I lean in preference to the dark, saturated blues. Indigo Blue is to the first of the blue inks by de Atramentis that I have used and it gets top marks in terms of colour and performance.
I have been using the ink in an OMAS 360, a Visconti Opera and Aurora Tantelum pen - good overall performance.
The ink has a reasonable dry time, I found a various paper that I used there was no smearing and no stickiness left to the ink. It nicely dried on the paper and if my hand went across the page a minute later, I felt nothing.
There is a little shading created in the line of the letters, that is part because I am a "heavy" writer putting a fair amount of pressure on the nib of the pen.
Indigo Blue, de Atramentis Ink
Rhodia 80g paper
OMAS 360, Broad Nib
BLACK REDA deep rich, saturated colour with good performance qualities. Now that is a lot to say about an ink.
The colour tone is rich and dark. It is an ink which I say has good character. This is not a colour that looks out of place in business or personal use.
When I looked back at a couple of pages of notes where I used this ink they looked good. (For some colours I can't say that.)
Performance is good. The ink has good flow, worked well in a variety of different pens (OMAS, Aurora, Waterman, Montblanc).
The ink has very good dry times. On paper, within five seconds if I dragged a finger over my writing and the ink was totally dry. There was no stickiness or smearing.
The ink comes in a series called Black - it is where de Atramentis uses black glass for the bottle. The black glass is a way to prevent light from reaching the ink and contributing to a breakdown. My bottle is in regular glass, however, I keep all my inks in closed cabinet.
This is one of the scented inks by de Atramentis Inks. It has a pleasant scent of Raspberry, and I say pleasant as the scent is there, but it is not over powering. The ink is a colour that I am slowly warming up to.
When I first tried the ink I did not fee it had the punch in terms of saturation of colour. But I have filled an OMAS Arte Italiana, with a Broad nib and used it for a couple of days of writing.
Smooth flowing ink. On good paper, especially paper such as Rhodia, the ink looks good and does have enough depth to satisfy my needs. On some of the harder, smoother finish paper, the ink comes across a little more faint in terms of colour depth.
Good flow, but I did notice the inks takes slightly longer to dry on the paper. As the photo at the top shows, after 5 seconds, the words "it can appear" smeared when I ran my finger through the writing after 5 seconds on the page. I did not this to be the case with the Black Red or the Indigo Blue ink. By 10 seconds everything has pretty much dried.
A medium/deep tone red ink that has a balance of good presence on the page as well as an interesting colour. There is nothing harsh about the colour tone of this in.
As the photography above, and the scan to the right shows, there is a marked difference in the overall colour depth of the ink, depending on the nib of the pen. This is something that is true for all inks.
The first three lines, in the scan to the right, are written with a Delta 365 with a broad nib. I had a similar result with a Double Broad Pelikan M800. Good flow to the ink and it has some nice shading that takes place especially when the line of ink if broad, like that with a broad or double broad nib.
The next two lines of text in the scan above to the right is an example of the ink with a Medium nib, in this case the Cartier Le Must. This is probably the colour most users will experience. A little less dark. Good flow.
Good performance on the ink. Reasonable time to dry, and if you look at the photography at the top you will see the smudge when my finger goes across the words "5 seconds" - five seconds after I wrote. Within ten seconds non occurred. I find with many inks somewhere between 5 to 10 is the time for a wet line of ink on good paper to dry.
As I finished a very long process to ensure a pen was completely clean of in, and the feed and nib units had soaked, dried and there was no other ink colour remaining, I loaded up a pen with Saffron, the yellow-gold ink by de Atramentis. When the ink his the paper it is almost translucent. But the colour forms as the ink dries.
When you come back to your writing after a few minutes the very pale translucent yellow changes to a rich yellow-gold colour.
This is one of those inks that has very limited use. A few lines of writing on a card, for a "colourful message" or calligraphy use. It is hard on the eye in a full amount, and because it is translucent at first, hard to look down and know what you have written.
My samples are written with a Montblanc Noblesse with a Broad/Stub nib. That leaves a good solid line of ink. I also tried the ink in a Cartier Le Must, with Medium nib. Okay but I think anything finer and it is difficult to really see the finished product.
But, depending on your use, the ink performs well, dries a little over 10 seconds.
May Green is part of the tree line, Birch Tree, and is scented accordingly.
The colour is very subtle. This would be for calligraphy work, or a short couple of lines on a personal note card. It is not a colour the reader will forget!
The flow of the ink was fine. As with Saffron, it goes onto the paper almost translucent. But as it dries over the next couple of minutes it takes on an interesting soft green tone.
There was some smudging after 5 seconds on the paper, but basically none by 10 seconds. This is pretty much on par with other inks. But, after all, you are not going to use this colour to write a page of sold text.
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