What is the Difference Between Royal Blue and Regular Blue

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

 What is the difference between Royal Blue and regular Blue?

[lapis]

Royal Blue is the British-English description (since ages) used to describe an almost "normal", intense, clear blue (if you don't mind, "regular" blue) seen in almost all flags, world-wide, where "blue" is maintained. A faint touch of red is possible. I.e. neither a light blue nor a dark blue or any turquoise or violet or purple. Also seen, of course in the clothes and crowns of the royal families since centuries. (but, again, not the purple and/or purplish blue quite notable in Queen Elizabeth's crown.)

"Regular" blue doesn't mean anything to me other than a "nothing-special-blue", i.e. a normal blue without any other colours perceivable in it..

[Mercian]

4 hours ago, Parker Quink Turquoise said:

 What is the difference between Royal Blue and regular Blue?

In terms of colours, ‘Royal Blue’ is a shade of blue that matches the shirts worn traditionally by e.g. Glasgow Rangers, Everton, Birmingham City, and Chelsea. It’s a vibrant blue that has a hint of violet in it, rather than being a ‘green-leaning’ blue. But it is not by any means a ‘blurple’.

 

In terms of the naming of inks, I think that all the ‘Royal Blue’ inks that I have seen have been ‘washable blues’.

So, I think that manufacturers might use the name ‘Royal Blue’ as a euphemism that sounds ‘fancier’ than ‘washable blue’.

The density of their colour varies between brands.

 

In my experience that are called ‘X Blue’, where ‘X’ is not ‘Royal’ or ‘Washable’ (or ‘Effacable’ en français) are not ‘washable blue’. Which of course does not imply or mean that they have any particular degree of water-resistance or light-resistance.

 

That said, other members may know better 👍

[arcfide]

I think Wikipedia has a decent article on this:

 

Royal blue - Wikipedia

 

I tend to agree with those above that when I hear Royal Blue I tend to think of a blue that has a red lean to it while still being firmly in the "vivid blue" space. 

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

 Sheaffer made a permanent Royal Blue.https://www.ebay.com/itm/175098727269

 

 The Royal Blue I have used is  Parker Superquink Washable Royal Blue.

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

  From what I have seen comparing  my Parker Superquink washable Royal Blue to regular blue inks,it seems lighter,but perhaps my bottle is a bit old.

[lapis]

Actually, dozens of companies offer a "Royal Blue".

[Mercian]

23 minutes ago, Parker Quink Turquoise said:

  From what I have seen comparing  my Parker Superquink washable Royal Blue to regular blue inks,it seems lighter,but perhaps my bottle is a bit old.

I don’t think that it’s your bottle - Parker Quink Washable Blue is a very pale colour.

 

In comparison to many other inks it looks, well, ‘washed-out’ 😁

I do though find it to be a very calming colour.

Member @akszugor posted a really good review of Quink ‘Washable Blue’ here.

Even better, he also posted a review of Quink ‘Blue’, which means that one can easily compare the two inks’ vibrancy/darkness. That review is here.

 

Quink ‘Washable Blue’ is a very reliable ink, and great to use too, in that it stays wet on the nib, dries quickly on the page, and cleans out of one’s pens (and clothes) really easily.

For my ‘normal’ (i.e. non-‘washable’) blue, I bought Quink ‘Blue’. Because it has the same great physical properties as Quink ‘Washable Blue’, but I prefer its more-vibrant hue.
Other people dislike it, because it is ‘default blue’.

 

For my ‘washable blue’ I eventually settled on Waterman Florida Serenity Blue, as it stays far darker on the page than either the Quink WB that my contemporaries at school all used and which was the first ink I bought, or the equally-safe-and-reliable Pelikan 4001 ‘Royal Blue’/Königsblau that is ubiquitous in Germany.

 

[Parker Quink Turquoise]

 Yes there is Parker washable blue and Parker washable Royal blue.

[Mercian]

22 hours ago, Parker Quink Turquoise said:

 Yes there is Parker washable blue and Parker washable Royal blue.

I am prepared to wager you my Standard Internet Stake* that those two inks are identical, apart from having being named slightly differently in different eras/markets.

E.g. there’s a thread on here somewhere about ‘Solv-X’, asking what it was, and why Parker stopped putting it in to Quink. Was it Phenol? Did it get banned for ‘Health-&-Safety’ reasons? Etc.

A former Parker employee (iirc) revealed that ‘Quink with Solv-X’ and ‘Quink’ are the same ink, with the same components. ‘Solv-X’ was/is a combination of chemicals that someone in Marketing had decided to refer-to as ‘Solv-X’ during the ‘better living through chemistry’ era. The inclusion of its name on branding/packaging was dropped during a ‘brand-refresh’ in the (late?) 1980s, because the ‘gimmick’/‘buzz-word’ name was no longer necessary/‘had traction’.

I expect that ‘Super Quink’ is also the same stuff as ‘Quink with Solv-X’ and ‘Quink’.

 

* as this is for internet wagers, it is based upon the universal currency of the internet. It is one cute picture of a kitten.

Edit to add:

I found the thread that I alluded-to earlier. The relevant comment is this one.

Interestingly, it confirms that Parker has changed the formulas of its inks (at least in terms of their surfactant/anti-microbial components). So much for my memory! 😁
I still doubt that they would have changed the colour of their ‘washable blue’ ink to any great degree - but then again we all know that Quink Blue/black has been changed a couple of times, so perhaps there IS a difference between Quink ‘Washable Blue’ and Quink ‘Washable Royal Blue’ after all!

[Bo Bo Olson]

DA Royal Blue is a tad wetter than Waterman Blue....what ever name it was called back before what ever they call it now.

I have a dry semi-flex F nibbed pen, that Pelikan 4001 was too dry for. So I bought the wetter Waterman Blue. It worked, the nib was no longer dry.

 

My wife admires Liselotte von der Pfalz 1652/1722 a very intelligent woman from Heidelberg, who unfortunately married The French Prince. My wife must have 7-9  books on Liselotte.

My wife is a Ball Point Barbarian, who really, really cant's a fountain pen. So eventually I tried the Liselotte von der Pfalz blue ink....and retired my Waterman Blue. It was DA Royal Blue and was wetter and had a slight tinge of purple to it.

 

Normally, I chase shading inks, but this one was too saturated for that....and I still like it.

 

The problem with DA inks is the same ink may have three names....such as his Royal Blue also sold in my Heidelberg B&M as Liselotte von der Pfalz; and probably by two other names also. And there is no small print to or wasn't when I was buying DA inks, to it's real color in his various theme inks.

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

 

""""Liselotte von der Pfalz was an enthusiastic letter writer. In approximately 5,000 surviving German and French letters, she describes courtly life in Versailles to her family in a vivid and direct manner. How they lived, celebrated, loved and died Liselotte gossiped without reserve and left the future world invaluable, culturally historic records about the Sun King's court. """

 

Liselotte von der Pfalz  complained about the stinking French who didn't even bath once a week. Versailles palace had no outhouses, so under the stair case was used.

Her country the Pfalz was destroyed in a a nine year inheritance war, driven by  the French.

"""the Nine Years' War between 1688 and 1697. French troops marched into the Electoral Palatinate and decimated towns, villages and fields. Heidelberg Castle's fortifications and structures were largely destroyed in 1693. She wrote: "It makes my heart bleed, and they (the French)  still resent me for being sad about it.""""""

 

The ruins of the Heidelberg Castle is still a tourist magnet today.

 

[bunnspecial]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:27 AM, Mercian said:

I expect that ‘Super Quink’ is also the same stuff as ‘Quink with Solv-X’ and ‘Quink’.

 

I seem to recall reading somewhere too that Super Quink is almost a marketing case study in that it's mostly the same inks in a fancier bottle with the "Super" name appended to them and originally a higher price. There are some colors that I don't think made the regular Q.uink like Turquoise, but mostly the Super Quink colors were the same as regular Quink just with a different name and in the fancy cobalt glass diamond bottle. My super quink boxes are marked 39¢ and I think most other 2 oz bottles of ink(including Quink) of the era were 29¢.

[AceNinja]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:39 PM, Parker Quink Turquoise said:

 What is the difference between Royal Blue and regular Blue?

I think a good example is the difference between Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue and Pilot Blue.

[David0966]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:56 PM, AceNinja said:

I think a good example is the difference between Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue and Pilot Blue.

Hello, I am just perusing this forum, because I know so little about ink.  However, I use these two all the time.  this particular 4001 was my go to for a couple of years, until I was gifted a bottle of PB w a purchase....now it is my fave.

I say all that as a qualifiier   Seems like the 4001 RB has a little red in it, and the PB is much lighter, and, if anything, a bit of yellow.   Chromatography, anyone?

David

[Bo Bo Olson]

How odd, I see PB as darker than 4001. Perhaps PB is a bit 'livelier'.

Didn't notice the red or yellow............

I'd take PB over 4001 except for the fact PB (€ 25) costs 5 X as much as Royal Blue @ (€5)...so PB becomes a special occasion ink....or think about $$ before use.

 

I have an expensive MB blue LE Diamond ink in a small square bottle that was expensive but "affordable"  5 or more years ago....not sell my Toyota of MB prices now of LE inks.

Odd how inks can change in one's opinion. I bought a second bottle of that LE Diamond blue....and realized that was a mistake.

DA Royal blue tends towards -blue purple-(crayon box Purple ....not Wiki red blue purple) ...royal... and is a more saturated ink, and as flowing as Waterman...blue...can't keep track what it was called way back when when I bought it and the new name. But the DA royal blue replaced my use of Waterman Blue ink for dry pens.

 

I do have some W.Germany Lamy blue that needs to be opened. ...in that is near 4001, I'll wait until out of 4001. The other bottle is turquoise. It too should get some use soon....bound to use up the last of the 'old' new bottle.

 

It appears I've not been using my blues that much.

 

[fireant]

Is it bad that I keep hoping they will make an ink out of YInMn Blue? I know they've made watercolors and some other paints with it. I have some of the pigment but no clue how you'd go about making an innk.

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

I wasn't familiar with YInMn Blue.  But now I'm just confused -- because when I looked it up?  I'm seeing two *completely* different color codes: #2e5090, a relatively dark blue leaning a tad teal/blue-grey (as shown here: https://www.color-name.com/yinmn-blue.color), and a much brighter, bluer shade: #2954f6, which is sort of a medium light blue version of what I would call cobalt (as here: https://hexcolorpedia.com/color/2954f6/)....

A possible comparison between the two is that the first one is more like Robert Oster Blue Night; and the second one is more like Noodler's Bay State Blue but without the neon purple undertone -- if that makes any sense to ANYONE... (I'm not even sure it makes total sense to *me*...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[fireant]

59 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I wasn't familiar with YInMn Blue.  But now I'm just confused -- because when I looked it up?  I'm seeing two *completely* different color codes: #2e5090, a relatively dark blue leaning a tad teal/blue-grey (as shown here: https://www.color-name.com/yinmn-blue.color), and a much brighter, bluer shade: #2954f6, which is sort of a medium light blue version of what I would call cobalt (as here: https://hexcolorpedia.com/color/2954f6/)....

A possible comparison between the two is that the first one is more like Robert Oster Blue Night; and the second one is more like Noodler's Bay State Blue but without the neon purple undertone -- if that makes any sense to ANYONE... (I'm not even sure it makes total sense to *me*...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

It was accidently created in a university lab in Oregon. It's a new color of blue.  I bought it from this etsy shop but haven't made the watercolor paint from it (yet). It's a pretty intense color.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Okay -- your link definitely suggests that it's more of the tincture of the second, brighter color code (#2954f6).

I have a friend who is an calligrapher and botanical artist.  I may ping her on Facebook and ask her if she's run across this pigment at some point, since she's very into the chemistry of colors.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JulieParadise]

12 hours ago, fireant said:

Is it bad that I keep hoping they will make an ink out of YInMn Blue? I know they've made watercolors and some other paints with it. I have some of the pigment but no clue how you'd go about making an ink.

 

Oh, that (or both, as @inkstainedruth pointed out) is beautiful! Maybe it is the same as with some other pigments: The colour you get from it varies depending on how it is processed? I know this from water colours, where sometimes the same pigment (not talking about earths here, where the actual colour/hue depends on where it was sourced) ends up looking pretty different from different manufacturers.