Mini Collections, Part V: All The Blue Inks (Including Blues, Blue-Blacks, Teals, and Turquoise)

August 14, 2021

I have way too many blue inks, and need to do some serious housecleaning. Part of this, of course, is by default. Over the years I’ve purchased many pens that ship with a bottle of ink, and nine times out of ten, it’s a bottle of “house brand” blue or black. But at the same time, I’ve fallen into the habit of constantly searching for that perfect shade of blue, even though we all know that’s impossible. I’ve accumulated dozens of blues, many in nearly identical shades, without realizing it.

It goes without saying that I’m going to be selling off a lot of the duplicative bottles very quickly, as those are no-brainer choices to let go. Some of the rest, however, are more difficult. Here are my takeaways from this latest round of swabbing inks:

A General Note:

I found the blue inks more difficult than the other color ranges to photograph correctly, especially where you have shades of standard blue, turquoise, and blue-blacks together, and where certain supposedly “blue” inks tend to lean heavily green or teal. The blue-blacks are represented fairly accurately here. Otherwise, these photos tend to slightly overstate the vibrancy of the standard blues and understate the vibrancy of the teals and turquoises.

Blue-Inks, Volume 1.jpeg — From Top: Vintage Montblanc Blue-Black; Montblanc JFK Navy Blue; Vintage Pelikan Blue-Black; Sailor Bungubox 4B; Platinum Blue-Black; Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai; Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite; Lamy Blue-Black; Waterman Blue-Black; Waterman Black-Inspired Blue Mix; Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo; TWSBI Blue-Black; TWSBI Midnight-Blue; Aurora Blue-Black; Diamine Cult Pens Deep-Dark Blue.

With Respect to Blue-Black Inks:

I’m much more of a “midnight/navy blue” person than a steel blue, iron gall fan. I intend to move on from inks that essentially dry grey. Farewell, vintage Pelikan Blue-Black, Lamy Blue-Black, Iroshizuku Shin-Kai, and others that have very little actual blue in them.
I’ll probably keep at least one or two bottles of iron gall ink in the collection because it works so well on cheap paper and I sometimes like to use them for work. I don’t need six bottles though, and TWSBI Blue-Black is an inexpensive favorite.

From Top: Noodler’s Air Corps Blue-Black; Papier Plume Midnight Blue; Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao; Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai; Caran d’Ache “Klein Blue” limited edition; Caran d’Ache Chromatics Idyllic Blue; Graf von Faber-Castell Royal Blue; Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue; Noodler’s Blue; Sailor Kobe Nagasawa No. 37; Aurora Blue; Robert Oster Fire & Ice; Platinum Mix-Free Aurora Blue; Platinum Mix Free Aqua Blue.

With Respect to “Standard” Blue Inks:

Standard Pelikan, Lamy, and Pilot blue inks are far too washed out to warrant taking up space in the collection. If you’re a serious vintage pen collector, which I’m not, you may prefer one or more of these “safe inks” for use in your more delicate pens prone to staining, but it’s not an issue I face, and in any event I prefer Waterman Florida (“Serenity Now”) Blue.
Aurora Blue remains a favorite inexpensive blue ink. Noodler’s Blue is also very good, and I’ve found it to be better behaved than other Noodler’s colors. It also dries fairly quickly and doesn’t smear. (At least, the bottle I have doesn’t. As with most Noodler’s ink, there are batch variations so YMMV.)
The Pilot Iroshizuku line has the best blue inks across the board of any ink line on the market. I could happily live in this ink lineup forever. Asa-Gao, Ajisai, and Kon-Peki are exceptionally vibrant blue inks that have become staples in my rotation.
I don’t like Sailor blues as much as I used to. I don’t find them as vibrant as the Pilot inks, and even Bungubox Sapphire (which I used to think was the best blue ever) can’t hold a candle to Asa-Gao, IMHO. The ridiculous price point of the Sailor Bungubox inks make this an even easier call.

From Top: Bungubox Sapphire; Leonardo Blue; Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire; Pilot Blue; Omas Turquoise; Montblanc UNICEF Blue; Sailor Ink Studio 140; Sheaffer Turquoise; Franklin-Christoph Spanish Blue; Lamy Blue; Pelikan 4001 Turquoise; Montblanc Elixir “Azure”; Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki; Pelikan Blue; TWSBI Sapphire Blue.

With Respect to Teal and Turquoise:

The big winner from this round of swatching is once again an Iroshizuku ink. Ama-Iro, which I’ve never used before, is absolutely gorgeous. A close second is the standard Pelikan 4001 Turquoise, which also shocked me with its vibrancy.
Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku over Sailor Yama-Dori. Again, Pilot also wins in the category of “dark teal inks with shading.”
Many turquoise inks are too watery for my taste. The one lighter ink I may make an exception for is Sailor Ink Studio 140, since it’s a relatively rare example of a “double shader” that is legible enough for everyday writing.

From Top: Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-Iro; Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku; Sailor Jentle Yama Dori; Sailor Jentle Naoi-Sumire; Birmingham Pen Company Angelfish; Scribo Blue Cosmico; TWSBI Sky Blue.

As always, watch the “Gently Used” Page in the coming weeks. I plan to aggressively unload some of these inks, cycling them through the Patreon first and then move them over to the public sale page after a week. Some greens and pinks still remain from my prior ink testing marathons, along with vintage pencils and office supplies that I’m clearing out.

Disclaimer: This post does not contain paid affiliate links. Going forward, T.G.S is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Mini Collections, Part IV: All the PURPLE Inks

July 31, 2021

I’ve decided to push through, and to post my ink inventories consecutively, as opposed to stretching these posts out over the coming months. (As I previously mentioned, I’m focused on really paring down the amount of ink that I have accumulated, and this is the most effective way to compare the various colors and decide what I like and what I can move on from.) Next up are the purple inks, a color that’s less represented in my collection in terms of number of bottles, but which is still one of my favorite “fun” colors to write with, especially for annotation purposes.

Of course, the one that everyone wants to see is Lamy “Dark Lilac,” with Montblanc “Beatles Psychedelic Purple” a close second. So these are the top two inks on the sheet. The bottom two, leaning more heavily blue, are Colorverse “Hayabusa” and “Hayabusa Glistening.”

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a great purple ink. Waterman “Tender Purple” (formerly “Violet”) is a bright, intense purple ink that I believe rivals many of the “cult” purples that command such a premium on the secondary market. TWSBI Violet is another sleeper, which I think approaches the tone of Montblanc Beatles Purple. — You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a great purple ink. Waterman “Tender Purple” (formerly “Violet”) is a bright, intense purple ink that I believe rivals many of the “cult” purples that command such a premium on the secondary market. TWSBI Violet is another sleeper, which I think approaches the tone of Montblanc Beatles Purple with slightly less vibrancy.

Key Takeaways and Conclusions

I don’t use my purple inks as often as other colors, and even though I don’t have as many, I don’t really need what I have. Therefore, I’ve decided to make some hard choices to pare down the collection:

After much consideration, I’m going to move on from a lot of the “popular” inks that I’ve accumulated over the years. While Lamy Dark Lilac and Montblanc Beatles Purple are great colors, I don’t use them enough to justify keeping them around when others will likely enjoy them more. These are going in the Patreon Sale today along with several others.
The purple inks that I enjoy the most are the ones that aren’t very expensive. Waterman Tender Purple and TWSBI Violet can be had for a song, so there’s no need for me to have a ton of money locked up in (much) more expensive inks, some purchased at a premium on the secondary market, especially where there are relatively close equivalents should I occasionally want to write in that particular shade.
For those looking for a substitute for Lamy Dark Lilac, consider picking up Diamine “Pansy” from the Flower Set, or Diamine Monboddo’s Hat, which I’ve not personally tried but many swear by as a close match. Montblanc Beatles Purple is a bit harder to duplicate. While the shade of purple is fairly common (it’s a bright violet), other inks have a hard time matching the vibrancy after the ink dries. Both TWSBI Violet and Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu have somewhat similar tones but don’t maintain the brightness when dry.
I’m partial to purple inks that lean heavily blue, such as Colorverse Hayabusa and Diamine Iris (another from the exceptional Flower Set). Over time, I’ve become less enamored with very dark purples-black inks, such as Sailor-Bungubox Ink of Witch and the Lamy Dark Lilac. I guess tastes evolve.

Mini-Collections, Part III: All the Green Inks

July 24, 2021

Following last week’s ink-sampling session with all the reds in my collection, I decided that I would go through the greens next. While I have roughly 2/3 the number of green inks as I do reds in my ink archive, it’s probably the second-most represented color. My collection generally revolves around dark greens, mostly green-blacks or what would qualify as “racing greens”. (No, I don’t have the coveted “Montblanc British Racing Green” that was so popular many years ago, but I did make a copy using Platinum Mix-Free inks and a formula someone posted to FPN, so I include that for reference.)

The top ink is the “racing green” imitation/approximation made using Platinum mix-free inks. I have a few other inks that get generally close to that shade, discussed further below.

Takeaways From the “Green Ink” Project

In addition to the Platinum Mix-Free combination, Sailor Jentle Epinard is a long-time favorite and probably the closest ink in my collection to a true “Racing Green.” I definitely need to use that ink more. Diamine Classic Green and Color Traveler Shodoshima Olive Green are similar, but lighter.
As with the reds, I have too many green inks and can absolutely part with some of these colors, including duplicate bottles and inks that lean heavily blue or teal. These will be added to the Patreon ink sale quickly and rotated to the public “Gently Used” page after a week.
I really was surprised at the number of inks that were grouped as “greens” but really should be blues. Waterman Green, Iroshizuku Syo-Ro, and Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrun are the three that jump out the most. Sailor Yama-Dori really is characterized more as a teal blue that I swabbed with the greens by mistake.
Overall, my favorite two brands for green inks at a reasonable price are Diamine and Colorverse. Diamine Classic Green and Sherwood Green are great colors I’ve recently added to my collection, and Colorverse Schrodinger and Sea of Tranquility have staying power.
My overall favorite green ink for everyday writing? Probably a tie between the Sailor Epinard and Sailor Bungubox Dandyism.

As with the reds, I laminated the two green ink sheets and will have them with me at the D.C. Pen Show!

Mini Collections, Part II: All the Red Inks

July 21, 2021

My stationery “collection” doesn’t really have a central theme, in that it’s not built around a specific brand. Rather, I tend to accumulate what I like to use, which has given rise to what I refer to as “mini-collections.” The first of these that I wrote about includes several models of the Parker Sonnet, what I consider a vastly under-appreciated pen. The second is on the ink side, which revolves around a rather large stable of red inks, mostly dark reds and burgundies.

Why Red Inks, You Might Ask?

It’s pretty simple. Dark red is just one of my favorite colors. It’s no coincidence that one of the first bottled fountain pen inks I ever purchased was Noodler’s Antietam, that the main color scheme of the T.G.S. website is burgundy and black, that I review red pens whenever I have the option, and that both of the exclusive editions I’ve released through the shop include red somewhere, whether it be the “Aged Red” Penwell or the recent Sunderland mk1. As you can imagine, I have accumulated a LOT of red ink over the years.

I don’t subscribe to the stigma that writing in red ink is somehow too loud, or should be considered “angry” or offensive. There are various shades of red, and I’ve always enjoyed a darker burgundy or red-black for everyday writing. My favorite, of course, is Montblanc’s legendary Alfred Hitchcock, a limited edition ink that many have tried to duplicate over the years. My personal “grail quest” hasn’t necessarily involved a pen, but rather finding a suitable replacement for this favorite ink, given that I only have half a bottle remaining. What I’ve never done, however, is swab ALL of my current stable of red inks and compare them side-by-side, to get a sense of whether I’ve accomplished my goal (or even whether I still want/need to).

The Process for Standardizing My Ink Samples

Taking inspiration from Anthony over at UK Fountain Pens, I wanted to use a menu-style format for the comparison with a simple cotton swap + dip pen writing sample combination, on bright white paper from a Write Notepads dot-grid memo pad. I chose this paper because it showcases the ink color quite well, including any shading and sheen, and absolutely will not feather or bleed even with most very wet ink swabs. The whole process took me approximately three hours on a Saturday, and I wound up with three sheets containing 43 different red inks. I laminated these sheets for posterity, and plan on doing similar comparisons with other ink colors in my collection.

Takeaways from My Red Ink Collection, Including Replacements for Hitchcock and Other Cult Inks

I’ve spent a few days thinking about this, and there’s a lot to unpack here, not least that I have more red ink than I can ever use in my lifetime, including a lot of similar shades. Here are my takeaways.

Hitchcock Replacement. So far, no one has been able to come up with what I’d consider a true match. In terms of reasonably priced “everyday writers,” both Diamine Oxblood and Monteverde Passion Burgundy are very close. Vanness and Joey Feldman collaborated on “Good Evening,” an attempt to develop a similar shade of dark red, but I find it to be a touch darker (though still a great ink). The trouble with matching Hitchcock is that the color tends to look much different in wet writers than it does in narrower nibs. I managed to come up with a Platinum mix-free combo that looks very similar in a fine or medium nib writing sample.
Other Matches for Limited Edition or Discontinued Montblanc Inks. Montblanc makes excellent inks, but their best colors tend to be limited or special editions that are made for a year or so and then discontinued. When I was live-posting this project on Instagram in real-time, I received questions about potential matches for Corn Poppy Red, William Shakespeare, and Bordeaux (the predecessor of “Burgundy” in the standard lineup). For Corn Poppy Red, consider Color Traveler Mihara Daruma Red. For William Shakespeare, consider Leonardo Red Passion or Robert Oster Red Candy. And while I don’t think the old Bordeaux is that far off from current Burgundy (maybe slightly darker), Diamine Burgundy Rose (from the “Flowers” set) and Pennonia No. 27 “Mustvoros Young Wine” are close.
My Overall Favorite Red and Burgundy Inks for Everyday Writing. While this category keeps changing, since I’m constantly finding new shades that interest me, I’ve also rediscovered a bunch of inks in my collection that I had forgotten about. The ones that basically leapt off the page were Leonardo Red Passion (Leonardo makes exceptionally good but under-appreciated inks), Montblanc Corn Poppy Red, and Robert Oster Red Candy. You will likely see more of these in my rotation in the future.
I’m Not Going To Use Certain Colors and Need to Purge Some Ink. It’s been over a year since my last ink sale, and I need to let 10 or so of these bottles go. I don’t use pink inks or reds that lean heavily pink, including many of the Pilot inks other than Iroshizuku Yama-Budo. Now that I have these inks swabbed for posterity on a laminated sheet, there’s no need to keep them around solely for comparison purposes. As always, Patreon subscribers will get first crack at whatever I decide to sell off, via the Patreon Sale page, and if anything’s left it will move over to the “Gently Used” stationery page, which is separate from the T.G.S. Curated Shop but can be combined with shop orders for free shipping purposes.

This was a highly satisfying project, and as I mentioned, I plan to repeat with other colors in the hopes of identifying my favorites, (re)discovering some hidden gems, and letting go of a bit more excess. Stay tuned for more fun! If anyone is interested in viewing these sheets in person, I will bring the color sheets with me to the D.C. Pen Show, where I will be behind the Vanness Pens table.

Red Ink Review: Tono & Lims "Superstar T"

July 17, 2021

I first heard about Tono & Lims inks on the Japan-centric stationery podcast “Tokyo Inklings,” which is an excellent listen for those interested in Japanese stationery, and especially the market for store-exclusive and specialized Japanese releases. Tono & Lims, a newer line of inks that represents a collaboration between a Japanese brand and a South Korean ink producer, is frequently mentioned on the show as the maker of many of the exclusive and limited edition inks for Japanese pen shows and clubs. Over the past year or so Tono & Lims inks have become available in the United States via retailer Shigure Inks, which stocks more than twenty “lines” of Tono & Lims inks for both fountain and dip pens, amounting to over 240 different colors at the time of writing. This might be intimidating to some, and even I had some difficulty navigating the various options. I would have appreciated slightly more guidance on the differences between the various collections and the properties of the inks in each line. That said, let’s dive in.

Tono & Lims uses a very simple square glass ink bottle, but I absolutely love the artwork on the box.

So far, I’ve only sampled one color from the expansive Tono & Lims lineup, but I’ve really enjoyed the experience. The color I chose - no surprise here - is “Superstar T” from their limited edition pen show line, described as a “dark maroon” fountain pen ink. The color didn’t turn out exactly as expected. I would definitely describe this ink as more of a rich blood red as opposed to what I consider “maroon,” and the color of the ink I received looks quite different from the swatch online. In any event, Superstar T is still a gorgeous ink which flows well in all the various pens I’ve tested, doesn’t bleed or feather on most papers, and dries relatively quickly. I’d describe the performance as similar to Sailor ink.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a red/burgundy ink review without a comparison against my favorite red ink of all time, Montblanc’s now-ancient limited edition Alfred Hitchcock. As you can see, the Superstar T is much more of a classic red than the Hitchcock, which has the purple undertones that I associate with maroons/burgundies.

I went ahead and swabbed a couple of other similar inks, including Vanness-Joey Feldman “Good Evening” collaboration ink and my own attempt to replicate MB Hitchcock using Platinum’s Mix-Free Inks. Paper used is the bright-white Write Notepads paper… — I went ahead and swabbed a couple of other similar inks, including Vanness-Joey Feldman “Good Evening” collaboration ink and my own attempt to replicate MB Hitchcock using Platinum’s Mix-Free Inks. Paper used is the bright-white Write Notepads paper that I carry in the shop, which I absolutely love for showing off reds.

Superstar T makes a perfect match for my PenBBS “Manjusaka” acrylic 456!

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I fancy myself a red ink connoisseur, and Tono & Lims Superstar T is an exceptional red ink that I can see myself using regularly. I’m definitely looking forward to testing out more of their colors. I purchased the bottle shown here from Shigure Inks, which as I mentioned carries multiple collections of Tono & Lims fountain pen and dip pen inks in addition to other brands of pens and stationery. Tono & Lims inks are relatively pricey, coming in at $22 for a 30ml bottle, but increased “per ml” pricing is probably unavoidable with smaller import brands that maintain such a large number of different colors.

One note on Tono & Lims: Read the descriptions carefully. Certain of their inks are intended only for use with glass dip pens, not fountain pens, probably because the inks have special properties that would cause them to stain, clog, or just not flow well in a fountain pen feed.

Disclaimer: I paid full price for the ink shown here, purchased with my own funds, and have no affiliation with Shigure Inks other than as a customer. This post does not contain affiliate links. Going forward, T.G.S is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!