My search for the waterproof fountain pen ink lead me to the Noodler's black ink.
I find it strange that this ink is described as bulletproof. It has absolutely no meaning at all.
The glass bottle contains 3oz (90ml) of ink. That's a lot of ink. It's filled to the brim so be careful when you open it for the first time. The bottle is tall and I can imagine the difficulty of reaching the ink when it's less than half full.
This is a water based ink. Most of the reviews I've read are favorable on using this inside fountain pens. I'll update this review again in the future if it kills my pen.
I'm using this ink inside a Lamy Safari and it flows very smoothly.
The black is not completely dark black.
You can see from the hatch lines I drew above that the black black is actually at the tip of the stroke where my pen leaves the paper. If you require super black, you've to go with pigment ink which is not suitable for fountain pens.
So is this ink waterproof?
It depends on the paper you use, and how dry the ink is.
This is the ink on normal writing paper. The ink dries fast here. Seems to bind well with the paper. I applied a wash over it with a waterbrush and it doesn't smear. Note that the paper wraps from the water.
This is the ink on cartridge paper. I put this paper behind my computer fan and let it blow dry for a few minutes. It smears on cartridge paper.
This is also ink on cartridge paper, but laid under the sun for 10 minutes.
This ink doesn't seem to bind well on cartridge paper.
This is the ink on watercolour paper. I thought it was dry enough, but apparently not so. There's slight smearing at areas where the ink is not dry.
On the relatively less absorbent paper, the ink doesn't dry as fast. If you're just using it for writing, it doesn't really pose a problem. You have to let it dry totally for watercolour work.
Here's watercolour over Noodler's ink on watercolour paper. Not too bad. Doesn't smear, that or the colours disguise any slight smearing. Looks like the ink dried well.
This is also on watercolour paper. There's some smearing from the hatch lines under the hat where the ink is not completely dry. But otherwise, when totally dry, it works well with watercolour.
Conclusion
The Noodler's ink is waterproof on writing paper, watercolour paper but strangely not so on cartridge paper.
It has minor quirks, but otherwise a good performing, value for money ink. Since it's water based, it's good for fountain pens as well.
Availability:
Amazon.com | Blick Art Materials
This ink is made in USA, and looks like only Amazon US branch stocks it.
5 Comments
I bought some Noodler's ink
Submitted by Li-An on
I bought some Noodler's ink (hard to find), the Dark Matter for a Pilot Pen. I planned to use them for comics inking. The ink was not good for a Waterman pen I had: it just not worked with it. I've read these kind of inks can be too agressive for some pens.
(do you know your captcha is a pain to use when pressing "save", the top of the page is shown in the browser and I have to go down to the captcha ?)
Hello, I connect myself to
Submitted by Anonymous on
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@Li-An The position of the
Submitted by Teoh Yi Chie on
@Li-An
The position of the captcha box is bad but unfortunately I don't know how to reposition it.
The next time you can hit the "page down" button to go to the bottom of the page.
Or hit "preview" first before saving
parka, what you observed -
Submitted by raphael on
parka, what you observed - when wet, some of the ink staying put, some floating off - is pretty common for fountain pen inks, even the waterproof ones. after all, this stuff isnt made for drawing and the more strict requirements of the draughtsman. for us, smearing ink is already faulty because its not staying exactly where we put it. for writing, the written word survives water on the page, so its a success.
the lighter color of the black you noticed could well be because you use fine nibs - they lay on less ink than broader nibs, thus resulting in a lighter shade. (i frequently notice the same with the really fine nib on my hero fountain pen)
look around a bit - there are black fountain pen inks that are stark black even from a fine nib. most likely, they are not waterproof, though. :(
i dont know about the ink you bought, but i once read somewhere that noodler produces much more experimental inks (or inks that are geared towards fulfilling one thing very very well, like staying put under water, etcetera) than other brands. as a consequence, noodler dont give any warranties that the ink wont ruin your pen. (just imagine the hassle if your pen clogged with an ink that dries to a waterproof state)
"Bulletproof" means that the
Submitted by Ninly on
"Bulletproof" means that the ink is part of the Noodler's bulletproof line of inks. These are not only waterproof when dry, but resistant to bleach, alcohols, and other chemicals that could be used by a forger. If you care about that sort of thing. Their ink classifications are described at:
http://noodlersink.com/noodlers-durable-ink-classification/
Nice review.
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