Noodler's Blue-Black

[Goodwhiskers]

Here's a link to my first-few-days impression. Sorry about putting a review-like message in a non-reviews forum.

 

Inky Thoughts: Preferred School or Work Ink Color (page 3, Dec 14 2005, Goodwhiskers)

Edited March 11, 2006 by Goodwhiskers

[Goodwhiskers]

Now, here's a link to my corrected perception of Noodler's Blue-Black after two days of writing in Levenger Gemstone Green:

 

Expectations and Perception

 

[Goodwhiskers]

Correction: Noodler's Blue-Black does not come out noticeably gray in black-and-white photocopies. It comes out more or less black. :ph34r:

[heidi]

why does my noodler's blue-black look EXACTLY like my noodler's black, coming from a very wet sheaffer's viewpoint calligraphy pen with "fine italic" nib (about 1.0 mm). I can tell it HAS blue in it, when I drop water onto it (the blue seeps out), but I can't tell at ALL by looking at it. What is the point?

 

RAR.

[Goodwhiskers]

Oh, sorry to read that. I always see a visible difference. Show or send a paper sample of both colors, from the same pen, to the merchant your blue-black came from. Maybe there was a quality control problem that is physically and financially remediable.

[Viseguy]

I don't think it's a QC problem. That's just the way B-B is, in a wet writer. See my post on the other thread.

[Goodwhiskers]

I don't think it's a QC problem.  That's just the way B-B is, in a wet writer.  See my post on the other thread.

Oh . Glad to know that! Thanks.

 

Now I know "to qualify" someone about the nature of the intended pen before wholeheartedly recommending N's B-B.

[Tricia]

I just cleaned out an old Shaeffer Targa M and put some Noodler's Blue-Black in it. Wow! A luscious deep dark blue that's definitely blue - dark, but blue. I'd had it in another pen before (don't remember which one) and thought it ordinary. Now, it's just beautiful. Matching up the right ink with the right pen is an important part of getting the best out of my ink, at least in my experience. It always amazes me how much a pen contributes to how an ink looks on the page.

 

(Same thing just happened with Aurora Blue - now in an old MB Noblesse and it's lovely. I'd earlier had it in a no-name pen and it did nothing but sit there on the page and look boring.)

[heidi]

ok, so now i can finally see the blue-black difference from black, when using it in my Parker 51 (my first vintage pen - and I LOVE it) - but now I know I'm crazy b/c I see it as green-black (it's definitely blue, as seen when I drop water on it)... I'm following in Good-whisker's past footsteps. I guess I'll eventually see blue-black when my cones (rods see light, cones see color right?) adjust.... :ph34r:

[acfrery]

I am using Noodler's Blue Black on my Dani Trio Mikado-size Matte Ebonite with stub nib, and it is hard to imagine something closer to perfection. The pen is fabulous, the nib a dream to write with and the ink makes the writing experience a pleasure. I also found that the shades vary considerably depending on illumination. The most beautiful hues show up with sunlight.

[Goodwhiskers]

now I know I'm crazy b/c I see it as green-black (it's definitely blue, as seen when I drop water on it)... I'm following in Good-whisker's past footsteps. I guess I'll eventually see blue-black when my cones (rods see light, cones see color right?) adjust.... :ph34r:

You're not crazy or alone on this, Heidi. I still see N's B-B as greenish from time to time, even on a weeks-old page, depending on the lighting and on what other colors I've been looking at lately.

 

This might be related to the fact that when N's Black settles a bit in an all-N's-Black bottle, the ink appears a bit brownish-gray; N's Black settling in N's B-B would encourage a greenish perception in N's B-B.

 

My guess now is that it's not in the retina but in the visual cortex, because my perceptions of other blue and blue-tinged objects in the world aren't so fickle.

 

The drier the pen, the more blue (or green) I see in N's B-B.

 

I saw in another thread here (a message from Ink-Stained Wretch, I think) that N's Black can settle in the bottle, and I've noticed that the N's Black component of N's Brown can settle in a pen's reservoir too. A letter to my aunt in N's Brown from the Pelikan M200 I keep upright at home started out more reddish and ended up darker and less reddish!

 

A gentle shake of a bottle or pen should equalize a Noodler's mix for a day or two.

 

This is weird and wonderful!

[krz]

Does anyone have both Noodler's Blue-Black and Swishmix Tahitian Pearl? I'm curious how they compare. Also, how waterproof is NBB?

 

All the best,

[Goodwhiskers]

Hi krz,

 

I don't have Tahitian Pearl, but I can tell you that NBB's blue component is completely washable while the black component stays. Water sprayed on NBB leaves a legible result, so NBB is probably good enough for addressing envelopes. I don't know how fraud-proof the black component is in the NBB mix, because of the mix (Noodler's does not guarantee NBB fraudproof).

[cmeisenzahl]

Good info, thanks.

[Stephen-I-am]

Does anyone have both Noodler's Blue-Black and Swishmix Tahitian Pearl? I'm curious how they compare. Also, how waterproof is NBB?

 

All the best,

Hi Krz,

 

I have been using Tahitian pearl a lot lately (picture of a sample here), and just received an ink trade with a note written in Noodlers blue-black.

 

Surprisingly, it can be hard to tell them apart. The blue black just has a bit more blue in it. Both inks are lovely, high contrast ink. Blue-black has good to very good so-so water resistance, whereas Tahitian pearl has flawless water resistance.

 

Stephen

 

[reappraised bb's water resistance after more time soaking]

Edited July 27, 2006 by Stephen-I-am

[Roger]

Let's remember that Noodler's Blue-Black has recently been reclassified as "Bulletproof" according to Pendemonium.

 

That read, I sent an email to Sam at Pendemoniium asking if the 4 recently reclassified Noodler's inks to "BP" category signified a change in formulation. Sam, Frank and Grandaughter were still enroute home from the Portland show, but an employee answered saying that Nathan was always tinkering with formulations. Because of his small batch production, she said these changes were easy to effect. That was her general summation and she did not, apparently, know specifically whether B-B and the others had, indeed, undergone any changes.

 

This all gets back to previous dialog where I, and others, allowed that we didn't care for the "BP" name being applied to an ink that had a component that was removed in soaking or attempts at removal for fraud purposes.

 

If Nathan is allowing the "BP" name to be applied thusly, it likely means that any of his mixes that contain a fair amount of Black will qualify for "BP" classification as the remnant Black component presumably will bond with the cellulose and provide the "BP" characteristics.

 

Lots of "ifs" involved, but until Nathan is forthcoming and addresses this clearly, we're left to conjecture and presumption.

[Stephen-I-am]

Let's hope that he reformulated it. It really is a wonderful color. I'll try posting some before and after tests with the current formulation.

 

Being a tinkerer myself, I can understand the urge, and welcome improvements. Maybe other manufacturers do that too, but people don't notice.

 

Hmm, should inks have version numbers, like software? I would be for that...

 

Stephen

[Roger]

Hmm, should inks have version numbers, like software? I would be for that...

Great idea, and it wouldn't be hard to do with only minor extra work. I'd be surprised if he isn't already coding batches, somehow, so that his tests are meaningful.

[sonia_simone]

So Stephen-I-am, I'm taking your post to mean that Tahitian Pearl is a "true" bulletproof--nothing blue, green, turquoise or anything else bleeds off in a water test?

[Stephen-I-am]

There is very minor bleed off if you let it soak. If I put it under running water, I don't see any bleed off at all, since the water takes off what little there is. It performs almost as good as Noodlers black, and at least for me, just about as good as it gets.

 

Stephen