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In short: goal of the test : to find the ink that fades least over the timemethod: 2 summer months exposure of the ink samples on the kitchen windowpaper: smooth and non-absorbing, durable Clairefontaine EUROPA Notemakercontrol ink: Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, known to fade quickly when exposed to the sunlight Results of the test: HERO 234: pros: no fading over time (pigmented), true black, no shading, pretty water-resistant, defined line, no bleed-through on worse quality paper cons: dries in pens (especially in caps that are not completely airtight), high maintenance - pens need to be cleaned regularly, very thick Noodlers Black: pros: no significant fading over time, pretty water-resistant, easy maintenance, no bleed-through on worse quality paper, quick drying time cons: not true black (black brownish gray), shading, sometimes dry although no flow issues, no skipping Diamine Jet Black: pros: resists pretty well fading over time, super easy maintenance, no bleed-through on worse quality paper, quick drying time cons: not black (blue teal gray), shading, dry on the paper, dry flow issues possible, no water-resistance Pilot Black bottle 350ml: pros: excellent flow - very wet ink, deep black color (sometimes gray), beautiful shading cons: fades significantly, bleed-through on worse quality paper, less water-resistant

Being a creature of habit with many interests and a huge amount of curiosity on the one hand, but having never enough time and a streak of laziness on the other, I started my very basic lightfastness tests in May 2016 after having read that not all inks are created equal. So since then at the end or the beginning of each month I just pull out all my filled pens and two sheets of paper and write the basic information about each combination down in one or two lines. One sheets gets tucked away in the back of my current notebook or calendar, the other sheet I position on my south-east facing window, with the ink "looking" outside, of course. Whenever a pen gets filled during that month, I hopefully remember my little project and just add the new ink to both sheets, noting the data of the addition. Those lines will not be exposed to light for the full month but oftentimes these pens carry over to the next month and get their full "sun-time" then. In an ideal world I would take the window sheet off after a month, glue it next to the one in my notebook and have both look pretty much the same, but ... Since my post here created some interest (and I was asked so nicely I could not say no ), I post my fading test results for July and August (we had a decent heat wave and lots of sun in Berlin last month) here, too, and for the future invite you to share yours. Now that I know someone will actually see my very unscientific scribbling, I hopefully remember to write more legibly in the future. Sheets from July: 1) Akkerman Ceruleum Blauw 2) Colorverse Crystal Planet 3) DeAtramentis Hellblau 4) Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Black 5) Diamine 150th Anniversary Regency Black 6) Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet 7) Diamine Aqua Blue -- almost entirely faded 8) Diamine Asa Blue 9) Diamine Beau Blue -- almost invisible 10) Diamine Blue Black 11) Diamine China Blue 12) Diamine Denim 13) Diamine Eclipse 14) Diamine Florida Blue -- almost gone 15) Diamine Flower Aster -- completely gone 16) Diamine Guitar Pelham Blue (vollständig ergraut, leicht verblasst) ------- there is a gap between 15) and 16) where the paper is perforated ---------- 17) Diamine Imperial Blue -- strongly faded 18) Diamine Indigo 19) Diamine Kensington Blue 20) Diamine Majestic Blue 26) Diamine Presidential Blue 28) Diamine Sargasso Sea 31) Diamine Skull & Roses 37) Lamy Königsblau / Royal Blue 47) Sailor Manyo Haha +1) Pelikan 4001 Königsblau / Royal Blue +30) Robert Oster Fire & Ice +40) Pilot(-Namiki cartridge) Blue Black

I wrote the samples in the image below on a page of Rhodia 80 g/m2 5 mm grid white paper using a Pelikan M400 14K fine point nib. (The original photo is 3.9 Mb so I had to save it as a TIFF file to get it below the 1.95 Mb limit - no noticeable loss of color or detail.) I cut the page vertically and kept the left half in a notebook, and placed the right half in the sun for approximately 50 hours. The inks used in their order of appearance in the sample writing were: J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche; Pelikan Royal Blue; Levenger Cobalt Blue; J. Herbin Bleu Azur; and J. Herbin Café des Îles. Some observations I thought you might find useful: The Pelikan Royal Blue ink faded the most, and the Levenger Cobalt Blue seemed entirely unaffected. The J. Herbin Bleu Azur was second most affected and the J. Herbin Café des Îles was second least affected. I was surprised at how the Pelikan Royal Blue faded almost into invisibility, and was not surprised about the J. Herbin Bleu Azur being strongly affected by light. I was very pleased that my favorite inks, the J. Herbin Café des Îles and the J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche were nearly unaffected and can therefore be expected to last indefinitely under normal document storage conditions. I wonder if the Pelikan Royal Blue is more susceptible to fading from other environmental conditions as badly as it is under bright light? Light Fastness Review Sample.tiff