Sailor Blue Ink is Sailor’s everyday basic blue ink in a new package. Formerly Sailor Jentle Blue ink came in a round-shaped 50 ml. Sailor Jentle ink glass bottle. The easily recognizable bottle had a large mouth opening and internal ink reservoir. Sailor’s new Blue ink is the same great ink, but it now comes packaged in a square 50 ml. glass bottle without an ink reservoir. There is also no reference to its Jentle ink line heritage. Regardless of your opinion on the new bottle shape or packaging, the ink is still a fantastic everyday blue color.
Sailor Blue ink is a nice true-blue color, rather than a royal blue or turquoise blue. It has some great characteristics that are mentioned below. If you are looking for a go-to everyday blue ink for home or office use that is fountain pen safe and inexpensive, you need not look any further than a bottle of Sailor Blue ink.
Continue reading for a chance to win the bottle of Sailor Blue ink we used for this review.
Sailor Blue Ink Review
During our review of Sailor Blue ink, we found the following characteristics that you may find helpful when choosing your next ink color to purchase:
Testing Factors:
For our review of Sailor Blue ink, we used a J. Herbin glass dip pen on French-made Rhodia dot pad paper. The glass dip pen has a tip that is similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib. Please note that different pens and paper may produce different results.
Bottle Sizes:
Sailor Blue ink comes in Sailor’s new 50 ml. square glass bottle. First introduced with its pigmented line of inks, the new bottle is now being used with some of Sailor’s basic colors including Sailor Blue, Black and Blue-Black ink. Pen Chalet found that the new bottle has some nice features. The new Sailor bottle is a nice heavy weighted glass bottle that allows the ink to “float” inside its thick glass walls. This makes Sailor Blue ink’s glass bottle a great option for display. Sailor is moving towards this new bottle and shape, which is now included for its pigmented ink line, basic ink line and upcoming new Sailor Manyo ink line. The packaging is very basic and functional. The lid is a new 10-sided medium-sized lid, for easy opening.
Cost:
Sailor Blue ink is a low-end inexpensive ink retailing for $12.50 for a 50 ml. size bottle, making it a very reasonable purchase.
Dry Time:
During our review of Sailor Blue ink, we found a very fast dry time of approximately 5 seconds. This quick dry time makes Sailor Blue ink an everyday option; a go-to blue ink for all purposes and functions.
Bleed Through:
Pen Chalet found absolutely zero bleeding during normal use while testing Sailor Blue ink. However, during our cotton swab test (with a large amount of concentrated ink) we did notice a very slight amount of bleed-through, but it was almost imperceptible.
Feathering:
During our review of Sailor Blue ink, we found no feathering using the glass dip pen on Rhodia dot pad paper. Even during the water test, there was very little additional feathering produced using Rhodia paper.
Water Test:
During our review of Sailor Blue ink, we conducted a water test where we ran a wet cotton swab over an ink sample that had dried for about 3 minutes. The results were significant color smearing, which is reasonable for a dark non-waterproof ink, but no additional bleeding and very little noticeable feathering. The lines remained clear and legible throughout the test.
Shading:
Sailor Blue ink may produce some shading under the right conditions with the right nib and penmanship. However, writing styles and smaller nibs will produce a pretty consistent dark color line without a lot of color variation.
Conclusions About Sailor Blue ink:
Sailor Blue ink is a great basic every day blue ink. It has a very fast dry time, performs very well, is safe to use in most fountain pens and is inexpensive. The New Sailor bottle is a nice heavy weighted square bottle that may be used as an ink well after the bottle has been emptied. The presentation is basic, the blue is a basic blue color, but that’s the point of purchasing a basic by design blue ink. Great ink at a great price by a great company. Happy writing from Japan!
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