on saleDe Atramentis Document Ink Dark Blue - Ink Sample

I have an admittedly narrow set of measures for an ink. I'm a relative newbie, gradually figuring out what I like and want. I do a lot of relatively small lettering, so I want an EF nib. With some inks, like the beautiful Liberty's Elysium, I cannot get an EF line to save my life: the ink spreads into a nice broad line. Which may be wonderful for those who work with M nibs, but not for me. As of today, my three criteria are: (1) waterproof. (I've come to believe ink should be permanent.) (2) dries. Some inks, (Ottoman Azure, Noodler's Navy) are still sticky at the top of the page when I get to the bottom. I have to close the journal with a kleenex blotter between pages. (of course, different papers behave differently)(3) makes an actual EF line with an EF nib. No fat inks that spread.All my tests are in a Quo Vadis Habana / smooth 90 gsm dot journal, with a Noodler's Ahab / Goulet EF nib. De Atramentis Document Dark Blue (DA-DDB).Wow. Really nice. Deep, dark blue. Checks all the boxes for me. (x) Waterproof (x) dries. This ink is dry within two words. Write a full line and swipe it with your finger. Maybe the last two words smear. But it dries quickly. In fact, it dries in the nib, too, so if you stop writing for a bit, you may get a dry start. But a little margin scribbling gets it going again.(x) EF line. This ink does not spread like some. I get a *mostly* EF line with an EF nib. It *could* be a little thinner, but it is Fine enough.BONUS: DA-DDB is buttery smooth. Many times an EF nib will feel a little scratchy. DA-DDB goes on like buttah!

De Atramentis is probably the best ink for drawing with fountain pens. It is absolutly reliable, water proof, doesn't clog your pen.

I bought samples of the above ink and tested them for the quality of waterproofness. They all are water proof and I am very happy with all the document colours I bought.

This was a very high quality ink, just not for me. The ink writes very wet and in my TSWBI ECO M it consistently wrote noticeably thicker than most inks in my TWSBI ECO B. In addition it took a while to dry, and as a leftie fast dry time is a must for me. It had pretty low shading, which I liked, but it was a lot darker than I thought it would be based on the picture. This ink was honestly such a hassle and a pain to write with and I only wrote with it for a day before giving up on it. The dry time was way to long for me and the ink wrote so thick on the page that it just wasn't worth it. This is ink was a disappointment to me, but I'm sure other people love it. On the plus side though, despite being an incredibly wet ink it never bleed on the paper I was using. Though it did ghost horribly.

This is more subtle than some of the brighter waterproof blues like Pilot's and even the Salix, with to my eye, no blackness, so I like it as professional and distinctive without being over-the-top saturated. I tried it on some Levenger journal paper which tends to feather many inks, but no feathering here, using a Waterman Phileas. Running under tap water for a few minutes and drying by the fireplace showed 100% waterproof (see pic.)