Water Resistance Comparison Of Some Blue, Blue-Black And Black Inks

[A Smug Dill]

A few days ago I managed to find my long lost twenty-year-old bottle of Parker ebony writing ink (which I think is marketed as the Penman line somewhere, just not in Australia?) of which I had fond distant memories. I decided to test whether I should use it now for journalling, or stick with what I presently trust most for archival writing; the second-most important quality – behind simple fading with time – to me for that purpose, is water resistance.

 

The paper I used is a Daiso Word Card (5mm grid, ~108gsm, made in Cambodia), although that is not what I use for journalling; I have a stack of currently about 50 of them, one for each ink I have, to make it easier to visually compare colours and such. I note that after I soaked the bottom quarter of the card for five minutes in the test below, the back of the card still showed no ghosting or bleed-through from any of the inks whatsoever.

 

 

 

Hmmm. I guess I won't be using the Parker ink for writing in journals after all that.

[The Good Captain]

Of your samples I use Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black - probably my favourite ink ever, and Prime of the Commons. Love them to bits!

[Mech-for-i]

well well, not a bit of surprise here ... most of the big name's now distinct their ink line into permanent ( and that usually mean pigmented ) and non permanent aka standard line up .. And as far as permanence goes, really there's only 3 type of ink that do it, the traditional Iron Gall, Carbon ink and the modern tech wonder of pigmented ink. Pigmented ink however might not be that lightfast vs Carbon ink.

 

These days my goto permanent ink would be an some of the iron gall inks , the work really well and their water resistance IMHO is above and beyond the like of Carbon and Pigmented ink.

[tinta]

A great comparison of water resistance. Thanks.

On your list, my daily carry: Kaweco Lilliput is always filled with Pelikan 4001 blue/black, as it is the only ink that I've found in cartridge form that has any water resistance. Not an inspirational blue/black but very versatile. All my cheques are written with this ink.

For black, I use Kiwa-Guro in cart form for the occasional times I need black ink. .

[A Smug Dill]

@tinta, you're welcome.

 

Sailor offers seiboku in ink cartridges (product code 13-0604-142), and also for its sibling souboku (product code 13-0604-144). I don't know whether these would fit your Kaweco Lilliput, though. I suppose you also always just refill a compatible empty cartridge shell with the ink of your choice using a syringe.

 

In case you haven't seen this comparison: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339720-permanent-blue-black-ink/?p=4107927

[tinta]

@tinta, you're welcome.

 

Sailor offers seiboku in ink cartridges (product code 13-0604-142), and also for its sibling souboku (product code 13-0604-144). I don't know whether these would fit your Kaweco Lilliput, though. I suppose you also always just refill a compatible empty cartridge shell with the ink of your choice using a syringe.

 

In case you haven't seen this comparison: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/339720-permanent-blue-black-ink/?p=4107927

Thank you for the links. I have tried seiboku (bottled) & liked the colour.

Will have to scour my North American & UK Sailor ink sources. (Though tempted, I'm a bit hesitant ordering straight from Japan.)

Sailor carts only fit their pens but you're right, I could fill empty internat'l carts. My Kawecos are are dedicated to carts only, but for my other pens, Sailors & MB are mostly bottle filled.

For Sailor inks I usually go for the bottle, even if I'm not too keen about their filling thingy.

[A Smug Dill]

For Sailor inks I usually go for the bottle, even if I'm not too keen about their filling thingy.

The old 50ml round bottles of Sailor seiboku and kiwaguro pigment inks came with floating ink reservoirs inside (which are easily removable anyway, if they get in the way, or you just don't like them), whereas the new 50ml rectangular bottles of Sailor souboku (and, I presume, seiboku and kiwaguro of which I have new bottles I haven't opened yet) do not come with matching ink reservoirs in the retail package, although you can (or at least could) buy them separately.

[Intensity]

Not a blue or blue-black, but since water-resistant inks in cartridges were brought up, J Herbin’s Lie de Thé has pretty good water resistance and does come in cartridges. Great shading and color complexity too.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/328710-j-herbin-lie-de-the-mini-review/

[tinta]

An excellent review "intensity". Thanks.

Wish I would have seen it way back in 2017. I am partial to brown/sepia inks, bottled or in carts. I should look into J Herbin.

[A Smug Dill]

I didn't intend for this to be a more general water resistance discussion, but hey, that's OK.

Rubinato Seppia Inchiostro writing sample (with a rather dry pen – a cheap 'tester' with a Sailor 40° Fude de Mannen nib, and only dipped without a converter connected) before, during and after a three-minute bath in plain tap water:


Unlike Pilot Iroshizuku tsutsuji, which sheds magenta when washed and leaves a dark grey line, and Salior Shikiori doyou, which sheds grey when washed and leaves an almost-black line, this ink seems to stay mostly true to colour after a wash. (Yes, the result is somewhat redder.)

[A Smug Dill]

Pilot Iroshizuku ku-jaku and kon-peki, after a long soak:

 

 

Photos of the original writing samples before the soak are over here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/331106-dont-just-tell-us-about-the-pen-youre-using-show-us-2018-2019/?p=4159036