Sheaffer Blue-Black (Ink Drop - April 2015)
Pen: Lamy Safari EF
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm
Shading: low to moderate
Saturation: low to medium
Flow: medium wet
Dry Time: 8 seconds

The fourth ink in this month's Ink Drop is Sheaffer Blue-Black. Sheaffer is brand that is fairly easy to run across; you can find their writing instruments and refills in most of your local office supply stores. Aside from their fountain pens and inks, they have rollerballs, ballpoints and calligraphy products.

This is my first experience with a Sheaffer ink and to be honest I wasn't overly impressed. Maybe I was expecting a more saturated ink as this one is fairly subdued in my experience. I've found that inks from pen manufacturers tend to be a bit on the unsaturated side and this is no exception. It's not a bad color at all, I do love the shade blue-black, but if I were to use a blue-black I'd definitely go with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai, Noodler's 54th Massachusets or Rohrer & Klingner Salix.

On the positive side, the ink is very well behaved. No feather was present on my Rhodia pad and bleedthrough or ghosting were not an issue. Dry time was average, at around 8 seconds. All in all, not a bad ink; it's just not my preference. Of course that doesn't mean that it isn't your preference, so if you're looking for a nice well behaved, no fuss blue-black, pick up a bottle at Goulet or a similar retailer for $9.25 for 50mL.