21 Turquoise Inks

[jandrese]

Recently, I became obsessed with light blue inks especially if they are turquoise, whatever that means. Turquoise is described as greenish blue but most inks with that name are basically blue with one or very few dyes. Chromatography with these inks is not very exciting. Many of them are, however, very beautiful (to me at least) and have uncommonly good writing properties perhaps because of their simplicity and relatively low dye content. Sheen is possible with some of these ink, at least on Tomoe River paper, but water resistance is uniformly not good. That said Pelikan 4001 Turkis Turquoise, Noodler's Midway Blue (ok, not a turquoise for sure), Noodler's American Eel Turquoise, and of course, KWZ IG (iron gall) Turquoise hold up surprisingly well to water.

 

Diamine Shimmertastic Tropical Glow, Diamine Marine, and Noodler's Turquoise are probably closest to dictionary greenish blues strictly considered turquoise. Noodler's Turquoise is a little over saturated to have much fun with though.

 

Both Shimmertastic inks are really fabulous inks to write with and look incredible. The glitter really does not seem to hamper performance nor harm the pen. Amazing inks even if not shaken to get max glitter effect. Would love to see glitter free versions of these inks made available.

 

Some standouts at this time for me are Pelikan 4001 Turkis Turquoise for its beautiful color, versatility, sheen potential, and moderate water resistance. Lamy Turquoise is great too, good writing performance, some shading, and maybe some sheen. J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche is really nice too. I need more time to really study these inks....the differences between many are subtle.

 

Platinum Mix Free Aqua Blue is really pure cerulean - ish blue. It's also somewhat dilute and I really did not like it at first but now I kinda like it some. Levenger Blue Bahama looks quite nice but feathers some on everything but Tomoe River paper.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

From top to bottom:

 

Pelikan 4001 Turkis Turquoise

Noodler's Midway Blue

Levenger Blue Bahama

KWZ IG Turquoise

Diamine Turquoise

J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche

Diamine Havasu Turquoise

Diamine Marine

Robert Oster Signature Australian Sky Blue

Diamine Eau de Nil

Diamine Shimmertastic Blue Lighting

De Atramentis Forget-me-not

Diamine Aqua Blue

Noodler's American Eel Turquoise

Lamy Turquoise

Noodler's Turquoise

Platinum Mix Free Aqua Blue

Noodler's Navajo Turquoise

Diamine Shimmertastic Tropical Glow

Sailor Jentle Ink Sky High

Sailor Jentle Ink Souten

 

Paper is Tomoe River

 

Turquoise inks reduced size by Jon Andresen, on Flickr

 

Turquoise inks wash reduced size by Jon Andresen, on Flickr

 

[lapis]

Thanks for the nice collection. It's not "your fault" that so many are (also IMO) not really turquoise at all but more of a blue, at most a slightly greenish blue. Let's say it's the manufacturer's fault for calling them that. Other turquoises are really more turquoise, e.g. CdA (old and new), MB (old) plus Balzac and Friendship; also Montegrappa, Omas, Skrips, Visconti, Waterman... Of course, it's all a matter of taste. I love some of the bluest ones the most, but I still wouldn't call them turquoise when I think of a caribbean or a south sea blue....

 

Mike

[zaddick]

Thanks for this recent effort. I like turquoise inks and this is helpful to me.

[vikrmbedi]

In my opinion pelikan Edelstein jade... looks more turquoise than other inks.

or you may say robin eggshell blue.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the comparison. Ever since I acquired a bottle of vintage Skrip Peacock, I've developed an appreciation for turquoise inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ribbit]

I love Pelikan turquoise because it shades nicely even with a Japanese fine, and works well on cheap/bad paper.

[Manalto]

It's nice to see your ink samples. Some of them clearly fall outside the cyan range (aqua, turquoise and teal). One pleasant characteristic of the turquoise inks I have is their generous ability to shade, clearly distinguishing my writing as most-definitely-not-done-by-ballpoint.

[antichresis]

Great post! Very much appreciated.

[Lexus77]

Very nice. I love turquoise inks.

[Trom]

To me they all look more or less the same. I like Waterman south sea blue, but use it perhaps one filling every two months.

Then I like it again for awhile.

[Scriptorius]

My personal favorite turquoise ink, hands down, is Robert Oster's Torquay [Tor-KEE]. Check out this comprehensive review:

 

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/9/16/robert-oster-signature-ink-torquay-a-review

 

Pilot's Iroshizuku Ku-jaku would be a close second.

 

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/8/31/pilot-iroshizuku-ku-jaku-ink-review

 

I'm actually surprised that neither of these is in the list of turquoise inks that were tested. They're both definitely worth owning.

 

 

K

Edited February 20, 2017 by Scriptorius

[Parc Monceau]

Thank you very much for these comparisons. Turquoise is my favorite shade of blue. J. Herbin bleu pervenche is the ink I use the most. Of your samples, Diamine Turquoise and Platinum Aqua Blue strike me as the most attractive. Actually, I like the lighter shades on the wash page that resemble tropical waters. Are there any inks that duplicate these shades?

[jandrese]

My personal favorite turquoise ink, hands down, is Robert Oster's Torquay [Tor-KEE]. Check out this comprehensive review:

 

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/9/16/robert-oster-signature-ink-torquay-a-review

 

Pilot's Iroshizuku Ku-jaku would be a close second.

 

https://www.penaddict.com/blog/2016/8/31/pilot-iroshizuku-ku-jaku-ink-review

 

I'm actually surprised that neither of these is in the list of turquoise inks that were tested. They're both definitely worth owning.

 

 

K

Thanks for the tips. Most of the turquoise inks I compared in the post I purchased in the last two or three weeks so I guess I left some out! Not a turquoise but I picked up Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-iro today. Very nice blue that some might call turquoise. I'll see about picking up the inks you mentioned.

[amberleadavis]

Great Stuff! Thank yo.

[drrusso]

Hello!

 

Great comparison.

Cool to see that you have included pelikans 4001 turquoise too. I use this ink often. Nice shading.

Thanks.

[drrusso]

I love Pelikan turquoise because it shades nicely even with a Japanese fine, and works well on cheap/bad paper.

+1.

I fimd pelikan 4001 turquoise the same way!

Nice ink. Nice shading.

 

Regards,

[bayport714]

I have a bottle of Montblanc turquoise that is almost depleted. Since Montblanc doesn't offer this any longer I am looking for a replacement. Your review is very helpful. I think I'll try the Lamy and see how that works out.

[ReadyFireAim]

I'm not a big fan of turquoise but wanted to round out my ink collection with an example.

I don't even like blue that much.

 

While looking down the list of offerings, I was mentally checking them off as blue or green.

Blue...Blue...Green...Blue,Green,Blue...etc...

 

I then got to one where I couldn't figure out if it was blue or green.

There is a bottle of J. Herbin 1670 somewhere in the post heading my way because it confounded me.

 

Did you know that the J. Herbin company has been around for 340 years?

That's impressive!

Edited March 10, 2017 by ReadyFireAim

[DrDebG]

Great comparisons! Thank you for sharing.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Very nice, thank you so much!