Mysterious Blue Ink

[desertsquid]

About a year ago, I decided I wanted to buy some new fountain pens and so (of course) I joined FPN. Until then, I had just one pen: a black Montblanc 'CS' pen from the 1980s. My first additional pen was a green marble Waterman Phileas with a fine nib that I bought on eBay. With the pen, the seller sent a couple of sample cartridges that she said were Waterman Blue-Black. I wasn't very interested in blue-black ink so I put them in a drawer and forgot about them.

 

Last month, having accumulated far more pens that I would have ever dreamed a year ago (know the feeling?), I sold the pen to another FPN member and included the blue-black cartridge, telling him that it was Waterman Blue-Black. After sending it, I remembered that I had a second cartridge and loaded it into my one remaining Phileas (a silver one that I refer to as my "space pen" and that I will never part with). I immediately loved the ink and resolved to buy a bottle when the cartridge ran out.

 

Then I read a recent post here about Waterman Blue-Black and someone referred to how green it is. That puzzled me. The ink in the cartridge was not in the slightest bit green. I checked some scans of the Waterman ink here and, sure enough, they were greenish. So the ink I have is NOT Waterman Blue-Black. I told the guy who bought the pen from me and now we are both deeply intrigued because we enjoy the ink and want to buy some more. It starts out as a very dark and pure blue (perhaps a kind of "midnight blue"). But over the course of a couple of weeks, it lightens so that is still darker than Waterman Florida Blue, and perhaps a little lighter than Visconti Blue. I've attached a scanned sample that looks correct on my calibrated monitor.

 

I wrote to the eBay seller to ask what the ink really is. She told me it was Waterman ink but was rather vague about it. I think we cannot assume that it really is Waterman.

 

By the way, the change in the blue over time is not from fading. I kept my Rhodia pad closed during the two weeks between writing and scanning. Also, it has now been more than 24 hours since I wrote the top line in the scan and the ink is still just as dark. So it takes more than a day for it to lighten.

 

Oh, and one final thing. Whatever this ink is, it is available in a "Waterman-style" cartridge. Or perhaps it is just a long "universal" cartridge.

 

Can any Shirl-ink Holmes among us identify the mystery ink?

[roger3]

Why it's chameleon ink.... :ltcapd: :ltcapd:

[haziz]

Waterman blue-black is still plausible.

[scribbler77]

A number of cartridges that I stashed away some years ago and found subsequently had a reduced amount of ink in the cartridge, presumably because of some sort of evaporation or osmosis of water through the plastic. That makes the ink darker than it was when new. Could this be the case with your cartridges? Were they completely full of ink when you installed them in the pens? If not, evaporation may explain the difference in color.

[desertsquid]

A number of cartridges that I stashed away some years ago and found subsequently had a reduced amount of ink in the cartridge, presumably because of some sort of evaporation or osmosis of water through the plastic. That makes the ink darker than it was when new. Could this be the case with your cartridges? Were they completely full of ink when you installed them in the pens? If not, evaporation may explain the difference in color.

 

That's an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I didn't notice how full the cartridge was.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

There is a very recent Ink Review of Waterman Blue Black by 'Signum1'.

 

Perhaps if you PM-ed Signum1, an observation could be made: comparing the originals used the review (and captured in the scans) to what the ink looks like some days/weeks on. Signum1_WBlBk_Review Hmm

 

From your scans, I don't see the warm hint that WBlBk has. (Not too too dissimilar from Quink BlBk) Hmm

 

There was also a recent Post by 'dcwaites' about Herbin Blue Myosotis fading. dcwaites_Blue_Myosotis

 

Personally, I've never seem such a thing. eeeewe!

 

BUT I'll do a thingy with WBlBk on Rhodia, and keep it in the dark for 2 weeks - but you need to remind me to re-scan it & Post it, OK?

 

Hey - I even had a Phileas -F-. How cool is that!

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FNP082.jpg

 

Bye,

S1

 

EDIT - Rep/Signum/Signum1/**

Edited April 8, 2010 by Sandy1

[desertsquid]

BUT I'll do a thingy with WBlBk on Rhodia, and keep it in the dark for 2 weeks - but you need to remind me to re-scan it & Post it, OK?

 

Hey - I even had a Phileas -F-. How cool is that!

 

Thank you very much for your scan, Sandy. I also read the ink review by Signum. The shading in Signum's writing sample makes me think that it might be WBlBk after all. And your scan of that ink is less green than others I have seen. Perhaps I should just get some WBlBk and give it a try.

[panda88888]

I do know of one ink that changes color. My bottle of Parker Quink Blue goes on as dark blue/navy color, and it changes to a turquoise color after a few hours. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

[fabrimedeiros]

I think it is because oxidation (reaction of ink with the air). I have a bottle of Pelikan Blue, that becomes more clear an hour after I write. I hate this!

 

 

Noodler's never do this!!

 

(I'm not filiated )

 

Warm regards,

 

Fabricio

[kwadden]

I'm the guy that desertsquid "tricked" with that mysterious cartridge.

He laid the trap when he told me that he included a mystery ink cartridge with the pen he sold me. What a color!

 

I appreciate all the sleuthing in this thread, especially the time and oxidation explanation.

[desertsquid]

I'm the guy that desertsquid "tricked" with that mysterious cartridge.

He laid the trap when he told me that he included a mystery ink cartridge with the pen he sold me. What a color!

 

I appreciate all the sleuthing in this thread, especially the time and oxidation explanation.

 

Yes, my evil plot worked very well. And that green Phileas you bought from me will gradually turn red over the course of the next six months.

[kwadden]

Yes, my evil plot worked very well. And that green Phileas you bought from me will gradually turn red over the course of the next six months.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooo.....

[Paddler]

I think ink manufacturers change their formulations and don't tell anybody. There would be no advantage in advertising the fact; all it would do would be to outrage some of their customers. I have two bottles of Black Quink that show entirely different colored streaks with paper chromatography.

 

Also, I made a large buy of Blue Black Quink. All the boxes and bottles are identical, yet some of them contain greenish ink and some have just blue black. I never know what it will be when I open a new bottle.

 

The frequency with which these companies change owners and locations makes formulation changes very likely, in my estimation.

 

Paddler

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

BUT I'll do a thingy with WBlBk on Rhodia, and keep it in the dark for 2 weeks - but you need to remind me to re-scan it & Post it, OK?

 

Hey - I even had a Phileas -F-. How cool is that!

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FNP082.jpg

 

Bye,

S1

 

EDIT - Rep/Signum/Signum1/**

Hi,

OK - A bit more than 2 weeks on. Here's the re-scan:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/FPN163.jpg

[Ondina]

The top line looks like concentrated by evaporation Waterman Blue-Black from a fresh bottle. The rest, the color Waterman blue black flows out of the pen exposed to, for example, a day at the beach inside an All Star, and on the right kind of paper (when I use it on Quo Vadis or Clairefontaine it turns to the known teal, while if used on Miquel Ríus or Galgo, stays blue-black). Protean, interesting and very respectful with vintage pens, this ink is. E. Bitterman exposed quite a valid theory on why this ink oxidizes in varied degrees when used in different pens and used on diverse papers a while back.