Noodler's Ink In 16 Ounce Bottles

[bugsydog55]

As the title says these much anticipated bottles are available at a few retailors. I have ordered a bottle from Vanness and one from Pen Chalet.

[Estycollector]

That is a lot of ink.

[bugsydog55]

It's one of those things that I really have no need for but the oooh-ahhh factor is too much to resist. From Vanness comes the 16 oz. in Proctor's Ledge and Pen Chalet had the 16 oz. Black Swan in Australian Roses. Already had enough black to float a bowling ball. I had heard about and looked at these monster bottles for years and with the lockdowns and such this year, Nathan had a vidoe out about making them available. That was all it took. They could well end up with the couple of gallons of unused ink I already have. A great-great grandchild could be receiving somethings they may not understand someday.

[inkstainedruth]

I haven't used up my 2 oz. bottle of BSiAR that I bought seven or eight years ago. No way I'd be able to go through a 16 oz. bottle (and I'd be curious as to which version it was -- I remember that at one point a few years ago, the formula changed because Nathan Tardif couldn't get some of the ingredients, and there was a batch that was a lot more purple.

Procter's Lodge I'd have to see -- I think that may have been one of the LE colors he made one year for the Commonwealth Pen Show (the year I wasn't able to go). He did resurrect another ink from that year for last year's Commonwealth Show, Suffragist Carmine, which I was happy about because I hadn't been able to get a bottle of the first run.

I can see maybe getting larger than 4 oz. bottles of some of the workhorse colors if you didn't use a lot of different inks (I have a back up bottle of Kung Te Cheng, for instance). But I can't see getting some of the more exotic stuff -- and I am only partway through a 4 oz bottle of Heart of Darkness, which is one of my go-to black inks.

So other than the novelty factor (and that it's probably more cost effective for him to make up larger bottles, especially after he had to temporarily switch over to plastic bottles at one point a few years ago because of supply issue), I don't really see the need.

I had a couple of larger bottles of vintage ink (an 8 oz. bottle of Quink Permanent Violet and and a 3/4 full bottle of Skrip Peacock, and it took me nearly a year to find inexpensive bottles to decant them into so I could use the ink -- without having to order a case or two of bottles to bring down the price to something reasonably affordable. And the process of decanting was a major PITA, and took both me and my husband to do so I wouldn't spill the inks all all over the bathroom sink, or drop the bottles. I shudder to think what would happen with some of the Noodler's inks (especially after knocking my original bottle of KTC on the floor after only a single fill. Glass and ink EVERYWHERE, and I think there's still ink stains on the bathroom vanity and definitely in the grout between the tiles and possibly on the tub. Because KTC is EVERYTHING proof....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Carrau]

 

I shudder to think what would happen with some of the Noodler's inks (especially after knocking my original bottle of KTC on the floor after only a single fill. Glass and ink EVERYWHERE, and I think there's still ink stains on the bathroom vanity and definitely in the grout between the tiles and possibly on the tub. Because KTC is EVERYTHING proof....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Come on Ruth, imagine the fun in spilling a 16 oz. bottle of KTC or “the ink that shall not be named”-a 21st Century Cat in the Hat debacle!

[bugsydog55]

One of the colors available is Bay State Blue!!!!!! Gives me the willies just typing it out. Sixteen ounces of BSB has got to be illegal someplace. As for the Proctor's Ledge, it's listed as a brown-black and would probably be a super dark brown depending on the paper. The BSIAR is more a novelty for me, it's seriously nice but it's more a "Look what I got!" kind of thing. Vanness did have King Philip's Requiem which is one of the older resurrected colors made for this size bottle. For me, it is just too bright. As to whether there are any of these available now, I don't know. There was some discussion of limited numbers. So I guess I'm set for the next few decades. Looks like I will have to invest in a bottle of phenol. Don't want to leave the great-great-great grandkids bottles of toxic goo.

[inkstainedruth]

Come on Ruth, imagine the fun in spilling a 16 oz. bottle of KTC or “the ink that shall not be named”-a 21st Century Cat in the Hat debacle!

Uh, no, not fun at all. Not REMOTELY fun. Especially since one of the cats (a REAL one, NOT a Dr. Suess cartoon one) decided to come into the bathroom just at that point, and I had a horrible vision of instead of going out to dinner that night I'd be going to the emergency vet's instead, having to explain why there was glass in the cat's paws when she was an indoor only cat.... And that was before having to explain why she had indigo purple splotches all over her (I'm betting that some of the ingredients are not exactly non-toxic if ingested -- and that's in addition to having her tongue suddenly be indigo purple ).

I'm just lucky that the entire bottle didn't shatter -- there was certainly even just from the bottom of the bottle shearing off (to this day I don't know how glass got some of the places it went, not just where the accident happen, in the bathroom).

At least "the ink that shall not be named" isn't UV resistant, and so EVENTUALLY would have faded over time....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

One of the colors available is Bay State Blue!!!!!! Gives me the willies just typing it out. Sixteen ounces of BSB has got to be illegal someplace. As for the Proctor's Ledge, it's listed as a brown-black and would probably be a super dark brown depending on the paper. The BSIAR is more a novelty for me, it's seriously nice but it's more a "Look what I got!" kind of thing. Vanness did have King Philip's Requiem which is one of the older resurrected colors made for this size bottle. For me, it is just too bright. As to whether there are any of these available now, I don't know. There was some discussion of limited numbers. So I guess I'm set for the next few decades. Looks like I will have to invest in a bottle of phenol. Don't want to leave the great-great-great grandkids bottles of toxic goo.

Yeah, I got a bottle of King Philip's Requiem at Commonwealth the year before, and almost never use it. It's pretty retina-searing (maybe I should send the rest of the bottle to Amberlea Davis, if I haven't already gotten rid of it ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

I LOVE KPR! YES PLEASE

[amberleadavis]

BTW, Proctor's Ledge is one of the most amazing drawing inks. It washes prettily and then has this really unique presence under UV light. It is specatular.

[sketchstack]

I've seen people who work on nibs professionally utilize jumbo bottles of ink for testing purposes. Makes a lot of sense in those cases. I could also see artists who might like Noodlers' black in particular benefit from such large quantities.

 

For my "needs" (which I put in quotes because "need" is too strong of a word) I'm fine with the large 4.5oz Noodler's bottles. I have a couple of those, albeit one begrudgingly because that's the only capacity in which it's available (Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia).

 

Let's not forget that Pelikan has offered their inks by the liter for some time now:

 

https://www.johnnealbooks.com/product/pelikan-4001-liter

Edited August 21, 2020 by sketchstack

[TSherbs]

kinda (k)inky

 

 

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Edited August 21, 2020 by TSherbs

[inkstainedruth]

I've seen people who work on nibs professionally utilize jumbo bottles of ink for testing purposes. Makes a lot of sense in those cases. I could also see artists who might like Noodlers' black in particular benefit from such large quantities.

 

For my "needs" (which I put in quotes because "need" is too strong of a word) I'm fine with the large 4.5oz Noodler's bottles. I have a couple of those, albeit one begrudgingly because that's the only capacity in which it's available (Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia).

 

Let's not forget that Pelikan has offered their inks by the liter for some time now:

 

https://www.johnnealbooks.com/product/pelikan-4001-liter

I have a few of the 4-1/2 oz. Noodler's bottles: one of Heart of Darkness (one of my go-to blacks for when I need something pretty permanent); a couple of Kung Te Cheng (after breaking the first bottle, I had to wait six weeks for Goulet Pens to get it back in stock, so I made sure I had a backup after that); a bottle of Dragon Catfish Pink (a highlighter ink); and a bottle of Blue Ghost (because I forgot that I had a 3 oz. bottle of it already ).

Besides that, I have the vintage Skrip Peacock Blue and vintage Quink Permanent Violet (both decanted out of larger bottles). I think the only other large-ish bottle I have is one of of the Akkerman Dutch Masters series, Stormachtig Blauw.

I just looked at the Pen Chalet site at the available 16 oz. Noodler's bottles, and while I like some of the colors, I can't see myself ever going through that much of the ones I that I do use a lot -- even 54th Massachusetts or Heart or Darkness (honestly, I'm still working on the 3 oz. bottle of 54th MA). While Proctor's Ledge does sound nice for drawing, Vanness is currently OOS, and I'm not finding ANY of the large bottles (in any color) on the Noodler's website. As for Whaleman's Sepia, it's an interesting color, but the sample I had was badly behaved, so I wouldn't actually want even a small bottle of it.

As for 4001 Brilliant Black, I like it but I don't use it enough to need that large an amount (although that bottle looks very practical, with its nozzle cap).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[NumberSix]

Here's what Penrealm has. (either 1 or 2 of each) He's charging $55 instead of the $50 everyone else charges.

 

[Intensity]

For those more rare colors, one could probably do a "group buy" for a bottle or two, then decant the ink into clean 50ml (or something else reasonable) bottles to split up.

[inkstainedruth]

For those more rare colors, one could probably do a "group buy" for a bottle or two, then decant the ink into clean 50ml (or something else reasonable) bottles to split up.

Having decanted larger bottles of ink (a full bottle vintage Quink Permanent Violet with a rubber stopper cap with a wick down into the ink, and a 3/4 full pint bottle of vintage Skrip Peacock) into smaller ones, I will attest that it's not as easy to do as you make it sound.... It really was a four-hands job, with my husband helping me, and doing it over a dish tub in the bathroom sink, and involved buying a turkey baster to help transfer the ink into two and four oz. Boston rounds.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

… I will attest that it's not as easy to do as you make it sound.... It really was a four-hands job,

Well, if I understand correctly, neither a (US) pint nor 16 fl.oz. amounts to even 500ml, so unless the bottle is really oddly shaped, I'd imagine the average person would easily be able to hold and manoeuvre an uncapped bottle of that size with one hand. How hard would it be to pour a suitable volume of liquid into a 100ml or 150ml glass beaker (or, say, a Pyrex 1-cup measuring cup), and then slowly pour the liquid from the beaker into a 30ml or 50ml bottle, notwithstanding that the liquid is ink and one runs the risk of staining something if it is inadvertently spilt? I have transferred ink exactly that way into 35ml plastic bottles I bought from Daiso, except that the original container was a 3 fl.oz. Noodler's bottle without the benefit of intact lid. As well, I clumsily dropped a pin into a 30ml bottle of Diamine ink the other day, and ended up having to pour the entire contents of the bottle into a 100ml glass beaker, then tip the ink slowly back down the tiny mouth of the Diamine bottle, such that the pin is left behind. The pointy part on the rim of the beaker's mouth is more than sufficiently narrow to make that transfer without any spillage.

[NumberSix]

That issue of pouring out is why I ordered empty 60ml Private Reserve bottles for each of the 16oz I ordered from Vanness (Bulletproof Black, 54th Mass). I even had them engrave the ink name on the bottles.

 

They're all scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I am hoping the wide short bottle will make it stable while pouring - and the wide top should make "aiming" the pour easier.

 

We shall see. . .

 

 

[Intensity]

You can use large size plastic syringes. I got a full bag of different sizes ago from a vet office when I had to feed my pet special care mix, and these are great for ink mixing. Getting through such a big bottle could be facilitated by propping it diagonally between very sturdy objects to tilt the liquid level toward the mouth and use a clean plastic syringe to decant into empty glass bottles.

[Honeybadgers]

I am tempted by the black swan in australian roses, but what I really want is a big bottle (I'd honestly take a gallon if I could) of dark matter.