Faux Parker Penman Sapphire

February 23, 2008

My Faux Penman Sapphire #2.

I had a #1, but it wasn't quite right.

I have been wanting to make a replacement for Parker Penman Sapphire Blue, using currently available inks.

I started off by using Sanford inks (Quink and Waterman), but I wasn't able to get the saturation deep enough.

This has taken some time to get right, because I was using a paper that was supposedly acid-free, but it wasn't. What looked right in the evening was off-colour by the morning.

Looking at my various blues, it seemed that Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue (which is said to have been made to replace Penman Sapphire) had the right intensity, but it was too blue. My real Penman Sapphire was a tad darker, and had a touch of green.

So, I start with 10 drops of Lake Placid Blue, add one drop of Parker Quink Blue-Black (Current stock, no Solv-X) to darken the blue, and 2 drops of Waterman Green to add the green tinge.

Bingo! Using similar pens with similar fine nibs, it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I then doubled the amount, filled a pen, and confirmed the colour.

So, here is my recipe for Faux Penman Sapphire --

Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue - 10 units

Waterman Green - 2 units

Parker Quink Blue-Black - 1 unit.

I would like to see if others get the same result I did, and if anybody has any modifications.

Enjoy!

March 26, 2008

My Faux Penman Sapphire #2.

I had a #1, but it wasn't quite right.

I have been wanting to make a replacement for Parker Penman Sapphire Blue, using currently available inks.
I started off by using Sanford inks (Quink and Waterman), but I wasn't able to get the saturation deep enough.
This has taken some time to get right, because I was using a paper that was supposedly acid-free, but it wasn't. What looked right in the evening was off-colour by the morning.

Looking at my various blues, it seemed that Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue (which is said to have been made to replace Penman Sapphire) had the right intensity, but it was too blue. My real Penman Sapphire was a tad darker, and had a touch of green.

So, I start with 10 drops of Lake Placid Blue, add one drop of Parker Quink Blue-Black (Current stock, no Solv-X) to darken the blue, and 2 drops of Waterman Green to add the green tinge.

Bingo! Using similar pens with similar fine nibs, it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I then doubled the amount, filled a pen, and confirmed the colour.

So, here is my recipe for Faux Penman Sapphire --

Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue - 10 units
Waterman Green - 2 units
Parker Quink Blue-Black - 1 unit.

I would like to see if others get the same result I did, and if anybody has any modifications.

Enjoy!

My Faux Penman Sapphire #2b.

I haven't been quite happy with my original version of Faux Penman Sapphire #2, so I have been tweaking the mix a little.

This is my current version of Faux Penman Sapphire --

Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue - 40 units

Waterman Green - 8 units

Parker Quink Blue-Black - 5 unit.

This gives the results as shown below

You can see that the Faux Penman Sapphire #2b is pretty much the same hue as the real Parker Penman Sapphire, just a tad lighter. However, the photo makes the difference greater than it appears on real paper. This might be improved if I used PR American Blue rather than PR Lake Placid Blue.

One strange thing I found was that the feathering and bleeding properties of the PR Lake Placid Blue were improved in this mix.

December 5, 2008

:bunny01: :bunny01:

Finally, I have been able make a fair facsimile of Parker Penman Sapphire, both in colour and behaviour.

I was inspired by jdboucher's use of PR Tanzanite to brighten up PR American Blue.

I decided to see what I could do with Noodler's Ottoman Azure and PR Tanzanite.

And it worked!!

I started off with 10 drops of Ottoman Azure and 2 drops of Tanzanite. This is very close, however, the Penman Sapphire still has a touch of green, and was a little lighter than the facsimile. I experimented a little more and ended up with this formula --

Noodler's Ottoman Azure : 60

PR Tanzanite : 8

PR Blue Suede : 4

You can drop the Blue Suede (or any other similar teal) if you want.

And these are the results --

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/STiA6PazslI/AAAAAAAAAH8/ryqOUh-wXK8/s800/PPs%20vs%20FPS8b.red.jpg

The original Parker Penman Sapphire swatch is on the top, and the Faux Penman Sapphire #8b is on the bottom.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/STiA7kg635I/AAAAAAAAAIA/axNNbV8rD-Q/s800/FPS8b%20Writing%20Sample.red.jpg

This shows how the ink writes in a normal Jinhao Long March pen. As you can see, the Parker Penman Sapphire is on the left, and the Faux Penman Sapphire #8b on the right.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/STiC-P7ijUI/AAAAAAAAAIk/sYYtpU1LolM/s800/FPS8b%20Bleeding.red.jpg

This image shows that both inks have similar bleeding properties. The sample was written on Pukka Pad paper, which has mild feathering and bleeding properties.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/STiA8fRqWwI/AAAAAAAAAIE/2GwfBW9wU7A/s800/Penman%20Feathering.red.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/_g_oFvX9K3R0/STiA9KGqxWI/AAAAAAAAAII/zpECYAP_AAU/s800/FPS8b%20Feathering.red.jpg

Finally, this shows the feathering properties. The original Penman Sapphire is on the left, and the Faux Sapphire on the right. The imitation perhaps has a tad more feathering than the original, perhaps because I used the PR Tanzanite. A similar bright blue-purple with better behaviour might give better results.

I think I am finally satisfied with a practical replacement for Parker Penman Sapphire.

Edited December 5, 2008 by dcwaites

November 19, 2009

Faux Parker Penman Sapphire, another version.

After some discussion with OcalaFlGuy here is another recipe for a replacement for Parker's Penman Sapphire --

Private Reserve American Blue - 40 units

Waterman Green - 8 units

Parker Quink Blue-Black - 5 unit.

This version is a little wetter, and perhaps a little closer to the original Penman Sapphire than my last effort.

October 14, 2013

Did any of these blends have Penman's sheen? I've recently been experimenting, but ive used an M800 with an IB nib. Penman Sapphire had a lot of the sheen, thjat one also sees in Diamine majestic blue. My experiments have involved these inks, and a few PR inks..