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Speedball

Blue

Blues & navies#2323BD

Speedball is one of the 713 brands in Inktend's built-in ink catalog.

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Specs

Color familyBlues & navies
Approx. hex#2323BD
SheenNot typically noted

Paper & pairing

Blues and navies are the most broadly "safe" fountain pen colors: legible, professional, and unlikely to raise eyebrows in an office. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.

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About Speedball

Speedball is an American art materials brand whose roots go back to the C. Howard Hunt Pen Company, founded in 1899. It became famous for its Speedball dip pen nibs, which remain a standard for calligraphy and lettering, offered in A, B, C, and D series styles. Today the company also produces inks, calligraphy fountain pens, and printmaking supplies.

United States Founded 1899
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Storing and using the bottle

Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.

Frequently asked questions

What color family is Blue?
Blue falls into Inktend's blues & navies family based on its typical swatch color.
Does Blue have sheen?
Blue is not typically noted for sheen. If you want that effect, browse similarly colored inks tagged with sheen in the ink library.
How should I store a bottle of Blue?
Years, easily, as long as it stays capped and out of direct sunlight. The thing that actually shortens an ink's usable life is sitting unused inside a pen, not sitting on a shelf.
What paper works best with Blue?
It behaves predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Stick to something reasonably absorbent-resistant, since cheap copier paper dulls saturation and can feather.

Similar shades By colour distance

Starlit Night #3
Becomefish
Blue
Centropen
Omotesando Blue
Bungubox
Color Bar Ink #28 Exorcist
Ishimaru Bunkoudou
Mid Field Glaze
Ban Mi
Shimmertastic - Cobalt Jazz
Diamine

Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.