Noodler's Baltimore Canyon Blue

[yazeh]

I was inspired by raving reviews of this ink. Maybe because it’s too much like Royal Blue, or maybe it’s the Sharpie scent, I didn't feel the quickening of the heart.  Nevertheless, it's a rich blue for blue lovers. It has a faint sheen and very well behaved in general, on the downside, it's not for lefty over-writers nor for those who use cheep papers with gusher pens

 

Let's start with the chroma, am I blue or what? 

 

Writing Samples:

This is a difficult colour to scan. The beauty emerges truly with M/B/Flex nibs. 

 

It mostly ghosts on Hammermill and if you use a gusher like the Waterman, you'll be in trouble

 

Here you can see the richness of the colour, the sheen and shading, thanks to a vintage Waterman W2 flex nib

Comparison: 

 

As usual the excess inks washes off, held 10 seconds under running water after 24 hours on Mnemosyne notepad.

 

And finally an art work, homage to the magnificent blue whale, with our intrepid team of explorers 

 

I only used a Pentel brush nib for the contours. The rest is done slowly with the ink. Note the richness of the blue...

 

 

 

 

· Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B/Stub), Waterman W2 flex

· What I liked: It really wrote well out of the Kakuna. I also enjoyed it with the medium nib and flex. Cleaning was easy.

· What I did not like: Smell. I love the colours for washes it's that type of blue...

· What some might not like: Long dry times, Doesn't like thin copy paper. 

· Shading: Yes. 

· Ghosting: Faint on copy paper. 

· Bleed through: If I press hard on copy paper. 

· Flow Rate: Wet

· Lubrication: Ok

· Nib Dry-out: No.

· Start-up: No.

· Saturation: Rich blue

· Shading Potential: Yes depending on nibs.

· Sheen: Hint

· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No. 

· Nib Creep / “Crud”: Yes on the vintage Waterman

· Staining (pen): No

· Clogging: No

· Cleaning: Quite easy for a bulletproof ink.

· Water resistance: Excellant

· Availability: 90 ml bottles. 

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

 

 

 

[LizEF]

40 minutes ago, yazeh said:

too much like Royal Blue

I'm yawning already!

 

41 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Let's start with the chroma, am I blue or what? 

Whoa - and blue that just keeps going and going.  One day I'll investigate why some inks climb and climb while others stop short and let the water go on without them.

 

The ink looks better in your writing samples than I expected from the chroma or swab, but not better enough to tempt me.

 

Nice kitties.

 

Love your whale + explorers!   The ink does seem to have quite a range, and that's nice.

 

Thank you, @yazeh for another entertaining review!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

I'm yawning already!

🥱

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Whoa - and blue that just keeps going and going.  One day I'll investigate why some inks climb and climb while others stop short and let the water go on without them.

It's beacsue the reviewer forgot the paper towel too long in the water

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

The ink looks better in your writing samples than I expected from the chroma or swab, but not better enough to tempt me.

Yeah, it looks quite nice, but you really have to love blue ink

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Nice kitties.

🙏

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Love your whale + explorers!   The ink does seem to have quite a range, and that's nice.

 

It has indeed a range, that's the point

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Thank you, @yazeh for another entertaining review!

Most welcome !

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It's beacsue the reviewer forgot the paper towel too long in the water

But that's not the only reason - some inks climb a little ways and others climb a long ways.  The size of the sample and concentration of the dye surely have a lot to do with it, but I wonder if there are other properties that impact this as well.

[yazeh]

6 minutes ago, LizEF said:

But that's not the only reason - some inks climb a little ways and others climb a long ways.  The size of the sample and concentration of the dye surely have a lot to do with it, but I wonder if there are other properties that impact this as well.

I think maybe I put a bigger drop than intended on the paper towel. Then dunked it in the water and forgot about it for an hour. Try it and you'll see, with permanent inks you often see, a big circle where the ink binds to the paper but the excess rises to the occasion

 

[lapis]

Great review, great ink colour. I know, I know, there are hundreds if not thousands of blues out there but this one does show something which a lot of other blues don't. Like in the shot using your vintage Waterman W2.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, lapis said:

Great review, great ink colour. I know, I know, there are hundreds if not thousands of blues out there but this one does show something which a lot of other blues don't.

I believe its greatest quality is water resistance and is rather easy to clean

I preferred it for washes, there it really shined

 

1 hour ago, lapis said:

 

 

Like in the shot using your vintage Waterman W2.

Thanks. And it took much less time cleaning it, than I feared

 

[Carrau]

Thanks for this. I enjoy using it, but I’ve recently misplaced my bottle.

[yazeh]

9 hours ago, Carrau said:

Thanks for this

 

🙏

9 hours ago, Carrau said:

I enjoy using it, but I’ve recently misplaced my bottle.

Hope you find it soon

[inkstainedruth]

I'll admit that this has become one of my favorite medium blue inks, supplanting Noodler's Liberty's Elysium (the exclusive for Goulet Pens) in my eyes -- something I would not have thought possible.  

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

10 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I'll admit that this has become one of my favorite medium blue inks, supplanting Noodler's Liberty's Elysium (the exclusive for Goulet Pens) in my eyes -- something I would not have thought possible.  

I'm glad to see you like this ink. It's a striking blue

 

10 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the review.

 

🙏

[OCArt]

I've used this from the inception and it has become my standard blue ink.  I recommend it highly!

[namrehsnoom]

Thank you for the informative review and that joyful whale drawing. Looks like a nice blue for writing, but it’s with the whale pic that the full range of expression surfaces (together with that whale 😉

[yazeh]

11 hours ago, OCArt said:

I've used this from the inception and it has become my standard blue ink.  I recommend it highly!

Yes, if I where to choose one blue this one could be the front runner

 

[yazeh]

39 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

Thank you for the informative review and that joyful whale drawing.

🙏

39 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

Looks like a nice blue for writing, but it’s with the whale pic that the full range of expression surfaces (together with that whale 😉

 

Yes. I caught myself regularly drawn to the blue of the ocean. It has a magnetic quality

 

[InesF]

Thank you, @yazeh, for this exciting blue ink review, for the almost waterproof cat and for the jumping whale!  Loving all of it!

(Brooding over whales ... 🤫 ... I guess, they must be waterproof ...)

 

Blue is indeed a critical ink colour - much can go wrong there. While I developed some aversion against "neutral" Royal Blue inks, this type of blue, also found in J.Herbin Blu Austral brought me back to using blue inks.

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for this exciting blue ink review, for the almost waterproof cat and for the jumping whale!  Loving all of it!

(Brooding over whales ... 🤫 ... I guess, they must be waterproof ...)

🙏

2 hours ago, InesF said:

Blue is indeed a critical ink colour - much can go wrong there. While I developed some aversion against "neutral" Royal Blue inks, this type of blue, also found in J.Herbin Blu Austral brought me back to using blue inks.

It's great when one beautiful shade of colour can bring us back home

 

[Arkanabar]

I'm going to have to get a sample of this stuff at some point.  I've regarded Noodler's Blue as the essential blue for years, but somehow I missed this one, and it seems as lovely, and perhaps more functional.

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Arkanabar said:

I'm going to have to get a sample of this stuff at some point.  I've regarded Noodler's Blue as the essential blue for years, but somehow I missed this one, and it seems as lovely, and perhaps more functional.

Yes, You might be surprised

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Baltimore has a canyon?  😜

 

Nice comparison inks, lively kittehs, and they'd better beware that splash when the whale lands home.

 

It's a very pretty blue, too.  Thanks for the ink-sploration, @yazeh!

 

 I'm probably going to enjoy it from a distance because there are too many inks I already don't use enough.