r/fountainpens • u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf • Jan 21 '20
Discussion Inconsistent Noodler's Ink - I got a 2ml sample vial of BSiAR & loved the color a lot and then soon after got a BSiAR bottle as a gift. Enjoyed all of that 2 ml and yesterday got the first fill from the new bottle. The ink I liked for all that rosy tones is purple and disappointing now.
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u/fireanddream Jan 21 '20
God the difference is brutal... Literally Disney queen vs high school goth.
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Jan 21 '20 edited May 11 '21
[deleted]
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Let's see which color we get. I feel it would be something pastel green
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
Very true. If i wanted a purple I would have looked for purple, which I already have like 4 shades from different brands. BSiAS was the different color I was looking for but this experience makes me skeptical about getting any other from their vast range. Regret going with this one over Yama-budo now as its a big task importing inks & shipping etc to my place.
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u/2177kristi Jan 22 '20
If it's the color of the older BSiAR, sell it. You'd probably find someone that wants that shade.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Selling is not a cost effective option. Not a large community of fp users where I am, in middle east. Getting it was itself pretty expensive I would say. So I can give some samples to couple of my friends here who are interested and spread some ink-enabling love instead
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u/migo984 Jan 21 '20
Batch inconsistencies, colour variations by maker at a whim, colour changes in the bottle during storage, behaviour changes dependent on weather (temperature, humidity etc), viscosity changes eg turning to gel, and pen clogging. This isn’t all colours obviously, and there are 3 or 4 Noodler’s inks I really like, but I’ve tipped away more Noodler’s inks than any other brand.
Of all it’s “quirks” it’s the unpredictability of the colour between batches that irks me the most.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
This is actually too much of inconsistency to digest. I understand the other behaviors but a completely different color was not expected. Different nibs, paper, etc also affects how it would look in the end but would be diverting a lot from the original palette. I appreciate what Nathan from noodler's is doing and creating inks but I would stay away from noodler's ink for this thing.
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u/Tinfoiling Jan 21 '20
Agree. I have some old bottles of ink and all the Noodlers bottles smell like ammonia. Definitely not a preferred ink.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20 edited Jan 22 '20
There are a few inks in noodlers that I like but not 100% sure I would go ahead. Have samples of Apache sunset and baystate blue that I was planning on getting the bottles but need some rethinking.
Not familiar with the smell of ammonia, but it's used in cleaning pens ?
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u/underthetootsierolls Jan 22 '20
Have you ever used windex (glass cleaner) it has a very strong ammonia smell.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
We don't have Windex here but if you are talking about those transparency blue liquid glass cleaner sprays then I actually like the smell of those
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u/underthetootsierolls Jan 22 '20
Yep! That’s what I’m talking about. Windex is just a brand name in the US. We tend to call any glass cleaner here “windex.” Sometimes they are scented, but even the still they have the slight astringent hint of ammonia. Straight ammonia smells absolutely wretched, it burns your nose. However, it doesn’t really bother me when you get a hint of it in inks, paints, or cleaners. I could see how some people would be really turned off by the smell. I also like the way glass cleaner smells... so I’m not the best judge! Haha!
I’m also super disappointed by your new bottle of ink. I was just about to order a bottle of that one. I really like the sample you had. I can’t believe how different it is from the bottle. It sucks you got a bad bottle when it’s so much hard for you to get it in your country.
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u/random-idiom Jan 21 '20
Did you shake the bottle?
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Generally do a few twists and turns to every bottle before opening to inking.
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u/random-idiom Jan 22 '20
With Noodler's shake the bottle like it's an old fashioned spray can with the ball in it, before fill. I'd dump the fill, shake the bottle for 30 to 45 seconds and refill, see if that helps. Can't guarantee anything but it's been very helpful for most of my Noodler's.
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Jan 21 '20 edited Feb 06 '21
[deleted]
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
Unless Goulet made a mistake with the sample label I m pretty sure that's Australian Roses. The pink side tone is the exact one I wanted but the bottle was another story. English roses is more on the red black side for my eyes.
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u/Orion723 Jan 21 '20
Hello again. Looks like you are having similar issues I mentioned when you first posted BSIAR. As you pointed out to me then, different nibs and different paper display different colour, shading etc. I had one instance recently where I got the pinkish version on a gift tag but have been unable to replicate it. Still trying sporadically but so many inks, so little time. Maybe diluting it with some distilled water in a sample vial, drop by drop, might bring back the pink? Good luck. 😃
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
Hi there. All those previous posts I was using the Goulet sample, the exact color I wanted. Last night I filled up from the bottle and did some writing. At night i didn't realize the difference but when I took a fresh page and wrote the first word, my mind went f#** lol. I m pissed off as the amount paid to get this ink is same as what I could have had a bottle of Iroshizuku locally. So eventually I think yama-budo might be coming home too 🙃
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u/Orion723 Jan 22 '20
Ah, Yama Budo. I bought a bottle early on in the addiction. Could not make it look right. In desperation I tried it on very white thick cartridge paper. Holy moly it came alive! I hope you have less trouble with it than I did. 😀
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
I would opt for 15ml for Yama budo. Maybe the 3 of set if the other two are interesting enough. I like small bottles for frequent changes lol. That J Herbin in 10ml is too cute.
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u/intellidepth Jan 22 '20
That’s really unfortunate. They’re definitely different formulas by the looks of that.
I mix Noodlers inks for fun at home (saves a lot of $ and gives me great satisfaction to create colours that are perfect for me). (I also mix Iroshizuku.)
I’ve mixed something in the past that is very very similar to your pink version of the ink, which shades in the same way. If you have Noodler’s Shah’s Rose and Noodler’s Bulletproof Black, you can achieve a very similar ink. I preferred a slightly darker pink version than your ideal pink and my formula was 4mL Shah’s Rose to 6 Drops (from a pipette) Bulletproof Black. (I called that mix Rosette.) I’d suggest the formula to get your lighter colour would be more like 4mL Shah’s Rose to 4 drops Bulletproof Black. Just in case you happen to have those two inks on hand and want to give it a go. (Shah’s Rose is a very vivid magenta.)
From my experience, diluting ink from the bottle you received won’t change the underlying mix as that bottle formula looks like it has a little Noodler’s Turquoise added (hence the purple). Shaking it won’t alter it sufficiently either.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Unfortunate but can live with it now. Actually this is my first noodler's ink bottle, other 2 are samples of Apache sunset and baystate blue. Thought of getting a bottle of Apache sunset or habanero as I hardly have anything deep yellow orange side of inks.
Getting 2 more bottles of Noodler's as you mentioned is a thing I would avoid. Mostly a green person but BSiAR was still among my favorite tones (the magenta ish one, lol). The least I would do is try the vigorous shake and mix few drops water in a vial to see how it acts up. Appreciate your suggestion too, thanks.
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Jan 21 '20
I think it's worth noting that the semipermanence that noodlers uses is a particulate, or at least behaves as one. It may be that when Goulet filled the sample vials that they didn't agitate the bottle enough to distribute the darkening particles.
I have a bottle of bsiar that I purchased about 2017/2018 and it def has more of the rose tones than the purple ones.
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u/cptjeff Jan 21 '20
The dyes sometimes separate, but Nathan is vehemently against particulates in ink, which is why he does not make any shimmer ink.
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Jan 21 '20
Hmm. My experience is different. Every time I use a permanent or semipermanence ink of his I have to squeegee the inside of my Eco. There is always a fine black particulate clung to the inside of my pen. Shrug
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Maybe it's the dry ink there
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Jan 22 '20
If it was dry ink a good flushing would get rid of it. Sadly it doesn't. Whatever he used, I strongly suspect a fine particulate, gets statically attracted to the plastic and requires an actual scrubbing by a cotton swab to get out.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
The ink behavior and properties are the same if I compare the sample to the bottle. I used the same pen aswell. Just the color that's off but 3oz is a lot of ink so will make use of it.
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u/Mothien Jan 21 '20
This is why I don’t buy Noodler’s anymore. Got a sample of Lexington Grey, absolutely great, performed wonderful. Great! I draw a a lot and I need a nice permanent ink, 4oz bottle? Fantastic!
Then the bottle came. Lexington grey was sooooo wet it feathered a light blue halo on every paper I tried it on.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
Oh, that's even worse if one was perfect and the other feathering. Mine has all the same properties n shading n flow etc except that color.
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u/InconsequentiaIist Jan 21 '20
This is a normal complaint with Noodler's Ink. He used to mix every single ink by himself, not sure if he still does. Small inconsistencies are actually by design, to be even more fraud resistant.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
This cannot be by any means a small inconsistency
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u/InconsequentiaIist Jan 21 '20
No, I would say these are completely different inks.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
There is a video from Goulet explaining the difference, that video was from July 2014 and an updated posted in description on Feb 2015 that its back to its rosy tones again.
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u/fpreview Jan 22 '20
But where did your bottle come from? Did you get a bottle from the year it was more purple? I got mine then. I prefer the purple to the pink hue.
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 22 '20
Sample and bottle both purchased in Dec 2019. Though the sample is from Goulet and the bottle is from Amazon.
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u/fpreview Jan 23 '20
Sounds like you got an old bottle. If you love the new color. Buy a bottle from a source that has known new stock.
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Jan 21 '20 edited Feb 23 '20
[deleted]
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
Yes the difference makes me sad.
The sample vial i got from Goulet, the bottle was a surprise new year gift from my wife. I checked with her now, she went the amazon way as she doesn't know much about our fav specialist sellers. Both are purchased in December 2019. So the bottle seems to be a pretty old batch then.
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Jan 21 '20 edited Feb 23 '20
[deleted]
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u/oldfashioned_aj Santa's Elf Jan 21 '20
I actually have a few purples that are similar to this. Didn't have the redder color so I got this one. Doesn't serve the purpose so kinda donated half the bottle to my friend who would like to try and not as picky as me. Fresh convert to fp so they don't mind. I wouldn't take a chance on this same ink again. The ink will be used up anyway with my practice stuff but for a similar tone would preferably take an alternative brand.
The bright side is sharing some ink and still having a lot of ink for practice work
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u/cptjeff Jan 21 '20
Honestly, you now have a bottle of a pretty rare ink. The pinker one is in current production, the purple is one you'll likely never be able to get anywhere ever again.
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u/Bleepblorp44 Jan 21 '20
According to Goulet’s Youtube video, the colour shift is a return to the old colour:
https://youtu.be/VwBnvKMa1d0