Berlin Notebook Blue No. 1 is a curious name! The brand is Berlin Notebook and the ink is called Blue No. 1. The ink is a ‘super sheener’ but most interestingly the ink also can be bought sans sheen! Berlin Notebook Blue No. 1 BLACK LABEL is a reformulation of the ink colour (almost) without the sheen. I don’t have this sans-sheen ink but I might look into it down the track. Berlin Notebook also, unsurprisingly, make notebooks but I haven’t tried those! Berlin Notebook Blue No. 1 (with sheen) also comes in a tiny 5ml bottle.

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Blue No. 1 is a ver rich dark blue. It isn’t a blue-black because it is very much a saturated blue ink but it’s still quite dark. I believe it’s due to how much dye is in the ink. The blue is fairly neutral not leaning that green or that purple but if it leant any direction it would be green. The ink is wet and lubricated and feels lovely to write with.

The shading is gradual gradient but is more sudden on Tomoe River than on Rhodia. The ink also shows much lighter on Rhodia than it does on Tomoe River. Unfortunately there is a bit of feathering on Rhodia with the wetter Medium nib on the Aurora Duocart. You hate to see this, especially with such a pretty blue. Fortunately the ink is really pretty on Tomoe River with some gorgeous blues and some noticeable red-copper sheen.

Speaking of sheen, the sheen is very strong and vibrant on Tomoe River with a rich red-coppery colour. While this in in the league of super sheener it still isn’t in the realm of Nitrogen Royal Blue as the ink colour below the sheen is still very much visible, especially on the Fine OPUS 88 nib. The wet Medium Aurora Duocart shows much more sheen but you can still see the shading and the colour beneath! The perfect ‘strong sheen’ ink for me!

A side effect of the feathering, which related to the ink absorbing into the paper, is no sheen on Rhodia. There is the very tiniest hint on the edge of the swatch but it really doesn’t actually present with sheen in any practical sense.

As for other papers, many of the perform much like Tomoe River. The sheen gets flatter on Original Crown Mill 100% Cotton paper and Ivory G. Lalo paper but otherwise is still a bright vibrant sheen on the papers that present with it!

The chromatography is fairly basic but it does start with a grey line where the ink is drawn on. There’s some bright vibrant turquoise ink at the start that quickly disappears into a blue gradient that end with a very dark blue line.

Again, due to the absorbent nature of the ink on Rhodia, dry time is super quick on the paper. On Tomoe River it’s on the slower side but not too bad.

The ink, I would expect due, again, to how it absorbs into Rhodia, is fairly water resistant on the paper but is much less so on Tomoe River, only leaving behind a faint get line.

The ink is rich and dark on Rhodia but is a little lighter than on other papers. It is still richly saturated. It is flatter on Rhodia as well.

• Diamine Majestic Blue: is greener and a little less flat;

• Diamine Skull & Roses: is darker and richer and greener;

• Diamine Maureen: is much darker and a hint greener;

• Organics Studio Twilight Blue: is noticeably more green and dark!

• KWZ Chicago Blue: Is a fairly similar colour but less saturated;

• Kobe #37 Island Blue: Is also close but greener and a tad less saturated and a tad darker; and

• Diamine Jalur Gemilang: Is flatter in the swatch but high contrast in the writing and much greener!

Rhodia isn't a strong sheening paper but the closest ink, in terms of sheen on Rhodia, to Blue No. 1 is KWZ Chicago Blue… which doesn’t really sheen! The rest are all stronger, especially Diamine Maureen and Organics Studio Twilight Blue. Diamine Skull & Roses has a similar red-copper colour.

The ink is beautiful on Tomoe River (to me at least!). Rich and dark, especially in the writing, with good contrast and sheen.

• Diamine Majestic Blue: is darker, less saturated and less green, surprisingly;

• Diamine Skull & Roses: is less saturated and also less saturated and less green;

• Diamine Maureen: is getting closer in saturation but still lacking on Tomoe River, also getting more green leaning but not there yet;

• Organics Studio Twilight Blue: is all sheen. Seems to be green underneath but less saturated? Difficult to tell!

• KWZ Chicago Blue: is darker and just as rich but less green;

• Kobe #37 Island Blue: is darker and rich with more green than Chicago blue but still not enough!

• Diamine Jalur Gemilang: is lighter but the closest hue on Tomoe River!

Some beautiful colours here, especially the almost purple sheen that accompanies the red-copper sheen on Skull & Roses and Kobe #37 Island Blue’s dual green and pink sheen. Diamine Jalur Gamilang, Organics Studio Twilight Blue (which is only sheen) and Diamine Maureen have very rich pink sheen with less copper in them compared Berlin Notebook Blue No. 1. Diamine Majestic Blue is also pinker but not as richly saturated as the other pink sheening inks mentioned above. Diamine Skull & Roses is definitely the closest with its mostly red-copper colour!

I really love this ink on Tomoe River, and indeed any paper where it sheen on it looks and performs excellently on! Unfortunately the feathering on Rhodia, and some other papers (see below) might be a dealbreaker for some. It isn’t for me as I usually use Tomoe River paper. Interestingly it performs OK on poorer papers (such as copy paper). I love the rich colour, the shading, the contrast, and the right amount of sheen for me. The red-copper colour also compliments the ink colour very nicely for me. The ink also feels very nice to write with. It’s definitely a shame about the feathering on Rhodia but I’ll still be using it on Tomoe River and I’ll be enjoying it!

The ink is fairly affordable at €11.99 (AU$21.60, US$13.3, £10.9) for the 30ml sheening ink and €12.99 (AU$23.40, US$14.5, £11.8) for the non-sheening black label ink (not reviewed here) and €2.99 (AU$5.4, US$3.3, £2.7) for the 5ml bottle.

I bought this ink from Berlin Notebook but the ink is also available from Pen Classics NZ.

UPDATE: use code MACCHIATOMAN to get 20% off your first order (one use per customer)!

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