My Top 5 Blue Inks in 2022 

That is a very accurate statement!

What a lovely story. I'm sure she treasures that pen and all the mentoring 😊

The ink spill was too good not to include in the video!

Yup, I've had my eye on that one too but havent yet

@@Doodlebud I wouldn't consider it a vibrant blue, it is a very business/professional type blue. No sheening, some shading. I feel comfortable writing checks and addressing envelopes with this ink.

Oh nice, I don't mess with my inks much but I see what some of my artist friends do and its really cool. Thx for sharing you tip :)

If you see my review on the good blue pen its what I'm using if you want to see it in action

My favorite blue ink...so far 😉

I was supposed to buy oxford but forgot which ones I had and bought majestic again by accident LOL

Oxford is on my list to pick up

I have an ST Dupont which is my favorite pen. My wife bought it for me years ago and I didn't save the box etc. so I honestly don't know what model it is. 18k gold nib. Beautiful pen. I don't see much mention of them in all the you tube channels on pens which is kind of disappointing. Take care.

@@lead-dog I agree wholeheartedly. I've had and used many very nice pens over the years, but the ST Dupont Olympio is my absolute favorite. It glides across the paper as smoothly as silk on ice. Absolutely fabulous! So it's nice to see there are others out there who share my experience. Keep up the good writing :)

I have these inks,the GVFC Royalblau is a 20 plus year bottle of ink that still is great. Capri Blue is my dark blue.

If have the KWZ sheen machine as well. Looks lovely but DAMN I get stains all over my hands, desk, paper, etc whenever I ink up a pen LOL. Just when you thought you're inked up, all cleaned and can put it away... BOOM theres a stain somewhere! 😆

@@Doodlebud Lol I know right? 😆 They're super pigmented and also the sheen is so freaking sticky that I have to remember not to close the cap too tightly because I'll never get it opened again. I wear a pair of latex free gloves when I am inking my pens with these. But in the pen, Oh my, it's so gorgeous and when you do like a whole page of writing and then look at the sheen, it's breathtaking. It's totally worth the trouble. I tend to choose pens that I can keep this ink in them permanently and I have my TWSBI eco white/rose gold inked up with blue and the TWSBI VAC 700R with the green version, so I don't have to go through the re-inking process as often. Oh and they smell like a perfume too, which I love. It's a very specific type of smell I've only witness with the KWZ inks. I have the Azure #3 from them too and it also has that divine perfume- ish smell. Love them hehe

Good call on the large ink capacity pens! Try to minimize the "encounters" with the bottles!

I like my midnight as well, need to get some oxford! Everyone has mentioned it. Stopped at a local shop that sells Diamine and knew I had several blues but couldn't remember which ones. Was it majestic or oxford I have???.... OXFORD! "I'll take one bottle of Majestic Blue please." Get home.... DAMMIT It was MAJESTIC I DIDN'T have OXFORD! 😆

@@Doodlebud LOL 😆 it happens to me all the time too 🤣 Midnight was my first Diamine blue love ! (Still is). Twilight is excellent too, it has a touch of green in it, a nice hint. You can't go wrong with any Diamine blue, anyway, I have more than 20 ...

@@Doodlebud there is a wonderful new idea, you make a list using one of your fountain pens. 🤣🤣🤣

Kaweco Midnight Blue is another I’d readily recommended. Though, that is actually a blue-black really. A very saturated dark blue, at any rate.

Since this vid I've added Pelkian 4001 Royal Blue into the mix and I absolutely love it! Would be in this top 5 list if I did the video today

BSB loves lovely as a shade, but yeah I've heard the stories!

Visconti blue should be on every one of these lists!

Didn't know Sargasso Sea was hated, oh well LOL. Fire & Ice is so nice... was a toss up when I did the vid. If I made it my Top 6 it would have been there!

@@WaitingtoHit ..Seconded! I had cited the show-stopping VB earlier in my own first post here.

@@Doodlebud …I have already named Sargasso Sea in my own list here. I’m aware that the ink gets rapped by some people for two main reasons: one, its weird odor, and second, the ink’s alleged tendency to stain converters and somewhat difficult to clean out of pens. The claims are at least partly true, in my experience. But I love Sargasso for its gorgeous blue looks alone.

Love Horizon Blue as well

I agree with kon penki, just too light for my personal preference. I should try a different one of their blue inks

Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo is a winner. It belongs in my list of firm favorites. Neglected to mention it there.

Thanks for the all caps! 😁👍😂

Didnt get the bottle with my 823 when I bought it. But heard is very good and very safe

@@Doodlebud Not to worry, I got a bottle in blue and 1 in black on Ebay.

Haven't tried them yet, but seen some that look really nice!

@@Doodlebud I’m curious about how/why you transitioned from the engineering profession to finance (if I’ve understood that correctly from various comments throughout your videos). If too personal or other reasons for not disclosing, that is totally cool. I’ve just been wondering.

I was a bit trapped. Wanted to explore other areas & roles within engineering but was very specialized and it was tough to transition to other areas. Also wanted to be my own boss and have more time freedom. I would always be the one who stayed late (sometimes through the night into the next day) to get things done in time before critical deadlines. Never got paid for all the extra effort and figured if I'm gonna put in the work I need to get paid. So put some feelers out there, gave it a try as a side hustle, and now its been my full-time gig for years. Still ABSOLUTELY LOVE engineering and helping people with projects. But the time freedom and no boss has been huge with a young family. Have no idea how I could do things with a "regular job" schedule. Taking the engineering angle on my reviews, which I wasnt sure if people would be interested in, has allowed me to stay engaged. All I do all day long is wonder how things work, just doesnt ever turn off for me. In a perfect world, I would be working on whatever engineering projects I wanted to and I would set the hours and be paid sufficiently.

@@Doodlebud ah yes. I feel you with the long, and often unexpected hours, to meet deadlines & to deal with problems that constantly pop up. I’ve put in many, many over-nighters too. I’d love to be my own boss, but gave up that dream long ago. In reality, I’d probably lack the self-discipline necessary. I’m so glad you are doing well & enjoying your work and that it allows you time for the actual important things of life like family…and fountain pens. Hehe. Thank you for sharing. It’s very interesting.

We all lack the self-discipline. Sometimes the only way is to have self-discipline forced upon us! A no other option, option. Can't say it was easy at all, but I can say it was worth it.

I've heard the 4001 Pelikan inks are very good. Had one bottle, cant remember which one, just didnt care for the colour. Need to try another one sometime

@@Doodlebud ,.Very dry inks. The colors pretty lackluster, too. The only Pelikan 4001 I cared about is the Dark Green. But then, even that one has been found to be inconsistent in color and shade from batch to batch of the production line bottles in different markets.

Yeah 4001 is so dry you can feel drag on paper even on medium nib 🤷

How to know if vintage safe?

Thanks

I have the same KIN as well. I always find the documental ones look good wet but not so great dry. Yeah, keep those away from vintage, but good for modern pens that are easy to clean. Or even just keep it in a good low cost pen and don't worry if it gets a bit stained.

From my engineering days

Love my Aurora Blue-Black. Want to try more Diamine blues but need to finish a few bottles of something first to have some sense of accomplishment 😅

I meant Quink, cursed autocorrect.

I've seen the big bottles online available for a very reasonable price.... except for when you add in the shipping!

@@Doodlebud quite! They’re even cheaper in their homeland. Not like Diamine being cheaper on this dreaded island but much much cheaper.

Horizon blue is really nice! Was a big sapphire blue fan for a very long time as well

@@Doodlebud …I had considered buying the Sapphire, but felt it was quite close to Horizon Blue, then decided HB was better. 🙂 And I have the 90 ml bottle of HB. Visconti Blue is the truest, prettiest blue in my collection. I presently own ten blue inks. Blue-black is another I’m very fond of. You may consider doing a video on that sometime.

Private Reserve Tropical Blue is also beautiful

@@audiolover ..I don’t have a single PR ink. The bottles look like jars of jam. Fruity conserves. I’m aware they have a whole new line of inks.

That pen & nib combo is very nice! Here's a video I used it with. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4NwGiFQHVMA.html For a tighter budget a did a video fitting the Noodlers Ahab with their untipped nib. WOW! Definitely worth a couple bucks to add if you get an Ahab. Order an extra feed as well, and if your ok to tinker, you can get a surprisingly good writer. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ka3CnD47Axs.html

@@Doodlebud thanks :) I'll look into both of those for sure and save up!! Right now I just have a Jinhao x750 and I write a lot of letters and envelopes and I think a blue or blue/black is easier on my old eyes, so, for ink I'm hoping to find a good waterproof blue or blue/black. I hope to get a flex one day for a more beautiful envelope. But for now I can just get some ink, we'll, affordable ink ;) I probably shouldn't buy anything, but it necessary for letters, so I feel like I can justify it :) I'll look at the other videos too. Thanks!!

I don't have any permanent style blue/black inks. But check out www.mountainofink.com . Amazing resource to answer all your inky questions

That pen is from The Good Blue

It's a 149 with a fine that I ground to a cursive italic

It's like the sweet soothing song from a beautiful Siren calling out to you with her enchanting voice. Come further, further out into the bottomless sea... Then BAAMMMM! That shirt is no longer your property, it now belongs to Baystate Blue. The choice was never yours, it was in control the whole time and knew what it was doing.😂 Looks amazing, maybe one day.

I have BSB, like it a lot, use it infrequently. It almost made my top 5, but it’s fiendish nature meant that a dynamic, more user-friendly Sailor ink made the cut instead. 🙂

BSB is only for certain, very careful, fastidious writers. Great color, terrific saturation, but it punishes with every drip. Lots of washable blues with similar vibrancy these days. I'm a fan of the Waterman's, Organic Studio Nitrogen (sheen), Diamine Blue Velvet, and several Robert Osters, all well behaved, several lubricating.

I like that one; however, I usually stick with their plain "blue" a workhorse, in my opinion, and I do have a soft spot for 54th mass when you get a really dry writing pen

I don't use a bunch of black inks TBH. Any blacks are off black typically and like to use very dark blue or greens as an alternative

I really want to pick up a bottle of Akkerman!

Aurora is definitely a perfectly safe and appealing choice for vintage pens. The blue, black and blue-black particularly are easy picks, anytime.

Aurora Blue-Black is on of the few bottles I emptied

@@Doodlebud ..Same here. Ditto the Aurora Black. The loveliest, truest non-waterproof black ink I’ve seen and used. Aurora Blue is also a very nice, yet overlooked blue.

Love my horizon blue as well.

Sargasso Sea can stain converters, but it's pretty.

I haven't done a bunch of mixing yet. I did one after I saw a post somewhere and it combined 2 inks I have that I dont use much. Ended up being sort of like Lamy Petrol which was neat. But other than that I haven't experimented much with ink mixing.

You can rest it however really. I keep mine in a case and it rests horizontally almost all the time

Its so tricky to know what a ink colour looks like over a video or pics. I actually did a video all about this brining up about a dozen issues with trying to accurately convey a colour in a video/image. Check it out if you want ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hFlaM4HIYoI.html

You can use different brand inks for different pens. There are many manufacturers that only make ink (they don't make pens at all) and you can use them across all brands of pens. Ensure you are always using fountain pen safe inks. Do not use India Ink in your fountain pens. There are some other inks you have to be mindful of (iron gall, permanent/documental) which if left in a pen for a long time can cause the corrosion. But other than a few things to watch for, you can use different branded inks for different branded pens 👍

I've only tried one of the inks in your list! LOL Just TOO many options 😂

@@Doodlebud exactly! too many options, and so many of them great!

I could totally see a colour change making a difference on retention

That one is from a company called The Good Blue. thegoodblue.co.uk

@@Doodlebud Thanks!

That is from The Good Blue. thegoodblue.co.uk/

@@Doodlebud Thank you! I was not aware of this pen/company and am grateful you facilitated this discovery.

That pen is the R615 from thegoodblue

Hmmm, its always been a "happy" light blue colour every time I've used it. Maybe you're thinking of the Quink Blue-Black?

@@Doodlebud I've sent you a mail with the ink sample. Please check.

That is The Good Blue R615

@@Doodlebud Thanks for the reply! The pen looks really good

@@PTR2K I have a few reviews on the pen so give them a watch to learn more 👍

Horizon Blue & Sapphire were the 2 most popular inks I used for a long time!

I like Taccia AO Blue a lot.

None until you mentioned the pen LOL. Took a quick google look and its just not my type of pen. If I were to go for one I would go vintage for that. I'm sure there have to be good reviews out on the Sonnet so check those out

I have a Sonnet with the 18k (F) nib. It is a good writer. Very comfortable grip section. I like that you can unscrew the nib and feed for easy cleaning. The only CON is the top of the cap has a tiny air hole to help with vacuum issues when pulling off the cap. It can be a cause for dry/hard starts. Once you get it going, it is as good a writer as any pen during normal writing sessions. Excellent build quality! Hope this helps.

It's from The Good Blue. Here's my review ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yD7gQukc1Mg.html

I have used six Monteverde inks so far. The only ones that developed crusty molding around the top rim of the bottle was the Olivine and, to a much lesser extent, Fireopal. The other four are from Monteverde’s Noir line. Splendid inks with no issues.

I did have a mold issue in my California Teal

Ok thats it! Im getting an oxford blue ASAP! Like 50% of the comments mention it!

This one wasn't meant to be an in-depth ink review as more of a" fav blue ink" chat. I leave the proper ink reviews up to Mountain of Ink and others as I simply don't have the patience for all the swabbing, drying, papers, dry test, water tests,....... I'm SOOOO THANKFUL they enjoy doing those tests because we all want to know. But that type of testing is torture for me LOL😆 Done lots of testing in chem labs which requires extensive thorough testing with very controlled procedures. Hated it! Give me something mechanical to work on. Fix it, break it, tear it apart, or make a more skookum version... thats the stuff I LOVE doing!

Yeah, not a pale blue fan. My MB Royal Blues really gives me the blues. Looks sooooo nice when it lays down on the paper... then it dries... then things get sad 😔

@@Doodlebud I feel your pain.

You literality watch disappointment in front of your eyes. Ink hits the page: "OOooohhh that looks nice." 6 seconds later.... "Noooooooooo!!!!Wait come baaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAccckkKKK!" 🙂😍😍😊.......😯😦😧😢😥😪😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 A roller coast of ink emotions in a few seconds!

@@Doodlebud …The only MB blue ink I had was the Midnight Blue. Looked so good out of my MB 146 medium nib onto the page, every time. But soon enough, my mood would sink south as the color morphed into a blatantly duller, paler shade of blue. So deflating. I gave the bottle away to somebody who didn’t mind.

Its in the queue to be done

I've had my eye on that one but haven't bought it yet. That one is pretty expensive up here compared to their other inks which are very reasonable

Kon Peki is a nice ink, but I don't see anything overly special about it.

REALLY! That was a first for me. Usually its no problem, but doing stuff around a phone and watching through the screen is always a recipe for disaster! Good thing its washable :)