(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
For a fountain pen company that sells some of the most popular and innovative pens in the affordable bracket, it seems like TWSBI should have been selling fountain pen ink all along. In fact, they even sold specialized (but empty) ink bottles since the beginning. Well, TWSBI have finally come around and started offering their own fountain pen inks alongside their pens. The Sapphire Blue that I got my hands on is a fairly basic blue ink that does a good job of staying professional and reliable.
I'm a huge fan of blue inks — the brighter and more poppy, the better. Even though I have a slew of basic blue inks from different manufacturers, I don't break them out very often because I prefer using my more interesting and bombastic blue inks. But, there's always a time and place for everything. Sometimes you need that textbook dark blue ink that looks similar to any blue gel pen ink off the shelf at your local big box retailer. Nothing wrong with that color, but it also needs to be a rock-solid, dependable ink that you can rely on in different situations. Similar to TWSBI's pens, you need to be able to use it in a variety of conditions and different types and varying qualities of paper. These are the factors that make up a good basic blue. It's not terribly exciting, but it's reliable.
To my eyes, the shade and hue of Sapphire Blue is very similar to Pilot Blue and Kaweco Royal Blue. It's a bit darker than the Lamy Blue, and J. Herbin's Eclat de Saphir is a lot brighter — to the point that I don't really consider it a basic blue. If I wasn't currently out of Waterman Blue, I'm sure it would compare very closely with Sapphire based on past experience.
It's a good shade of blue! One that blends in well in legal or professional settings. It won't call any attention to itself like other flamboyant fun inks, and that can be a good thing. It's a classy blue.
Even though this is a pretty bland color (on purpose), there is a fantastic hint of shading when using the right nib. It's not dramatic like other inks, but there's a small amount of color variation in some strokes, which provides just enough visual interest to let you know that this is definitely a fountain pen ink.
When I brushed the ink onto a swatch card, I was also pleasantly surprised to see some dark teal/turquoise hints in the ink as well. I've never seen these tones when writing, but they show up pretty clearly in the swatch.
Another thing that really surprised me with this ink is the dry time. It's an extremely fast-drying ink. I know this can vary depending on environmental factors like humidity and paper quality, but it's consistently a fast drier. In most of my tests, it's dry by the 15 second mark and impossible to smudge. This could be a great ink for left-handed writers.
The ink is also well-lubricated and flows well in the pens I've tried it with. I haven't had any issues with it skipping or drying up in the nib after a few days. Overall, it's a really well-behaved ink that I'd put in any of my pens. It does have a noticeable smell, but half the inks I use have some sort of chemical smell when you first uncap a pen or bottle. Nothing to worry about.
While Sapphire Blue is a great basic blue, I do have some gripes about the packaging and the bottle. I don't care about packaging in most cases; if I don't have a use for it, I throw it away after unboxing everything. For inks, I like to keep the box so that the ink bottles are easier to store and transport. While the 70ml ink bottle is what I'd expect in size compared to other bottles that hold the same amount of ink, the box that the ink was packed in is absolutely ridiculous. The box is about twice the size of the ink bottle and seems really wasteful. Plus, in my situation, it takes up a lot of space in my ink storage area that could be used for other inks.
My other gripe is with the confusing decision on TWSBI's part on how to supply an inkwell. In particular, why they chose to ship the inkwell outside of the bottle. I guess I can understand the reasoning for people that prefer their ink bottles sans-inkwell, but I really like inkwells. Fine. I have to install the inkwell myself — no big deal, right? Not quite. The ink bottle is so full that you can't install the inkwell without removing about 10ml of ink. Otherwise, you'll overflow the bottle, make a huge mess, and waste a lot of ink. I don't understand this decision, and wish TWSBI would just install the inkwell at the factory before shipping them out to customers.
At $18, TWSBI's 70ml ink bottle is a pretty good deal. That's a lot of ink, and most manufacturers don't ship bottles that large. For example, Lamy, Pilot, Kaweco, and others normally use 50ml bottles for their normal-size ink offerings. 70ml is a lot of ink, and it's a good deal at this price.
Aside from Sapphire Blue, TWSBI currently offers Black, Blue-black, and Red. Their selection is pretty limited for now, but I'm curious to see if they have more interesting colors on the release roadmap!
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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