De Atramentis Steel Blue

Part of being a notebook maker is to try out and test new papers. Since I’m testing out different inks and pens on different notebook prototypes we’ve created, I thought I would share the results with you in the form of blog posts.

De Atramentis is a German ink brand with inks that are handmade by Dr Franz-Josef Jansen. De Atramentis doesn’t seem to get that much attention in the fountain pen community, I'm not sure why. My view is that they have always performed quite well and rank up there with Iroshizuku and Sailor – particularly when it comes to getting a more stubborn pen going!

De Atramentis Steel Blue is a green-toned blue that is a bit darker than your norm in this colour range. This is an incredibly work appropriate colour due to the darkness but also adds a bit of interest and personality to your standard working blue. 

I first came across this ink in the Well Appointed Desk’s Ink Drop review and the theme at the time was “best shading inks”. Steel Blue was one of the inclusions. In the TWSBI 1.1 mm stub nib you can certainly see some shading, which is quite nice considering the saturation of this ink.

Green-toned blues is a particular colour interest of mine and as you can see in the subset of inks swabbed, I have a few in this range. Despite this, Steel Blue is still quite unique in my collection – the closest that I have in my collection is Sailor Bungubox Omaezaki Sea, which I think is more blue in person. Sailor Kobe Sajaemachi Indigo (#36) is the same tone but much duskier, so if you fancy something less bright, this is a close match.

You can see from the photos my bottle is about half full now. I have quite a few inks and whilst this is one of the oldest in my collection, it still gets good use because its such a reliable ink that behaves on most papers. Its always such a joy to use.

If you ever thought about giving De Atramentis inks a go, I highly recommend it!

Materials used:

Pens: TWSBI 580 Al Diamond – 1.1mm, B, M, F nibs; Pilot Custom 912 Falcon Spencerian Grind

Paper: Pebble Stationery Co Prototypes – Tomoe River Paper 52 gsm, Fabriano 85 gsm, Air Paper 80 gsm, Rhodia Dot Grid Pad 80gsm

Click here for full sized photos