Gel-Ink Look But With Fountain Pen Ink?

January 31, 2022

Thanks for the feedback!

I am looking for that Energel blue color. Funny that you prefer the slight purple hue.... that is the only thing about the Zebra Sarasa Clip and X20 that I have to complain about on them. Otherwise they're the perfect gel pens for me.

I will think about the Kon Peki, but I need to try the Ama-Iro that I have again. Because like you mention, I do seem to recall the Iroshizuku ink could be a bit dry in some pens. At the same time the Diamine Sargasso Sea I mentioned I saw an old thread of mine that was complaining it kept smearing after drying but using it in my Pilot at the moment and it is darn close to perfect if it was just more an Energel blue. So it probably is pen dependent nib wetness as you said.

Otherwise I think I'm leaning towards getting a few samples. Horizon Blue and a couple others. If I get a Kon Peki sample I will try that too.

February 1, 2022

On 1/31/2022 at 12:01 PM, Jerome10 said:

Thanks for the feedback!

I am looking for that Energel blue color. Funny that you prefer the slight purple hue.... that is the only thing about the Zebra Sarasa Clip and X20 that I have to complain about on them. Otherwise they're the perfect gel pens for me.

I will think about the Kon Peki, but I need to try the Ama-Iro that I have again. Because like you mention, I do seem to recall the Iroshizuku ink could be a bit dry in some pens. At the same time the Diamine Sargasso Sea I mentioned I saw an old thread of mine that was complaining it kept smearing after drying but using it in my Pilot at the moment and it is darn close to perfect if it was just more an Energel blue. So it probably is pen dependent nib wetness as you said.

Otherwise I think I'm leaning towards getting a few samples. Horizon Blue and a couple others. If I get a Kon Peki sample I will try that too.

haha - I like my blues either blue turquoise or almost purple. I really don't know why - LOL. I may have to try those zebra rollerball refills then! I have yet to find one that I like in purpley-blue range.

I was looking at my notebook that I took pictures of earlier in this thread. I think horizon blue is probably your ticket. Its a great ink and flows really well too.

Next closest was DC Supershow Blue - however I am not sure it looks liquidy to me but the tone is right there. Sargasso Sea looks slightly more purple than energel blue - at least to my eye. I've not had good luck with Ama-Iro - it always looks flat to me and in most pens also washed out. Its no where close to energel blue. I think there are other compelling light blues out there.

January 10

Back after a few years. Kinda got burned out on the fountain pens for awhile. Was just easy, and after finding a couple pens I really like, to just use gel. Pentel Energel is probably my #2 overall, but still my #1 color, while my overall #1 is now the Monteverde Ceramic Gel 0.9mm Parker G2 size refill. The wettest and smoothest line I've ever found, and just a tad bit more purple than the Energel 1.0mm blue. Monteverde fits the Parker Jotter and that's been my go-to for awhile now. MV color is close enough to Pentel that the feel trumps the color being slightly darker for me. I also found I like the Zebra refills. Sarasa, both the standard and the rapid-dry, but they do not win on color or feel over the Monteverde or Energel.

Anyway, wanted to follow up as I've gotten a bit back into the FPs. Picked up a stub TWSBI Eco (My old 580 cracked years ago) and a Pilot Prera with CM nib (had this nib on metropolitan but the step in the Metro grip was never my favorite). The Prera to hold is much much nicer than Metro, the CM nib remains scratchy and not particularly broad but does have decent line variation. TWSBI I had forgotten their stubs are quite smooth even if not a massive amount of variation. As you can tell I like fat, juicy lines in my pens. 1.0mm basically for gel (funny the 0.9mm Monteverde Ceramic Gel refill appears thicker on paper than the 1.0mm Pentel), and wider stubs for FPs (I would just use gel if I didn't have a stub nib.... the stub is the #1 reason I like FPs)

Got some samples trying to match color of the Energel based on the suggestions here and also a few hours of internet digging. Tried samples of the following:

Monteverde Horizon Blue

Diamine Blue Velvet

Private Reserve DC Supershow

Kon-Peki

Colorverse Cat (shimmer)

Herbin Kyanite du Nepal (shimmer)

Try to give a few quick summaries. I'm no ink guru. The shimmers went in the TWSBI, the rest in the Prera. Bottom line, I think that the Monteverde Horizon Blue remains the closest to the Pentel. It also seems to be very well lubricated and decently juicy. Liked it.

Diamine Blue Velvet - Nice ink I found wrote very well and took away some of the scratchiness of the Prera CM nib. But definitely too puple for my tastes. If you like a darker blue than HB, I'd recommend

Private Reserve DC Supershow - I'd put this right between the Horizon Blue and the Blue Velvet. It is just one shade darker than HB, maybe a tad bit of purple but I'm not sure I'd say "purple" to describe it. Matches the Monteverde Ceramic Gel refill color almost exactly. Very very close to the HB. Again, if you want just a tad deeper blue, this one is probably my #2 closest.

Kon-Peki - Have to say.... disappointed. I have Ama-Iro and forgot how much I felt that also was rather "meh". I realize people love the Iroshizuku inks, but at least for me (maybe the stubs?), they feel dry and extra scratchy. Again, I know people describe them as wetter but its just not enough. The color of Kon-Peki is simply too light. And too much shading. It does not have that bold, high-contrast, low-shading line of a gel ink or any of the others I sampled. MAAAAYYYYBBEEE I should try Asa-Gao to get a darker blue.... but frankly this is now 2 Iroshizuku inks that seem to have let me down and I like several other brands so I may just finally dismiss Iroshizuku as not for me.

Colorverse Cat (shimmer) - Little harder to compare since I used the wider stub TWSBI. Very subtle shimmer. I'd say this color is closest to the PR DC Supershow. Interesting to try but didn't wow me in any way.

Herbin Kyanite du Nepal (shimmer) - Hot dang this ink is awesome. No, the color doesn't come close to Pentel Energel Blue or Horizon Blue at all. I'm not sure how I'd describe it. It is darker than Energel or HB, but it isn't purple or pink or red or anything. Maybe more of a blue-black? I'm not sure. But then with the silver shimmer and the wider stub on the TWSBI, it leaves the most vibrant line on the paper. It is super smooth and wet. Looks like a unique ink but if you can hit the light just right, that shimmer stands out "just enough" to catch your eye and make you look a little closer. Color is "wrong" for this search but I frankly absolutely love it. Just awesome. Gonna order a bottle of this for sure... but it isn't in the Pentel ballpark.

I have an old bottle of Sargasso Sea stored somewhere. I will try that last and post findings. Saw online some folks suggested that. I wanna say I had problems with smearing even after drying, which is why it's been in storage for years. We'll see....

So yes, I'm going to have to say the Monteverde Horizon Blue is ALMOST a perfect match, while also writing well, low shading, high-contrast. If anything I need the teeniest-tiniest slightly lighter shade of Horizon Blue to match the Energel.

Only other ones I dug up that have promise and I may sample are:

Visconti Blue - sometimes looks promising then sometimes looks too purple and too similar to the Monteverde Sapphire

Straits Pen Poorman's Sapphire - also looks too dark/purple probably... but other times it seems it might be just a tad brighter/lighter than the Horizon Blue and the DC Supershow... so it might be juuuusssttt right.

Capri Blue from Monteverde might be the next step up in shading in the MV line, but I have a feeling its going to be too light like Kon-Peki and more shading.

Monteverde Sapphire appears too dark/purple.

Hope this might help any others on a similar search....

January 10

- MV Horizon Blue was the FPN choice as closest to Parker Penman Sapphire, until the designer of PPS released his updated inks, called Scribe. I use Scribe Indigo, MV HB, and the original Penman Sapphire (ha 1 1/2 bottles) as my main inks.

- Except that Iroshizuku is my favorite ink. Just the perfect blue ink: saturated but well-behaved purplish blue. It was the first "luxury" ink,

- When I write in a Levenger Notabilia notebook, I often used Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue.

Some of this is taste and some is experience. I don't bother with super permanent inks, having grown up using fountain pens in the late 1950s and '60s. All of our parents wanted us using washable inks -- my favorites were Sheaffer Washable Black and Washable Blue-Black. That's because they went to school in the 1920s and 1930s, and saw many, many accidents in which one of the old permanent inks spilled on shirts. They were a terror to clean out.

We learned to keep our schoolwork protected from water.