Old Parker Blue-Black Vs New Parker Blue-Black

[PAKMAN]

Like the old blue black but am willing to try this new one when my old bottle runs out.

[welch]

I'll admit that when I saw the thread I was thinking this would be about "vintage" vs. "modern". I seem to recall discussions where people claimed that "modern" Quink and "modern" Waterman inks were the same with different packaging, so I was curious. Especially since I'm bummed that you can't get Permanent Quink Blue in the US any more, only the Washable.

I also like the look of the "new" Blue-Black (but agree that it's really just "blue"...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Ruth, I bought a bottle of true-blue Parker Quink Permanent Blue from The Writing Desk, UK. It was about 5 GBP. With delivery to the US and minus VAT, it was still less than 10 USD. A bargain.

[flipper_gv]

Looks like penman Sapphire to me.

[RoyalBlue]

Remembering the old Stevens ink (long discontinued?) and the Solv-X era ink I used as a schoolboy in the 1960s and 70s I was always underwhelmed by the Waterman and Parker blue-blacks when I came back to fountain pens in the 2000s.

 

I have been pleased with the newest Quink blue-black and to be honest assumed it was just the paper I was using that stopped this one going grey-green after a day or two.  I like the new version very much but disagree that it is just another blue: to me it is at least on the greener rather than the purpler side of blue while still being a dark blue ink.  I would say (and could be wrong) that the  standard Quink blue (I use the one that is just called Blue, not the washable blue-named one) is slightly more on the purple side.  Both these inks I  like very  much and actually find they work better despite common opinion than Waterman equivalents, especially if a pen is prone to skipping.

 

My first post on here in a very long time! Good to see a newer forum appearance.

 

Tom

[Mercian]

On 9/13/2021 at 2:44 PM, RoyalBlue said:

Remembering the old Stevens ink (long discontinued?)

 

IIRC, I think that the ink now sold as ESSRI (Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink) is the old Stephens Blue-Black (Registrars'?) ink.

I once read that ESS was founded by a former employee of Stephens who, when the company closed down, bought the rights to use the recipe.
If you read the reviews of ESSRI on here you may (or may not) find that it is the ink that you remember from your schooldays.

I have only used Quink 'Blue Black' in cartridges. I have found it to turn to a pale teal on some paper, and to go green-tinged on other papers. Maybe batch variation? When it stays relatively 'un-green' I do quite like its dark blue colour, but I don't think of it as being very 'blue-black'.

For blue-black ink, I personally really like Rohrer & Klingner Salix (an iron-gall ink that stays more blue after oxidation than most do), and also Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite (which can look almost black from a very wet pen).
Lots of people like Pelikan 4001 Blue Black, but I haven't tried that ink yet.

[FineNibFan]

I thought to add to the main topic my more recent experience, that may help others. Because i bought 2 fresh bottles from Amazon, based on the photo of the 1st page in this topic and well... The ink, starts deep blue while you write and as soon as it dries on the paper, it becomes TEAL. Or grey-teal. Definitely more like the "old" ink in the photo in the 1st page. I tried it on 80g Rhodia, 90g Oxford, more mundane uncoated 80g and 70g papers, nothing. It's not blue. It's teal-grey with a hint of blue. I tried it in F nibs and in an M nib, in the M nib the teal colour is even more prominent! If you pour the ink somewhere, it looks like blue with a green undertone, but the opposite happens on paper.

 

So, i don't know what's going on with the Parker Blue-black, but i am not touching their inks again, that's for sure! 

 

I am so disappointed by it, that i now use it as a "test ink", for new pens. So, BEWARE! Of course there is worse! I got a cartridge of "Parker washable blue". Dear God, it's so pale it's unbelievable! It's like sabotaging their own products by including this "free" cartridge in their pens.

 

The bottles i bought are these:

 

 

[FineNibFan]

For completion's sake, i include this. The color isn't 100% faithful to what i see, but it's pretty close. The photo actually shows the colors a bit darker than in reality. The real colors are more washed out (the Parker is more pale and greenish and the Diamine is also lighter-more purplish). I include the Diamine Sapphire for comparison. So the photo is actually flattering for the Parker, showing it darker and a bit less greenish than in reality. The Parker is in an M nib. Paper is Rhodia 80g. To me, the Parker is definitely closer to the "OLD" ink shown in the 1st page and definitely not what i had imagined...

 

 

 

Possible explanations:

- In EU market they still sell the old "greenish" ink formulation?

- They still have batches of the old ink and they just put them in the new boxes and sell them as new?

- Other?

[jean]

Hello,

 

My observations over the last few years are as follow:

• a freshly opened bottle-inkwell has a bluer colour than an old bottle,
• the ink in a newly opened bottle writes bluer than that in a old bottle, which might suggest that the formulation has changed.  But unfortunately,  after several months the beautiful blue colour turns turquoise-green on the paper.
• the paper influences the colour of the ink enormously, on some paper (Crown mill computer line)  it remains blue, on others (Clairefontaine) it turns turquoise-green more or less quickly.
• the blue-black ink made in the UK was bluer and remained so, unlike the ink made in France.

[FineNibFan]

On 1/12/2022 at 9:54 AM, jean said:

Hello,

 

My observations over the last few years are as follow:

• a freshly opened bottle-inkwell has a bluer colour than an old bottle,
• the ink in a newly opened bottle writes bluer than that in a old bottle, which might suggest that the formulation has changed.  But unfortunately,  after several months the beautiful blue colour turns turquoise-green on the paper.
• the paper influences the colour of the ink enormously, on some paper (Crown mill computer line)  it remains blue, on others (Clairefontaine) it turns turquoise-green more or less quickly.
• the blue-black ink made in the UK was bluer and remained so, unlike the ink made in France.

 

Oh, so it's like old wine? As it ages it gets...greener? 😅   I 've seen some odd ink colors, but for the life of me, i can't understand why would someone would like to write ANYTHING with that color of ink. It looks like more like a production error. It's an undefined color and worse, it's nothing like its name suggests!  

 

Anyway, like i said, i now have 2 bottles of "test ink". Because this is the only use i can think of for this ink... If i want green, i have a REAL green and if i want black, i have 2 real blacks and if i want blue-blacks there are many other inks that are actually what their name suggests. I don't know what those people at Parker are thinking.