Waterman Mysterious Blue Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

I'm always on the hunt for exciting blue inks, and the most recent to come across my desk is Waterman's Mysterious Blue. I've had some trouble coming up with a description for the color of this ink, but I've settled on a rusty blue jeans color. It does have a bit of mystery to it, but that's bound to happen when using the same inks between different pens and papers. But, for being a dark blue ink, it's got some great character.

First off, the shade of this ink is much darker than I expected from looking at images online. It certainly photographs lighter than it appears on the paper. When writing, it shades beautifully and shows off navy, indigo, and green tones. It really is a beautiful color with loads of hidden characteristics. It's dark enough for office use, but has plenty of personality.

It's a well-lubricated ink that is very easy to clean. I haven't experienced any issues with it clogging, skipping, or failing to start immediately. It's a well-behaved ink, and acted exactly as I expected.

My favorite quality of this ink is the shading. It exposes different layers of the complex color hues and saturation, and I'm constantly enamored with what comes out on the page with this ink. It's dark, but it's moody.

Feathering is pretty much non-existent, and show-through is minimal on most papers even when using a wet 1.1 mm stub nib.

It's on the dark side of the blue spectrum, but not dark enough to call it a blue-black ink. And that's exactly how I like my dark blue inks — still blue.

JetPens offers this ink in several different formats. You can get a 50ml bottle, a package of 6 international short cartridges, or a package of 8 international long cartridges.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this ink and look forward to adding to the semi-regular rotation. I'm a huge sucker for lighter, brighter blues, but this is a nice contender for more subdued purposes.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Lamy Safari Dark Lilac Fountain Pen Giveaway

Image via JetPens

Has there been a hotter Lamy release in recent memory than the Dark Lilac lineup? If there has been I can't think of it. The inks are already impossible to find, and the pens are on the short list as well.

My friends at JetPens sent a Lamy Safari Dark Lilac with a Fine nib to give away to one reader. Here is how to enter:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Friday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is open to US and international residents.
2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. The contest winner will be posted on Saturday, May 28th. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Good luck!

Tom Bihn Field Journal Notebook Review

There is no bag maker that impresses me more with their quality than Tom Bihn. Just holding and touching their products makes me smile because I can feel the quality in my hands and see it with my eyes. That is before I even begin using their products, which always surprise and delight with their thoughtful design.

I arranged with Tom Bihn a few months ago to test drive and review their Aeronaut 45 max size carry-on for my pen show travels (review coming soon!) and they surprised me with news of a relaunch of their Field Journal Notebook. I reviewed the original model back in 2010, and they asked if I was interested in taking a look at the latest edition. Yes please!

The Tom Bihn Field Journal Notebook was designed as it was named - for work in the field. Think biologists, geologists, park rangers and anyone that needed a durable, weatherproof way to carry their writing and research tools. As it turns out, it is perfect for artists, writers, journalists, students, and anyone else who wants high quality portable storage for their stationery.

With an exterior made from 1000D Cordura, the Field Journal Notebook can get wet, dirty, and take a beating while protecting your writing kit. The water-repellent YKK zippers add to the durability factor, as does the tight stitching. The tolerances on this case are impressive.

If you need maximum storage in a small format then you are in luck. I count 16 different pockets, and knowing Tom Bihn, there is likely another one or two I haven’t discovered yet. All standard pens and mechanical pencils fit with ease, with only the longest wooden pencils needing to be moved to one of the two pouches they can fit in.

The paper is held in place by a small format three-ring binder which accepts 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” paper (exactly half of an 8 1/2” x 11” sheet). You can choose from grid or lined 100% recycled Neenah Conservation Paper when ordering, or add on Crane's Crest 24# 100% cotton paper as an extra.

For testing, I used the same pens across all three papers. While you’d think the two Neenah papers would perform identically, I slight felt differences between the two. The lined was smoother than the grid, but the lined also had more ghosting on the back. There was no real bleed or feathering, even with my fountain pens, so that is a big plus. In a blind test I could possibly tell a difference, but they are the same paper stock and I could be delusional.

The Crane’s Crest is a different animal. It doesn’t have much texture to the touch, but you feel it when writing. My plastic tip drawing pens had trouble on it, leaving a drier line than on the other paper choices. This makes it great for pencil though, and likely watercolors or heavier media. The Crane’s Crest is also the only page that is perforated.

Click here to see the full size writing sample.

All in all, the paper choices are nice, but if I were a heavy user of the Field Journal I would look at punching my own pages of a paper I know and love.

Filed in the “they thought of everything” category, the three-ring mechanism is removable and can rotate 180 degrees to accommodate left-handed writers, or those writing in other languages. There is also a plastic leaf clipped into the binder that you can move to have a hard backing behind the page when you write.

As with any Tom Bihn product, it is not possible to fawn over it too much. They are that good, and the Field Journal Notebook is no exception. A delightful product made by a delightful company.

The Field Journal Notebook comes in 13 colors with several add-on choices and retails for $90.00.

My thanks to Tom Bihn for sending me this product at no charge for purposes of this review.

Wow has my model grown in 5 1/2 years!