Rhapsody In Blue... Ink, Penned With Lamy Safari Ef Nib

June 8, 2011

I've been looking for a nice blue ink for note-taking. My first bottle of blue ink was PR Tropical Blue, a colour that I love and still use (starting on my second bottle now), but I hate that my notes smear badly when they get a bit wet in the rain. I bought a couple of ink samples from Goulet Pens, as well as a bottle of Noodler's Aquamarine Blue after combing through the blue ink reviews here.

So here it is... a very simple ink-colour comparison between common blue inks, written on regular Hilroy ruled paper, which is pretty much the cheapest ruled paper available. I did a smear test by rubbing a wet paper towel though the line *once*.

Colours shown here are close to how they appear on paper, though PR Lake Placid Blue and Namiki Blue aren't nearly so cobalt and vibrant. The Noodler's Aquamarine blue looks brighter on my no-name-cheap copy paper, and though show signs of smear here, does not smear at all when I use it on said no-name-cheap copy paper. Doesn't feather as much as it appears to here; some paper fibres were caught in the Lamy Safari nib, so the writing appears broader. You can see that the line written with Pilot Murex F remains nice and fine.

June 10, 2011

Thank you!

- Jen

June 10, 2011

Quick comparison, nicely done. Have you decided on a color to use besides Tropical Blue?

June 10, 2011

Thank you - so many pretty blues, it's hard to make a choice.

June 15, 2011

Quick comparison, nicely done. Have you decided on a color to use besides Tropical Blue?

My favourites are the PR Tropical Blue, Noodler's Aquamarine and Noodler's Navy. I prefer blues that hint green rather than purple, and blues that are too... well... pure blue, like PR's Lake Placid Blue and Namiki Blue, I think they're a little boring, pretty as they are.

I already have a bottle of PR Tropical Blue and Noodler's Aquamarine Blue, so I can't see myself getting yet another blue ink. But if I did, of the 8 inks featured here, I would probably get Noodler's Navy or Ottoman Azure. I slightly prefer the colour of Ottoman Azure, but I like the shading of Noodler's Navy.

I'm curious to check out inks from other brands too, but I'm afraid to explore further for fear of getting sucked in. I mean, how many bottles of ink can I reasonably buy and still convince myself that I will finish using these inks, right?

FPN has been a seriously detrimental influence on the size of my wallet, but oh, what pleasure it has been exploring new pens and new inks!

June 15, 2011

I'm curious to check out inks from other brands too, but I'm afraid to explore further for fear of getting sucked in. I mean, how many bottles of ink can I reasonably buy and still convince myself that I will finish using these inks, right?

FPN has been a seriously detrimental influence on the size of my wallet, but oh, what pleasure it has been exploring new pens and new inks!

Yep, it's a slippery slope. I just did a written inventory of my inks, grouped by color, and not counting the samples I've kept, I have 30 different inks; I think I had 7 in January, before I discovered FPN and Goulet Pens' samples.