Pelikan4001 Ink Bottle 30 ml Pack of 1 Pack of 3 Royal Blue

Any fountain pen manufacturer who also markets their own range of inks will ensure they match the writing characteristics of that brand. Hence Parker will always recommend Parker Quink inks. Cross, Waterman and Sheaffer do the same and they may sometimes suggest that not using the matching brand of ink will either invalidate the guarantee or cause damage - it rarely does with the top ink brands. Of the four pen brands mentioned, only Sheaffer's ink is 'wet', very free-flowing and slow-drying on many papers; all the others are 'dry', more viscous and slow-flowing. It may be worth noting that Cross' bottled inks are identical to Pelikan 4001 but rebottled and relabelled! There are many other brands of ink of which few are available internationally, most only in the country of manufacture and whose characteristics may be unknown or variable.Any pen/nib combination that lays down a lot of ink (writes wet) and takes a long time to dry until it resists smudging will need a 'dry' or slow-flowing and quick drying ink to compensate; conversely, those combinations that are more meager with their ink need a wetter, faster-flowing ink if the written line is to be sufficiently dark and legible. Generally, broader and italic nibs write wet; finer nibs are typically drier writers although exceptions exist. Pelikan Royal Blue and Brilliant Black were purchased for the express purpose of use with a very wet-writing pen.The Pelikan 4001 ink range is mostly washable and are all 'dry' writing. The more expensive Pelikan Edelstein range is quite different in formulation, colours, bottles and, apparently, their writing characteristics. Typically, horizontal strokes and curves with some inks can be lighter than verticals where there is a possibility of overlaying up-strokes and down-strokes with ink laid upon ink. The 4001 range comprises quite saturated colours and contain a relatively high proportion of dye(s) and the lighter colours tend to produce limited visible shading or added character to the written line. Darker Pelikan inks are monotonal and probably better suited to specific situations where clarity and high legibility are essential; written exams, form-filling and musical notation are among those where they could work well. There are seven currently available colours including royal blue, turquoise, red, green, brown, black and violet that are all normally sold in 30 ml bottles but double-size bottles are offered in some countries.Pelikan was originally a pen manufacturer and their inks were then intended as their ideal companions. The 4001 range are recent formulations using synthetic dyes but they are equally suited to many other pen brands and are considered 'safe' and unlikely to ever cause damage to a pen (some inks are not recommended for certain pen models and sometimes brands). If you know that your fountain pen writes a very wet line with your present ink choice, then Pelikan 4001 inks are a potential solution as they are quite viscous (gloopy); that is my situation with a specific pen. If the pen is writing dry, Pelikan 4001 inks are best avoided as their naturally slower flow will not provide a sufficient ink level to prevent drop-outs of missing characters. They will need a 'wet' ink, e.g. most from Diamine, Noodlers, Herbin.Although another brand of ink is a personal general preference and is available in 100-plus colours, their inks are mostly very wet-writing and not suitable for my current favourite pens, a Pilot Capless and Pilot Decimo respectively fitted with Broad and Medium nibs. The same inks work superbly in other brands of fountain pen.

This is a nice flowing ink which dries quite quickly and has a good colour. It does, though, appear to be 'bluer' than the ink in Pelikan Blue-Black cartridges which dries to a slightly 'greyer' tone. If you are used to the colour in the cartridges you may be disappointed (unless I had an 'odd' batch of cartridges)

Nice ink, lovely colour.

*Update 24 September 2013: Yup, as I hinted it might in the original review, the ink has lightened-up on further refilling, so I suspect that the Herbin was still hanging around the reservoir. The ink, I would now say, is a fairly standard medium 'blue' and I am very happy with it.*Original review: Pelikan is one of the inks that manufacturer TWSBI recommends for people breaking-in one of its fountain pens, and I can endorse its excellence. I started my TWSBI Diamond 540 with Herbin 'Café des Îles' which, looking back, was a mistake: the French ink was too thick and the pen never wrote properly. I flushed it out in a sink of hand-warm water with a dash of liquid soap and it dislodged a lot of specks of kludge. Yuk. I then filled with this Pelikan ink and the difference is chalk and cheese. Now my Diamond 540 starts first time without the vigorous shake needed with the Herbin. It is also laying-down more ink, which is what I wanted. This ink has transformed my experience with the 540 which, frankly, I was thinking of replacing. The blue in this bottle is a medium-to-dark colour, a bit lighter than blue-black. Mind you, the Herbin colour was similar to dried blood so maybe the reservoir still has a taint of that and the colour could get lighter on the next refill. This is excellent ink that proves you don't need designer stuff to make a pen go.

Good ink in a lovely shade of light blue/aquamarine..I works well in fountain pens and on most types of paper which I’ve tried.There was no leaking, spreading or going through the page.It’s a good thing.

Worked perfectly and with the anticipated colour opacity in my Pelikan fountain pen - old enough to be labelled "W Germany". Surprisingly expensive, however, being about half the volume of the original bottle it was to top up.

It's a good idea selling this colour of ink in packets of 3 as it is such a beautiful shade of blue which looks really well on white paper that one tends to get through more ink than you would expect. Also the bottles are not that big. I really love the colour of this ink and I tend to use mostly this colour occasionally having another pen filled with black ink. I know that it is personal taste but I do not like the likes of quink blue black ink for instance or others of the type. I like blue and I like black but I don't like the mixture. I think that this deal with three bottles of the pelican royal blue is superb value for money and I will buy it again and would recommend it to anybody who loves royal blue ink.

I love writing with this ink. It is smooth and flows evenly. The colour is gorgeous.