New Camlin Royal Blue formulation?

[Sharad Pratap]

A month back I ran out of my camlin royal blue ink(the only ink for us broke students). I got 2 new bottles. The new packaging surprised me.,instead of being yellow it was all blue and the bottle inside was plastic too. I have had heard that earlier the packaging was yellow and the bottle was of glass....back then the ink colour was very light and ink flow was on the drier side. Then they changed the formulation and made it a bit darker and started using plastic bottles instead,but the packaging still remained yellow though.

These ones have blue packaging,plastic bottle and I think they changed the formulation again. Now the colour of the ink is very bright and it looks like a cross between sapphire blue and turquoise,at least to my eyes.And the flow is definitely way better and wetter. In fact I am able to use this ink in my fine and extra nibs and the lines look very readable and saturated,not light at all.

Has anybody else noticed this too?

[Sharad Pratap]

.

[HartGummi]

I haven't seen the blue packaging. Can you post an image of the box? 

 

[Dip n Scratch]

Definately Sapphire Blue. The older stuff I always found far too light no matter what I used it in, or the paper I used.

I do prefer a darker blue, so I would use the Camlin in a pen with a EF nib or one of my Indian ED pens that write on the wet side as well as having a fine nib.

When the colour claims to be Royal Blue I think of the old Quink Permanent Royal Blue. Not that old Camlin formulation, and not quite the present Sapphire either.

Which is why I keep a bottle of Raduga Blue or try and dilute Diamine Sargasso Sea.

I wouldn't want to risk buying any other blue without a sample to test which pens are best with that ink.

If you are a student... Well you would have to consider an ink very carefully.

[Dip n Scratch]

Is Camlin Blue the ink that is most often found everywhere in India or the absolute cheapest?

Blues don't usually do well against UV, not even 1970's Quink.

I was wondering if there was a un-written rule that your work had to be in blue, so it could be corrected very visibly with black or red.

But i'm glad that this version of Camlin Blue is an improvement. I don't have to buy a Diamine or Herbin Sapphire Blue.

 

[HartGummi]

1 hour ago, Dip n Scratch said:

Is Camlin Blue the ink that is most often found everywhere in India or the absolute cheapest?

 

Camlin (and Quink) are the two most commonly found brands in brick-and-mortar stores. Chelpark and Bril are less prevalent.

The three Indian inks do not have a large diference in price.

1 hour ago, Dip n Scratch said:

I was wondering if there was a un-written rule that your work had to be in blue, so it could be corrected very visibly with black or red.

The rule is blue or black inks only.

1 hour ago, Dip n Scratch said:

But i'm glad that this version of Camlin Blue is an improvement.

Is the new version so much more vivid? 

@Sharad Bhadauria

Is this the bottle?

 

I cannot find this bottle on Amazon.

[Sharad Pratap]

[Sharad Pratap]

[Sharad Pratap]

[Sharad Pratap]

Above are some pictures.Hope that helps.

[Sharad Pratap]

@HartGummi - I am really sorry i don't have the packaging or bottle anymore. I put those inks in my empty pelikan and waterman glass bottles. Now I do kinda regret not taking a picture though.

And the picture that you have posted has the older yellow box,the new one is all blue.

[HartGummi]

@Sharad BhadauriaDid you Bilberry from Penz? I was thinking of importing about 6 bottles directly.

 

Did ASA make that pen for a Kanwrite screw-in unit? Or did you friction fit?

 

How well does the Kanwrite feed buffer the ink flow ?

 

Time for me to go to a stationery shop and search for this new blue bottle. I last used Camlin's blue 10 years ago. The color was just so dull.

[Sharad Pratap]

@Dip n Scratch - By your comment I am assuming that you do have the newer stock one.If its possible can you put up a picture of the new packaging if you still have it?

I agree with you that this new formulation is definitely a bit off from being a royal blue.But i do like this colour. Its really good and the ink really flows good too.

This costs Rs.20 for a 60ml bottle....that's like one third of a dollar for 60ml bottle.I bought pelikan turquoise 62.25ml bottle for Rs.550,Waterman inspired blue and tender purple 50ml bottles for Rs.500 each. The pelikan was too dry and spread on both the kind of paper i use. Waterman inks had good flow but they spread,bled and feathered a ton. So i stopped using them.Camlin ink is faring much better than the pelikan and waterman inks.

[HartGummi]

3 minutes ago, Sharad Bhadauria said:

Waterman inks had good flow but they spread,bled and feathered a ton.

Which paper are you using? I am using Serenity Blue in a Kanwrite #5 Medium nib on cheap school paper. The notebook was bought for 25/- only. No bleedthrough or feathering.

 

Pelikan should be even less prone to feathering.

[Sharad Pratap]

@HartGummi - Yes,I did buy that Diamine Bilberry ink from penzsolutions(they were the sellers on amazon).I bought it last october or november,back then it was Rs.875,now it's Rs.990.Pretty expensive.But as of yet this is the ink that i love the most.

kanwrite makes their own nib units in bock,schmidt and jowo style threadings.You should contact them and get some.They are quite inexpensive.About Jowo....in a span of one year i bought 4 jowo nib units, barring one all of them were literal trash....the broad had a baby bottom which made it barely usable,the fine was too dry to be used at all,the medium was too dry,surprisingly the 1.1stub was very very wet but it was a bit scratchy.I think most Jowo feeds are too dry.

Kanwrite feeds are basic plastic feeds but their flow is good.And their nibs are a bit springier compared to Jowo which makes them wetter too.And they are comparatively inexpensive so they are easily replaceable too.I currently have 4 or 5 extra nib units from them as stock,they will last me decades if not for the rest of my life.

[Sharad Pratap]

@HartGummi - Currently I use Luxor Converge 70gsm A4 size spiral bound single line ruled notebooks and the other one that i use is Navneet Youva Pro Wiro A4 notebook.Both work really well for me especially with the inks i use.

[HartGummi]

7 minutes ago, Sharad Bhadauria said:

Currently I use Luxor Converge 70gsm A4 size spiral bound single line ruled notebooks and the other one that i use is Navneet Youva Pro Wiro A4 notebook.

Both are better than the paper I use for rough work. It is very surprising to find that Waterman inks are feathering on those two papers.

 

 

 

 

[Sharad Pratap]

@HartGummi - on luxor paper it was passable,with some wooling though.On the other paper those inks were pretty much unusable.

[Dimy]

Nah hartGummi the new package is blue colour I have one and its blue to end (in the pic shared by you just replace the yellow with blue colour). The new ink does look darker then in the past one from memory too so I think they did made changes in the formula. I am not a very big fan of plastic bottles, might fill it in waterman bottle later.

 

11 hours ago, Sharad Bhadauria said:

Kanwrite feeds are basic plastic feeds but their flow is good.And their nibs are a bit springier compared to Jowo which makes them wetter too.And they are comparatively inexpensive so they are easily replaceable too.I currently have 4 or 5 extra nib units from them as stock,they will last me decades if not for the rest of my life.

 

I agree with kanwrite being wetter and springier nibs then jowo, I still have not found the jowo feed to be dry though (they are definitely drier then kanwrite in my experience as well), well they tend to have duds everywhere though. Kanwrite sells ebonite feeds as well, specific for heritage pens but can be used in various ED pens (they lack compatibility with Convertor or cartridge though). These can be ordered separately as well, personally I find them to be better with flex nibs where wetter flow is needed or preferred (not that plastic ones is bad, just this one is better).

Just a note of caution, heritage nib unit which comes with ebonite feed is different from jowo or bock or desire's nib unit (plastic feed) and cannot be interchanged.

[Dip n Scratch]

On 2/10/2021 at 2:27 PM, Sharad Bhadauria said:

@Dip n Scratch - By your comment I am assuming that you do have the newer stock one.If its possible can you put up a picture of the new packaging if you still have it?

 

It is the new blue box and plastic bottle. The ink is an improvement. Better out of a Wality, or other ED pen with a Ebonite feed? I have not tested yet. But still probably better for a pen that writes wet.

 

BTW I stuck a Kanwrite #35 nib in a Jowo feed unit  to fit that in a Ranga 9 that is blue acrylic. This would match the Camlin Blue.

 

I thought that Chelpark was not in production any more.

 

The only negative about the Raduga Blue is that it could do with a preservative adding