Noodler’s Baystate Blue [full size photo] – Awhile back I purchased a bottle of Noodler’s Baystate Blue, a beautiful colonial style deep and bright blue ink. The color is extremely intense to say the least. There are many rumors and warnings that surround this ink. One important fact to know: This ink has a different pH than most inks on the market. It is a more alkaline and should not be mixed with any other ink. This also means that pens MUST be cleaned extremely well when using this. Reports that Baystate Blue has solidified when mixed in a pen that was not cleaned well enough. I personally found this to be true with a Platinum Preppy, it happened when I initially bought the ink. There have been rumors of Baystate Blue eating the feeds of various pens. I thankfully, have not experienced that, so as I cannot verify it as a fact. My point here is, please use caution when using this ink. I recommend testing it out in less expensive / disposable pen. Just in case…
I cautiously loaded my Waterman Phileas with the Baystate Blue. This ink is really shocking, extremely saturated and very bright. I found the ink to be a bit dry, in fact I seem to have issues with dryouts. Specifically, on the downstrokes (you should be able to see this in ink review). I found the dryness to cause a some skipping as well. The ink does show and bleedthrough, no real issue with feathering. As far as the dryness is concerned I know some people that dilute BSB in a 1:1 ratio with water. I may try this on my next fill. Hopefully, that increases the flow and lubrication.
Some other things to note… This ink is waterproof once it is dry. It stains like mad. I mean really stains, it takes a long time for this stuff to come off. Noodler’s ships their ink bottles completely full, so be very carefully when opening. When I opened mine a few small droplets ended up on the counter. Even after a scrub with bleach, they were still there.
In my opinion this is probably my all-time-favorite blue ink I have tested thus far. I just wish it wasn’t such a pain to deal with. If it was an ink that I didn’t have to worry about… this would definitely be my everyday ink. For now, my Waterman Phileas is my permanent Baystate Blue pen.
This ink, as well as many other inks and pens can be purchased from – my friends at Pear Tree Pens.
Matt is a Systems Development Director for a multinational franchise. Matt has lived and worked in Hawaii, Chicago, South Florida and currently resides outside of Atlanta. He enjoys his hobbies including Technology, Gadgets/EDC, Fountain Pens, Wetshaving, Clocks, Antiques & Coffee. He even roasts his own coffee weekly.
I really wish the ink was safer! I love that color.
It’s fine as long as you dedicate a pen to it.
dedicate a pen to is, this waterman phileas is doing very well. plus be careful when filling.
I just got a sample of Baystate Cranberry and tried it out tonight, and almost couldn't clean the drops out of the sink. The Noodler's site says “Also – if you are worried that an ink might stain a porous surface (as almost all ink – except washable – originally did exactly that before approx. 1970) you should not use the three “Baystate” colors. These inks are made for those people who can handle vintage style inks.”
I'm not sure I'm one of those people, because I can be quite clumsy!
I believe a slight ammonia / water solution can help take it out (most of the way). Did you like the BSC color? I was contemplating…
Try a solution of ammonia and water to clean it up. say 10:1 (ammonia to water) build up as needed.
Ate my Lamy Vista and Safari feeds for breakfast. Wish Noodlers (and the seller) would have made the appropriate warnings available when I purchased this little bottle of bright blue acid–and before I tanked up my M800…
It doesn’t eat feeds. however, it is highly ALKALINE- not acidic, so it doesn’t play nice with other inks. What happened is you left a tiny amount of the old ink in your pen, and this ink reacted with it inside the feed- creating an exothermic reaction, with possible gas bubbles, which expanded inside the feed and damaged it.