Noodler’s Empire Red

[yazeh]

Noodler’s Empire Red 

Another eternal/forgery proof Coral red from Noodler’s, originally specific for the British market but now available in North America. It's pricier than the normal lineup of Noodler's line. 

Ink is touted as fluorescent but I couldn't detect any fluorescence with my UV flashlight. 

 

It’s wet, coral red ink , lacking in the lubrication department. It’s pleasant enough to use, but I won’t be buying a bottle of it, in case you’re wondering.

It has some shading as you can see with a broad nib. All the other shading you see, is exaggerated by the scanner.

I used most of the ink on cheap envelopes and it really behaved well. 

 

Let's start with the chroma, which looks like blood red. 

 

Writing samples:

 

I tried to find humorous quotes about the holiday season to add some levity

 

Photo:

 

Comparison: 

 

Water test:

 

 

and finally an art work: Stirred not shaken, which I hope it's self explanatory

Other inks used:

 

Platinum Carbon Black

Akkerman Delfts Blauw

J Herbin Vert Empire

 

• Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B/Stub 1.1), Nibcreaper semi-flex
• What I liked: Colour, didn’t dry up in long writing sessions. 
• What I did not like: Lack of lubrication, long dry time on Japanese paper, 
• What some might not like: Long dry times on Japanese paper, price 
• Shading: Not really, only 
• Ghosting: Faint on copy paper
• Bleed through: Negligible on copy paper. 
• Flow Rate: Wet
• Lubrication: Below average.
• Nib Dry-out: Not at all.
• Start-up: No.
• Saturation: Reddish. 
• Shading Potential: With broad nibs 
• Sheen: Beyond dismal. 
• Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. 
• Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.
• Staining (pen): Did not notice.
• Clogging: No.
• Cleaning: It’s a waterproof, red ink, so do the math. 
• Water resistance: Excellant
• Availability: 90 ml / 3 oz bottles. 

 

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

[LizEF]

"Visit people only once a year." That's me!

 

Seems like the "Empire" in the name would command a darker red, but whatever...   Love the crowned swatch kitty - everyone who knows anything knows that cats are the ones who rule the world...

 

Napoleon Kitty is fabulous!

 

Love the artwork.  Love more that the British theme is drawn with inks from the US, Japan, France, and the Netherlands! (Though it's possible Diamine make Akkerman inks, so there's that.)  Anywho, very cool kitty, wonderful mouse-bartender.

 

Great review, as always, @yazeh!  Thank you for all the smiles this Friday morning.

[lapis]

Thanks for yet another "offer". Looks more like a brick and mortar coral. Not being into Noodles, I'll stick with my Fox. Now if it really were fluorescent, that might be worth it....

[Sailor Kenshin]

Where's my bandage?  🤣

 

I have Skrip Red!  And I had some droplets of Park Red in a bottle, that I played with but don't recall what I thought of it.

 

Though I do not imagine I will buy this ink, I love your review.  Made me laugh, much needed.  Very very cool sketches, also smile-inducing.  I look forward to these. Thanks so much, @yazeh

for all your inky daring.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

"Visit people only once a year." That's me!

Glad to know I'm not the only one 

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Seems like the "Empire" in the name would command a darker red, but whatever...   Love the crowned swatch kitty - everyone who knows anything knows that cats are the ones who rule the world...

 

I do agree, I had expected a darker colour!  🙏

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Napoleon Kitty is fabulous!

 

Psss! It's supposed to be Nelson, but then those dudes dressed the same way... much like nowadays   

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Love the artwork.  Love more that the British theme is drawn with inks from the US, Japan, France, and the Netherlands! (Though it's possible Diamine make Akkerman inks, so there's that.)  Anywho, very cool kitty, wonderful mouse-bartender.

 

We are one in the end  at least I hope so...

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Great review, as always, @yazeh!  Thank you for all the smiles this Friday morning.

Glad to know that. We all need smiles

 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, lapis said:

Thanks for yet another "offer". Looks more like a brick and mortar coral. Not being into Noodles, I'll stick with my Fox. Now if it really were fluorescent, that might be worth it....

Yeah, pity the fluorescence is iffy! Fox is the best  🦊

[yazeh]

47 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Where's my bandage?  🤣

 

47 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I have Skrip Red!  And I had some droplets of Park Red in a bottle, that I played with but don't recall what I thought of it.

Skrip Red is difficult to clean and Park Red loves water

 

47 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Though I do not imagine I will buy this ink,

Me neither!

47 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I love your review.  Made me laugh, much needed.  Very very cool sketches, also smile-inducing.  I look forward to these. Thanks so much, @yazeh

for all your inky daring.

Glad I brought a much needed smile  and thank you for your kind words

[inkstainedruth]

@yazeh I tried Empire Red a few years ago and found it sort of blah and underwhelming -- a very washed out red (I remember wondering at the time whether it was Nathan Tardif being "political").  And was kinda glad I'd only gotten a sample, and not a full bottle of it.

But thanks as usual for the comprehensive review -- and the entertaining artwork....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

4 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

@yazeh I tried Empire Red a few years ago and found it sort of blah and underwhelming

I do agree. I still have to find a red I like. I don't know if it's the colour or if it's the inks

 

4 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

-- a very washed out red (I remember wondering at the time whether it was Nathan Tardif being "political").  

Everything is possible

 

4 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

And was kinda glad I'd only gotten a sample, and not a full bottle of it.

Same here!

4 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

But thanks as usual for the comprehensive review -- and the entertaining artwork....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Most welcome 🙏

[SLinkster]

Excellent review but that ink won't be my cup of tea. It looks orange leaning watermelon to me. Not a color I'd call red.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Psss! It's supposed to be Nelson, but then those dudes dressed the same way... much like nowadays   

Oops.  I thought he had his paw tucked into his coat Napoleon style!  Oh well.  I'm American - we're not supposed to know anything about the Brits except that we sent them packing!

 

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

We are one in the end  at least I hope so...

Amen to that!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, SLinkster said:

Excellent review

🙏

1 hour ago, SLinkster said:

 

but that ink won't be my cup of tea.

Apt expression in this case

1 hour ago, SLinkster said:

 

It looks orange leaning watermelon to me. Not a color I'd call red.

Exactly! That was impression too!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Oops.  I thought he had his paw tucked into his coat Napoleon style! 

I think it was thing back then  

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Oh well.  I'm American - we're not supposed to know anything about the Brits except that we sent them packing!

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Amen to that!

🙏

[LizEF]

28 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I think it was thing back then  

Dude must have lost an arm - that sleeve is empty!  Googling.  Yep.  Per Wikipedia:

Quote

Shortly after that battle, Nelson took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where the attack failed and he lost his right arm, forcing him to return to England to recuperate.

Go figure.

 

I've heard people theorize that Napoleon had an ulcer and that's why he kept his hand under his jacket - massaging his sore stomach.

[inkstainedruth]

When I was on a trip to England in the early 1970s, we were on a four day bus trip through southern England, which included going to Portsmouth.  Our group got to tour Nelson's flag ship (HMS Victory) and the thing I remember most about that was how low the ceiling was in the bottommost deck, where the ship's surgery was.  And that the guide said that the ship's surgeon was OVER 6' tall (so, it meant that he had to basically stoop over or bend his neck any time he was working on a patient...).

A number of years later, my parents took another trip to England, including going back to Portsmouth -- and their tour guide could NOT understand why my parents didn't want to go see HMS Victory, and my mom said that they told her "We've SEEN HMS Victory!"  WE want to see the Mary Rose!" (which of course had not been found -- let alone raised -- in the early 1970s).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Dude must have lost an arm - that sleeve is empty!  Googling.  Yep.  Per Wikipedia:

Go figure.

👍

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

I've heard people theorize that Napoleon had an ulcer and that's why he kept his hand under his jacket - massaging his sore stomach.

Yep! If we check photographs/ paintings of every decade, often times there's a trend, we know if it's the 30s, 40s etc. As of the paintings, they all wore the same tricorn hats and the same kind of medals etc. If there's an art historian lurking somewhere, they can probably tell us right away, why this pose/ painting belong to this or that era

 

[yazeh]

@inkstainedruth love your stories  🙏

[LizEF]

25 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Yep! If we check photographs/ paintings of every decade, often times there's a trend, we know if it's the 30s, 40s etc. As of the paintings, they all wore the same tricorn hats and the same kind of medals etc. If there's an art historian lurking somewhere, they can probably tell us right away, why this pose/ painting belong to this or that era

[Mercian]

Just a note about the ‘surprisingly’ pinkish - as opposed to ‘dark red’ - colour of ‘Empire Red’.

 

In my capacity as a Britisher, I advise you to search the interwebs for a map of the world that shows the extent/territories of the British Empire; specifically, any map of the Empire that was produced in Britain back when we had such a thing.

 

On such maps, the territories of the Empire were all coloured ‘red’ - but I, for one, have always considered the colour in question on the maps in question to be much more of a ‘pink’ colour than a ‘true red’.

I think that the maps may have been coloured by producing colour-washes with red ink, and the resultant dilution therefore ‘enpinkulating’ the apparent colour.

 

In any case, the coral/pink tone of ‘Empire Red’ is presumably a consequence of Mr. Tardif having attempted to reproduce the colour of ‘red’ with which Victoria Regina (Indiæ Imperatrix)’s loyal subjects chose to illustrate their maps of her territories and dominions.

 

Slàinte,
M.

[yazeh]

@Mercian thanks for your insights 🙏

Here is a map I found: