Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue

[A Smug Dill]

 

Ink flow: Tending towards the drier side of moderate in my otherwise wet-flowing Platinum #3776 pen.

Drying time: ≤20 seconds, including for wet writing; but it surprised me that both the dot atop the minuscule ‘j’ and where the pen strokes intersected in the minuscule ‘t’ still smudged after 18 seconds, even though I didn't deliberately made the strokes all that wet with my Pilot steel nib (acting as a dip pen nib).

Smudging after drying initially: Not observed.

Water resistance: moderate; the bright violet marks left after the blue has run off tend to be legible, if the blue has indeed run off (or otherwise been soaked up) sufficiently not to obscure the remnants of the marks

 

Feathering; Not observed on Rhodia DotPad 80g/m² paper

Show-through: Minimal to nil; only observed where the ring made by the rim of the ink bottle is on the page

Bleed-through: Not observed, even where that ring of colour is, or in the square area where I have shaded entirely twice over

 

Shading: See below. More observable in drier writing; usually quite well-blended, but more apt to show starker delineation between lighter and darker shades in short, disjointed, emphatic pen strokes.

Sheen: Sheens red but not readily when using a finer nib, even when writing slowly/wetly; the sheen doesn't stand out that much against the dark blue.

 

 

[InesF]

Thank you @A Smug Dill for this comprehensive review. What a pleasure to see 7 (or 8?) different handwriting styles on one page.😃

Always chasing the "perfect" blue - a long chase so far and no light at the horizon. I'm picky about the blues I like and this G.v.F.-C. Cobalt Blue is close. From your images I see above average saturation and maybe a bit grey undertone.

Talking to myself: visit the shop and test the ink!

[mizgeorge]

Smashing review - thank you @A Smug Dill

 

This is one of the GvFCs I haven't got, but if I were in the market for another fairly saturated blue, it would certainly be in the running on the strength of this.

[Arcadian]

Love your gradient speed of the fox! 😁😆

 

 - P. 

[lapis]

Thanks for the great review as always. Also very "capturing". Yes, in the sense that for me, your colours (okay, what I see on my screen) are completely indicative of the real thing. No, in the sense that it (your review) doesn't captivate me to buy it. I already have it and it was the first I bought and still "best" GvFC of all 19.

[yazeh]

[LizEF]

Thanks, @A Smug Dill.  While this is in that shade of blues I don't particularly like, from your review, it seems to have something that makes the color not as bad as others in this range.  My thought while examining the images was that if I had to get such a blue (a bizarre notion, but still), I'd pick this one (or at least start with a sample of this one).  Might be the shading, might be how dark it can get, or maybe it's because I could always rinse the blue away and enjoy that pinkish lavender color left behind...   Whatever the reason, it seems like it would be a tolerable blue blue.

[RJS]

The cartridges can be had for only £2, and I use one time to time, especially on trips. Not the most interesting colour, but it's pleasant and formal, and the ink is very well behaved.