Noodler’s Ink Baystate Blue Review

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Just because lawyers traditionally stick to blue or black ink is no excuse not to be distinctive. Baystate Blue, from Noodler’s Ink, is one of the most-distinctive inks you will ever find. It is an intense, cobalt-blue ink that jumps off the page as if it were battery-powered.

Despite that description, Baystate Blue is professional-looking. Maybe that is because it is based on a classic ink popular in Colonial Massachusetts and therefore the sort of ink you might expect to find in the writing desks of the Founding Fathers.

Here is a sample or my writing with Baystate Blue. My camera didn’t quite capture the electric-ness of the ink on the page, but this looks close.

I wrote that with the free fountain pen that comes with larger bottles of Baystate Blue, by the way. It’s a dirt-cheap Platinum Preppy with some modifications, but it’s actually really nice to write with (no really; I have a couple of ridiculously nice fountain pens, and I love writing with the Preppy). They just tend to leak after a couple of months of getting banged around in my pocket. Which brings me to the downside of Baystate Blue.

If you already use fountain pens, you know they can get a bit messy. Baystate Blue compounds that problem, because it stains the heck out of anything it touches. That intensity of color apparently comes from being one of the most-impossible-to-clean inks you will find. If I get some on my fingers, it takes two showers before it is gone. If you have a clear converter, it will be blue-tinted once you use Baystate Blue in it. That’s why I use it mainly in the Preppy.

So don’t change your ink while wearing a dress shirt. But do use Baystate Blue. It stands out — in a good way — and so will your writing.

Sam Glover has been writing about law practice technology, management, marketing, and other stuff on Lawyerist since 2007. He consults on appeals and motion practice in his solo practice. When he isn't blogging or lawyering, Sam drinks espresso and plays with fountain pens.