeonhole ink that may be in the color range. It’s color varies from blue to blurple depending on the paper (and with Noodler’s, the batch). I really like Charoite, and Diamine Bilberry, which for me is a very dark blurple

January 15, 2022

10 hours ago, CoolBreeze said:

Hello everyone - thanks for the suggestions so far. I will provide a brief summary of what we was said...

Aurora Blue - I have heard great things about this ink but when I tried it looked to me like typical washable (unsaturated) blue. Maybe my sample was off?

Monteverde Chairote - This was on my radar at one point back in the day but for some reason I thought it was an actual purple and not a purply blue. I will have to look at it again!

Private Reserve Cosmic Cobalt - see below

Private Reserve Black Magic Blue - see below

Private Reserve Tanzanite - see below

[..] I researched PR and realized they were going through lots of changes at the company and formulation changes with their ink. I believe they just went through another round of changes joining yaffa. Can anyone comment on how the new formulations compare to the old?

Here's a sample chart that may help. I've included PR Lake Placid as a "true" blue for reference, and Monteverde Malibu Blue as a run-of-the-mill washable blue. All of the PR inks are current Yafa formulations except the Cosmic Cobalt at center bottom of the 3x3 tileset. That is from NOS cartridges I bought at a pen show.

Lamy Azurite, MV Sapphire, MV Charoite and BSB all were written with a glass dip pen, so please excuse the unevenness/heaviness of those samples.

I think the colors on the photo are truer to life than the scan; in particular the scan fails to capture the purple tones, especially noticeable for PR Tanzanite and Cosmic Cobalt.

January 15, 2022

I would also have suggested Kung Te Cheng -- with the caveat that it is not the best behaving ink on the planet (clogs and nib creep like no tomorrow, and I have seen it described as having the consistency of paint; OTOH, the color is amazing (I would call it a deep indigo with purple undertones) and of course it pretty much is EVERYTHING proof. I have seen it sheen on Tomoe River paper, though.... :rolleyes:

I'll admit that when I read the header I didn't think "blurple" so much as "blue violet". There's a couple of those I have that I really like at the moment -- KWZI IG Violet #2 and Robert Oster Dragon's Night.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

edited for formatting

January 15, 2022

So, try the blue link in my signature line below.

I'd also suggest a few CRVs (Co-Razy Views) - basically, find a few of us who have blue inks in our pens and ask if we can send you a letter written with the blue ink and then you write back with the Tudor Blue, that way way you can compare.