dark dark green

[RayMan]

For the green color alone, PR Sherwood is hard to beat, but I wouldn't call it a really dark green. For my taste, PR Avocado is dark and green, but it is a shade I don't find appealing. Zhivago is really, really dark, and often looks almost black at first glance.

 

I rarely use either of the PR inks because of smearing. Zhivago is nearly always loaded in at least a couple of pens.

 

I fell in love with the color of PR Sherwood Green when I first tried it. Then I realized that it dries at a glacial pace, and is a smearing nightmare for left handers like me. Now it sits on an isolated corner of my desk next to its smeary brother, PR Tanzanite.

 

[Eternally Noodling]

There's also Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black, which is, as confirmed by me and other owners, actually a Green-Black.

 

 

Put it on filter paper...it is a "prime black" and a "prime bright blue"...NOTHING else....no yellow....no green.... The color can play tricks on the perception the eye believes is there...

 

It looks like a classic 1920s blue-black on some grades of paper...but change to a halogen bulb and the color seems to change as well - kerosene lamp changes it yet again...CF and incandescent...etc.... It is not a "constant" color ink. The variations based upon light and paper grade differences...even if the pen is a generous flowing broad or a stingy extra fine....can change the perceived color many times over. The paper towel or filter paper test won't lie....it is just "prime black" and "prime bright blue".....just as red-black seems to be brown with certain paper grades and light sources or a black tinged with red highlights...it is pure red and pure black, nothing else.

[saintsimon]

There's also Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black, which is, as confirmed by me and other owners, actually a Green-Black.

 

 

Put it on filter paper...it is a "prime black" and a "prime bright blue"...NOTHING else....no yellow....no green.... The color can play tricks on the perception the eye believes is there...

 

It looks like a classic 1920s blue-black on some grades of paper...but change to a halogen bulb and the color seems to change as well - kerosene lamp changes it yet again...CF and incandescent...etc.... It is not a "constant" color ink. The variations based upon light and paper grade differences...even if the pen is a generous flowing broad or a stingy extra fine....can change the perceived color many times over. The paper towel or filter paper test won't lie....it is just "prime black" and "prime bright blue".....just as red-black seems to be brown with certain paper grades and light sources or a black tinged with red highlights...it is pure red and pure black, nothing else.

 

Yes, Nathan the components, (for me at least) are black and turquoise/cyan.

And I like the colour as an ink really.

But, IMHO, because the Noodler's Black is more to the yellow compared to other blacks, this mix (yellow-blue) makes it appear greenish as a result.

Anyway, I don't complain, because this tone is unique :clap1: . Don't change it.

[Tricia]

I don't see Noodler's Forest Green mentioned very often and it's one of my favorites. Leans a bit toward the blue, which I love about it.

 

 

[KCat]

I fell in love with the color of PR Sherwood Green when I first tried it. Then I realized that it dries at a glacial pace, and is a smearing nightmare for left handers like me. Now it sits on an isolated corner of my desk next to its smeary brother, PR Tanzanite.

 

have you tried to dilute it slightly? I find some of these inks to be so dye-dense that they can be diluted with water without altering the color. That might allow you to use it. My Sherwood and my Penman Emerald were getting a bit thicker and a drop of water in the converter with the ink resolved the problem but didn't impact color or flow.

[Viseguy]

There's also Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black, which is, as confirmed by me and other owners, actually a Green-Black.

 

 

Put it on filter paper...it is a "prime black" and a "prime bright blue"...NOTHING else....no yellow....no green.... The color can play tricks on the perception the eye believes is there...

So what is regular Blue-Black, then? How does it differ? And how does Ellis Island differ from either of those? They all seem very close to one another, yet distinct.

[BillTheEditor]

There's also Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black, which is, as confirmed by me and other owners, actually a Green-Black.

 

 

Put it on filter paper...it is a "prime black" and a "prime bright blue"...NOTHING else....no yellow....no green.... The color can play tricks on the perception the eye believes is there...

So what is regular Blue-Black, then? How does it differ? And how does Ellis Island differ from either of those? They all seem very close to one another, yet distinct.

I just got a bottle of the Ellis Island Ink and will be reviewing it here soon. Since I don't have regular Blue-Black, I can't compare it to that one, but I did have a sample of the Air Corps Blue Black and my observation is that the Ellis Island is a much, much darker blue. I would go so far as to say that out of all the blue-black inks I have tried from Noodler's and Private Reserve, Ellis Island is the one that most reminds me of the blue-black ink I remember from grade school fifty years ago (which was Skrip, if I recall correctly). I'll have to try the filter paper on it. Unfortunately, all of the ACBB sample is gone, so I can't do a side-by-side.

Edited September 30, 2007 by BillTheEditor

[Viseguy]

I just got a bottle of the Ellis Island Ink and will be reviewing it here soon. Since I don't have regular Blue-Black, I can't compare it to that one, but I did have a sample of the Air Corps Blue Black and my observation is that the Ellis Island is a much, much darker blue.

I just got my bottle on Wednesday and I've only tried it in one pen, so it's early days for me. It certainly is dark. The blue seems to show through more on cream-colored paper; on white paper, the ink looks almost black. It held up well to a soaking. My guess is that this is FPH Old Manhattan Black with a little blue added. It's not quite as smooth as regular B-B, and seems to be a bit more prone to feathering. I wasn't crazy about Old Manhattan, and I can't say E.I. has really grabbed me, but I need to try it with some of my better nibs. Will look forward to your review.

[BillTheEditor]

I just got a bottle of the Ellis Island Ink and will be reviewing it here soon. Since I don't have regular Blue-Black, I can't compare it to that one, but I did have a sample of the Air Corps Blue Black and my observation is that the Ellis Island is a much, much darker blue.

I just got my bottle on Wednesday and I've only tried it in one pen, so it's early days for me. It certainly is dark. The blue seems to show through more on cream-colored paper; on white paper, the ink looks almost black. It held up well to a soaking. My guess is that this is FPH Old Manhattan Black with a little blue added. It's not quite as smooth as regular B-B, and seems to be a bit more prone to feathering. I wasn't crazy about Old Manhattan, and I can't say E.I. has really grabbed me, but I need to try it with some of my better nibs. Will look forward to your review.

I did a little filter paper test last night, using a coffee filter. One drop of ink gave me a really big spread, but almost all of it is pure black,with the smallest fringe of a blue that looks a lot like Eel Blue.

 

I'm pooped from the amount of work I've done in the last week (actually, over the last five months), so it will be a day or two before I have the review done. I think I like Ellis Island Ink maybe a bit more than you do, but I still like Legal Lapis best for my everyday "Blue-Black" and probably like Ottoman Azure best for an everyday darker blue.

[Bill]

With the 1.0 stub, I would start with Zhivago. The dark green should peek through nicely because of the broader nib. With a narrower nib, I would start with Aircorp B-B or Green Marine. Or even MB Racing Green if you wanted it a bit lighter. In my experience, I find that Z often looks black with finer nibs. I like Avacado but it is definitely lighter than the others.

 

Bill

[Eternally Noodling]

There's also Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black, which is, as confirmed by me and other owners, actually a Green-Black.

 

 

Put it on filter paper...it is a "prime black" and a "prime bright blue"...NOTHING else....no yellow....no green.... The color can play tricks on the perception the eye believes is there...

So what is regular Blue-Black, then? How does it differ? And how does Ellis Island differ from either of those? They all seem very close to one another, yet distinct.

 

 

Ellis Island is a conventional ink...made to be modern, neutral average Ph, but as identical to the original government issue blue black in color used at Ellis Island about 100 years ago (though not properties...as the original was VERY acid - pH 1.2 - and had certain less desirable traits that have been completely avoided in the modern version) .

 

Regular Blue-Black has a darker blue component and lesser black component than Air-Corp blue-black. Regular was a vintage replica ink (about 30 years post Ellis Island on the timeline), whereas air-corp was based upon the army-air corp uniforms for officers (which were sometimes mixed British/American style at the time due to the influence of the European theatre).

 

Not to make ink complicated....but sometimes there exists a prime dye, say...purple wampum or tanager, shah's, saguaro, concord bream, Navajo, blue, etc....the list of Noodler's Inks tends to grow because when a unique component becomes available - if it makes a nice ink, it will be tried in the marketplace. Some inks may appear very similar/almost identical on one grade of paper when using a fine nib...but suddenly an artist using a brush pen or a calligrapher using an XBBB italic....will note dramatic differences between paper grades and even nib widths in terms of color, hue, effect, and shading. As Noodler's is such a small company, massive production runs of ink are not required to justify machinery use (certain Asian and European ink companies have production runs of over 10,000 bottles PER color run!). If it is nice enough, we'll make just two bottles...if that is all the material that is available world wide...but the ink is worthy of at least being born so that somebody can use it and enjoy it.

 

Somebody here proposed a shade of "napalm"....there is a dye that looks like a napalm explosion...might do it. The name alone would cause interesting discussions. ;-)

[CharlieB]

Who sells Ellis Island? I have not seen it on any of the websites I usually check.

[BillTheEditor]

Who sells Ellis Island? I have not seen it on any of the websites I usually check.

Ellis Island Ink is an exclusive for Fountain Pen Hospital (http://www.fountainpenhospital.com). Same is true of Old Manhattan, which is a deeeeeep black.

[dcom]

Quite by accident, I found that mixing J Herbin Lie De The brown with some PR Lake Placid Blue (5:1.5 brown to blue ratio) gave me a nice dark olive green. Not sure if it'll do anything nasty to the pen but I really like the color.

[Viseguy]

Ellis Island is a conventional ink...made to be modern, neutral average Ph, but as identical to the original government issue blue black in color used at Ellis Island about 100 years ago (though not properties...as the original was VERY acid - pH 1.2 - and had certain less desirable traits that have been completely avoided in the modern version) .

 

Regular Blue-Black has a darker blue component and lesser black component than Air-Corp blue-black. Regular was a vintage replica ink (about 30 years post Ellis Island on the timeline), whereas air-corp was based upon the army-air corp uniforms for officers (which were sometimes mixed British/American style at the time due to the influence of the European theatre).

Thanks, that helps put these inks in perspective. FWIW, last year I made a mix of equal parts bulletproof Black and Swishmix Tahitian Pearl that is pretty much a dead ringer for Ellis Island. I find either one to be a good ink for just about any purpose except signing documents, where I need a color that is more obviously not black. But I couldn't resist buying Ellis Island (the ink, that is ) because my dad entered the U.S. there in 1911 (spent a month there actually, in quarantine, due to an outbreak of some contagious disease or other on his ship). It's neat to be using the color that he probably used to "sign in". How did you match it? I suppose you looked at original documents.

 

P.S. While writing this post, I finally managed to locate the ship manifest showing my dad's arrival! I've been combing http://www.ellisisland.org for years, but was not hitting it because, as I discovered tonight, his name was misspelled on the database. It's kind of an oddball misspelling -- a transcription error; the handwriting on the manifest is a little hard to decipher. I've e-mailed them to request a correction. Who knows, I may never have taken another look had I not bought my bottle of Ellis Island at FPH last week! Thank you, Noodler's!