Noodler's Asian Inks

July 28, 2007

Hi Nathan,
When you make a limited run for a specific country and you expect the batch will sell out quickly, do you prefer that non-residents not buy these so as to permit the residents full access to these limited run inks?

PS: I really like your packaging. It might not be the best for loading a pen after it's below halfway but I'd rather get more ink than a "slicker" bottle. I don't mind transfering the remaining half into another bottle. In fact, I prefer your deep & narrow bottles to the wide and shallow PR, Herbin, Pelikan bottles. There's may be more stable but I find big nibs a pain to load after those bottle are even 1/4 down.

Vietnam, Kenya, Mongolia, Nepal, and Mexico...if you see a custom Noodler's Ink offered in those countries...go ahead and grab some! In Mongolia the retailer lacked confidence, but tourist purchases of some of the unmentionable named inks (they are NOT politically correct and will not be named by yours truly upon this forum) kept confidence up long enough to get a toehold in the local market. Mexico may or may not happen, but it will be exotic if it does...Mayan and Aztec themed bottles - and ink themes to match all that Mayan and Aztec history may conjure up in one's imagination (with Spanish labels of course).

If a retailer runs out - regardless of where the purchases are from, it's a signal to stock more. Perhaps they will stock more than they did the prior time - unless the ink is simply hard to produce. In that case it will be in chronic short supply - but at LEAST IT WILL BE AVAILABLE some of the time! That is far better than the ink never being made available to anyone at all in my opinion.

If there is a pro-Zulu set of artwork concerning a battle in 1879 in Southern Africa...and a pro-Empire bit of art in the UK...it is simply reflecting the local history in a slightly controversial manner. That is what makes it fun...nobody gets rich in ink, so there must be other rewards. Controversy is delightful. If it sells out because people want something on their desk to start conversations AND to write with...so much the better.