Antigua’s - Blue Night

Antigua’s - Blue Night - Ink drop

Antigua’s Blue Night is one of three blue inks (four if you include a teal) offered by Spanish brand Antigua’s. As the name suggests, it’s the darkest of the three, but it’s on the lighter end of the dark blue category.

Antigua’s - Blue Night - Color Range

In color, it first brings to mind Iroshizuku’s Shin-kai, but it’s somewhere in the middle between Shin-kai and Iroshizuku Asa-gao. In the comparison image, it matches closely with Pelikan Royal Blue, but I think Blue Night has a friendlier personality. In some of the swatches, there’s a subtle hint of lavender in the lightest areas, and you can see why from the chromatography.

Shading and Depth on Cosmo Air Light

This isn’t a particularly strong shading ink on uncoated papers, but there’s enough variation to add highlights to stroke ends. Coated papers definitely provide more dramatic shading, which I prefer. As usual, I really like the results on Cosmo Air Snow paper (it’s hard to get, but it really shows off the best in almost any ink.)

Hits of Sheen on Tomoe River

I didn’t have any problems with feathering other than a hint on Mnemosyne, but that was very minor. On cheap copy paper, it performed well, but in my juicy, medium nibbed TWSBI Vac700 there was notable show-through. Use a drier or finer nib on cheap papers if that’s a concern. Drying times were average of better on all papers.

Strong Shading on Cosmo Air Snow

This is a good-looking blue, and it performs well overall. It would make a nice choice for an everyday work ink. Antigua’s inks come in the 50 ml bottles most people will recognize from Pelikan’s Edelstein line. At EUR11.99 a bottle, Antigua’s inks are really attractively priced. You can find them at www.antiguas.es. (And good news! Starting in January 2024, full international shipping will be available!)

Antigua’s - Blue Night - Writing Samples

Special thanks to Miguel Angel at Antigua’s for providing the ink, and to Maria at www.inksinspiration.com for sending them as a surprise! Check out both of their websites!

Antigua’s - Blue Night - Swatch Card

Antigua’s - Blue Night - Comparisons

50 ml Bottle - (Image from www.antiguas.es)