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So I was quite content with my six blues: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Tsuyu Kusa, Asa Gao, Myosotis, Ajisai. I mean how could one fit more and tell them apart? Already Ama iro and Kon Peki could look too close for comfort in certain pens... But oh I had to keep reading FPN, didn't I? So while I was looking for other stuff online I sort of accidentally got Callifolio's Equinoxe 6 and Sailor's Souten, half expecting them to be close to what I already had. It's at night and I can only take a photo using my phone under a yellowish led lamp... But I think I may have scored, i.e gotten two good looking and different blues... Equinoxe 6 was a particularly crazy purchase, since it looks different on various online reviews. Also, notice how different Ama iro looks when coming out of a Muji F, after it's been there for a few days, and a freshly inked Waterman Lauréat... That's part of a salvage operation for another Laureat, so I'm not sure if this pen is going to explode, but as much as I like Ama Iro on a Muji, I'm not getting its true colour as on the right in this shot.

Tsuyu Kusa was my first expensive ink, and while I liked it, it seemed a little underwhelming; all that changed with a wet Sailor Pro Gear in medium, if I had to choose just one ink, this would be it. Row 1 of the other colours: Chiku Rin, Vert Empire, Verde Muschiato, Ina Ho, Inti, Lie de Thé, Yama Guri, Perle Noire. Row 2: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Équinoxe 6, Souten, Asa Gao, Myosotis, Ajisai, Verdigris. Row 3: Mandarin, Fuyu Gaki, Orange Indien, Ancient Copper, Rouge Hematite, Diamine Poppy Red, Perle Noire. Souten comes close but is a tad more green, on a dry medium Metropolitan; on a wetter pen it comes out a lot closer to Kon Peki.

I've been meaning to do this for a while, I've been trying to find a home for Sailor's Souten, it flows nicely on particularly wet Platinum Cool with a medium nib, but it looks really dark and I've been thinking I was missing some of this ink's nuance; the same had happened before with Asa Gao. I transferred it to a Faber Castell Ambition in extra fine, it seems to be looking more like its true self. Here's a comparison with similar inks, Tsuyu Kusa and Kon Peki. Équinoxe 6 would have been nice too but it's currently orphaned. This is the opposite of what happened to Tusyu Kusa, which came into its own with a wetter nib. I pressed slightly on its Pro Gear's tines to make it wetter, as well as on the Ambition, which is writing less fine than when I got it, which is better for my hand writing. All this will be blindingly obvious to those more experienced, I am still amazed and sometimes taken aback by these dramatic changes. I'll have to think which other ink would benefit from the Platinum's properties, maybe one of the lighter inks?

I've long wanted to do a quick review of Myosotis, it's one of my oldest inks but it never looked quite how I thought it could, it came out pale and boring as in most reviews, close to Ajisai but without its vibrancy. I finally spread the tines a little, which usually ends in tears but this time worked: still dusky but looks a lot darker, a lighter, duskier cousin to Pelikan's Königsblau. The comparison with other purplish blues might be on interest: Asa Gao, Ajisai, Tsuyu Kusa; the latter doesn't look purplish at all until you put it in turn next to greenish blues... As a bonus this ink seems to make its Lamy Vista write smoother than most of its six other siblings.

Here's a quick comparison of five blues: Sailor Souten, Iroshizuku Tsuyu Kusa, Kon Peki, Ama Iro, Callifolio Equinoxe 6. Tsuyu Kusa is my one true blue. Kon Peki at first disappointed me, but I now really like it, it looks spectacular coming out of a pearwood Ambition. Ama Iro and Kon Peki are spectacular but look very different according to the pen, nib, how many days ago it was inked... I'm not sure if I want to try on another pen, maybe one that evaporates less like an m400, for Ama Iro. Equinoxe 6 and Souten were spur of the moment things, after having seen them for a while online, and so a risky purchase, as they could look too close to the others. To my eye they are easy to distinguish, in terms of more green going from Tusyu Kusa to Souten to Kon peki to Equinoxe 6 to Ama Iro.

I have been looking for a certain blue (pilot Juice Aqua Blue)and decided to ask you all for some ideas. I am attempting to attach a copy of the color I found online, but this is my first attempt at posting here on FPN. I at one time had $80 worth of blue samples in my cart from gouletpens.com. The first blue I tried out turned out not to be as blue as the color swatch appeared to be, that was Noodler's Navajo Turquoise. Then I tried Chesterfield ink's Zircon ink from xfountainpens.com, it's a little darker and ever so slightly green leaning. While both colors are gorgeous they don't match what I'm looking for. I've decided I'm looking for a bright, saturated, pure medium blue. By pure I mean not leaning to far to purple or green. So I bit the bullet and have ordered a few samples from the Goulets. The list as follows: Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Asa-Gao and Tsuyu-Kusa(which is the one I'm hoping is the closest), Diamine Royal Blue and Washable Blue, Waterman Serenity Blue, Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, and Private Reserve Tropical Blue. I'm planning on doing a test page to compare them all, but I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas. I believe the Pilot inks should get the task done since it is after all a Pilot pen, but even within Pilot they have two different model pens (Juice and Hi-Tec-C) with two different colors both being called Aqua Blue, sooooooo... Any ideas? Oh, and ideas where to buy inks that the Goulet's don't carry. I know they don't have Montblanc for example and I either go to them or Amazon for purchasing ideas. Thank you in advance.