The Well-Appointed Desk

P.W. Akkerman #24 Zuiderpark Blauw-Greon is another in a long line of blue-black inks to pass across The Desk. It could be because I seek out the blue-blacks in particular but, this time fate intervened and this lovely ink arrived thanks to Lisa at Vanness.

There is definitely more of a greenish undertone to Zuiderpark that makes it less a true blue-black and more of a teal-black. At first thought, I anticipated that Zuiderpark might be very similar in color to de Atramentis Petrol but Zuiderpark is much darker. I included a swab of Diamine Twilight which I consider to be a true blue-black as a contrast so that the greenishness of Zuiderpark might be more noticeable.

Zuiderpark dries in a reasonable amount of time, even on Rhodia paper in the humidity of a Midwest August. In my water test, it had a some stay-ability too. I actually scrubbed a wet paintbrush across the sample a couple times after I dropped water on it to see if the ink would move. It leaves a stain on the paper which means Zuiderpark could handle a drop or two of water without losing all your hard work. If you like to paint with ink, it won’t move as completely as other colors. You can decide if that’s a plus or a minus.

The advantage of this sort of color is that it looks quite unique but maintains an air of “respectability” since it still runs in the blue family. If you want a work-appropriate ink with a little something extra, Zuiderpark would be a good option. And it goes without saying that Akkerman makes the coolest looking ink bottles.

This is a case where I definitely wish I had a whole bottle of this ink. So, I’ll be investing in one soon. Or you folks in DC can pick up a bottle for me!

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

I must confess right away that the new Montblanc Meisterstück Blue Hour Twilight Blue ($17 for a 30ml bottle), despite its lengthy name, is an ink color that is totally in my wheelhouse. Initially I was thinking it was a blue black but its actually more of a dark teal/black, if that makes sense. It reminds me more of a dark stormy sea blue than a midnight sky blue.

Blue Hour looks more like a blue black when wet and then dries to a more greenish deep teal blue. The ink dries pretty quickly. I managed to not have any smudges while writing this sample page so that’s saying something. I really like the square, ripple glass bottles that Montblanc has been using for their inks this year. The JFK and Pink Ink also came in these bottles.

I had lots of similar ink colors. Similar, but not the same as Blue Hour. In the swab sample, there’s a little reddish halo to the Blue Hour sample which reminds me of Sailor Jentle Yama Dori and Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku (both of which are favorite inks of mine) but the Blue Hour ink is more greenish than Ku-Jaku and a bit lighter overall than the Yama Dori. So, do you need Blue Hour if you have any of these ink colors? Logically no, but since when are pen addicts logical?

All-in-all, Blue Hour fills a sliver of a gap in my teal-y blue/black ink collection that I’m glad to have filled. This ink seems to be selling out quickly so if you’re interested in acquiring a bottle, I recommend that you act fast. I couldn’t find any specific info whether Blue Hour would be a limited edition color but as an ink hoarder, I’m not taking any chances.

Oops! I always forget to go back and add water to me test page. In this case, I photographed everything before realizing I didn’t do the water test. With a few stroked of a wet paint brush, the ink definitely lifted and moved quickly. Plus side, it should be pretty easy to clean out of your pens. Minus side, this ink is not recommended for documents that require permanent ink. It might make for interesting drawings as the ink can be blended nicely like a watercolor.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Pen Boutique for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.