on saleLAMY benitoite - Ink Sample

Drier but smooth ink

This is a nice dusky blue with high water resistance. The best way to describe it (assuming you've used the other two inks before) is that it's somewhere between De Atramentis Document Fog Grey and R&K Salix. It's bluer than the former and drier, but not as dry or as blue as Salix. It shapes better than Fog Grey, but not as much as Salix. All three are well behaved, but I find Salix the best behaved and Fog Grey the least well behaved. I've found that when soaked for a long period, the blue leeches out like Salix. I haven't a light-fastness test nor how it stands up against other solvents. I also haven't tried cleaning it out of my pen yet. Salix is fairly easy to clean out (distilled water and a mild acid) and De Atramentis document inks (along with Noodler's bullet proof line) are a pain to clean out.Both are surprisingly smooth despite being dry inks. If this came in a cartridge I'd buy some so I could keep them on me when I'm on the go, but they don't come in such a form (as far as I can tell Lamy doesn't make any water-resistant inks in cartridge form any more). Though the color is nice, it isn't that different from Salix which I like just as much, but is (slightly) better behaved and much cheaper. Also, as mentioned, Salix shades better.Also, I like the smell of Salix.

This is my new go-to blue. It falls into the blue gray category and has some water resistance, both of which make it a good fit for work.