EFNIR: Sheaffer Skrip Blue/Black

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Sheaffer Skrip Blue/Black

This is review #183 in my series.  Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Cleaning was quick and easy. Can't explain dry time - it didn't seem to take nearly so long in daily use.

I'd call this a teal-black color (or just a muted, dark teal). The cameras didn't want to pick up the green (must be why everyone else's photos look blue-black), and the microscope didn't really want to pick up any color in the line width image. The scan and zoom images aren't too bad. The screenshot is too dark and muted. I tried to color-correct the absorbent and copy papers, but couldn't come close so I left the images as the camera made them - way, way too blue.

The line width measurement is one of the lines used for dry time.  Magnification is 100x.  The grid is 100x100µm.  The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each.  The line width for this ink is roughly 285µm. (For the curious, with 183 inks measured, the average line width is 290µm.)

The microscope smear was kind of interesting - there's that tealish color ink, blue bubbles, and those starburst things. At first, I thought maybe those were some flaw in the glass, but as I looked around more, they're scattered throughout the ink, almost always as a starburst - once as a single line - so I think they're caused by something in the ink... Color is fairly close to what I saw, but not quite as bright.

And here is a screen of the final result, for those not interested in the video:

Scan of Completed Review:

Zoomed in photo:

Absorbent Paper Closeup (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper):

Line width measured via microscope at 100x:

Microscope Slide at 100x:

Swatch Card:

Chromatogram:

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Previous Review: Private Reserve Infinity Black.

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Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh?  Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy.  Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

 Great review @LizEF for a "meh" ink.... The trio is reminding me of Shrek, Donkey and Puss in boots,  Holy Sneks!

[AmandaW]

Thankyou.  The colour I'm seeing on my phone right now, late evening with a blue blocker see to maximum, is very strange. Hopefully the description will make sense when i look tomorrow.  'Muted' sounds like something i would  like...

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, yazeh said:

 Great review @LizEF 

Thanks!

 

7 minutes ago, yazeh said:

 for a "meh" ink....

Yeah.  I really wonder how expectation impacts perception, but then, I don't really like teal inks that much at all, so...  (But the microscope slide image is kinda cool.)

 

8 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The trio is reminding me of Shrek, Donkey and Puss in boots,

 

9 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Holy Sneks!

Hmm.  Perhaps Essri will join a monastery...

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, AmandaW said:

Thankyou.

You're most welcome!

 

1 minute ago, AmandaW said:

The colour I'm seeing on my phone right now, late evening with a blue blocker see to maximum, is very strange.

It could be an improvement...

 

2 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

'Muted' sounds like something i would  like...

Well, if a muted teal sounds appealing, it may be.

[namrehsnoom]

Thanks for the review… it’s been ages since I’ve used black & blue-black inks. This review made me go like “right… time to dive into the stash and use some of the blacks & blue-black there.”

This particular ink & the recently reviewed Infiniti’s Black didn’t really excite me. But I’m sure that more interesting ones are coming 😉

 

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, namrehsnoom said:

Thanks for the review…

You're very welcome.

 

2 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

This review made me go like “right… time to dive into the stash and use some of the blacks & blue-black there.”

Glad to inspire a dive into the stash!

 

3 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

This particular ink & the recently reviewed Infiniti’s Black didn’t really excite me. But I’m sure that more interesting ones are coming 😉

Now that I look, the recent inks (past and the next three) are awfully ordinary.  My voters must be interested in stocking up on "staple" inks or something.   But 187 and 189 should be more interesting...  (187 is in my pen now and might be right up your alley - a grey with hints of lavender).

[Sailor Kenshin]

Good old Skrip BB.

 

I never thought of this as a teal, don't have a pen inked with it now. But I have a bottle, and glass dip pens, so…. 
 

Poor Eththri.  He needth friendth.  
 

Thanks again for the review and the series.

[mizgeorge]

Thank you @LizEF - as always an excellent review, I'm becoming rather fond of Essri now. 

 

I don't have this ink - with the exception of the red, Sheaffer have never really been on my radar (I think this is perhaps a UK thing). I have to admit, I quite like the colour though, and I think I'd probably like it even more were it diluted a little. I may have to get it if I see one at a good price - I have such a weakness for blue blacks.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Good old Skrip BB.

 

I never thought of this as a teal, don't have a pen inked with it now. But I have a bottle, and glass dip pens, so…. 

It'll be interesting to learn if it's tealish from your dip pen....

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Poor Eththri.  He needth friendth.  

Indeed - as we all do!

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks again for the review and the series.

You're most welcome!

[LizEF]

30 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Thank you @LizEF - as always an excellent review, I'm becoming rather fond of Essri now. 

You're most welcome!  Thank you.   And yes, he's kinda lovable.  Makes you wonder what those mean sneks in his home town were thinking!  Our good fortune, I suppose.

 

31 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

I don't have this ink - with the exception of the red, Sheaffer have never really been on my radar (I think this is perhaps a UK thing). I have to admit, I quite like the colour though, and I think I'd probably like it even more were it diluted a little. I may have to get it if I see one at a good price - I have such a weakness for blue blacks.

Well, I predict you won't find it very blue-black, but if you like the color, go for it.  Here, it's very affordable.  My favorite part is still the microscope slide and those interesting starbursts...

[Sailor Kenshin]

@LizEF

 

I don't see teal.  But I haven't done a chroma.  Maybe that should be next.

 

One thing that annoys me about the Sheaffer inks in those conical bottles:  they hide the name/color of the ink.

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I don't see teal.

Interesting!  The online photos elsewhere also don't look teal.  Yet some folks replied to my other thread saying that it looks teal to them, too...  Maybe it's inconsistent...

 

6 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

One thing that annoys me about the Sheaffer inks in those conical bottles:  they hide the name/color of the ink.

Yeah, that would be annoying - the name of the ink should be obvious!

[Sailor Kenshin]

14 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Interesting!  The online photos elsewhere also don't look teal.  Yet some folks replied to my other thread saying that it looks teal to them, too...  Maybe it's inconsistent...

 

Yeah, that would be annoying - the name of the ink should be obvious!

I washed a swab, see blue in it but not teal….started one of my paper towel 'flower' chromas.  So far, no green tint but it's not yet dry.

[LizEF]

38 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I washed a swab, see blue in it but not teal….started one of my paper towel 'flower' chromas.  So far, no green tint but it's not yet dry.

Well, this is the whole reason I made that other thread - it just doesn't make sense.  Maybe I'll try a sample whenever I order samples again - either the bottle ink is different from the cartridge ink, or it changed formulas at some point, or it's just plain weird¹!

 

¹Why isn't that "i" before that "e"!?  There are rules, you know!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Here are the scans.  If I glare at it, there MIGHT be a hint of imaginary green in the chroma.  Right in the center.  Maybe.  Possibly.  But the ink itself doesn't look at all teal to me.

 

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Here are the scans.  If I glare at it, there MIGHT be a hint of imaginary green in the chroma.  Right in the center.  Maybe.  Possibly.  But the ink itself doesn't look at all teal to me.

 

Wow.  That's the color I wanted!  Really wonder about bottle vs cartridge now.  Thanks for doing these.

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

Weren't there problems with cartridge vs bottle for a few other inks too? My Kaweco Midnight Blue dries a dulll grey when it comes out of a cartridge. I don't have a bottle to compare, but most reviews I've seen show it as a pretty midnight blue.

[LizEF]

31 minutes ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

My Kaweco Midnight Blue dries a dulll grey when it comes out of a cartridge. I don't have a bottle to compare, but most reviews I've seen show it as a pretty midnight blue.

I have that in a cartridge, and it's definitely dark blue / blue-black, so if there was a cartridge issue, I'd say it was limited in some way (age, error, something).  But yes, we hear this quite a bit in the community, that ink from cartridges doesn't always match the "same" ink from bottles.

[PithyProlix]

Thanks for this. I like this ink a lot - I think it helps not to expect that it's not a common blue black (or blue black at all). 

 

That said, I'm wondering if the color is a continuation of an older, though not exclusive, concept of what blue black is, since it is along the same range as old versions of Waterman Blue Black, Parker Quink Blue Black, and, possibly, Platinum Blue Black. Given the popularity of Parker, Sheaffer, and Waterman I would imagine that a green-ish conception of blue black was common. 

 

I have been meaning to do the following demonstration and this gave me a good excuse. Unfortunately I don't currently have any older Quink Blue Black. All of the top three look more green than blue, at least to my eye, with the older Platinum being a Payne's grey. 

 

 

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