Noodler's Violet Vote Periwinkle Edition - Pendemonium Exclusive

[nomadhacker]

Ok. I'm probably unreasonably excited about this ink. Growing up, Periwinkle was my absolute favorite color from the Crayola box. I had hoped to find a good periwinkle color of ink when I got into fountain pens. But most of them don't look quite there. And Noodler's Eternal Periwinkle, I've heard doesn't really behave itself well.

 

This ink was an accident as a result of a dye supplier change for one of the dyes in Pendemonium exclusive Violet Vote. Resulting in an almost perfect Crayola periwinkle blue. Sadly, according to Pendemonium, Nathan isn't going to make any more of this and it's just gone when gone, as he's working on getting his color reformulated back for regular Violet Vote.

 

This ink flows smoothly on the paper. It's not what I'd call a wet ink. Rather a more thick feeling smooth ink. Not really a shading ink either. At least, not in the fine nib I was using. It may have some in a stub. Completely unmoved by the water. In fact, if the paper weren't a little wrinkly where it got wet, I couldn't be able to tell. Dries fast. Under 10 sec on Rhodia. No feathering or bleeding on the Rhodia pad at least.

 

Nathan, tell me again why this isn't going to be a regular issue?

 

Please?

 

I took pictures of the ink review under my Ott Light last night to try and get as close colors as I could. I'll add a scan later.

 

In the comparisons box I only had Iroshizuku Ajisai on hand of the other erstwhile periwinkles. I do plan on adding the Herbin Bleu Pervenche to my ink stable pretty soon, but a quick image search will show that while it's a nice enough color, it's different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the reference

 

[Alexandra]

Violet Vote is the most perfectly behaved ink available and Periwinkle, it badly behaved cousin, is the loveliest color. This is the best of both worlds.

[nomadhacker]

And here's a scan. Tried to get the color right. Probably the pictures above are a little closer, but now you can see both.

 

[nomadhacker]

Violet Vote is the most perfectly behaved ink available and Periwinkle, it badly behaved cousin, is the loveliest color. This is the best of both worlds.

 

Indeed, I love this ink. I tried it on some horrible envelope paper and it didn't feather.

[Alexandra]

In your scan it looks chalky like the original Violet Vote. Do you find the chalkiness to be about the same?

[nomadhacker]

I would guess so. Supposedly the only change was a single dye changed manufacturers, so the flow would be the same I would guess. I don't have the original Violet Vote myself. I will probably be getting some as soon as it shows up on the menu again. But the ink feels thicker than some. It writes smoothly and doesn't feel dry to me. It's early days with the ink but it doesn't seem to have trouble drying out on me. But it's not super flowy, and definitely not thin and wet like Iroshizuku. Overall I like the feel of it.

 

Also, the scan isn't quite as accurate as the photos seem to be, comparing against the paper. It's lower contrast.

 

Edit: I'll be honest, I haven't gotten an ink that anyone else has described as 'chalky' before, so I'm not quite sure if what I'm feeling is similar to the feel people talk about with 'chalky' inks.

Edited January 12, 2014 by nomadhacker

[pengoddess]

Decisions! Decisions!

 

Try to keep our Noodler's Viooet Vote Periwinkle Edition as a regular item or shal we let it ride as truly a fluke. There are 3 bottles of Peri left. I need to discuss this with Nathan. Years ago there was a demand for periwinkle because it was *hot* color in wedding stationery. Not so sure there is still a huge demand for it. Talk to me about it!

 

Sam

[nomadhacker]

3 left??? I'm heading to the site now. Make that 2.

 

I'm weird though. It's my own favorite color. Not sure I can speak for everyone else.

[nomadhacker]

Here's the review I had done for Ajisai if you wanted to see more of that ink for comparison of periwinkle-y-ness.

 

 

[nomadhacker]

And this is a link to a review with a good writing sample by tenurepro

 

 

[kiavonne]

It kind of looks like Noodler's Luxury Blue. Lux Blue can feather a bit, though. hmm.

[Morphling27]

I think it's a beautiful color. I really wanted to get the eternal periwinkle but the overwhelmingly bad responses showed it wasn't a daily contender. Great review and hopefully the color can stick around.

[nomadhacker]

I think it's a beautiful color. I really wanted to get the eternal periwinkle but the overwhelmingly bad responses showed it wasn't a daily contender. Great review and hopefully the color can stick around.

 

Yeah, I'd been avoiding the Eternal Periwinkle also for the same reasons. So I don't have anything to compare this to. I do remember reading about the trouble Nathan had matching color at the time. And he posted a blog talking about different ideas of periwinkle and how he matched the color to a periwinkle crab shell rather than the Crayola color (which everyone really wants ). So I think this is actually even closer than the Eternal Periwinkle to the actual color (which looks a little bluer from online swabs I've seen). From my experience, this one is spot on. (see crayola pic above)

[FLZapped]

Glad I bought Iraqi Indigo....

[nomadhacker]

Glad I bought Iraqi Indigo....

 

The regular violet vote (Iraqi Indigo) will be the same apparently as soon as Nathan reformulates it. This was a single batch that had a change in dye suppliers. I'm hoping that Nathan agrees to add this as a regular line alongside the Violet Vote though.

[nomadhacker]

And looks like they're out at Pendemonium. It's no longer listed. I can only hope that maybe they've given Mr. Tardiff some encouragement to keep the Periwinkle around, or perhaps replace his current Eternal Periwinkle with this one, which is much better ink and closer in color

[youblue9]

Nice review! I have this ink too, and I love it. I love the color periwinkle, and I was so excited when Noodler's came out with their Eternal Periwinkle, and then it was such a disappointment.

This ink is wonderful though. I've had it in a pen for a couple of weeks now, and so far it's behaving just like Violet Vote. In fact, I neglected to use the pen for over a week, and went to try it again today -- started right up and wrote fine. No problems. Violet Vote is my favorite and most used ink. I've have a Pilot VP that's been loaded with it exclusively for probably 7 years now. It's also the best-behaved bulletproof I've used. This ink looks like it’s going to be a contender for second place though! I’m very happy I ended up with a couple of bottles of this.

I too really hope that Pendemonium considers adding this one to their line of exclusive Noodler’s. I would definitely buy more (although I also really hope that it won’t be too long before the regular version of Violet Vote is back, as I’m down to a partial bottle).

Anyway, if anyone is interested I took a few photos comparing this ink to the regular Violet Vote as well as to Eternal Periwinkle and Kung Te-Cheng. Not the greatest pics, but here they are (samples written with a glass dip pen on a Rhodia dot pad):

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7344/12021738995_323238d2d9_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5472/12022025403_efae317435_c.jpg

[nomadhacker]

Thank you for the comparison! I don't personally have the Eternal Periwinkle, but looking at samples online it looked more blue. Your comparison makes obvious the difference from the VV Periwinkle. Especially the second swab shot.

 

Nice review! I have this ink too, and I love it. I love the color periwinkle, and I was so excited when Noodler's came out with their Eternal Periwinkle, and then it was such a disappointment.

This ink is wonderful though. I've had it in a pen for a couple of weeks now, and so far it's behaving just like Violet Vote. In fact, I neglected to use the pen for over a week, and went to try it again today -- started right up and wrote fine. No problems. Violet Vote is my favorite and most used ink. I've have a Pilot VP that's been loaded with it exclusively for probably 7 years now. It's also the best-behaved bulletproof I've used. This ink looks like it’s going to be a contender for second place though! I’m very happy I ended up with a couple of bottles of this.

I too really hope that Pendemonium considers adding this one to their line of exclusive Noodler’s. I would definitely buy more (although I also really hope that it won’t be too long before the regular version of Violet Vote is back, as I’m down to a partial bottle).

Anyway, if anyone is interested I took a few photos comparing this ink to the regular Violet Vote as well as to Eternal Periwinkle and Kung Te-Cheng. Not the greatest pics, but here they are (samples written with a glass dip pen on a Rhodia dot pad):

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7344/12021738995_323238d2d9_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5472/12022025403_efae317435_c.jpg

[Fabienne]

Nomadhacker-Call Pendemonium and make sure that they don't have something lying around. sometimes people take things off the internet but they really have one or two bottles in their possession. Good luck.

[youblue9]

Yeah, on my monitor at least the second pic does a very good job of representing the true colors of the inks.

 

Eternal Periwinkle is a very nice color, or well, I should say this version of it is. There are bottles of it out there that are much much more purple. I know, because the bottle I received is the purple shade (I believe there are a few reviews posted that show that version as well). The swab I'm showing above is from a sample I got, and I believe is the color that Eternal Periwinkle is supposed to be. It is a bit bluer than the Violet Vote Periwinkle, but the more distinct difference is that it's much more thick and opaque, almost like it has Whiteness of the Whale mixed in. Maybe it does.

 

In any case, I do like the color of the bluer version of Eternal Periwinkle (the purpler one that I have a full bottle of I don't like at all), it's the qualities of the ink I can't stand. It gummed up every pen I tried to put it in (including one with a broad stub nib), refused to write, had flow issues, and was a pain to rinse out. I gave up on it. Occasionally I'll use it with a dip pen, but I'm unwilling to put it in another fountain pen. That's why I'm so pleased that Violet Vote Periwinkle is behaving itself so well.