Tag Archives: noodler’s

PEN REVIEW: Noodler’s Nib Creaper Flex Pen

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Made by Noodler’s (love his inks!), I was excited about getting this gem in the mail from Goulet Pens.

So excited that I ripped into the box, tossed it and the packaging over my shoulder without reading any of it, and inked this bad girl up.

This was quite some time ago. And I didn’t love it. The pen (as I remember) felt scratchy and decidedly inflexible.
Last week, I saw this video from Brian Goulet. 
“Nib and feed are friction fit.”   Ohhhhhhh.
“Further in the nib is pushed, the less flex you’ll have.” Yes, yes, that makes sense!
“The feed, the further in it’s pushed, the less…”
“The closer the feed to the tip of the nib, the more….”
At around 7:42, Brian says that he’s tried to film his video multiple times and each time, it’s done something different. He’s a trooper!
I am not.
I know some people love the fiddle-factor of fountain pens. I’m not one of those people. I’m a grab and go girl (don’t be gross). 
I got zero flex from this pen. I’m sure it’s me.  Look at the reviews over at Goulet’s. People love these things.
So. I’m not going to post a writing sample – I realize that the biggest with this pen is user error on my part. 
You know what I’m going to do? Hahaa – I’m going to ask Mr. P if he would like to watch that video and give it a go. He’s probably geeky enough to want to try. Once he has it going, I’ll steal the (filled) pen back from him and post a sample.
OK….chime in. Fiddler? or Grabber? Which are you? (Don’t be gross.)

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s Turquoise Eel

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Noodler’s Turquoise Eel

Now. This is what I’m talkin’ about!

Some real, in-yo-face, color.

And, bonus! It writes like a dream.

Noodler’s Turquoise Eel rivals Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki in every way. It has great color and saturation. It writes beautifully – flow from the pen is just right.

Smear factor isn’t bad.  Not much shading. Is there a turquoise that shades wonderfully? Guess I’ll have to try them all and find out!

Back to the ink . . .

. . . I really don’t have anything negative to say – if I don’t talk about the water test – ha! It’s a great well-behaved ink that I would consider purchasing if I didn’t already own a couple of other turquoise inks. (I test from sample vials, but you probably knew that already.)

A bunch of side notes…

…this is my first review with my new form. Totally excited. Let me know what you think?

…my ink reviews all fall into broad color categories (new this year). This one ended up with the blues because it’s more blue than green. Maybe I need a turquoise – but then I’d need a teal – and sometimes it’s hard to decide. I’ll just keep doing the best I can.

…omg, did you notice the first Compare Square? De Atramentis Hyacinth. I’m excited about reviewing that one sometime soon. Pretttttty.

…Waterman Mysterious Blue felt watery compared to the other inks on this page. Wonder how that will translate in a pen when I get around to testing it.

INK PREVIEW: Oops.

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Pffft.

I’d completed the review of Montblanc’s Winter Glow and then went to my stash – grabbed four red inks out of my red inks sample bag – and above is the result.

Dude. Those aren’t red. Maybeeeeeee Rouge Caroubier is close – but even it is more of a pinky color.

Heaven only knows why I didn’t stop after the first – or the second – OR THE THIRD – but I kept right on going.

So..what you have here is a mess. But at least you can see the swab of Winter Glow and a bit of writing. It’s darker than I thought it would be coming out of the pen.

I’ll get a proper review of Winter Glow done soon.

After I try sorting my samples by color one more time 😉

PEN REVIEW: Noodler’s Ahab Flex Nib

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First, I sincerely apologize for the background. I thought I’d experiment a bit and I’m the first to admit that this is one experiment that should not be repeated. I’m not even wild about pink – who knows what I was thinking!

Anyway. Noodler’s Ahab Flex Nib!

Love…
…it’s a demonstrator
…the filling mechanism – slide piston – fun and different

Indifferent….
…large ink capacity. I know this matters to some fountain pen users, but I like to change ink rather frequently so (at least in this instance) size doesn’t matter
…can be used as an eyedropper pen with extra huge capacity. Again, I’m unlikely to take advantage of this feature

Meh….
..it’s not the smoothest writing pen out there

Con…
..because of the resin used, Noodler’s pens can have a…scent

Pro..
..this one didn’t stink at all

Love….
..the price tag – just $20, yo

Disclaimer….
..it’s a flex nib. I’m a total n00b when it comes to flex nibs. I didn’t read the instructions (I’m pentulant like that)

Love…
..easy to disassemble
..easy to clean (big love!)

A breather tube also comes with the pen. Where is mine? I don’t know. Man, I hope I didn’t throw it out. The tube helps the pen from “burping” out ink. I can’t imagine what a mess that would be.

It wrote well. I didn’t clean it before using (pentulant), but that didn’t seem to matter. Of course, you should clean yours.
I got mine from Goulet Pens. Even if you don’t buy yours there, you should watch the videos that Brian has done. Very informative.  
Oh..what’s my bottom line?  I like it, it’s fun, I don’t know that it’s going to make it into my regular rotation. Indifferent – that’s my bottom line.
xo

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s Black Eel

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I’m off recovering from eggnog, picking ribbon out of my hair, or just taking it easy. In other words, this review was pre-written.  Enjoy!
Noodler’s Black Eel.
How is this different from Noodler’s Black?
Well, I didn’t know. And I wanted to know. So I did some research before this review. 
But first, what the heck is that line down the center of the ink swab? Yeah, I don’t know. It’s not on the swab. I think it’s gunk in the scanner. I hope it’s not too distracting. I hope my mess-up on the “c” in “Black” isn’t too distracting, either. I’m sorry, ok? That’s what I’m trying to say.
Anyway.
Inks in the Noodler’s Eel series are lubricated (stop being gross).  Rumor is that this lubrication helps the action of piston converter pens (the ones you twisty up and down to fill). 
Then I read things that say that the difference isn’t appreciable. Then I read things that say the ink is “sticky,” and takes a long time to dry. And then I read things that contradict all of the above.
My general thought – ymmv, yo. There are so many variables with inks and pens and papers and your writing style. Your mileage may vary, yo.

It’s pretty. The cost is the same as other Noodler’s inks. It’s very well-saturated and I like that. A little smearing, but not horrible. Felt wet to me in my pretty Libelle. I liked it.

Very little feathering. No shading. Solid.

On to the water test. Solid. See those black specks? I don’t want to talk about them, but I can tell you this – those are not Black Eel from Noodler’s. And I hope they are not too distracting.  (They are actually from my horrible Invincible Black fling-a-thon!)

So. That’s Black Eel. Will you give it a go? I may end up getting bottle of this to see if it makes any difference in pens that I’ve had trouble with. 
Here’s what some of the kind people over at Fountain Pen Network had to say about this one.

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s Purple

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Woo Woo!
Now, there is some color!
Regal, royal, raving, raging – ok, I’m out of good “R” words. 
I loooove this color. Love this ink.  
It’s a bright purple. Grape, even. It looks like a color that a teenaged girl would love – a teenaged girl AND me!!
Let’s look at it more closely…
Click for bigger image
It’s not a perfect ink. A bit sloppy even for me – and I love me some wet writing. It smears easily. It feathers.
I’m glad I don’t have a Water Test complete – this means I can keep loving this ink – at least for now. My plan is to keep it short today, but to use the sample I have for a week or so, do a water test, and come back to talk about this in more detail another day.
I’m pretty sure that even if it’s too wet. Even if it won’t pass the water test (and it probably won’t). I’ll still love it. Color like that – meant to be loved!
Do you love purple inks? Are there any guys out there using purple? At work?

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s Bad Belted Kingfisher

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!  Now on to the review….Noodler’s Bad Belted Kingfisher.
Crazy name!  Do you know what it means? I have no idea. 
I like the color quite a bit – a dark steely tealy, yes? Still close enough to blue to be used in a professional setting, but not stodgy at all.
But look at the horrible feathering on the swab above. Granted – this was written on a cheap-o index card, but I do all of my swabs on the same cheap-o cards and none (at least to date) stand out quite like this.  
Even on the Hammermill paper, it’s still feathering. 


I used Noodler’s Flex Nib pen. I believe this was my first (maybe second) time using this pen and, I have to be honest, it was not a good experience. Flow from the pen was good, but it just wasn’t what I expected (more on that another time, though).

Oh no..the water test. Yikes! No bueno, hm?   
Love the color. Do not love the performance.  Given that there are so many inks out there that are pretty, pretty and perform well, I won’t buy a full-sized bottle of this one.
So, tell me – have you tried Noodler’s Bad Belted Kingfisher? Do you love it? What does its name mean!
Oh! And November 2 is Fountain Pen Day!  Can’t wait!!

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s Baystate Blue

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The (in)famous Baystate Blue from Noodler’s.
I usually don’t read a lot about inks before I try them out for myself, but for anyone even a little into pens and ink, it’s impossible to avoid reading about Baystate Blue.
First impressions:  It’s pretty, for sure, but it looks a bit purple to me. SATURATED.  
Because of everything I read (staining pens, difficult to clean, beware, BEWARE!!), I decided to wimp-out and use a glass dip pen for my testing.  I don’t think this was the best decision. You can see the feathering above, yes?   I’m definitely going to be brave and retest it in a pen. I want to be fair. 
Of course, I plan to use a pen I like, but don’t love. A pen that is inexpensive enough to replace. 
Here’s what I know…
..no smearing
..ugly feathering on the cheapie index card (above)
..no ghosting or bleeding
..no shading
..COLOR!!
I looooove color. Look at the swabs above and below – that’s some color! Love the saturation.
Oh..and clean-up? Well, it was a bit of a mess (though not the biggest mess I’ve ever made with ink. I wiped the dip pen first to remove any of the wet ink and then rinsed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mindful about the flow of water and it came rushing out, sending little droplets of water/ink all over the (white) sink. I used a little shampoo and it came right out. Not a huge deal, but I was a bit surprised. I also used shampoo (it was handy) on the glass dip pen – it cleaned right up.
Click to Enlarge Images

I am not even going to ask for your thoughts on this one! I know everyone has an opinion.

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s – Black

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Noodler’s Black is a good, solid black.  The color is rich and deeply saturated. It was definitely wet in my Caran D’Ache with a fine nib; I imagine it would be almost too wet for me in a pen with a broad nib.

Look at the water test, yo.  That’s some impressive behavior!  (The “b” in “by” is where I place a single drop of water – can’t see it at all!)

I rarely read reviews before testing the inks on my own.  It doesn’t matter too much what other people think about a particular ink – I want to know how it performs for me – in my pens. Having fallen in almost-love with this ink, I decided to see what others were saying . . .

Amazon Reviews

Goulet Reviews

According to Noodler’s, the ink is Waterproof, UV resistant, bleach resistant, fade-resistant, and good for archival purposes. It’s also forgery-resistant. SOLD! I’ve added this ink to my wish list.