EFNIR: Stipula Dark Blue

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Stipula Dark Blue

This is review #330 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink was gifted to me by a generous FPGeek.  It was hard to find references to this ink.  The Italian name appears to be "Notturno Giannutri".  I found what I assume is the same in on Stipula.com with the name "Giannutri night".  The microscope slide may have been the most boring yet.

From this nib, the color looks a lot lighter than the Italian review I found (where it looks blue-black), and completely different from the swatch at Truphae (which is quite bright, not greyed, not blue-black).  I think this might be able to appear like the Italian review, but only with a much wetter pen, or more absorbent paper.  The ink is darker on the Rhodia dot pad than on 52gsm Tomoe River or Clairefontaine 90gsm ivory paper as found in Rhodiarama hardbacks.

The ink on the swatch is over-saturated (too blue) in the video (all of them are).

Cleaning was quick and easy.  I did a chroma just before cleaning - the ink has pink and turquoise components - go figure.

Zoomed in photo (Quite close.)

Screenshot (Text is too de-saturated, colorwise.)

Scan of Completed Review (Quite close. Gives the best overall impression, I think.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Neither looks blotchy in real life.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". 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 308µm. With 330 inks measured, the average line width is 297µm.)

Chromatogram (The chroma suggests zero water resistance, but I didn't explicitly test that.)

Previous Review: KWZ Green #3.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

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

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

Wow what a nice soothing colour. It reminds me of some semitransparent deck stains. Thanks for such an intriguing ink review @LizEF 

Could it be that it's the IG blue? I doubt because of the unusual chroma. 

I'm all nervous with the guys coming to the store. I hope they don't find the apocryphal scrolls of Muirdoor

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery to this  winter-ish spring day 🙏🙏🙏

[LizEF]

37 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Wow what a nice soothing colour. It reminds me of some semitransparent deck stains.

Yes, this one is right up my alley.  Can't say I've ever seen a blue-grey deck, but it sounds nice.

 

38 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for such an intriguing ink review @LizEF 

You're most welcome!

 

38 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Could it be that it's the IG blue? I doubt because of the unusual chroma. 

The ink itself isn't IG.  No idea what blue dye(s) might be used in typical IG blue-blacks, so no idea.  It certainly has some similarities, but as you say, the chroma suggests no relation.

 

39 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I'm all nervous with the guys coming to the store. I hope they don't find the apocryphal scrolls of Muirdoor

  While there's only one scene in the store, I predict Yaz and his Ink-pour-ium will appear in future episodes, what with our heroes living just outside town...

 

41 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for bringing magic and mystery to this  winter-ish spring day 🙏🙏🙏

Glad to do it!  Wishing you more springy weather!  This week, we're supposed to hit 80 degrees!!!  (Norm is upper 50s!  For you strange metrical people, that's 20C; and 80F = 26.67C.)

[Sailor Kenshin]

I like the color.  It looks antique-y, but I'd never guess from the chroma that it would come out dusty blue.

 

 I do have one Stipula ink, the Musk Green.  But it's not green, and the bottle's pretty, but a complete pain to open.  Maybe that accounts for the groaning and gnashing of teefs.  🤣

 

I also happen to have Kaweco Midnight Blue, fast becoming a favorite.

 

Our heroes are taking a breath.  The important question is: What kind of tail does Essri have and can he use it to write?  😁

@LizEF, thanks for making your Tuesday magic for us viewers!   I always look forward to the review and story. 

[yazeh]

21 minutes ago, LizEF said:

The ink itself isn't IG.  No idea what blue dye(s) might be used in typical IG blue-blacks, so no idea.  It certainly has some similarities, but as you say, the chroma suggests no relation.

I suggested that because Stipila has a series of IG inks.

21 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

  While there's only one scene in the store, I predict Yaz and his Ink-pour-ium will appear in future episodes, what with our heroes living just outside town...

,🙏

21 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 For you strange metrical people, 

[LizEF]

35 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I like the color.  It looks antique-y, but I'd never guess from the chroma that it would come out dusty blue.

Yes on all counts.  Good color, surprising chroma!

 

36 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 I do have one Stipula ink, the Musk Green.  But it's not green, and the bottle's pretty, but a complete pain to open.  Maybe that accounts for the groaning and gnashing of teefs.  🤣

I have Musk Green and Dark Red still to review, but mine are samples, so no bottles to fight with.

 

36 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I also happen to have Kaweco Midnight Blue, fast becoming a favorite.

I have cartridges of this.  I plan to feed all my Kaweco cartridges into my Carène, so I can use up all my standard international cartridges and keep using my Carène without even pausing to clean it! (Smoky Grey > Summer Purple > Pearl Black > Midnight Blue is the plan).

 

38 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Our heroes are taking a breath.  The important question is: What kind of tail does Essri have and can he use it to write?  😁

Given that he's a snek, and has no rattle to get in the way, I'm assuming that Essri has good "tail control".  But we shall see....

 

39 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@LizEF, thanks for making your Tuesday magic for us viewers!   I always look forward to the review and story. 

You're most welcome!   And thanks!

[LizEF]

18 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I suggested that because Stipila has a series of IG inks.

Ah, so they might have used the same dye or dye combo in an IG.  Good question.  If ever I get any Stipula IG inks, I'll have to try a chroma to see.

[chromantic]

Yay, possibly my favorite ink of all time, if not at least int the top five.

Mine is much darker from the wet M400 it's in.

[LizEF]

57 minutes ago, chromantic said:

Yay, possibly my favorite ink of all time, if not at least int the top five.

Mine is much darker from the wet M400 it's in.

  My sample really did look quite different from the 2-3 other sources I could find with images.  I don't know if it was just my nib (though even the swatch smear looked different), or if my sample was degraded, or if there was a change since my sample was made (it was gifted to me, so I have no idea how old it is).  The big smear on my swatch card did seem to have a slight lavender lean to it, hinting at the chroma.  Anywho, as mentioned in the review - if you're interested, check out whatever other images you can find, because what you see here may not match what you get from other pens (or even from a new bottle).

[senzen]

Great review, nice looking ink; does look like a blue black to me.

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, senzen said:

Great review, nice looking ink; does look like a blue black to me.

Thanks! Yep, blue-black.

[Mercian]

9 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

What kind of tail does Essri have and can he use it to write?  😁

 

Essri should, clearly, get a Parker 75...

Its nib can be rotated to any angle to suit its user, so even if he grips it with his mouth he would still be able to get the nib rotated to an angle that suited him!

 

Personally though, I would recommend that he acquire a Parker 'UK Duofold', so that he can happily use the iron-gall Registrars' Ink that is named after him

[LizEF]

43 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Essri should, clearly, get a Parker 75...

Its nib can be rotated to any angle to suit its user, so even if he grips it with his mouth he would still be able to get the nib rotated to an angle that suited him!

 

Personally though, I would recommend that he acquire a Parker 'UK Duofold', so that he can happily use the iron-gall Registrars' Ink that is named after him

You shall have to just read and find out...

[yazeh]

37 minutes ago, LizEF said:

You shall have to just read and find out...

He would probably grab a feather from Makhabesh and write with his "venom" or grab some ink from Quin's backpack. That's what he told my alter-ego, last time, he was in the shop  

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

He would probably grab a feather from Makhabesh and write with his "venom" or grab some ink from Quin's backpack. That's what he told my alter-ego, last time, he was in the shop  

[InesF]

Can Stipula "Dark" Blue cause grey spots?

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for guiding our magical heroes and for motivating them to fight against the Grey Menace! 🤫 Isn't a a grey resulting from diluting a black ink ... ?   

More colour to the world! Please let our magical party know that we support them - at least by buying more colourful inks! 👍 We all like to own an Ink-pour-ium at home¹!  

 

I own three Stipula pens and all three are wet writers. Maybe the ink was designed especially for Stipula pens to show a dark blue colour on paper? And if used in another fountain pen brand it intentionally looks so pale that you regret not having used a Stipula pen?  At least this would be a great marketing gag.   

I remember the surprise Waterman Mysterious Blue caused when I first time used it in the firehose-wet Gravitas pen. The previously ugly duckling 🐥 immediately turned into a beautiful swan! 🦢

 

Looking forward to next week - will try to not bite my nails...

 

 

^{1) Yaz is a great role model but should not be the-one-and-only! 2)}  

^{2) .. I think I need to grow my ink drawer first ... 🤫}

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Can Stipula "Dark" Blue cause grey spots?

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for guiding our magical heroes and for motivating them to fight against the Grey Menace!

You're most welcome!

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Isn't a a grey resulting from diluting a black ink ... ?   

You're merciless!

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

More colour to the world! Please let our magical party know that we support them - at least by buying more colourful inks! 👍 We all like to own an Ink-pour-ium at home¹!

More colorful colors, too! 😈  Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I do have a veritable Ink-pour-ium! 

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

I own three Stipula pens and all three are wet writers. Maybe the ink was designed especially for Stipula pens to show a dark blue colour on paper? And if used in another fountain pen brand it intentionally looks so pale that you regret not having used a Stipula pen?  At least this would be a great marketing gag.   

  Well, this would make lots of sense, and it's only natural for them to design their inks to match their pens. And now I cannot see what I'm typing because Smoke has planted himself in front of my monitor and is staring intently at that first emoticon - the one laughing and banging his fist!

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

I remember the surprise Waterman Mysterious Blue caused when I first time used it in the firehose-wet Gravitas pen. The previously ugly duckling 🐥 immediately turned into a beautiful swan! 🦢

(Oddly, I found that the short-lived mixture of Waterman Serenity Blue and Waterman Mysterious Blue (when I replaced the empty SB cartridge with a MB cartridge without cleaning the pen) looked better than either of them alone!)

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Looking forward to next week - will try to not bite my nails...

Thank you!

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

2) .. I think I need to grow my ink drawer first ... 🤫

Perhaps your ink drawer needs a mate.  After all, whatever the other drawers are holding can't possibly be as much fun as ink...   (Unless it's paper and pens, in which case, another addition to the drawer family may be in order...) 😈 

[InesF]

18 hours ago, LizEF said:

Perhaps your ink drawer needs a mate.

Oh yes, I thought similar in the past.  But ...

 

18 hours ago, LizEF said:

(Unless it's paper and pens, in which case, another addition to the drawer family may be in order...) 😈 

.. it is paper  , only paper , much paper 🤷‍♀️, a heap of paper! 🙄 When I discovered a "last" shop holding Neusiedler Japan Post, I bought 1500 sheets ... 🙄😄 ... only days after I bought 1500 sheets of another paper - fully convinced I will never ever get my hand on this beloved Japan Post ... 

Finally, a happy end, paper-wise! But another full drawer that disallows buying more ink¹.  

 

Note to myself: Find an answer to "How nerdy am I?" 🤔

 

 

^{1) my pens have moved some years ago from the (now paper) drawer on top of the desk into nice pen boxes!}  

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

"How nerdy am I?" 🤔

  Exactly the right amount!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

1) my pens have moved some years ago from the (now paper) drawer on top of the desk into nice pen boxes!  

[yazeh]

7 hours ago, InesF said:

Finally, a happy end, paper-wise! But another full drawer that disallows buying more ink¹.  

You should go to Yaz' Ink-porium. They have specialty magical stationary cupboards, where you have special ink-partiments for more inks  One of their most beloved customers is Professor Eenness of the Department of joy. She specializes in joy in colour and in touch. And you never know you might bump into @LizEF's hero, having cheeseburger's as Moma Lith's Burger joint  

7 hours ago, InesF said:

Note to myself: Find an answer to "How nerdy am I?" 🤔

You're in good company