Most of my ink collection (40+) is Noodler’s. To answer questions about it though its never clogged any of my pens. I don’t have any crazy pens though. Lamy safari’s, nexx, and vistas. Also have an Ahab and a Pilot Metropolitan. I don’t know in the long run how much it will affect the pens though.
Good inks like De Atramentis, Iroshizuku, or Caran D’ Ache all “feel awesome” if that makes any sense. You know you’re using a really good quality ink. It just feels and flows better than other inks out there. I can give a good example of inks that looks awesome but feel horrible. DIAMINE!
Regarding interesting inks like Emerald of Chivor you really need super good paper, good pens/nibs to really get those crazy colors that you get on internet pictures. This is possible with a lot of inks though not just Emerald. The best thing you can do is thick lines with really good paper to get the best out of your inks.
For Emerald I’m using a Lamy Nexx with 1.1 nib and I get the reds around the edges of letters with Moleskine paper. So I can totally see where they get those crazy colors from.
I finally used up a bottle of Mont Blanc royal blue ink I had sitting half used for 6 years. I bought a bottle of Diamine meadow green as a replacement. It is a strange ink, it writes out dark black-green but after a few seconds it dries out to brighter shade of green that is close to the sample sheet for the ink where I bought it from.
I liked the shade of the Diamine ink, but I decided to work on a bottle of Naples Blue ink from Private Reserve.
The properties of color changing on that Diamine aren’t very weird. An ink that does the same and even glow in florescent lighting is Noodler’s General of the Armies
I don`t want to start a new thread and so posted this here as I think this is related.
So I wasjust wondering if any of you guys tried other types of calligraphy such as arabic or chinese/japanese calligraphy. I haveonly tried fountain pens and chinese calligraphy but I think chinese calligraphy is more appealing to me and I think it is more diverse and elegant. Just my 2 cents. You guys should try out chinese calligraphy sometimes. I also want to try Arabic sometimes ;D.
I have tried the Gothic English script, but my hand coordination is crummy. I also used to write in cursive but have given that up in favor of print because the majority of my writing is math. I have several people in my family who are teachers and they have told me the newer generation of kids don’t even know how to read the original declaration of independence because they don’t know cursive.
Apparently this is happening with other languages as well. I know someone who has spent years learning Chinese, but can’t read the cursive form of Chinese. My uncle learned German in college, but can’t read our ancestor’s documents because its in cursive German. And I have seen discussion between people about the Dutch words written in a medieval-era script.
I think we are coming close to a dangerous point in time where everyday people won’t even know how to read their own language if its not printed by a computer.
Ever try to read Chaucer in Old-English? It shows you just how much languages change over time. I have trouble reading 18th Century stuff. All the S’s are F’s. Fimply filly. is you afk me.
Piston Fillers… Like what the Noodler’s Ahab has or the Lamy with the Converter?! If so, I usually make a mess if I have to dip the nib and waste more ink than needed. I usually fill my pens with a syringe directly into the converter. With the Ahab I have been dipping and pulling the plungers but always get ink ALL over my fingers when I do it that way… What about you?
Also, haven’t posted in a while but made this for the 'Ol Lady for our Anniversary. Was inspired by random butterfly stuff I found through Google image search
A piston filler will not take a cartridge or Converter. The filling mechanism is built-in to the pen and cannot be modified. That is what makes piston-fillers unique. Instead of just being a shell that holds either a cartridge or a converter, the pen has the mechanism inside the barrel. That makes the pen feel substantial, and heavy with the mechanism and the ink-resevoir. That is what I like most about them. They feel like a real pen. Not just a shell, or cover, for a plastic cartridge.
I completely agree that the fill sometimes wastes a bit of ink, but the huge reservoir makes up for the small waste.
I haven’t used a true piston filler before, but they seem very convenient and solidly built. My Ahab is similar since the “converter” works with a pull piston, but it’s not built in to the pen, and IDK if any prefills fit
I am not entirely sure I would call the Ahab a piston filler, although it won’t accept cartridges, and can only fill from an ink bottle. The Lamy 2000, Pelikan M200,400,600,800,1000 are all piston fill. TWSBI makes a some reasonably priced piston fill and, I believe the Noodler’s Konrad pens are piston fill.
To me, a piston fill pen uses the barrel to hold the ink, however, some pens have a permanent (or semi permanent) internal cartridge) and the manufacturer calls them piston fill.
Yeah, I’m not calling an Ahab a true piston filler either. I’d love to grab a few extra pens, especially with an Italic nib, so I can try out a piston filled pin for myself, since I only use bottled ink anyway… Which is what I always spend my pen money on ;D gotta love some cool inks
There is a slight waste with piston fillers, but I dont think its that big of a deal if you do it right. You shouldnt even be getting ink all over your fingers.
TWSBI Eco is a piston filler I would recommend. You cant go wrong with one.
I’m a TWSBI user, the 580 is my main writer now, simply because it holds so much ink, and it’s fun to watch the ink bubble slosh around inside the barrel.
The other nice feature of the TWSBI is I can unscrew the nib off the pen and fill the pen barrel directly with a straw. I use an ink syringe with a blunt tip to fill up my pen. Its much less messy to refill, and also to clean out the pen when I want to switch out colors or regular pen maintenance.
I’ve felt the same way with Noodler’s a few years ago but I’ve had a Pilot 18k EF inked with bulletproof black for 3+ years now, continuously, and never had a problem other than a hard start. But the pen has set unused for a month or longer so I didn’t blame the ink for the hard starts. I’ve also read the ink is highly saturated and that seems true from what I’ve used. I like them mainly for their bulletproof inks and the eel series works well in some dryer EF nibs I’ve had before I started tuning my nibs myself. I’ve never had Noodler’s clog a pen over time either but I have had some pretty bad ink properties in use on certain colors. Rachmaninoff will not flow well at all. I’ve read you can dilute it with water and that will help but haven’t tried it yet. That’s one thing you can do with Noodler’s inks and not loose any color people say since they are so highly saturated.
The Iroshizuku inks can’t be beat imho. Plus I like the bottle. Some of their inks have as much sheen as the J. Herbin 1670’s and others. I have noticed nothing settle’s at the bottom of the bottle in the Iroshizuku nor do they say to shake the bottle up before use so the sheen stays suspended in the ink.
For a piston filler, I too love the TWSBI 580’s! This pen always starts with good ink even after a month sitting cap up on my desk. Writes smooth and effortlessly and holds a lot of ink. Thought of trying the discontinued TWSBI Vac700 for a vacuum filler since it’s a larger pen.
The Noodler’s Konrad is a piston filler but I like the Ahab better personally for it’s size and ease of use.
Nice picture BIG NIC!
Still haven’t tried the new Diamine Shimmer but Brandy Dazzle looked good to me along with the blue with the silver sheen.
On a whole other writing instrument, I finally tried the Blackwing pencil. Nice pencils!
I am using Private Reserve in my Lamy right now. The Claret is fabulous. I have never had any issues either. The point of my original post was about using Noodler’s in vintage, or expensive classics like a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck.
I do not usually buy new pens. Rather, I get old models online and restore them with proper modern materials. I have found that old fountain pens can be both better; and cheaper than many expensive, modern pens. After reading Richard’s comments, I hesitate to use these inks in my older pens. That is not based on my experience, it is based on Richard’s experience with literally hundreds of old pens.
I think there was a batch of inks from different manufactures over the years that have gotten contaminated and some molded. Luckily none of mine have as some I’ve had open for years. Mainly the PR 110ml SE inks.
I’ve used Noodler’s in my vintage pens and haven’t had any issues but that’s on limited colors and most were known to behave per reviews.
I’ve really enjoyed restoring pens. Started on Esterbrook and moved on to others. My favorites have been the larger Pilot Vacumatics. I really like the striping and vintage look overall.
Finally got around to trying the Tomoe River paper! Nice paper. It is smooth and ‘velvety’ as others mentioned. Being so thin you would think it would bleed through but it holds ink well with a longer dry time of course. The only thing I don’t like is the depression left from the page above’s writing. Being so thin you can easily see what you just wrote on the underlying page and a flex pen makes it even worse. So using a divider between sheets may be necessary depending on your preference.
