(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
I'm always on the hunt for exciting blue inks, and the most recent to come across my desk is Waterman's Mysterious Blue. I've had some trouble coming up with a description for the color of this ink, but I've settled on a rusty blue jeans color. It does have a bit of mystery to it, but that's bound to happen when using the same inks between different pens and papers. But, for being a dark blue ink, it's got some great character.
First off, the shade of this ink is much darker than I expected from looking at images online. It certainly photographs lighter than it appears on the paper. When writing, it shades beautifully and shows off navy, indigo, and green tones. It really is a beautiful color with loads of hidden characteristics. It's dark enough for office use, but has plenty of personality.
It's a well-lubricated ink that is very easy to clean. I haven't experienced any issues with it clogging, skipping, or failing to start immediately. It's a well-behaved ink, and acted exactly as I expected.
My favorite quality of this ink is the shading. It exposes different layers of the complex color hues and saturation, and I'm constantly enamored with what comes out on the page with this ink. It's dark, but it's moody.
Feathering is pretty much non-existent, and show-through is minimal on most papers even when using a wet 1.1 mm stub nib.
It's on the dark side of the blue spectrum, but not dark enough to call it a blue-black ink. And that's exactly how I like my dark blue inks — still blue.
JetPens offers this ink in several different formats. You can get a 50ml bottle, a package of 6 international short cartridges, or a package of 8 international long cartridges.
Overall, I'm really enjoying this ink and look forward to adding to the semi-regular rotation. I'm a huge sucker for lighter, brighter blues, but this is a nice contender for more subdued purposes.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
