Christie’s highlighter* broke so I used that as an excuse to order a few samples of ink and a full bottle of Private Reserve Electric DC Blue. Private Reserve is another American ink company that seems to specialize in colorful saturated inks. I’ve been impressed with all of the samples of ink I’ve purchased enough that I’ve gone on to purchase 2 different shades of blue- Sonic Blue and the Electric DC Blue(EDCB.)

The sonic blue borders on teal but is really a lovely saturated blue black ink. It’s sedate enough for pages of writing and sketching but interesting enough that people will wonder what shade of ink it is but also professional enough no one will judge you on your ink choice. I’ve been using this as a sketching ink for a few weeks.

Way back in the dead of winter I ordered a sample of the EDCB. Right off the bat I was in love. It’s a dark midnight blue that in a wet writing pen with the right paper has a red sheen. It is amazing. Not only do the dark areas of a sketch look deep and dark but they also pop with a mesmerizing red. I have to say I’m a sucker for the red sheen. I’ll see if I can get some pics of this, it’s amazing.

I also purchased a sample of Noodler’s Bay State Blue. How could I NOT buy a sample of one of the most controversial blue inks in history? Preliminary results? Meh. It’s a nice solid bright blue with a hint of magenta in some light and on some papers. Maybe it’s because I’ve got it loaded into a EF Noodler’s Nib Creaper pen but I really don’t see what the hub bub is all about. It’s bright and it’s blue and there are ten tons of controversy surrounding the ink. The worst truthful controversy is that it doesn’t mix with other inks and it stains pens and possibly sinks. The only thing I can report about is that yes, it does stain skin, I got a small amount on my fingertips and well, they are stained, but it’s no worse than any other ink.

I’ll get a proper review of the inks up at some point with a few pictures.

*What! You aren’t using a refillable highlighter? For shame! I could talk about the economics of it ($3 for the pen and $12.50 for the ink and 6 months of law student highlighting… Or $21 for pen and a 4.5 oz bottle of ink…versus $14.99 or more for a 12 pack of highlighters that work for a weekend…) but I can also talk about the quality of the pen and the ink and I could talk about the environmental aspect of refilling the same pen over and over again!