Pilot Blue Black

[yazeh]

I participated in a blind testing on the  fpgeeks forum of three ink samples. This is the 2nd sample.  Paradoxically, I enjoyed using it for drawing.  I was really excited by the complex chroma but ultimately but in the end it left me indifferent. Maybe I've become to blasé

Note: in the reviews, you see it mentions as Mystery ink #52. 

Lets start with the delicious chroma:

 

 

Writing samples:

 

Note how dry times double with Japanese paper, isn't that ironic? 

It doesn't like copy paper: 

 

 

Photos:

Paper is Mnemosyne 

 

 

 

Watertest:

Paper is Mnemosyne. On absorbent paper it doesn't budge when sufficiently dry. 

Comparison:

and finally a sketch, it's a homage to Mabie Todd, Swan pens. 

Inks used: 

Pilot Blue Black, 
Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri 
Sailor Kiwa Guro pigment 
Organic Studios Oscar Copper (red)

and the nib was done with a gold metallic marker. 

 

 

· Pens used: Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B), Osmiroid copper plate nib, Jinhao 450 (fude)

· What I liked: The chroma, price  and for drawing,  

· What I did not like: Colour, washed up blue, long dry times on Japanese papers, short on Rhodia (I don't use the latter 😇)

· What some might not like: Same as above. 

· Shading: Yes. 

· Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper.

· Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.

· Flow Rate: Excellent.

· Lubrication: Good.

· Nib Dry-out: No.

· Start-up: No

· Saturation: No

· Shading Potential: Yes

· Sheen: A hint 

· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No.

· Nib Creep / “Crud”: No.

· Staining (pen): No.

· Clogging: No.

· Cleaning: I had to use pen flush for the Osmiroid and the Jinhao feed. I was too lazy to wait for more than a day.  

· Water resistance: The more absorbent the paper, the more water resistant it is.  

· Availability: 70 , 350 ml bottles, cartridges. 

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

 

 

 

[lapis]

Hi again and thanks for yet another informative but very characterful piece of art!

Glad to see you handed out the chromatogram. I love blue-blacks and have several dozen of 'em, but this one always coughed out -- at least to my own estimation -- a lot of green/turquoise, so I thought that must have been just my eyes.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Swan Pen!  👌🏻 Kitteh!  😸

 

I sorta, kinda, liked this ink in a Lamy AlStar with a broad or medium nib (can't recall which now).  Then I loaded it in a Pilot pen with italic nib, because hey! Pilot ink must be made for Pilot pens.

 

Now it seemed draggy and chalky.  Disliked the combination so much I dumped the ink back into its sample vial.

 

@yazeh, thanks so much for another of these ink-splorations.

[LizEF]

Thanks, @yazeh!  Very nice chroma, love the sailor kitty (irony ), and love the swan-pen - it reminds me of vikings, for some reason.

 

It's not blue-black enough for me, but I always found it to work well in Pilot pens - very smooth and flows well....  I guess it's all up to the fingers of the pen user...

[InesF]

Thank you, @yazeh, for this review and for introducing a swan as a playmate for the sailor cat!

Sailor/Anchor cats have to be waterproof and swans are as well - what a solid base for an upcoming friendship!   

 

I love the colour of this Pilot ink at the wet and intense positions, but I don't like the pale blue colour in between. To me, the writing samples look best on Rhodia paper and do not look interesting on the others.

[yazeh]

11 hours ago, lapis said:

Hi again and thanks for yet another informative but very characterful piece of art!

Thanks a lot! 

11 hours ago, lapis said:

Glad to see you handed out the chromatogram. I love blue-blacks and have several dozen of 'em, but this one always coughed out -- at least to my own estimation -- a lot of green/turquoise, so I thought that must have been just my eyes.

Yes, that was why I was so excited doing the test. Imagine my disappointment when I  discovered another blue black

[yazeh]

11 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Swan Pen!  👌🏻 Kitteh!  😸

Yay!

11 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I sorta, kinda, liked this ink in a Lamy AlStar with a broad or medium nib (can't recall which now).  Then I loaded it in a Pilot pen with italic nib, because hey! Pilot ink must be made for Pilot pens.

 

Now it seemed draggy and chalky.  Disliked the combination so much I dumped the ink back into its sample vial.

Now that's a tragedy! @LizEF was saying it worked with hers,  it must be a Efnir thingy

11 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

@yazeh, thanks so much for another of these ink-splorations.

🙏

[yazeh]

10 hours ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, @yazeh!  Very nice chroma, love the sailor kitty (irony ),

Glad you got that one

 

10 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

and love the swan-pen - it reminds me of vikings, for some reason.

That was the inspiration. Very good eye, though not surprising 

10 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

It's not blue-black enough for me, but I always found it to work well in Pilot pens - very smooth and flows well....  I guess it's all up to the fingers of the pen user...

@Sailor Kenshindoesn't agree with you

 

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for this review and for introducing a swan as a playmate for the sailor cat!

Sailor/Anchor cats have to be waterproof and swans are as well - what a solid base for an upcoming friendship!   

Indeed. That would be a a Casablanca moment

2 hours ago, InesF said:

 

I love the colour of this Pilot ink at the wet and intense positions, but I don't like the pale blue colour in between. To me, the writing samples look best on Rhodia paper and do not look interesting on the others.

Yep. Many inks are paper specific. I'm sure there are much better ink out there especially purples

 

[Frank C]

One of my most-used inks. I buy the 350 mL bottles on amazon, $27.95 today—I just checked. I've always found it to be more of a dark blue that a blue-black. Well-behaved, inexpensive, and quite legible, it is my daily ink. My only complaint is that it is boring. ☺️

 

Thanks for the creative review. 

[yazeh]

34 minutes ago, Frank C said:

One of my most-used inks. I buy the 350 mL bottles on amazon, $27.95 today—I just checked.

That's a lot of ink! 

34 minutes ago, Frank C said:

 

I've always found it to be more of a dark blue that a blue-black. Well-behaved, inexpensive, and quite legible, it is my daily ink. My only complaint is that it is boring. ☺️

Yes, that was my first reaction too. Maybe we're just too spoiled  

 

34 minutes ago, Frank C said:

 

Thanks for the creative review. 

🙏

[arcfide]

Definitely a truly workhorse "standard" ink, but you do have to be in the mood for that. 🙂 

[yazeh]

15 minutes ago, arcfide said:

Definitely a truly workhorse "standard" ink, but you do have to be in the mood for that. 🙂 

Mood for work or standard?  

 

[arcfide]

10 hours ago, yazeh said:

Mood for work or standard?  

 

 

Probably more standard than work. 🙂 

[InesF]

19 hours ago, yazeh said:

I'm sure there are much better ink out there especially purples

👍

[PithyProlix]

Thanks for another awesome review. I love the energy and personality in them!

 

Nice quotes! Buddha would likely think that Gabor Mate is describing the general human condition, I think. I haven't read much Thomas Merton (yet) but he was a major influence on one of my teachers, so the little I have read always seems to resonate, as with this quote.

 

Regarding the color: I like Pilot Blue Black a lot and I'd be OK with it if I were only allowed one ink ... but I don't love it. I feel like just a little more or less ... something ... would push it into distinctive territory (I think Sailor Blue Black gets there, for instance). But I also wonder if we are bored of the color because we have become habitualized to it, rather than it being an inherently blah color? I'm not sure but I lean towards habitualization because I think it might be a complex, relaxed, pleasurable - even pretty - blue with its own subtleties when I try hard to mute my preconceptions.

 

This is the ink I find in thrift stores most often (all vintage versions but I think virtually always the same ink as the current version - if there are differences, I haven't noticed them, but I haven't  paid it much attention) and it's hard to resist buying for the $1 or so that it's usually priced at per 30cc bottle. So it's my no-brainer test ink.

 

(I see you got an Osmiroid Copperplate. How do you like it? Not super-flex for sure but still looks good. When writing with no pressure mine give a really thin line - not pointed-dip-pen fine, but close.)

[PithyProlix]

19 hours ago, yazeh said:

I'm sure there are much better ink out there especially purples

 

I nominate Noodler's Polar Blue Black.

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, arcfide said:

 

Probably more standard than work. 🙂 

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Thanks for another awesome review. I love the energy and personality in them!

🙏

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Nice quotes! Buddha would likely think that Gabor Mate is describing the general human condition, I think.

I really like the guy. He's honest about his short comings. He jokingly says, that his epitaph is, "It was a lot more work than I had anticipated."

 

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

 

I haven't read much Thomas Merton (yet) but he was a major influence on one of my teachers, so the little I have read always seems to resonate, as with this quote.

Me neither. But I've heard/read his quotes in Dr. Maté and by Tara Brach (surprise, surprise)

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Regarding the color: I like Pilot Blue Black a lot and I'd be OK with it if I were only allowed one ink ... but I don't love it. I feel like just a little more or less ... something ... would push it into distinctive territory (I think Sailor Blue Black gets there, for instance). But I also wonder if we are bored of the color because we have become habitualized to it, rather than it being an inherently blah color? I'm not sure but I lean towards habitualization because I think it might be a complex, relaxed, pleasurable - even pretty - blue with its own subtleties when I try hard to mute my preconceptions.

You have a point there. Maybe it's the ballpoint effect. I mostly gravitate toward murky greens, browns, and muted purples

 

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

This is the ink I find in thrift stores most often (all vintage versions but I think virtually always the same ink as the current version - if there are differences, I haven't noticed them, but I haven't  paid it much attention) and it's hard to resist buying for the $1 or so that it's usually priced at per 30cc bottle. So it's my no-brainer test ink.

For that price I get you. Mine is an old Parker. I find it better behaved than the pilot

 

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

(I see you got an Osmiroid Copperplate. How do you like it? Not super-flex for sure but still looks good. When writing with no pressure mine give a really thin line - not pointed-dip-pen fine, but close.)

I really enjoy it! I don't like the filling system very much. It's a squeeze tube. It has a bit of flow issues, I have to prime the nib often. But I really like the nib. I'm learning to write with a lighter touch. And of course it's a great nib to practice mindfulness 🧘

 

 

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

I nominate Noodler's Polar Blue Black.

Great idea. The blue is wet, the black is viscous