Noodler's X-Feather

February 12, 2014

ok,

so how about a very practical, and very much underrated and overlooked black: x-feather. i have used most of them now, and i will be keeping x feather in at least one of my pens for work at all times. great on most all papers (especially in finer and drier nibs), bulletproof, cheap, and very black. also, quite smooth and just looks good. the only drawback is the exceedingly long dry time. so, here it is:

as for viewing these consider the following:

-shot with a point and shoot at a higher iso (so as to eliminate the need for flash and its issues making inks and papers look odd) in 60W equivalent tungsten balanced light.

-adjust your monitor to get the best effect. see sandy's reviews for more on that

-this is perhaps more of a torture test as well to show how things look in the most unflattering of circumstances and in suboptimal light

http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448652095/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448797723/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448621775/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12449119654/

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/12448652095_8d12174d83.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/12448797723_790fdb383f.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3767/12448621775_368807ee0e.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5494/12449119654_ce05f1e924.jpg

i have gone through 2 bottles in the last year or so and will be buying more.

enjoy.

-p

Edited February 13, 2014 by politovski

February 12, 2014

Can this ink be mixed with Noodler's Bulletproof Black? Just curious.

February 12, 2014

probably. i have not tried it, but not sure why you would want to. side by side, xfeather is just as black/dark, especially in the wet areas. i wonder if the solvent that the pigments in was the only thing varied to make this: more water for xfeather and more of a quicker evaporating solvent for black...

-p

February 12, 2014

Noodler's says that most of their inks can be mixed. However, any mixing has the risk of losing

some or all of the specialized properties of the ink. I have seen xFeather used on a newspaper

crossword puzzle. THAT'S a non-feathering test !

February 12, 2014

I bought a bottle of this stuff about 5 months ago - and as the bottle was winging its way Down Under, began to think I should have gone for the straight Noodler's Black. My concern was the drying time - it IS somewhat slow on Rhodia or other fine papers - and the fact that Noodler's Black (apparently) has some pretty impressive anti-feathering capabilities too. That said, neither of these inks can work miracles: the (unfortunately not-so-)cheap diary I bought from a local store recently can't cope with ANY of the ink samples I have to hand.

In the end, I needn't have worried. This is an amazing black ink, drying time is 'average' on normal papers - and (though I haven't tested this scientifically) seems to dry a little faster if you dilute it slightly (1 ml water to 4 ml ink - the more you dilute it the more 'grey' it becomes). Another upside to this ink is its performance in calligraphy / flex pen writing - wonderfully dark black, seems less prone to railroading in the flex nib, doesn't feather or bleed through significantly, pretty smear-proof when dry...

I still don't know whether straight black would have sufficed - and I suspect the dry time of the straight black would have been faster, even allowing for the dilution effect on this ink - but you can put me down as a satisfied customer! This is one of my 'go-to' inks for work purposes, followed closely by Noodler's 54th Massacussetts (which, in my pens anyway, is an intriguing blue-black with grey-green overtones).