Inktastic: LAMY blue black ink

Along with the Turquoise ink from Lamy, I also bought a bottle of Blue-Black ink. If the turquoise ink is said to be great, this one should be great as well, isn't it?

Sadly, the answer is no! Whereas the Turquoise ink is everything I hoped for, this one just didn't live up to my expectations!

The bottle is obviously the same as with the Turquoise ink, but that's good because I still think the bottle is both incredibly well-designed, and useful with the built-in blotting paper!

However...
After I bought it, I found out that it contains a small amount of Iron-gall, a component that is slightly acidic, which could possibly damage the nib of the pen, however it was said to be only a very small amount so it couldn't possibly damage your precious pens! Unfortunately, I didn't feel like it was completely safe, as the nib on my Pilot Capless got some stains that were very hard to remove (they did come off eventually though!)! Another issue I had was the fact that it dried out real fast. If I didn't use my pen for a single day, it would take quite a while to get the inkflow back!

You can see the blotting paper sticking out from the bottom of the bottle.

The colour is all right though, and once you get the inkflow going, it writes pretty wet and smooth, and it has decent shading. The colour definitely leans more towards black, as it is quite a bit darker than Bleu Nuit from J.Herbin.

Because it is less blue-ish, it might seem a bit dull in comparison to the J.Herbin, I would describe the colour as grey-black with a hint of blue, rather than a true blue-black ink.

If you would like a very dark blue ink, I'd suggest checking this ink out. But for a real blue-black ink, I still prefer the J.Herbin Bleu Nuit over this one, as the colour is brighter, and it is safer to use.

(Image: Ink swab J.Herbin Bleu Nuit, is property of J.Herbin, no copyright infringement intended.)