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If there were a support group for blue ink addicts, I should attend the meetings. I just can't resist the blues. I already have more than enough but still keep buying and comparing them, always in search of yet another perfect blue ink. Until recently my favourites were Diamine Midnight (dark blue), Visconti Blue and Akkerman KoninginneNach-blauw (light blue). Rohrer & Klingner Blau Permanent fell out of favour when I discovered that it was rather too washable; pity, because it's lovely. After many months of sticking to the same inks (mostly to use up the ones that failed in similar comparisons), I took some of my most reliable pens and inked them with the new candidates. In the scan (which seems quite true on my computer), Akkerman Vermeer's Kobalt Blauw and Blau Permanent are used to define the boundaries of my search.The comparison is primarily between Visconti Blue, Diamine Blue Velvet and Pilot Blue. I had expected more from Pilot Blue. In comparison to the others it appears rather watery. Blue Velvet is impressively bright and clear, and when Visconti Blue is compared to it I can see a hint of a sheen in the latter. Not been into sheens, I therefore decided to replace Visconti with Blue Velvet. So I'm off to fill pages with the Pilot and Visconti blues. It's nice when one has to use up such good inks.

I feel a song coming on... I apologise for the images, bad camera day. Oh, did I tell you about the sheen..?