Platinum Blue Black: Ink Review

Platinum Blue Black ink splatter with handwriting and a LAMY fountain pen uncapped

Platinum Blue-Black ink is a good middle of the road fountain pen ink. The ink has everything we could ask for. Its subtle blue hues mixed with its light shading gives this ink a little something extra when compared to other blue black inks. Read on to learn more about this modern iron gall, water resistant ink!

Platinum Blue Black Fountain Pen Ink writing sample

Supplies Used:

LAMY Al-star with medium steel nib (also EF and B nib)
Rhodia No. 16 dotpad, 80g white paper
Tomoé River white paper
Moleskine notebook

Smear Test (Dry Time):

Slow – If you are a fan of fast drying inks, this one might not be the one for you. This ink has a dry time of over 30 seconds. When testing the ink, you need to be pretty careful not to smudge or smear the ink while waiting for it to dry. Left handed side writers beware! You may have some trouble using this ink because of the long dry time.

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

High – Water will wash away some of the color from the page when it is applied but it is still considered a water resistant ink. Your writing will still be readable, but might be a little lighter than when you first applied it to the page.

Saturation:

Low – If you are going for a brighter blue hue of this ink, make sure you put a lot of it down on the page. This inks saturation is quite low. When using thinner nibs, you will most likely see a lighter, paler version of the ink. When using broader nibs, it will produce a richer, deeper color that resembles more of a royal blue than a black.

Ease of Cleaning:

Hard- This ink is a modern iron gall ink. Iron gall inks can be harder to clean if you wait to long in between cleanings. If the ink is cleaned out often, you should be fine, but take care not to leave it in your pen for extended periods of time.

Shading:

Medium – We found that this ink does come with some shading but you see it most when using thinner nibs. In broader nibs, the shading is a lot less noticeable because you are putting down more ink throughout more of the writing. With thinner nibs, you can see the ink pooling up in parts of the letters, creating a color variation throughout the lines.

Flow:

Medium – We were able to use this ink in two different pens and found the flow to be different with each one. In the Limonada, this ink had some hard starts and skipping but once some pressure was applied while writing it flowed seamlessly. In the LAMY Al-Star (M), the flow was much more consistent but it seemed a bit dry. When using a broader nib on the Lamy, the flow was wonderful and didn't seem quite as dry writing as it did with the Medium nib.

Packaging and Aesthetics:

Rounded 60ml glass bottle with squared off bottom.
Bottle has a medium sized opening that is easy to fill from.
Bottle comes with an inkwell inside for easy filling. Flip the bottle upside down to fill the inkwell, then fill your pen from inside the inkwell to get every last drop out of the bottle.
Also available in cartridges and 2ml ink samples.