Comparison of 73 Bottled Fountain Pen Inks

I don’t consider myself an ink person…I like ink but I like pens much more.   Boring old Waterman Serenity Blue (FKA Florida Blue) has been my go-to ink for vintage pens for a good while now but I have been finding that with dryer and finer nibbed pens it isn’t the best match.  I had to find a safe blue ink with good lubrication and Diamine (with all inks in a pH range of 6-8) was the brand that came to mind.

I ordered 14 Diamine samples from the Goulet Pen Company (no affiliation) and to narrow it down I put the samples on Maruman Mnemosyne Word Book cards as I had first seen on The Pen Addict (again no affiliation)…well one thing led to another and I decided put all of my bottled inks on the Word Book cards and here is the result:

Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The blues:

Blue Fountain Pen Ink Samples Blue Fountain Pen Ink Samples

Blue Fountain Pen Ink Samples

Blue Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The greens:

Green Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The purples:

Purple Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The grays and blacks:

Black and gray Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The browns and reds:

brown Fountain Pen Ink Samples

The orange and pinks:

Orange and red Fountain Pen Ink Samples

I haven’t picked a new blue yet but Diamine Majestic Blue and Diamine Asa blue are the ones catching my eye.

Fountain pen ink samples

14 thoughts on “Comparison of 73 Bottled Fountain Pen Inks”

    • Thank you for your comment Bill!

      When you use this ink in a pen I agree that it looks more orange brown but when you put inks on a cotton swab they tend to look quite a bit lighter…though I admit that the camera seems to have made it look a bit more red…in person my sample looks like a true orange.

      Reply
  1. Great review, it’s nice to see direct comparisons of so many colors. I would recommend you try Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron or Bad Belted Kingfisher, both excellent everyday blues that might fit your needs. Liberty’s Elysium is also an amazing vibrant blue from Noodler’s that I would suggest checking out.

    Reply
    • Thank you for your suggestions and kind words! I appreciate it. I love Noodler’s; they are by far the most interesting ink manufacturer out there. I will add those two inks to my next ink sample purchase.

      Reply

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