Waterman Inspired Blue
Ink Review # 60
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
Waterman Inspired Blue is a vibrant bright blue. There’s a high degree of shading that often presents itself with a crisp cut and a darker edge between its light and dark tones. There’s also a high chance that this ink will shade with a dark edge around letters in normal writing. There was a light purple sheen in the ink splat and droplets, and while this isn’t a sheening ink, it is very possible to achieve a light sheen around the edges of letters or pooled areas of the ink in normal writing, especially with larger and wetter nibs.
Ink Splat
Ink Droplets
Performance on paper:
Inspired Blue is as well-behaved as any Waterman ink: there wasn’t any bleeding or feathering on any of the test papers outside of the minor bleed-through on Kokuyo when using larger nib sizes. The dry times were mostly average, but surprisingly, I found them to be slightly better than normal with the finer nib sizes, often drying within the 5-second mark. With that said, keep in mind that if this ink presents any kind of sheen, it may never be truly dry to the touch, but this shouldn’t pose any issues in normal writing circumstances. The water resistance, on the other hand, wasn’t the best. Water exposure washed most of the ink away and the remains are largely cloudy and illegible.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Inspired Blue’s performance in the pen is equally good. It has a medium flow that was consistent across each of the test nibs, and I didn’t run into any hard starts or skips during my tests. While there was enough lubrication for a comfortable writing experience, I do wish this ink was slightly slicker, much like I do with most of Waterman’s inks, but it’s still perfectly serviceable. Cleaning this ink was easy and it washed out in a standard single soak and flush.
Performance in a pen: 9/10
Performance on paper: 8.5/10
Color saturation: 6.5/10
Sheening: 2/10
Shading: 6/10
Dry time: 8.5/10
Water resistance: 1/10
Ease of cleaning: 7.5/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts…
I love Inspired Blue. It’s not just my favorite Waterman ink, but it’s one of my favorite inks of all time. It’s so vibrant and refreshing. It has a certain charm that’s difficult to capture on camera — it really has to be seen and tried in person. It’s my go-to ink in a lot of my vintage pens, but it’s also never felt like a compromise that I landed on just because it’s safe for vintage pens, and I happen to like it. I use it in all sorts of pens, regardless, because It’s an excellent color. I’m really shocked that it’s not talked about more. There’s a handful of similar colors that seem to have garnered some popularity over the years, so why did Inspired Blue fall under the radar?
Written in a Tomoe River 52gsm notebook with a Waterman CF Moiré (Medium)
More images/info:
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A Midori MD A5 Notebook
A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook