Expectations and perception

[Goodwhiskers]

(Edit: corrected the spelling of Nathan Tardif's name. One "f.")

 

Until now, I've said in several postings that Noodler's Blue-Black seemed greenish sometimes and blue-ish sometimes, and I didn't know why. :blink:

 

Yesterday and today I worked on several pages of a rough draft of basic fountain pen instructions for gifts to my lawyer and my family, and I used Levenger Gemstone Green (beautiful, bleedy but not feathery) in my new Hero 329 on all of those pages. This was the most I've ever written and revised at one time in green ink.

 

This evening at work, all my records and notes in Noodler's Blue-Black from last week, this week and this evening suddenly stopped seeming greenish at all.

 

At first I thought, "Have I been malnourshing myself lately?" and thought in answer, "No, my diet hasn't changed."

 

Then I thought, "Is the lighting any different?" and thought in answer, "No, the lighting is the same."

 

At last I thought, "Oh, I've been looking at pages filled with writing in truly green ink yesterday and today."

 

Oh! Expectation really does influence the perception of color!

 

Sorry, Nathan Tardif! There really isn't a green illusion that everyone can see from the dye mix in Noodler's Blue-Black; it was all just in my head. I like Noodler's Blue-Black even more now, while it still gives that anachronistic, turn of the 20th century look.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Goodwhiskers

[acfrery]

In my perception, Noodler's Blue Black is one of the most distinctive, interesting and serious inks to write with. It is dark, really dark, but full of interesting hues. I like it very much, as most all other Noodler's inks.

[cmeisenzahl]

Mine comes out w/ a bit of a green tint, but I love it. ;-)

[Goodwhiskers]

After another month and a half, I still enjoy writing with and reading in this ink. My perception of green in this ink's color, even on weeks-old writing, changes depending on lighting conditions and the amount of real green seen in the previous few hours. Also, the mix of dyes coming out of the nib varies slightly from moment to moment. Fun!

[Tricia]

This is so interesting! My Noodler's Aircorps blue-black has a definite green cast to it, but my regular Noodler's Blue-Black is without doubt a dark dark blue with no green cast to it at all.

 

Apparently a thousand things influence what the color is that ends up on the page, with the actual color of the ink being (relatively) unchanging only in the bottle. Pens, nibs, paper, lighting... just amazing. Like alchemy.

 

Or magic...

 

[southpaw]

No green shading in my NB-B here.

[drifting]

I can see how you might see a greenish tinge to it at times. I was just looking at a page of notes the other day with the top half in Sailor Blue-black (another great very dark, dense B-B, btw), and the bottom half in Noodlers. There was a real difference in the blue base tones, even though they are both on the dark end of the B-B spectum. To me, the blue in the Noodlers recalled the slatey blue in Legal Lapis, though obviously much more concentrated. Not green in my eyes, but an interesting contrast to the Sailor. I'd post the page but it went out with the recycling. I'll have to see if I can scrounge up another Sailor cart. Or maybe another time, because I really should be working! :bonk:

 

Ryan.

Edited February 16, 2006 by drifting

[Goodwhiskers]

My guess now is that the very, very slight brownishness of Noodler's Black and the light shade of the blue dye (wet a used table napkin and drop a little N's B-B onto it) combine to give the occasional sense of slight greenishness.