Ink light and water resistance tests

2012 blue ballpoint ink test


This time I decided not to test lots of different types of ink and I choose blue ballpoint refills on three types of paper: Banana paper, Moleskine and Whitelines.

Test ran from end of July until the end of the year. First section was kept in the dark, second and third were taped to the inside of a window facing out, second kept there two weeks and third five  months. Fourth strip was washed in water one hour after writing.

  • Ballograf original (archival)
  • Ballograf original in plastic refill (archival), from the SA-4000 pen
  • Ballograf Friendly (not marked archival, so this I was very curious about)
  • Ballograf short plastic
  • Ballograf Easyflow
  • Schmidt P900 12757-2
  • Schmidt P950 air pressure
  • Schmidt Easyflow
  • Schneider Slider
  • Parker 12757-2
  • Monteverdi P15
  • Mont Blanc
  • Pelikan
  • Parker 5th (not a ballpoint)
  • Fisher
  • Fisher turquoise
  • Bic M10
  • Bic Atlantis
  • Uni Jetstream
  • Lamy M66 (rollerball)
  • Pilot Acroball
  • Pilot Nextage
  • Lamy M16
  • Generic (white plastic)
  • Generic (white plastic)




2011 fountain and ballpoint ink test

Inks tested in this round, on three different kinds of paper, one ordinary, one thick and not very absorbing and on Whitelines, none of them certificated as archival paper as far as I know.
Test ran from end of August until the end of the year. First section was kept in the dark, second and third were taped to the inside of a window facing out, second kept there one month and third three months. Fourth strip was washed in water one hour after writing.
  • Ballograf blue (DIN 16554-2, so it was almost certainly not new)
    Slight colour shift after subjected to light, depending on paper almost unaffected by water.
  • Ballograf black  (ISO 12757-2)
    Handles water better than the blue and there's no colour to shift.
  • Ballograf green
  • Fisher blue
  • Fisher black
  • Uni Jetstream blue
  • Ballograf Friendly blue (not marked as archival)
    Almost the same as the regular, not quite as environmentally friendly, apart from what happens in water where it's shown to have a red component.
  • Uni Powertank Eco blue
  • Zebra Sarasa black (gel)
  • Pilot Permaball (acrylic?)
  • Generic cheap blue ballpoint
    Almost gone after just one month. I don't know what makes them cheap, but they sure lack something.
  • Generic cheap red ballpoint
  • Lamy M66 rollerball blue
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri wild chestnut/dark brown
    This whole line is according to the maker light proof. But they don't tell you unless you ask.
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku peacock/turquoise
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku forest green
  • Noodler's red-black
  • Lamy fountain pen blue
  • Noodler's X-Feather
  • Mont Blanc Irish Green
  • Mont Bland Royal blue
  • Noodler's Blue
  • Noodler's Gruene Cactus
  • Noodler's Baystate Blue
    Takes the prize for the most light sensitive blue fountain pen ink I've encountered.
  • Pelikan Highligher bright yellow


2010 fountain pen ink test

 
This test round ran from August 2010 to spring 2011. And as ususal, it's only in order to let myself choose which inks I'll use, but maybe of interest to others too. This test is made on rather thick paper which isn't very absorbing.

  • Caran d'Ace Saffron
  • Noodler's Tanager Orange
  • Waterman Havana
  • Pelikan Brilliant Brün
  • Caran d'Ache Amazon
  • Pelikan Brilliant-grün
  • Mont Blanc Englishgrün
  • Swisher Emerald
  • Mont Blanc Irish Green
  • Noodler's Midnight
  • Noodler's Ottoman Azure
  • Waterman Florida Blue
  • Swisher Nantucket Blue
  • Waterman South Seas Blue
  • Caran d'Ache Caribbean
  • Platinum Black
  • Noodler's Nuke
  • Omas Grey
  • Noodler's Shah's Rose
  • Noodler's Red-black
  • Noodler's Stockholm Indigo
  • Mont Blanc Bordeaux
  • Pelikan Violet
And a few other kinds of ink as comparision.

  • Mont Blanc Marathon rollerball
  • Lamy M66 rollerball
  • Zebra Zebroller AX7
  • Uni Jetstream
  • Caran d'Ache fibre-tip
  • Pilot V disposable fountain pen

2009 test round

This isn't a scientific test, partly because I haven't used archival paper -- which I didn't think was important as this isn't a long duration test. So you can't rely on it if you have professional reasons to use archival ink nor if long term storage is an issue. I just made it to guide myself and maybe someone else finds it interesting too.
 The first paper is an ordinary cheap spiral pad paper. The second paper is banana paper. It's quite rough and doesn't absorb ink as much as most office papers does.
The first column in the images is paper which has been stored dark for 4 months, the fourth column was thoroughly soaked and rinsed in water for 10 minutes. The second and third columns were exposed to light by being taped to the inside of a window for 3 weeks and 3 months. I messed up and their positions are switched between the papers.
No fountain pen ink was used in this round of testing, only ballpoint and rollerball. Inks/pens used:
  • Bic M10 and Orange
  • Ballograf
  • Parker ballpoint and gel
  • Schneider Express, Slider and Gelion
  • Uni Jetstream and Power Tank
  • Fisher
  • Pilot BRFN-30 and Permaball
  • Lamy M66
  • Cheap generic plastic ballpoint refill
We can see that without surprise none of the gel inks could handle water and nor are they especially light fast. One thing which surprised med was that the M66 rollerball stood up to water quite well, even on the non-absorbing paper. (Due to the nature of the test, all inks were let to dry for a day before being subjected to water.)
Another things which doesn't surprise us is that inks marked for document use really are more permanent. One could have thought that the Parker refill from an "Urban" pen, which isn't so marked, could have been the same as the others, but without the marking -- but it's clearly not but something else.
The 19 year old Ballograf refill gives a slightly different colour in use, but regarding fastness it's just as good as a new. As expected, as the documentary standard also specifies a 10 year shelf life of refills.
One surprise of the test is the Slider refills, because the black one is marked "for documents". Even if this isn't a proper long term test I'd expected it to do much better regarding light fastness.

Water resistance and light fastness test of some fountain pen, roller ball, ballpoint and gel inks (2003)

Ballpoint and gel

 This test ran from 02-09-15. One strip was rinsed under running water. One strip was taped to the inside of a window facing out until 02-10-20 (5 weeks), one strip until 03-05-17 (8 months) and one strip was 1 m from a window perpendicular to it and subjected to office light until 03-08-18 (11 months). It can be noted that this gave almost the same effect as facing full sunlight one autumn week.
  • Parker blue bold "new standard" ballpoint
    Water: OK.
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Slight fading
    Light (8 months): More faded, slightly greenish
  • Parker blue medium ballpoint
    Water: OK.
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Slight fading
    Light (8 months): More faded, slightly greenish
    Light (11 months): Slight fading
  • Parker black fine ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): Some fading
  • Parker gel 0.7 blue
    Water: Totally washed away
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Faded to faint brownish
    Light (8 months): Totally faded
  • Parker gel 0.7 black
    Water: Smudged
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Slight fading
    Light (8 months): Faded to brownish
  • Fisher blue bold ballpoint
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): Fainter greyish
  • Fisher black bold ballpoint
    Water: Slight smudging
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): Barely noticable fading
  • Rotring blue medium ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Some colour change
    Light (8 months): Faded to somewhat faint greenish
  • Zebra Jimnie blue gel
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Zebra J-roller blue gel
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Zebra J-roller black gel
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Pilot G-1 1.0 blue
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Some fading, greyish
    Light (8 months): Faded to faint grey
  • Pilot G-2 0.7 blue
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Some fading
    Light (8 months): Faded to faint grey
  • Pilot G-2 0.7 purple
    Water: Illegible
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Barely legible
    Light (8 months): Totally faded
  • Pilot G-2 0.7 red
    Water: Barely legible
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): Very faint red
    Light (8 months): Almost totally faded
  • Niji J-Clear III black
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): Faded slightly greyish
  • Sakura Gelly Roll blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Pentel K106 Hybrid Roller
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Bic Intensity Clic 0.7 gel
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks/11 months): OK
    Light (8 months): OK

Ballpoint, rollerball, disposable fountain pens

 This test ran from 02-09-22. One strip was rinsed under running water. One strip was taped to the inside of a window facing out until 02-10-31 (5 weeks), one strip until 03-05-17 (8 months).
  • Parker blue bold ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Parker blue gel
    Water: Washed away
    Light (5 weeks): Faded to brownish
    Light (8 months): Faded to almost illegibility
  • Parker blue rollerball
    Water: Almost washed away, illegible
    Light (5 weeks): Faded to dark purple
    Light (8 months): Faded to almost illegibility
  • Zeb-Roller DX-7 blue
    Water: Faint light blue, legible
    Light (5 weeks): Faded to dark purple
    Light (8 months): Faded to faint brownish
  • Zeb-Roller DX-7 black
    Water: Faint grey, legible
    Light (5 weeks): Slight fading
    Light (8 months): Noticable fading
  • Bic Orange blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): Faded dark blue
    Light (8 months): Faded greenish
  • Bic Cristal black
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): Some fading and colour change to brownish
  • Bic Atlantic blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): Faded dark blue
    Light (8 months): Faded greenish
  • Pilot BPS-GP extra broad blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): Darker
    Light (8 months): Faint greyish
  • G-1 Metallic blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • G-2 purple
    Water: Smudged
    Light (5 weeks): Only faint remains
    Light (8 months): Illegible
  • Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen blue
    Water: Illegible
    Light (5 weeks): Faded to purple
    Light (8 months): Faint reddish remains
  • Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen black
    Water: Almost washed away, barely legible
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): Slight fading
  • Ballograf blue ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): Faded, darker
    Light (8 months): Faded, faint greenish
  • Penac Sleek Touch ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): Faded, darker
    Light (8 months): Faded, faint greenish
  • Pilot P-700 blue rollerball
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Pilot V7 rollerball blue
    Water: Smudged, legible
    Light (5 weeks): Slight fading
    Light (8 months): Faded to faint blue-grey
  • Pilot V-2000/5 black rollerball
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): Greyish
  • Pilot V5 turqouise rollerball
    Water: Faint remains
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): Some fading
  • Pilot V7 red rollerball
    Water: Smudged
    Light (5 weeks): Faint remains
    Light (8 months): Faded to illegibility
  • Pentel Hybrid black
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): OK
  • Sakura Gelly Roll blue
    Water: OK
    Light (5 weeks): OK
    Light (8 months): OK

Fountain pen inks

 One strip was rinsed under running water, one was taped to the inside of a window between 03-01-07 and 03-05-17.
  • Parker Penman Emerald
    Water: Faint, but legible
    Light: OK
  • Pelikan Brilliant Green
    Water: Faint remains
    Light: Faint remains
  • Mont Blanc green
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Very faint remains
  • Waterman green
    Water: Smudged, hardly legible
    Light: Faint grey
  • Shaeffer green
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Faded
  • Pelikan turquoise
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Faint remains
  • Parker turquoise
    Water: Smudged but legible
    Light: Faded
  • Pelikan purple
    Water: Very faint remains
    Light: Faded remains
  • Mont Blanc blue
    Water: Very faint remains
    Light: Faded to grey
  • Waterman Florida blue
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Dark grey
  • Parker Quink blue
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Dark grey
  • Pelikan blue
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Faint dark grey
  • Caran d'Ache blue
    Water: Almost washed away, barely legible
    Light: Faint dark grey
  • Shaeffer blue
    Water: Almost washed away, barely legible
    Light: Faint dark grey
  • Pelikan blue-black
    Water: Faint grey
    Light: Some fading to grey
  • Mont Blanc blue-black
    Water: Slight smudging, good legibility
    Light: OK, barely noticable fading
  • Shaeffer blue-black
    Water: Faint grey
    Light: Faded
  • Parker blue-black
    Water: Faint blueish
    Light: Very faint grey
  • Pelikan black
    Water: Smudging
    Light: OK
  • Shaeffer black
    Water: Smudging
    Light: OK
  • Waterman black
    Water: Faint blue
    Light: Some fading
  • Mont Blanc black
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Brownish
  • Parker black
    Water: Faint blueish
    Light: Some fading
  • Pelikan brilliant brown
    Water: Very faint blueish
    Light: Slight fading
  • Waterman Havana
    Water: Washed away
    Light: Some fading
  • Shaeffer red
    Water: Faint red
    Light: Faint red
  • Pelikan red
    Water: Very faint
    Light: Faint dark red

Rollerball, ballpoint, gel

 One strip was rinsed under running water, one was taped to the inside of a window from 03-01-05 until 03-02-22 (6 weeks) and one until 03-05-17 (18 weeks).
  • Parker blue rollerball
    Water: Almost illegible
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Faint reddish
  • Pelikan black rollerball fine
    Water: Slightly smudged
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Some fading
  • Pelikan blue rollerball medium
    Water: Almost illegible
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Faint brownish
  • Mont Blanc green rollerball
    Water: Smudged, almost washed away
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Very faint, barely legible
  • Parker blue gel
    Water: Almost illegible
    Light (6 weeks): Purple
    Light (18 weeks): Very faint red
  • Parker black gel
    Water: Smudged
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Slightly brownish
  • Zebra blue retractible gel
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): OK
  • Pilot G-2 purple
    Water: Smudged
    Light (6 weeks): Faint
    Light (18 weeks): Illegible
  • Pilot G-2 blue
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Faint black
  • Pilot G-2 black
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Some fading
  • Pilog G-2 green
    Water: Very smudged
    Light (6 weeks): Dark green
    Light (18 weeks): Faint brownish
  • Pilot BPS-GP blue ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Faint remains
  • Pilot BPS-GP black ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): Slight fading
    Light (18 weeks): Faded
  • Pilot BPS-GP green ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Slight fading
  • Rotring blue ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Faint greenish
  • Ballograf green ballpoint
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): OK
  • Ballograf blue ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Faint greenish
  • Parker blue ballpoint
    Water: Slight smudging
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Slightly greyish
  • Parker black ballpoint
    Water: OK
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Slight fading
  • Parker blue broad ballpoint
    Water: Slight smudging
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Slightly greyish
  • Fisher black ballpoint
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Slight fading
  • Fisher blue ballpoint
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Darker
  • Fisher green ballpoint
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (6 weeks): OK
    Light (18 weeks): Fait remains
  • Fisher blue Spaceball ballpoint
    Water: Slight smudging
    Light (6 weeks): Darker
    Light (18 weeks): Slightly greyish

Water resistance and light fastness test of some fountain pen, ballpoint and gel inks (2002)

Water resistance testing was by letting the ink dry for a day and then rinse under running water. Light fastness testing is done by taping the paper to the inside of a window. (This test was started in the summer.)
These are the intermediate results. I'll let the light fastness testing continue.

Ballpoint and gel inks

This time around I didn't bother to test and roller ball inks.
  • Pilot G-2 blue, 0.7 mm
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (4 weeks): Some fading
    Light (8 weeks): Faint grey-black remains
  • Pilot G-2 black, 0.7 mm
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (4 weeks): Hardly noticable fading
    Light (8 weeks): Slight fading
  • Pilot G-2 purple, 0.7 m
    Water: Almost washed away
    Light (4 weeks): Completely faded (took 2 weeks to fade to illegibility)
  • Zebra gel blue, 0.7 mm
    Water: Very good
    Light (4 weeks): Very good
    Light (8 weeks): No noticable fading
  • Niji Gel black, 0.7 mm
    Water: Good
    Light (4 weeks): Good
    Light (8 weeks): Slight further fading
  • Parker gel blue, 0.7 mm
    Water: Totally washed away
    Light (4 weeks): Faded to a faint reddish brown (already after two weeks)
    Light (8 weeks): Almost completely faded
  • Parker gel black, 0.7 mm
    Water: Slight smudging, greyish
    Light (4 weeks): Good
    Light (8 weeks): Slight further fading
  • Parker ballpoint blue, medium
    Water: Very good
    Light (4 weeks): OK
    Light (8 weeks): Hardly any further fading
  • Parker ballpoint black, fine
    Water: Very good
    Light (4 weeks): Very good
    Light (8 weeks): No noticable further fading
  • Rotring ballpoint blue
    Water: Very good
    Light (4 weeks): Noticable fading
    Light (8 weeks): Very slight further fading
  • Fisher ballpoint black, bold
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (4 weeks): Good
    Light (8 weeks): No noticable further fading
  • Fisher ballpoint blue, bold
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (4 weeks): OK
    Light (8 weeks): Some further colour change

Fountain pen inks


  • Shaeffer Skrip blue-black
    Water: Some fading
    Light (3 weeks): Slight fading to a grey-black
    Light (7 weeks): Faded to grey-brown
  • Shaeffer Skrip blue
    Water: Faded
    Light (3 weeks): Very faded to a greenish grey
    Light (7 weeks): Much further fading
  • Shaeffer blue
    Water: Faded
    Light (3 weeks): Very faded to a greenish grey
    Light (7 weeks): Much further fading
  • Shaeffer peacock blue
    Water: Very faded
    Light (3 weeks): Faded to a darker blue grey
    Light (7 weeks): Much further fading
  • Parker black
    Water: Blueish, some smudging
    Light (3 weeks): Faded to a dark brown
    Light (7 weeks): Faded to light brown
  • Parker blue
    Water: Practically totally washed away
    Light (3 weeks): Faint greyish blue
    Light (7 weeks): Very faded
  • Parker turquoise
    Water: Very faded
    Light (3 weeks): Faded to a darker blue grey
    Light (7 weeks): Some further fading
  • Waterman black
    Water: Blueish, some smudging
    Light (3 weeks): Faded to a dark brown
    Light (7 weeks): Faded to light brown
  • Waterman florida blue
    Water: Practically totally washed away
    Light (3 weeks): Faint greyish blue
    Light (7 weeks): Faded to very light faint grey
  • Mont Blanc black
    Water: Practically totally washed away
    Light (3 weeks): Faded to a purplish colour
    Light (7 weeks): Faint reddish brown
  • Mont Blanc blue-black
    Water: Almost no fading
    Light (3 weeks): Some fading, more greyish
    Light (7 weeks): Some further fading
  • Mont Blanc blue
    Water: Faded to a faint colour
    Light (3 weeks): Faded
    Light (7 weeks): Almost totally faded
  • Pelikan brilliant black
    Water: Some smudging
    Light (3 weeks): Slight colour change
    Light (7 weeks): Very slight fading to brown
  • Pelikan royal blue
    Water: Almost washed away
    Light (3 weeks): Faded
    Light (7 weeks): Almost totally faded
  • Pelikan blue-black
    Water: Faded
    Light (3 weeks): Slight colour change
    Light (7 weeks): Faded to light grey-brown
  • Pelikan purple
    Water: Practically washed away
    Light (3 weeks): Faint reddish
    Light (7 weeks): Hardly any remains

An ink light fastness test (2002)

This test was made under realistic but accelerated conditions, it's not comprehensive, I've just used most of the inks I had at hand earlier this year.
Testing was performed by writing on two different kinds of paper and cutting a strip of each of them and taping on the inside of a window (facing east, I live pretty far north and during the testing period of Jan/Feb to May it's often cloudy here). So while accelerated, the conditions have not included stronger light nor other wavelengths than you can get indoors, it's just that papers don't usually get direct sunlight 3-6 h/day.
There were few differences between the two papers.
  • Paker Quink Black
    Faded brownish.
  • Pelikan Brilliand Black
    Faded very slightly to brownish, best of the fountain pen inks in this trial.
  • Mont Blanc Black
    Faded to faint or very faint reddish brown.
  • Waterman Black
    Faded brownish.
  • Pelikan Royal Blue
    Very faint.
  • Waterman Florida Blue
    Faint.
  • Parker Quink Turqoise
    Faded.
  • Shaeffer Peacock Blue
    Totally faded.
  • Waterman Havana
    Slightly faded.
  • Parker Penman Mocha
    Very faded.
  • Parker Penman Ruby
    Very faded, nearly illegible.
  • Shaeffer Red
    Very faded, nearly illegible.
  • Pilot G-2 Black
    Slightly faded.
  • Rotring rollerball black
    Has turned brownish, very little fading.
  • Pilot G-2 Blue
    Faded noticably.
  • Rotring rollerball blue
    Totally faded, slight reddish remains.
  • Fisher ballpoint black
    Hardly noticable fading.
  • Parker rollerball blue
    Very faded, faint reddish remains.
  • Cross Ion Midnight Blue
    Faded to grey-black.
  • Parker Gel Blue
    Very faded, faint reddish remains.


The top section was tested from Jan 15:th, the middle from Feb 2:nd and the last from Feb 16:th, all tests stopped on May 11:th. I had planned on running the test longer, but I stopped when the first colours had been totally wiped out.

An ink water resistance test (2002)

The other day I made the discovery that restistance to smudging isn't directly tied into an inks water resistance when soaked or rinsed after being put on paper. So I performed a brief test of some of the inks I use, bottled inks, some roller ball inks and one fountain pen ink.
It can be noted that on the best paper, which was the cheapest and in other respects probably would be considered the worst, all inks left a legible, if sometimes quite fades, result. On the worst paper, seven out of the 17 inks were at least partially completely obliterated. On the four in between, two to five inks were washed out enough that I judge what was left to be hardly legible.
I performed the test by first writing on the papers (in the same order), left the ink to dry a bit more than two hours and then kept the right hand part of the paper under running water until the water didn't remove any more ink (because I didn't want it to flow around and mix with the other inks).
  • Parker Quink Black
    Left a blue remain on all papers, feathers out to yellow if water is left on it.
  • Pelikan Brilliant Black
    Left faint black remains on all papers.
  • Mont Blanc Black
    Left a faint purplish or blue remain, or was washed away.
  • Waterman Black
    Blue or blue-black remains on all papers. Also feathers to yellow and blue. Very similar in resistance to Parker's black.
  • Pelikan Royal Blue
    Blue or washed away.
  • Waterman Florida Blue
    Blue remains or washed away. Least resistant blue. Surprised me, as this is one of the more smudge resistant inks I've got.
  • Parker Quink Turquoise
    Turquoise or practically washed away.
  • Shaeffer Peacock Blue
    Turquoise or practically washed away. Less resistant than Parker's turquoise.
  • Waterman Havana
    Easily washed away. Can leave a faint blue or brown remain, feathers to different colours if left wet.
  • Parker Penman Mocha
    Leaves a faint grey-black remain.
  • Parker Penman Ruby
    Can leave purplish remains.
  • Shaeffer Red
    Faint red. Doesn't flow out on the surrounding paper in relation to how much it's faded.
  • Pilot G-2 black (RB)
    Good water resistance even on the worst paper.
  • Rotring black (RB)
    Another surprise, almost smudge free when writing. Fades or smudges when wet.
  • Pilot G-2 blue (RB)
    Good water resistance on most papers.
  • Rotring blue (RB)
    Can be completely washed away. Separates into blue and red.
  • Fisher black bold (BP)
    Good water resistance.

Five of the six different papers. (4 and 5 showed nearly the same result.) The last has not only been flushed, but has had water dropped on the left part.