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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.

What inks do you add to mixes to fortify them against water? Here I have two recent blends that incorporate Pilot Black and Pilot Blue since those inks are cheap where I live and offer a modicum of water resistance. I'm happy with both but I'm open to trying other components you have had success with. I generally like to add some resistance to all my blends even if I haven't gotten any paper wet (except with ink) since primary school because you never know.

I thought I would do a simple test of the properly Permanent blues* I have at hand. The inks tested were Pilot Blue, Platinum Pigment Blue, Noodler's Aquamarine (for Swishers, now discontinued) and Koh-i-noor Document Blue. I have selected Blue inks, as there are lots and lots and lots and lots of Permanent Blue-Blacks out there of varying chemistries. I wanted to do Blue. My exhaustive testing regime consisted of writing samples of all four inks with a FP nib mounted in a pen holder onto Double A Premium copy paper. After letting the ink dry for at least half an hour I then ran it under a stream of hot water for about 30 seconds. The first scan is what the sample looked like before the hot water testing. The second scan is after the hot water testing, and after the paper had dried out. The pencil line shows where the water went. You can see that the first three inks are totally untouched. The Pilot Blue leaves enough behind to be readable. I would not now call Pilot Blue WaterProof, rather WaterResistant. *Parker Quink 'Permanent' Blue need not apply...