Noodler's UK Empire Red

[rattybad1]

I debated about getting the Noodler's UK Eternal inks for a while—on the one hand, all I've heard is that they dry on the nib and clog up the pen; but, on the other hand, I like the labels, names, and colors (yes, call me shallow). I took a chance anyway and bought a few, including El Lawrence and Mata Hari Cordial, which I haven't used yet, and Empire Red.

 

Since I couldn't find other reviews of this color, I thought I'd make a quick note that you can add Empire Red to the "dries on the nib" club.

 

The ink itself is a nice red, going from a very dark blood red to a light pinkish-maroon, depending on your ink flow. It's not a bright color, rather subdued in that respect, but I could see putting it into rotation for when I want a red with some wallflower qualities.

 

I put some in an Esterbrook J with a 2314-B nib. At first it wrote very dark, flowed well, and dried quickly, even when laying down a lot of ink. Then I capped the pen, put it in my pen box, and came back about 90 minutes later.

 

Nothing. The ink had dried in the pen, so I dabbed a cloth with some water and gave it a swipe, and that seemed to fix the problem, for now. It's definitely an issue, though I'll probably try adding some water to the ink per a few other posts about the UK Eternals. Overall I like the color, but you might be leery of it if you have concerns about the flow issue.

 

*****UPDATE*****

 

Decided to try Empire Red in a pen with a smaller nib width and a feed unit that wasn't as exposed to air as the Esterbrook 2314-B. Right now I've got it loaded into a Parker Vector and the ink seems to maintain its flow and is delivering a slightly brighter line. If it gets too gunky, I'll update again.

 

*****UPDATE 2*****

 

After about 12 hours with Empire Red in it, the Parker Vector flows well, no skipping. I'm concluding that it's not so much the ink as the pen. I cleaned both beforehand with a 4:1 solution of water and ammonia, then flushed with soapy water, and again with plain cold water. I didn't let them dry so that whatever stray water droplets that were left behind could dilute the ink somewhat. The ink dries in the broad Esterbrook nib & feed unit within the half hour, while the Vector hasn't clogged at all. I believe this is a result of the Vector having a less exposed feed unit, so the ink doesn't dry in the air.

 

Perhaps it corroborates those assumptions, that I re-flushed the Esterbrook and put Mata Hari Cordial in it, and it's giving me the same response as with Empire Red. However, I put El Lawrence—which many reviews have warned about, in terms of clogging—into my Namiki Falcon, which, like the Vector, doesn't have the slits in the feed unit, plus it has the semi-flex nib which might help. One last tidbit that might be of interest: None of my cheaper pens clog with the "eternal" inks in them (a Pelikano with Hunter Green, a Vector (F) with Upper Ganges Blue.

 

In conclusion, then, Empire Red is a moderately bright red, which fades a little when it hits paper, but it's not for every pen.

Edited March 24, 2007 by rattybad1

[fjf]

I have one bottle of Britannia blue waves and it does not clog the pen, but it flows so poorly it is unusable alone. You can use it diluting it 1/1 with other turquoise (such as waterman south seas).

[ht1]

I'm interested in a comparison of Noodler's UK Empire Red and Noodler's Fox Red if anyone has tried both.

 

ht

[Melnicki]

i'm curious if it can be diluted with water, as seems to be the solution to get El Lawrence to flow better... is this "trick" common for all the UK Eternals (which Nathan has described recently as all belonging to a particular class of ink dye, chemically, which is quite different from the other inks he makes.)

[QM2]

After about 12 hours with Empire Red in it, the Parker Vector flows well, no skipping. I'm concluding that it's not so much the ink as the pen.

 

Oh, but anything will work in a Vector, so it's a biased sample!

 

QM2

[kenny]

I have one bottle of Britannia blue waves and it does not clog the pen, but it flows so poorly it is unusable alone. You can use it diluting it 1/1 with other turquoise (such as waterman south seas).

 

I also have a bottle of Britannia Blue Waves, and I also have had the same experience with poor flow. I don't experience clogging per se, but the pens I have tried it in have written upleasantly dry (even my most "wet" writer) and have skipped terribly when using it. I am very disappointed in this ink, and this is the only ink I have bought so far which I feel I really can't use because of the unpleasant experience with it.

 

If you mix BBW 1:1 with Waterman South Seas, what happens to the bulletproof quality?

 

 

[Tricia]

I have both Socrates and Highland Heather. The Socrates is currently in a Verona and I have the same problem. I am, however, bound and determined to find some pen that it works in. It is just too gorgeous a color to sit on the shelf.

 

Ok, so maybe a Vector is in my future.

[rattybad1]

After about 12 hours with Empire Red in it, the Parker Vector flows well, no skipping. I'm concluding that it's not so much the ink as the pen.

 

Oh, but anything will work in a Vector, so it's a biased sample!

 

QM2

 

 

True, true!

 

As a follow-up, I had some Empire Red in one of my Pelikanos as well as the Esterbrook J with the 2314-M nib and it got gummed up, too. I added some water to the mix but it washed out the color (a problem with my mixing amounts, no doubt). It might work with a Namiki Falcon—my El Lawrence does okay in one—but otherwise I'm about tired of the UK inks.

[Melnicki]

Check This post by DavidB:

 

How do these inks write? Glad you asked ... ! I have found that Legal Lapis flows more freely than Empire Red from both my F and my XF nib, especially on some 100% cotton resume paper that I recently bought and want to get rid of as soon as possible (it's too rough for an XF nib). I've also written with both these inks in a Waterman Hemisphere pen with a Medium nib, and I've fallen in love with Empire Red because of it. The better quality my paper is, using any of these pens, the wetter a line the ink leaves as it flows and the richer the color appears. Legal Lapis is a stunningly subtle mixture of blue, green (which others assure me they see) and traces of black. The color changes based on the nib, paper thirst and writing pressure. When using an XF nib, it concentrates and looks nearly black with subtle flashes of color that make my head turn, while my M Hemisphere nib can lay down lines that range from the deep blue of Montana sky to a dark rich blue that pools on the paper and seems to float on top of it. It's a very wet ink.

 

Empire Red is not as wet an ink, but the color contrast to the deep blues of Legal Lapis is particularly stunning. My XF nib lays down a needle-thin line of red and provides some excellent line width variation as I learn to vary my writing angle (or as my hand tires, which is all too easy because my writing hand posture is atrocious). It is harder to make writing on a thirsty paper look good with XF or M nibs - it dries just a little too quickly for me (is it me? I can't tell) - and often skips on very thirsty paper, or can sometimes look a bit watered-down on paper that feathers slightly. But, get a good smooth paper and the color can vary from rich to what I call "arterial red", the color of blood that you see when your finger is pricked at the doctor's office. When I leave a particularly wet spot on some of the best paper I own (I use Empire Red to underline verses in my scriptures), Empire Red actually looks opaque, like it's sitting on top of the paper, with a low gloss to it, while the rest of the flow line leading up to this wet spot has soaked in and vanished into the paper. I have to go back and check to see if it's still wet, even 2 minutes later, it looks so vivid.

 

He has found much success and admiration for Empire Red.

 

I'm contemplating getting it, now... especially since I found a cheapo $8-shipped Ebay pen (search "NOBILITY "BURGUNDY BROWN" MARBLE CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN PEN" on Ebay) -- it writes so wet that normal ink blobs out of it onto the page -- quite horrible. But as with any poorly-performing pen, rescue it by trying different inks -- the less-wet Iraqi Indigo performs marvelously with it, no blobbing nor feathering! So I'm contemplating trying one of these dry-writing UK Eternals (namely Empire Red), with the caveat that at least it will work with this cheapo pen. (I'm also wondering about Esenin and Devil Red... and Chekhov and Tolstoy and The Sun Never Sets for a permanent Orange/Yellow).

 

(PS > let me know if you want to trade or sell your Empire Red or other above mentioned ink and I'll see if it works with this pen.)

Edited June 1, 2007 by Melnicki

[maryannemoll]

Strange. In my experience the El Lawrence was a hard starter and dried up on the nib AND feed, but the Mata Hari remained fine, and never skipped or dried. On the other hand, the Mata Hari has almost no shading while the El Lawrence has beautiful vivid shading.

 

I have mixed feelings about the bulletproof inks still. I'm eyeing the Socrates but am afraid it might have absolutely no shading at all.