Peacock Blue Ink Recipe?

[JDlugosz]

I think it I were to try to mix the old Peacock, I would try Lamy Turquoise with a wee bit of Blue Suede (because that's what I have on hand). I think I still have some old writing samples in Peacock so I'll have something to go by.

 

 

It occurs to me that even without a calibrated reference, if you scan your different inks and measure the Hue/Sat/Value in a paint program, you can tell what direction you are going in and use that to guide your mixture. That is, you can quantify the different hue of blue as you add a drop at a time of a different ink.

[satrap]

Ahh, Peacock Blue. That colour generates fond memories of the blister pack Sheaffer pens at Woolworth's. Waterman SS Blue always resembled Peacock Blue to me.

 

Anyway, I have always liked turquoise inks, and have several of those in the scan. I would also like to suggest Lamy turquoise, Conway Stewart Turquoise, Caran d'Ache Caribbean Sea.

 

Edited May 21, 2008 by satrap

[limesally]

after playing with a number of different turquoises:

 

Pelikan Turqoise

Lamy Turquoise

Noodler's Navajo Turquoise

PR Naples Blue

Waterman South Sea Blue

 

I've noticed that for me, it depends partly on the pen, and partly on how long the ink has been sitting in the pen. This really seems to vary the color and intensity I get, and it doesn't even have to be a long period of sitting - 3-5 days sometimes.

 

I'll have to try Bleu Pervenche next - thanks for the little review. So far, though, Waterman SSB is the closest match for me to old notes written in Peacock Blue.

[mucephei]

In a desperate attempt to get a quick fix of an approximation of Peacock Blue I bought a bottle of Pelikan 4001 Turquoise.

 

It is a nice colour but boy is it ICY. It doesn't have the warmth of Peacock Blue. (Or at least my childhood memories of Peacock Blue.)

[Mannenhitsu]

I just found two cartridges of Peacock Blue. I can remember writing my former girlfriend a letter with that ink back in 1998. Sadly, when it arrived in Singapore, it had gotten very wet, and the ink had ran and was next to impossible to read. This taught me to use a better grade of ink that was more "waterproof" in the future. :bonk:

[JDlugosz]

I have two bottles of Peacock Blue that were my mother's. I've noticed on various websites that Sheaffer currently makes a turquoise that looks like it may be close to Peacock Blue. I wonder if anyone has compared these two?

 

I got the samples you sent, and I must report that the vintage Skrip Peacock Blue and the new Skrip Turquoise from Slovenia are indistinguishable to normal human vision under sunlight. The tonal and brightness range of the two samples overlap. Perhaps one has a tiny more variation than the other; perhaps you were just writing lighter or dryer. I think the difference is less than normal writing variation with the same pen.

 

--John

"The Calibrator"

 

 

 

[Judybug]

I have two bottles of Peacock Blue that were my mother's. I've noticed on various websites that Sheaffer currently makes a turquoise that looks like it may be close to Peacock Blue. I wonder if anyone has compared these two?

 

I got the samples you sent, and I must report that the vintage Skrip Peacock Blue and the new Skrip Turquoise from Slovenia are indistinguishable to normal human vision under sunlight. The tonal and brightness range of the two samples overlap. Perhaps one has a tiny more variation than the other; perhaps you were just writing lighter or dryer. I think the difference is less than normal writing variation with the same pen.

 

--John

"The Calibrator"

 

John - I agree. I can't tell any difference in Peacock Blue and the new Turquiose. (To explain to the others reading this thread - I purchased a bottle of Skrip Turquoise since making the January post, quoted above. I did samples of both these inks and sent them to John last week.)

 

Judybug

 

[JDlugosz]

Here are 3200 dpi scans of the two writing samples. You can open these files in an editing program and use the "eyedropper" tool to read the color of the (calibrated) pixels within the file. How's that for a cheap densitometer? Look at the variation in hue and brightness within the letters: at this magnification you can clearly see the darker areas of overlap within the 'q'! Her pen strokes are 0.017 inches wide, or about 50 pixels at this scale.

 

Vintage:

 

Modern: