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Montblanc Leo Tolstoy Sky Blue

4/14/16

Isn't that some oddly-nice handwriting? Here's the secret: have your wife write things for you.

That was written with the huge Franklin-Christoph Christoph Music Nib. My handwriting is pretty terrible with that nib (I hold the pen all wrong, it seems), but hers always looks nice. She's not even trying. It's hardly fair.

So, the ink.

Montblanc's Tolstoy is a pretty dark blue. Far darker, actually, than I was expecting it to be. I don't know what made me thing it was a light blue, but I could swear that I saw some early swabs of it that made it look superlight. I remember not buying it when it dropped for exactly that reason. Fortunately, it's not. What you get is a sort of dusky true-blue. It reminds me more of sea than sky, but YMMV. The performance of this ink is pretty solid, but I don't think it's quite as good as some of the other Montblanc LEs that I've used. It bleeds a little more than it needs to, and it just seems to be missing something.

Let me know what you think about this one in the comments.

Written Review


Close Up!

Remember that these are close-ups of the ink on Rhodia, and that you're unlikely to see this much shading on many other papers. Copy paper doesn't shade this much but, as you'll see below, there is a touch of shading from the bigger nibs.





 A little bit of sheen? Yep. Just a little, though. I didn't really see this from any of my test pens. Maybe if you use a dip pen?

Copy Paper Test

 There's some shading on this paper, but there's also a little more bleed than I'd like from this one. I'm willing to tolerate some bleed for a really special hue, but this one just falls under the curve if you know what I mean.

Compare!


Chromatography


Video Review! Water Drop Test!





This one is not my favorite of the Montblanc Limited Editions, and it's certainly not my favorite blue. It's competent and a bit interesting, but I don't know that it's going to be the ink that people are clamoring for once it's gone ( like Leonardo's Red Chalk, for instance).

I bought this one from Anderson Pens, and this review isn't sponsored by any party. You, too, can find it there (when it's in stock) for $16 in a 35ml bottle.

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Post Comment
xty said...

I keep inking this up. The LE thing causes anxiety. A less expensive dead ringer: KWZ Standard Azure #5. KWZ are well behaved, in my experience.

Mike Matteson said...

I need to test some of those out. I have only tried them at shows, and I think I have one sample of a KWZ. Thanks for the tip!

conib said...

I'm a little late to this party, sorry! but do you happen to know how this color compares to Sailor Jentle Souten?

villariny said...

I had a fountain pen for the last 8 years, and I love it. Looks like it went to war. But, it just have been recently that I really got into the pens in the last few weeks, all of them Lamy. I was curious about this one but they ran out. Montblanc is not making it, so whatever is out for sale that's it. At least is the info I got. Anyway, I ended up ordering it and now I'm hooked on inks! This Sky Blue is just amazing. Not only the color, but the pen just runs fantastic on the paper. And is regular everyday paper. In specialized paper is much better. Love it. I'm not ordering another one because I got a Meistertück Permanent Hray, which also is awesome. I haventhe Sky Blue in a Lamy Studio 14k M nib.

villariny said...

I had a fountain pen for the last 8 years, and I love it. Looks like it went to war. But, it just have been recently that I really got into the pens in the last few weeks, all of them Lamy. I was curious about this one but they ran out. Montblanc is not making it, so whatever is out for sale that's it. At least is the info I got. Anyway, I ended up ordering it and now I'm hooked on inks! This Sky Blue is just amazing. Not only the color, but the pen just runs fantastic on the paper. And is regular everyday paper. In specialized paper is much better. Love it. I'm not ordering another one because I got a Meistertück Permanent Hray, which also is awesome. I haventhe Sky Blue in a Lamy Studio 14k M nib.

Unknown said...

Hey Mike, I like this ink and have only used it in one pen and that pen only with this ink (MB 149) so I don't know where the problem lies, but I can't get ink flow on Post-It's. I use them constantly at the office and it's strange that a pen and ink that does fine on other paper gave me such a problem. Weird.