Aurora Blue Black ink has been long awaited by pen enthusiasts and pen companies such as Pen Chalet. Aurora Pen Company, which only previously produced two colors of fountain pen ink, black and blue, has just introduced its 3rd color, Aurora Blue Black ink. Although this ink has not been released to the public yet, our US Aurora distributors have given Pen Chalet a bottle of its new Blue Black ink for our review.
We were very excited to see if this ink will live up to the expectation we have afforded it, based upon our love of Aurora Black ink. Aurora Black ink is a truly opaque dark solid black color without any grey or lightness to it. The Aurora Blue is a bright vibrant blue color and both can be used as an everyday water-based ink. What will Aurora Blue Black be like…
Aurora Blue Black ink is wonderful. The color is a true equal blend of blue and black, much darker than other blue black inks such as Sailor Storia Night, Platinum Blue Black and Sailor Sei-Boku Pigmented ink, which are traditionally more blue than black in color. Aurora Blue Black truly is a great mixture of its two current ink colors and is very dark and more opaque, than most blue black inks, which translates into a fabulous deep, dark, shade of blue. Aurora Blue Black is true blue-black ink, more inline with Lamy’s Blue-Black Ink than some of the other blue-blacks previously mentioned.
Our review of this Italian ink produced the following characteristics that you may find helpful:
Testing Factors
For this review we used a J. Herbin Glass Dip Pen on Rhodia Block N. 18 Paper. The dip pen is equivalent to a fine nib.
Bottle Sizes
The Aurora Blue Black ink comes in the same bottle as the Aurora Black and Aurora Blue ink bottles, a good sized square 45 ml. glass bottle. The glass bottle has a plastic lid and comes with a plastic stopper in the ink, which prevents spilling during shipping and storage, but can be messy taking out.
Cost
Aurora Blue Black ink retails for $15.00 which is very reasonably priced for this quality Italian Ink.
Dry Time
With a J. Herbin glass dip pen (equivalent to a fine nib), the dry time was a reasonable 6-7 seconds. Using a larger nib pen that lays down more ink, you can expect the dry time to be a bit longer.
Bleed Through
We didn’t experience any bleeding using the glass dip pen and a wet cotton swab on the Rhodia Bloc N. 18 paper. Even placing a large amount of ink using the cotton swab to see how dark the Aurora Blue Black ink could be, it did not bleed through the paper.
Feathering
The lines were clean and crisp, without any feathering, although there was some feathering during the water test.
Water Test
We ran a soaking cotton swab over ink samples that had dried for about 3 minutes producing significant color smearing and slight feathering of the ink. Aurora Blue Black ink is not waterproof as it is a water based dye ink.
Shading
You may experience some shading with the deeper dark blue color and a slightly lighter shade when using an italic type nib. For the most part this dark blue ink is pretty opaque and consistent during normal use.
Conclusion about the Aurora Blue Black Ink
Overall, this is fabulous super dark blue ink that has a true mix of blue and blacks. Aurora Black ink lovers will love its opaque color and ink characteristics. Aurora Blue Black ink is a true blue black color with a true darkness to the ink, unlike some other blue black colors which are more blue and less black. The reasonably low price and high quality Aurora Italian brand will make the new Aurora Blue Black ink a must have. Enjoy!