Stipula Deep Blue

[Melnicki]

I just got some in from Swisher pens, and the ink I received does look like a grayish blue (not the deep blue of the first scan in the review). The color in pendemonium's swab is a good match for the color I see. I find it to be a pretty though subdued color, nice shading and flow. A notice on a card that comes inside the box says that the glass of the bottle is "treated to protect the ink from the deterioration caused by exposure to light", which makes me wonder what will happen to it once it's on paper.

 

I've been confused by the Stipula inks. They are named in Italian, but many websites (including our reviews) refer to English translations of the names. Some sellers just say "Blue" or "Red" or "Green" while it must be pointed out that Stipula makes at least two of the reds and greens (that I know of)... Maybe the Blue is also the same case...

 

(I'm really hankering for that "Stipula dark green" that seems to be an exclusive that only comes with a pen... (It is different from Verde Muschiato ("Moss Green").)

 

It also seems to me that Stipula does not write the name of the ink on the bottle, but rather just puts a dot of the color.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Melnicki

[simonrob]

This color looks really nice. I had always heard that the Stipula blue ink was sort of a grayish blue, but your sample is a beautiful dark blue color.

I just got some in from Swisher pens, and the ink I received does look like a grayish blue (not the deep blue of the first scan in the review). The color in pendemonium's swab is a good match for the color I see. I find it to be a pretty though subdued color, nice shading and flow. A notice on a card that comes inside the box says that the glass of the bottle is "treated to protect the ink from the deterioration caused by exposure to light", which makes me wonder what will happen to it once it's on paper.

 

Stephen

 

I was very taken by the writing sample in the review and ordered a bottle from Swisher; it arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, mine isn't even a greyish blue; at most it's a bluish grey, very similar to but rather less blue than Diamine's Prussian Blue (or at least the bottle of Prussian Blue I have). (The dot of ink on the Stipula label is far bluer, but fairly pale, as is the dot on the outside of the box (closer to the smear on pendemonium's site).) Hoping for something close to the colour in the review, I was disappointed - had I known that the contents of this bottle would be this colour I would not have bought it because it's so similar to Prussian Blue. (Via a wet vintage flexible nib - I just tried it with a Waterman Pink - it looks like nice blue-black with a rather vintage look about it, but in a less wet pen the colour looks rather drab and dirty to me.) It's a shame there's no way to be sure before buying (I suspect even Art Brown in NY, which lets you sample just about any ink in stock before buying, wouldn't do so with Stipula since doing so would involve breaking the paper seal).

 

Simon

[girlieg33k]

Simon,

 

I'm rather surprised that the bottle you purchased produces a colour lighter or even similar to Diamine Prussian Blue. I saw Stephen's post as well -- and again, I'm flummoxed. I don't know if what's at play is bottle-to-bottle variants, the pen/paper combo, or perhaps even both. I'm also wondering about Stephen's note about light exposure, and whether over time, the colour in the bottle changes, even if it remains in the box. If I already didn't have 2 bottles of Stipula Deep Blue (one for home and one for the office), I'd offer to buy yours to see the difference. Sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your purchase...

 

Kate

Edited February 21, 2008 by girlieg33k

[simonrob]

Simon,

 

I'm rather surprised that the bottle you purchased produces a colour lighter or even similar to Diamine Prussian Blue. I saw Stephen's post as well -- and again, I'm flummoxed. I don't know if what's at play is bottle-to-bottle variants, the pen/paper combo, or perhaps even both. I'm also wondering about Stephen's note about light exposure, and whether over time, the colour in the bottle changes, even if it remains in the box. If I already didn't have 2 bottles of Stipula Deep Blue (one for home and one for the office), I'd offer to buy yours to see the difference. Sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your purchase...

 

Kate

 

Thanks, Kate - I hope you don't think any of my disappointment was directed at you! I've tried the ink in a dip pen, a Waterman 5 with a pink nib, and just smearing it onto the paper off the end of the dip pen - and, thanks to that blasted inner cap that Stipula uses, on my fingers and on the paper tissues used to wipe them off! (In fact, I could immediately tell the colour would be different from yours from the droplets on the bottom of that inner cap.) The colour looks similar in all cases, except that from the Waterman it's much darker and seems a trifle bluer.

 

Whether it changes over time in the box I can't say (I assume mine has had no light exposure: the bottle's dark to begin with and presumably it lived in the box until I received it). Nor can I say whether it's a matter of batch variation. I do know from personal experience that such variations can be considerable. Three examples: (1) A friend/colleague liked my Noodler's Nightshade and bought a bottle. Hers contains a degree of blue entirely missing from mine (drop some of each on a paper towel, one gets a blue halo, the other a red one!). (2) My Herbin Lie de The is the greenish olive that some have been remarking on here and nothing like the sample on Herbin's website or the swabs I've seen on various vendors' sites. I was so puzzled by the difference that I bought a second bottle, from a store (Swisher) three hundred miles from the first (Art Brown); it too is greenish olive.... (3) The ink in the bottle of PR Orange Crush I bought is a rather drab mid-brown without a hint of orange. So maybe Stipula's Blue is a fourth example. (As you've probably seen, other instances have been reported concerning other inks, including Herbin's Terre du Feu.)

 

Simon

[Empacherguy]

Oh well now! Ain't that just great! Here I am trying to tone down my ... ahem! addiction ... when you come along "forcing" me to consider yet another ink. Hmmm. I must say, however, that what I see in your scans, girlieg33k, make such consideration easy. Looks like exactly the sort of subdued yet deep blue to which I often gravitate. My trouble is that the combinations of inks and papers just get overwhelming to sort out. Still, this stuff looks nice! I too have some of Stipula's Sepia: doesn't float my boat on the papers I've tried previously, but I'm really curious how it'll perform on this CIAK book I picked up. So thanks for the wonderful info! Only, now I'm also going to have to investigate the Borgogna!

S

[Pjake]

Ok.......sign me up! I'm on a bit of an ink binge anyway. Girlieg33k, I very much enjoy your reviews....you can stop at any time, as I do consider them to be "soft gospel" and will most likely order those inks that earn the seal of approval (with some exceptions). Thanks

Peter

[Geoff V]

Hi all,

 

After some reflection, and taking into account the excellent performance of this ink under water torture, I'm inclined to buy a bottle. Does anyone know of an Australian retailer?

 

Geoff V

[wpblaw]

YOU SIMPLY MUST STOP ALL OF THESE REVIEWS!!! My ink shelf is overflowing, my ink budget blown, and I have enough ink to last me for the rest of my life if I live long enough to make Methuselah look like a teenager!

 

But seriously . . . Yet another superb mini review. Keep up the great work!

 

She doesn't invent the inks. She just buys them and reviews them. If you don't want to end up drowning in ink, do NOT open up any of her ink review threads. Even the bad inks look good when she writes about them!

 

 

I'm late to this review (and girlieg's time here, apparently), but you couldn't have said it better - she makes all of these inks look so tempting!