EFNIR: Noodler's Pasternak

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Noodler's Pasternak

This is review #276 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: The Noodler's website says this ink is "purple" (also, Archival, Bullet Proof, Fluorescent, Forgery Resistant, Water Resistant).  Some retailers list it as black. Some images look blue-black.  One looks brownish reddish.  On my slide, it looks blue-grey with some green lean (to the eye, not magnified). On my swatch card, it's grey with reddish undertones (later, it seems to be leaning blue now!). Maybe this ink is unstable, maybe it reacts to paper, or maybe it's batch variation - whatever it is, don't  be surprised if the color you get doesn't resemble mine.  (I shook the (gifted) vial vigorously before use.)  Later: the cartridge clearly shows purple, but only grey comes out of the nib.

Cleaning was the bear you would expect. A pinkish color clung to everything. Plan to use your entire cleaning arsenal.  The ink looked very green going down the sink, and I swear the water-test ink looks greenish now, though no ink came off the page... Bizarre.

Zoomed in photo (Not too far off. Doesn't look so fuzzy to the naked eye.)

Screenshot (Text is a bit dark.)

Scan of Completed Review (This is the closest to what my eyes see.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (The contrast (dark spots) on the absorbent paper is very exaggerated compared to reality.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 390µm, with thirteen divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 397µm. With 276 inks measured, the average line width is 296µm.) (Baystate Blue keeps its "widest line" title by 3 microns. :))

Microscope image (100x. My eyes see hints of purple, green, blue, and maybe yellow.)

Microscope image (100x. Smartphone through eyepiece. Color is more accurate, but not entirely.)

Water Test Results (To my eyes, all the text is as green as the far right edge of "4" in "Day 4" and parts of "ternak".)

Previous Review: Herbin Éclat de Saphir.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[Sailor Kenshin]

This looks gray-green to me in Naked Eyedom, but the Mariana Trench images not only show this ink's other colors, like lavender and turquoise, but the fluorescence.  
 

I like Pasternak, and if I wasn't on an InkATorium, I'd be sore tempted.
 

@LizEF, I like how your ink reviews have progressed from Five Boxing Wizards to my beloved Tuesday serial-plus.  Crossing my fingers for Quin's dad.  Thanks!

[yazeh]

What a fabulous review @LizEf   Sorry the cleaning was a a bear  Funnily enough, I have filled a pen with a sample I found. Apparently grey ink is perfect for sketching and shading as it resembles graphite colour

 

Loved how you incorporated all 4 characters in a paragraph. In a way  your story is like a weekly comic strip, so having all four was great. 

 

And finally I love the quote, so true 🙏

[LizEF]

12 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

This looks gray-green to me in Naked Eyedom, but the Mariana Trench images not only show this ink's other colors, like lavender and turquoise, but the fluorescence.

Yes, I thought the "Mariana Trench" was totally cool.  It was just after making the slide - the trench collapsed by the end of the review (didn't bother capturing a picture then as it wasn't anywhere near as interesting).

 

14 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I like Pasternak, and if I wasn't on an InkATorium, I'd be sore tempted.

The InkATorium has to end sometime.

 

15 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@LizEF, I like how your ink reviews have progressed from Five Boxing Wizards to my beloved Tuesday serial-plus.  Crossing my fingers for Quin's dad.

Thanks!

 

15 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks!

You're very welcome!

[LizEF]

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

What a fabulous review @LizEf  

Thanks!

 

11 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Sorry the cleaning was a a bear

No worries!  The clear grip, the shapes inside Pilot's grips, and (I think) wear from so much use makes it a harder pen / grip to clean, but at least it comes out.

 

12 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Funnily enough, I have filled a pen with a sample I found. Apparently grey ink is perfect for sketching and shading as it resembles graphite colour

  Yes, I can see that.  It would be a soft pencil / dark application, but yeah, good grey.  The variety of colors packed inside might make for interesting washes, too.

 

13 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Loved how you incorporated all 4 characters in a paragraph. In a way  your story is like a weekly comic strip, so having all four was great. 

Thanks!

 

14 minutes ago, yazeh said:

And finally I love the quote, so true 🙏

Ah, yeah, that was a good one.  I've been having a hard time finding story-matching quotes for subsequent reviews, and decided looking for them is taking too much of my time, so unless I find them quickly, I'm going to go back to using whatever quote suits my fancy (what a bizarre idiom!).

[lapis]

Nice review as usual! What I especially like here is your coughing out of the various "looks" this ink appears to shed off. A real idiosyncrasy of Nathan N. Don't know whether that's good or bad. But ink is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. Or, as holders say, Noodler's is in the batch of the bottle. Or, as Shakespeare said, variety is the spice of ink.

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Ah, yeah, that was a good one.  I've been having a hard time finding story-matching quotes for subsequent reviews, and decided looking for them is taking too much of my time, so unless I find them quickly, I'm going to go back to using whatever quote suits my fancy (what a bizarre idiom!).

In retrospect it's aptly chosen. Because, Quin does loves his parents and the ultimate sacrifice

 

[LizEF]

37 minutes ago, lapis said:

Nice review as usual!

Thanks!

 

38 minutes ago, lapis said:

What I especially like here is your coughing out of the various "looks" this ink appears to shed off. A real idiosyncrasy of Nathan N. Don't know whether that's good or bad. But ink is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. Or, as holders say, Noodler's is in the batch of the bottle. Or, as Shakespeare said, variety is the spice of ink.

I guess it's good that he didn't name it "Pasternak Purple" - gives him plausible deniability...

[LizEF]

38 minutes ago, yazeh said:

In retrospect it's aptly chosen. Because, Quin does loves his parents and the ultimate sacrifice

Yes, I got lucky for this scene, and maybe the next few - can't remember where I gave up, but it can be very frustrating - these days, the "quote" sites are stuffed full of user-submitted garbage (anything any famous person said) and it's getting harder and harder to find quotes that actually inspire reflection...

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Yes, I got lucky for this scene, and maybe the next few - can't remember where I gave up, but it can be very frustrating - these days, the "quote" sites are stuffed full of user-submitted garbage (anything any famous person said) and it's getting harder and harder to find quotes that actually inspire reflection...

Yes, and even harder to make sure of their veracity

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

I have an actual print book of these quotes.  

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Yes, and even harder to make sure of their veracity

Oh yeah, I gave up on that a long time ago - just don't have time for that!

[LizEF]

38 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I have an actual print book of these quotes.  

I have an old CD library and one of the books in it is quotes - an amazing number are dull as rocks!

[inkstainedruth]

5 hours ago, LizEF said:

Thanks!

 

I guess it's good that he didn't name it "Pasternak Purple" - gives him plausible deniability...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[InesF]

There are surprises I love, and there are surprises I don't love. This ink is scientifically interesting! 👩‍⚕️👍 For the love of the colour(s), as you describe it/them, I plan to sacrifice the idea of testing it by my own. Thank you, @LizEF, for carrying the burden of testing, for cleaning and for finding nice words to cover strange ink properties! 

 

However, the microscopy image looks like a deep-sea photo, something like Mariana trench in 10900 m depths, or so.  I can almost see traces of the creatures of the deep hiding from the light and waiting to come back when the camera moved away.

PS: did you know about booking.com offering "Mariana trench"? What a surprise! 

 

[LizEF]

3 hours ago, InesF said:

There are surprises I love, and there are surprises I don't love. This ink is scientifically interesting! 👩‍⚕️👍 For the love of the colour(s), as you describe it/them, I plan to sacrifice the idea of testing it by my own.

3 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for carrying the burden of testing, for cleaning and for finding nice words to cover strange ink properties! 

You're most welcome!

 

3 hours ago, InesF said:

However, the microscopy image looks like a deep-sea photo, something like Mariana trench in 10900 m depths, or so.  I can almost see traces of the creatures of the deep hiding from the light and waiting to come back when the camera moved away.

Right?  I'm glad I looked at it immediately rather than waiting for it to "collapse".  I now wonder if many pigment inks don't do this before "flattening" into their more ordinary "waves" or "clouds" or "silt in a river delta" sort of pattern (which is exactly what this one flattened into).

 

3 hours ago, InesF said:

PS: did you know about booking.com offering "Mariana trench"? What a surprise! 

First I've heard of it.  Now I'm wondering if they only offer one-way travel....   (Curiosity forced me to go look - I found a hotel in Baku - yes, Azerbaijan.  (For the geographically challenged, that's nowhere near the Mariana Trench.)  I also found there's a boy band (based on the photo, I didn't look into it further) named Marianas Trench that you can book for private events... I think that's enough googling for one morning!)

[yazeh]

A bit off topic (ink wise) I was trying to imagine how Essri and Makhabesh would be having snacks Quin's Mom prepared, presumably cheeseburgers for the latter and grape popsicles for the former.  

Essri: Grape Popthicles, my favorite. 

Assuming Sneks eat their food like Snakes  he would swallow it hole, looking like a Pogo. 

Enough said

Now wondering if Essri is having brain freeze or body freeze. Extremely deep and existential questions

 

 

[LizEF]

45 minutes ago, yazeh said:

A bit off topic (ink wise) I was trying to imagine how Essri and Makhabesh would be having snacks Quin's Mom prepared, presumably cheeseburgers for the latter and grape popsicles for the former.  

Essri: Grape Popthicles, my favorite. 

Assuming Sneks eat their food like Snakes  he would swallow it hole, looking like a Pogo. 

Enough said

Now wondering if Essri is having brain freeze or body freeze. Extremely deep and existential questions

 

Yeah, being cold-blooded, I'm pretty sure Essri avoids popsicles...  Maybe they're what sneks eat when they want to have a long sleep....  Existential indeed.

[yazeh]

16 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Yeah, being cold-blooded, I'm pretty sure Essri avoids popsicles...  Maybe they're what sneks eat when they want to have a long sleep....  Existential indeed.

Well, he would look funny with a cheese burger. stuffed in his mouth.. Now the question being what did Quin's mother fed Snekr

[LizEF]

35 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Well, he would look funny with a cheese burger. stuffed in his mouth.. Now the question being what did Quin's mother fed Snekr

Hmm. Cookies & milk? Baklava? A fruit cocktail? Mini sandwiches? The more important question is who cut his food into snek-friendly bites.