Private Reserve60ml Electric DC Blue Bottled Ink - PR-37-EB

I have collected fountain pens for fifty years and likewise, I have tried hundreds of inks. Electric DC blue is bright, doesn't lose its color, dries quickly and I think it is the best. Lanier is my go to supplier for ink and and rollerball refills, always excellent service and fair pricing

I tested many blues before I decided on this one. This ink is really great--it dries with high saturation, and is a true blue, not a purplish. I have not tried Mont Blanc blue-black or inks like Noodler's Baystate that can stain pens. Inks that I have tried include Waterman, Scheaffer, Pelikan Sapphire and Topaz, J. Herbin Bleu Nuit, Omas blue and perhaps some others. Nothing comes close. This ink writes dry in the sense that after a few paragraphs it can have difficulty in the nib (flow slows). This is probably and issue with my nib, but other blues do not have this problem. Therefore, I intend to mix this with some Waterman blue to make it run a bit more freely without losing any of the saturation.

Private Reserve Ink has never given me any problems, and this shade,the ELECTRIC blue is the best .shade of blue I've ever seen.The "electric" means that it really jumps off the page. Many shadesof blue look dull due to too much black in the formula. This is thebest balance I've seen. I also like the shade of Noodler's Baystate Blue,but it is pretty finicky - some sort of odd old-timey formula. So the DC ElectricBlue is the color I use on just about all occasions. I keep a bottle at home as well as one at the office.And this ink is really inexpensive given how good it is.

This ink is absolutely beautiful! The shading on the letters is more dramatic than most blue inks I've tried. The ink is fairly thin and will tend to run and branch on low grain paper but only very slightly. (Unless you're looking for it, you can't really tell.)The color is my favorite part. At the lightest, it's a very saturated, deep blue. At it's darkest, it's almost black. HUGE range of shading in each letter. Really makes a difference in how the overall lettering looks.

I have been pleased with Private Reserve inks in the past for doing wedding invitation calligraphy. But sometimes it is hard to find local retailers. (Check out the Private Reserve website for a good array of color samples.) This particular blue comes out very navy and has a very, very slight sheen to it. It dries quickly and has not clogged up a pen of mine.Note that it appears Private Reserve has changed its packaging and the bottles are no longer short and oval, as depicted in this photo, but taller and round.

I bought this ink after reading online reviews for the "best" blue inks. I must say that it has qualities which certainly stand out. Besides of course the expected qualities: good lubrication, fair drying time, etc. what is most striking is a sheen in the ink. The closest analogy I can think of is if you ever filled an area with certain blue ball point pen ink. You probably noticed an almost oil-on-water sheen in the ink - this shade of blue has that quality.

The ink is great. The blue pops off the page while remaining a classy, deep blue suitable for use in a professional office or wherever. (Basically, it's not too loud, despite the "electric" name.) The seller was very helpful, and they shipped me a second bottle when the first one was a few days late (which is great because the first one never did arrive). I'd gladly buy this ink from this seller again.

I bought Electric DC Blue and Avacado flavors of Private Reserve bottled ink. I have not used the Electric Blue as extensively as the Avacado, but the blue color was as described (and shown on other sites with a writing sample). Lighter than PR's Midnight Blue, but darker than a standard blue you'd find in bulk cartridges (like the 100s I brought back from Europe).