Moar Blotches: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes Rorschach

Kobe # 23 Nagata Blue...

That's the very blue-black ink Dr. Inkenstein believes will be The One, and desperately wants to try...but it is currently Unobtainium. 

Why must I be so FUSSY about my ink colors? *sobs quietly while sucking thumb* 

So recently, Dr. I tested---side-by-side, mind you!--- Chesterfield Sodalite, Diamine Prussian Blue, and both old and new MB Midnight. May be going with the Sodalite, probably in a Safari. The Prussian showed too green, the old MB a touch navy, too, and the new, while a favorite, was too....uhmmm, soft?  Hard?  Hot?  Cold?

Just call me Goldilocks.

Here forthwith, a  bunch of BBs with a glass pen. Again, Prussian Blue seemed too green, one MB was darker and more navy than I wanted at the moment, though I usually go with the more modern Midnight. And you can see which I chose.

And don't even get me started on turquoise.  Or teal. 

signed,
Goldilocks 

Blue? Blue-Black? Or Somewhat In-Between? In Which Dr. inkensteinWonders

My dear friend Susan, learning of Dr. Inkenstein's Grayish-Blue-Black quest, asked a great question: 'Can't you mix inks to get the exact color you want?'

 

And of course you can.  I've done it.  Lots of others have, too.  But you might run into problems when two inks from different sides of the tracks clash and start a feud.  The results: SITB, or as it's technically known, Slime/Stuff/Shinola In The Bottle.

 

Recently Dr. inkenstein had to dump an eyedropper glass bottle of Fireball, a custom red-orange mix, because of SITB.  Also a bottle of Everflo True Blue, which was not a mix at all.  And it's harder to clean a contaminiated (and potentially beloved) pen than dump a bottle, so no matter how it hurt, out the bottles went.

 

Then, when mixing inks, there is also the factor of losing one or more components of the inks, such as Wetness, Flow, Lubrication, Bulletproofness.

 

Ink.  It's kinda like science!   You need a lab coat, test tubes, a Jacob's Ladder, and maybe even lightning!

 

So on to testing more loads of blues and blue-blacks:

And yes.  You can tell that Diamine China Blue is in no way even remotely blue-black.  But I included that color to make a point.  Probably. 

And yet...what of the Misty Blue?  Has it BB elements, hints?  And the Akkerman?  Is it BB?  Indigo?  

Where do you draw the line?  And with what color?

Night Sapphire: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Continues the Blue-Black Quest

Continuing with our blue-black mania, Dr. Inkenstein reviews two new blue-black inks, and casually tosses in a third for contrast’s sake.

The Chesterfield Night Sapphire, we are told, is made by Diamine.   There is a rumor going around that every ink on the planet is actually made by Diamine, but we can neither confirm nor deny.   Fountain pen forum consensus says Night Sapphire is really Diamine Blue-Black.  In pursuit of Ink Truthiness, Dr. Inkenstein will one day have to attain a DBB sample, and test them side-by side.  Just not today.

NS shows the teal undertones we are craving, and comes VERY close in color, hue, and intensity to the far-more-expensive Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo (coming up in a casual review of the Pilot Metropolitan).

The Hero ink was a pleasant surprise.  Less ‘green’ than the Night Sapphire, it is still a shade-y, flow-y blue-black that does not cost a fortune.  Six of these carts came packed in with my first Hero Summer Colors.  Unfortunately, I have no idea where to get more.  Probably fleabay.  Ink and pen are made for one another, and I find myself grabbing it all the time to make quick notes or write letters.

Diamine Denim is loaded in one of Dr. I’s pens at all times, in this case, a Platinum Preppy.  There’s little shading, but great flow, and the color is a suave, understated, medium… denim.  It leans more gray than either Night Sapphire or Hero, but if you are obssssessssssed, I mean, INTERESTED, in blue-blacks, you need all sorts of hues.

 

 

Forgot to add this photo:

 

 

Coming soon:  Pilot Metropolitan teamed with Tsuki-yo; and Fat Nib Shootout.  

Blue-Blacks: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Ponders A New Obssession

Lately, Dr. Inkenstein has been, well, let's say highly INTERESTED in blue-black inks.  After all, they are our favorite colors, if you include those inks that lean teal, like Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku and Chesterfield Teal.

So based on various online reviews and scans, I tested a bunch of new inks (all except the Everflo, which is not at all new and has been on my ink hutch for years, and is not a true blue-black but it's here for comparison purposes).

Part of the 'fun'of testing inks is finding a perfect ink/pen combo.  The Nemos write dry.  The Hero and Lamys write wet.  The dip pen dips.  So many different factors, including paper!

The paper here was, uhh, an Office Depot composition notebook with Brazilian paper.  The scan looks different from the photo.  The differences are interesting.  The ink colors in real life are also different.  On to the particulars.


 Brand(s):  Everflo, Diamine, OrGaNicS Studios (sample courtesty of a pen pal), Private Reserve

Color(s): True Blue, Eau De Nil, BlakWa, Ebony Blue

Intensity:  Ebony Blue the highest and most saturated; the Diamine and OS less saturated.  Everflo was tough to place.  It's semi-saturated, and not a real BB, but whatever.  ;p

Flow:  All except the OS had decent flow, that is, until the PR EB had been in the pen for a couple of weeks, and then it needed multiple water-dips to start.  It also began smearing badly.  FPG had a discussion on similar problems with intensely saturated inks; it appears that it's just part of the breed.  Dilute or suffer.

The reluctant nature of the OS was not due to the pen (A Hero Summer Colors), because with its provided cart of Hero ink, that pen is an absolute gusher.  I believe the Diamine would have good flow but the Nemo pens are dry writers.

Shading:  None whatever in the Everflo.  All others had varying good degrees of shading, and the PR had SHEEN!

Summary:  While OS and Diamine Eau De Nil look almost identical on paper, in the scans and photos they look quite different, with the OS Blakwa appearing far more green.  Possibly the BlakWa shades a bit better than Eau De Nil.


What follows is the scan AND the photo of the four inks.

We have further blue-blacks to test: Noodler's Blue-Black, a sample of Chesterfield Night Sapphire, which I like a lot, and the cart that arrived with the Hero Summer Colors.  Until next year!