(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Bright blue inks are some of my favorite inks, and that hasn't changed much in the past several years. I love the way they pop and look slightly translucent in the right light, and they tend to add some joy to any piece of paper they come in contact with. One thing I haven't expected from any of the bright blue inks I've used in the past is any sort of water resistance, let alone waterproofing. With the latest blue ink I've tested, I can take that last thing off the list.
Kala Neon Dude is part of their Nostalgia series that borrows colors and imagery from the 60's and 70's. Lots of bright, in-your-face colors in this series of eight inks. The one I'm using is called Dude (or just "neon blue") and is one of my new favorites.
Dude is an intensely-pigmented ink that screams at you while still in the bottle. I remember saying "Whoa" when first getting the bottle out. It looks like something that shouldn't be possible in a fountain pen ink. There's zero visibility into the ink for all the pigment, and looks more like neon blue Gak than fountain pen ink. I was incredibly skeptical that this ink would be anything more than a marketing stunt. There's no way something that looks like that can work properly in a fountain pen nib, right? Wrong.
The ink color resembles a bright turquoise that virtually every ink manufacturer offers. It reminds me a lot of Lamy Turquoise or Diamine Turquoise, which are just a couple of inks I have on hand that come really close to this color. When writing, it looks joyful and fun. There's a subtle amount of light shading that also adds some depth to the colors. Blue inks should make you think of water, and the best blue inks make you think of the shallow tides of some tropical paradise. Dude does all of this, while also drying fairly quickly. In my tests, it's smudge-proof at around 10 seconds — 15 max.
The main attribute of think ink that sets it apart from other similar turquoise inks is that it's waterproof. I tested this out myself and can confirm that the ink lines and coloration stays in place when the paper comes in contact with water. This applies to both droplets of water, spills, and even total submersion. This is due to the high level of pigmentation in the ink formula. In my limited experience with different inks, I've never come across a truly waterproof ink that has such vibrant colors! I normally don't care about the waterproof or water-resistant properities of inks, but I'm really impressed that this one backs up the claim while being so pretty at the same time.
While the waterproof nature and bright hue are great aspects of this ink, it does take a little more effort when cleaning it out of your pen. Nothing strenuous — just a few extra rounds of water to completely rinse out all the tiny particulates the ink leaves behind. I have several non-waterproof/resistant inks that are more difficult to clean than this ink, so it's not a major concern for me. The bottom line is that I won't think twice about putting this ink in any modern pen.
One negative behavior that I've noticed with this ink is that it does not work well with highly-absorbent papers. It's a fairly wet ink, so uncoated papers tend to drink the ink very quickly, which pulls more ink out of the feed as you write. In most cases, it isn't a big deal — especially if you're writing on coated paper (like Rhodia). But for cheaper paper or uncoated paper, it can be disastrous. In my testing, Baron Fig paper performed the worst. I like testing Baron Fig because it's so unique when compared to the other paper brands I keep on hand. It's thick, but it's also very absorbent and tends to bleed and feather very easily. In the case of Kala Dude, it not only feathers and bleeds, but it also pulls ink from the feed so fast that it causes my pens to drip large dots of ink while writing with this ink. That's an impressive but inconvenient example of capillary action! So, all that to say, don't use this ink with uncoated, absorbent papers.
Kala Dude is an ink from a brand that I'd never heard of prior to trying the ink. I'm happy to say that I'm really pleased with this ink and look forward to trying other inks from the Taiwanese brand. I'm also tempted to try out the other seven crazy colors!
(The Pen Addict purchased this ink from Shigure Inks at full retail price.)
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