Visconti blue vs. Monteverde horizon blue?

[dragondazd]

Hi!

 

I like both inks and was trying to see if they were distinctly different. My sample writings look very similar in color. 

 

I was about to compare a sample of horizon blue to my bottle of Visconti blue when I found a glob of SLIME in the bottle. Ugh. 

 

For you blue lovers, do I need both? How do they differ?

 

I liked both but i think I especially enjoyed Visconti but I wonder if the slime is more common, maybe not as tight a lid or due to the bottle shape. Subjective opinions/advice welcome!

 

 

[RJS]

I like both inks, but refill with Horizon Blue much more frequently, and it is one of my favourites. It looks more interesting on the page, while the Visconti looks flatter. The Visconti is delightfully bright, though, and a shade of blue I adore. I feel I should refill a pen with the Visconti so I can make an actual side-by-side comparison.   I've had no problems with either, to date, and both write very well. 

[lgsoltek]

Quick swab. Close but not same, Visconti is slightly purpler and Horizon Blue has slightly more green.

 

I like both colours but I prefer Visconti Blue, it being closer to International Klein Blue. I haven't encountered any problem with my two Visconti Blue bottles, luckily.

[dragondazd]

2 minutes ago, lgsoltek said:

Quick swab. Close but not same, Visconti is slightly purpler and Horizon Blue has slightly more green.

 

I like both colours but I prefer Visconti Blue, it being closer to International Klein Blue. I haven't encountered any problem with my two Visconti Blue bottles, luckily.

Thanks!

 

At this point I feel like I can't lose with either one.

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, dragondazd said:

How do they differ?

 

Once fully dried in the first instance, I find Visconti Blue more apt to smudge subsequently than Monteverde Horizon Blue.

 

Both are equally as lacking in water resistance, and so both are as ‘useless’ to me as workhorse inks. That said, I have several (yet unopened) bottles of Monteverde Horizon Blue that I got at a reasonable price from Amazon in Australia back in 2020, whereas I only have that one opened bottle of Visconti Blue; I can restock on the VB at a reasonable price if I wanted to, but I'd have to tack that on to an order with La Couronne du Comte in the Netherlands to qualify (or otherwise already qualified) for free international shipping.

 

With so many good, aesthetically pleasing blue inks in the market (and/or in my personal collection) that have better water resistance, I personally don't need either of them. I think Waterman Serenity Blue sheens just as much and performs just as well as Monteverde Horizon Blue, and is cheaper (to order from Amazon AU) to boot, with water resistance that is no worse (but not nearly good enough for me). However, until I run out of Monteverde Horizon Blue ink out of my stash, that's probably what I'll use as the just-need-a-standard-blue-ink-to-test-something ink instead of Waterman Serenity Blue, which I happen to like well in defiance of my low expectations (since recommendations from certain more seasoned fellow forum members in ‘the business’ of the ink as a staple, ‘standard’ ink for testing is kinda off-putting to me as far as selecting a workhorse blue ink goes). In the case of Waterman Serenity Blue, I'm ‘happy’ to own up to my unwarranted prejudice, and glad to be proven ‘wrong’.

[dragondazd]

24 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Once fully dried in the first instance, I find Visconti Blue more apt to smudge subsequently than Monteverde Horizon Blue.

 

Both are equally as lacking in water resistance, and so both are as ‘useless’ to me as workhorse inks. That said, I have several (yet unopened) bottles of Monteverde Horizon Blue that I got at a reasonable price from Amazon in Australia back in 2020, whereas I only have that one opened bottle of Visconti Blue; I can restock on the VB at a reasonable price if I wanted to, but I'd have to tack that on to an order with La Couronne du Comte in the Netherlands to qualify (or otherwise already qualified) for free international shipping.

 

With so many good, aesthetically pleasing blue inks in the market (and/or in my personal collection) that have better water resistance, I personally don't need either of them. I think Waterman Serenity Blue sheens just as much and performs just as well as Monteverde Horizon Blue, and is cheaper (to order from Amazon AU) to boot, with water resistance that is no worse (but not nearly good enough for me). However, until I run out of Monteverde Horizon Blue ink out of my stash, that's probably what I'll use as the just-need-a-standard-blue-ink-to-test-something ink instead of Waterman Serenity Blue, which I happen to like well in defiance of my low expectations (since recommendations from certain more seasoned fellow forum members in ‘the business’ of the ink as a staple, ‘standard’ ink for testing is kinda off-putting to me as far as selecting a workhorse blue ink goes). In the case of Waterman Serenity Blue, I'm ‘happy’ to own up to my unwarranted prejudice, and glad to be proven ‘wrong’.

Thanks for sharing these considerations. I have waterman serenity blue and like it. It appears much lighter to me, and not in the same color category in my mind. I use it as a safe ink. For water resistance to me ink is either very resistant or assumed to not have any resistance at all. These two I assume have none. It is purely for (while still well behaved) aesthetics.

 

I think what I am also hearing is that I need to try more blues that are also water resistant. I would gladly take recommendations of similar colors. I have Baltimore canyon, seiboku, and Liberty's Elysium and they aren't similar in my experience.

 

 

 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

19 minutes ago, dragondazd said:

I would gladly take recommendations of similar colors.

 

Sailor Seiboku, Souboku, and (as much as I don't like speaking in favour of Noodler's Ink as a brand) Noodler's X-Feather Blue are closest to being waterproof, in my experience, in the blue to blue-black range of ink colours. Waterproof, as in not shedding (much, if any) colour into the water sitting above the paper, and not bleeding into the fibres immediately next to the ink marks, when a page of writing is rewetted; and the ink marks retain their original colours pretty well after being soaked or submerged in water.

 

Sailor STORiA Night Blue and possibly Platinum Pigment Blue, too; but I haven't subjected them to the same degree of testing and scrutiny.

 

Platinum Blue-Black is probably the most vibrant within blue-black iron-gall inks I've tried, and even sheens readily on common paper such as Rhodia 80gsm white notepad paper. It's very water-resistant, in that the ink marks will remain perfectly legible after soaking, but some of the blue colour will wash off and what's left behind persistently is more grey-black.

 

If I recall correctly, Graf von Faber-Castell Midnight Blue is fairly water-resistant, as it is marketed as being indelible and ‘document proofed’. While not advertised as such, to my recollection Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai and Kobe INK Story #38 Kitanozaka Night Blue (produced by Sailor) are also pretty water-resistant dark blue inks. Water will lift some colour, and possibly stain the surrounding area with it, when the marks from all those inks are rewetted with droplets or a water brush, though.

 

[dragondazd]

16 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Sailor Seiboku, Souboku, and (as much as I don't like speaking in favour of Noodler's Ink as a brand) Noodler's X-Feather Blue are closest to being waterproof, in my experience, in the blue to blue-black range of ink colours. Waterproof, as in not shedding (much, if any) colour into the water sitting above the paper, and not bleeding into the fibres immediately next to the ink marks, when a page of writing is rewetted; and the ink marks retain their original colours pretty well after being soaked or submerged in water.

 

Sailor STORiA Night Blue and possibly Platinum Pigment Blue, too; but I haven't subjected them to the same degree of testing and scrutiny.

 

Platinum Blue-Black is probably the most vibrant within blue-black iron-gall inks I've tried, and even sheens readily on common paper such as Rhodia 80gsm white notepad paper. It's very water-resistant, in that the ink marks will remain perfectly legible after soaking, but some of the blue colour will wash off and what's left behind persistently is more grey-black.

 

If I recall correctly, Graf von Faber-Castell Midnight Blue is fairly water-resistant, as it is marketed as being indelible and ‘document proofed’. While not advertised as such, to my recollection Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai and Kobe INK Story #38 Kitanozaka Night Blue (produced by Sailor) are also pretty water-resistant dark blue inks. Water will lift some colour, and possibly stain the surrounding area with it, when the marks from all those inks are rewetted with droplets or a water brush, though.

 

Thanks I've only tried some of these so far. I put xfeather and Kobe 38 on my sample list.

[RJS]

Seiboku and Souboku are so far from this shade of blue- not even in the same ballpark. I've not found any ink close to this colour that is waterproof, or even kinda waterproof, though I haven't tried inks such as the Noodlers, that Dill mentioned.

[A Smug Dill]

I agree, Sailor Seiboku and Souboku looks nothing like Montverde Horizon Blue and Visconti Blue. On the other hand, I don't think those two dye-based inks look so close to each other either; and so I was really only commenting on waterproof or highly water-resistant blue inks in general, and not on the specific shade of blue.

 

Robert Oster and Diamine make so many shades of blue it makes one's eyes bleed to consider them all; but, to me personally, it's wasted effort because where I need a workhorse blue ink (for which water resistance is an important attribute), as long as it's noticeably blue, performance characteristics trump the aesthetic consideration of which ink it is. On the other hand, if I was simply trying to find a best-match ink by colour for a pen, and water resistance is not key, then I'd say just fill the pen with Monteverde Horizon Blue and Visconti Blue serially, write with it, and see which ink is the better match. In which case, one doesn't really ‘need’ both of those, because chances are one would have a pen for which neither ink is a perfect match in colour; and one could either accept a compromise, in which case whichever of the two one only has on hand will do, or reject both and look further afield, and so both inks would be equally necessary (or unnecessary) as each other.

 

[Olya]

If you want the same colour as Horizon Blue, but without fear of getting mouldy ink, I suggest you buy Diamine Blue Velvet.

Members here have compared Penman Sapphire, Blue Velvet and Horizon Blue and they look like identical triplets.

 

Another alternative would be Scribe Indigo, made by the guy (Dr. Leighton Davies-Smith), who's made the Penman line for Parker.

 

Monteverde has handled the mould issue with customers very well, but people still report mouldy inks coming from bottles bought/received only a couple of months ago, so I'm very wary of their inks.

[arcfide]

Given the nature of the dyes used to make this particular shade of blue, I doubt you'll find much in the way of this color for water-resistant inks outside of maybe some of the Noodler's. I agree with @A Smug Dill that Platinum Blue Black is closer than most other IG inks, but it isn't going to be a perfect match, especially as it shades more. The same goes for the pigmented blue inks, which are probably your best bet. In those cases, I find them generally to write with a little more shading and maybe also have more flatness to them. If you are willing to accept a shading pigmented ink that will write more delicately than these inks, but in the same general color family, then Pigmented Blue from Platinum is a good choice. Otherwise, I'd also be willing to give Montblanc Permanent Blue a good try. 

[dragondazd]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions everyone.

 

I decided to re-purchase Visconti blue. Since buying the first bottle in November, I've used it only twice. But looking back at my notes, I found I literally wrote "wow" multiple times in my work notebook. I liked horizon blue but did not have that reaction lol so I guess I made up my mind months ago haha

 

[lapis]

On 4/5/2022 at 7:48 AM, A Smug Dill said:

 

... and (as much as I don't like speaking in favour of Noodler's Ink as a brand)....

 

Same here. My recommendation in this vicinity would be Noodler's "Blue". One problem -- maybe even the only problem I see -- is that it takes relatively long to dry. But that's not a really big problem for me.