Waterman Inspired Blue

Ink Reviews
Written By Julian

Ink Review # 60

 

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

 

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Overview

The color/properties:

Waterman Inspired Blue is a vibrant, bright blue. There’s a high degree of shading that often presents itself with a crisp cut between its light and dark tones. There’s also a high chance that this ink will shade with a dark, almost purple edge around the letters and wherever the ink pools heavily. That purple edge can also appear as a light sheen (easily visible in the ink droplets). I don’t consider this a sheening ink by any means, but it’s not unlikely to see a slight sheen here and there, especially around commas, periods, or wherever letters cross each other, especially with wetter nibs.

Ink Splat

Ink Droplets

 

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

 

Performance on paper:

Inspired Blue is as well-behaved as any Waterman ink: there wasn’t any bleeding or feathering on any of the test papers outside of the minor bleed-through on Kokuyo when using larger nib sizes. This should be fine on most fountain pen-friendly papers.

The dry times were mostly average, but surprisingly, I found them to be slightly better than normal with the finer nib sizes, often drying within the 5-second mark. Keep in mind that if this ink presents any kind of sheen, it may never be easily smudged from residual moisture on the hand.

The water resistance isn’t the best, and water exposure quickly washes most of the ink away, leaving remains that are faded, cloudy, and largely illegible.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Water resistance

Chromatography

Performance in the pen:

Inspired Blue’s performance in the pen is great. It has a medium flow that was consistent across each of the test nibs, and I didn’t run into any hard starts or skips during my tests. While there was enough lubrication for a comfortable and usable writing experience, I do wish this ink were slightly slicker, much like I do with most of Waterman’s inks, but it’s still perfectly serviceable.

Cleaning this ink was easy, and the ink washed out in a standard single soak and flush without any remaining color or residue left over in the nib units or the barrel of the test pen.

 

Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white) with a medium nib.

Written on Midori MD paper (cream) with a medium nib.

  • Performance in a pen: 9/10

  • Performance on paper: 8.5/10

  • Color saturation: 6.5/10

  • Sheening: 2/10

  • Shading: 6/10

  • Dry time: 8.5/10

  • Water resistance: 1/10

  • Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10

  • Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts…

I love Inspired Blue. It’s not just my favorite Waterman ink, but it’s one of my favorite inks of all time. It’s so vibrant and refreshing. It has a certain charm that’s difficult to capture on camera — it really has to be seen and tried in person. It’s my go-to ink in a lot of my vintage pens, but it’s also never felt like a compromise that I landed on just because it’s safe for vintage pens, and I happen to like it. I use it in all sorts of pens, regardless, because It’s an excellent color. I’m really shocked that it’s not talked about more. There’s a handful of similar colors that seem to have garnered some popularity over the years, so why did Inspired Blue fall under the radar?

Written in a 52 gsm Tomoe River notebook with a Waterman CF Moiré (Medium).

More images/info:

 

Featured in the photography and writing samples:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

  • A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.

  • A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad

  • A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook

  • A Midori MD A5 Notebook

  • A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

  • A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

  • A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook

 
Julian
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