If Apache Sunset had a blue cousin this would be it.
With all the new inks that have come in over the past few weeks I wanted to stop and point out a real gem – Rohrer & Klingner’s Blu Mare. What made it stand out? When it comes to calligraphy I really like to play with combinations of ink and paper to see what each ink yields for saturation, gradient smoothness and feathering. When I started working with the Blu Mare I noticed how much it started to feel like a cool version of Apache Sunset by Noodler’s Ink. It has an incredible transition from light cyan to a beautiful dark saturated cobalt. While this does not tend to show up as easily on fountain pen tests it does become evident with a wet flex nib (like the Noodler’s Ahab) or even more so in a dip pen. The ink flows well in the dip pen and didn’t cause issues starting like a lot of fountain pen inks can in my cheap brass dip pens (time to upgrade to some vintage coit’s or automatic pens). Unlike Apache Sunset this ink actually dries fairly quick even with heavy application so no waiting overnight for the inks to set.
Bottles are sold in 50ml and priced around $9-$12. I highly recommend picking up a bottle if you love inks with a broad shading ability.