Noodler's Colorado Spruce

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

As far as I'm concerned, Thanksgiving is the earliest I can put up my Christmas lights, so it's also the right time to start thinking about Christmas trees. Some of those are spruce trees! See? It all links up! Alright, maybe a stretch, but I've only started my first cup of coffee while watching the Macy's Parade. It's a silly morning.

Anyway, this Noodler's ink was made for the Colorado Pen Show in 2016 and that's where I bought it. I got mine straight from Luxury Brands, the Noodler's distributor in the US. While it was a limited release, the Facebook page said they still had some bottles after the show, so you might contact them about where to find one for yourself.

This ink is a super-dark green that is so saturated that it could be a black. Some people like to dilute inks like this to bring out the color a bit more, and I bet you could do that to good effect with this ink. The saturation doesn't seem to affect the flow of this one, though, as I'd say it's a medium-wet ink. I had it in a couple of pens from Faber-Castell's Ondoro line, and those run a little bit wet.

The performance of this ink could have been a little bit better. These are pretty wet nibs, and there was some bleeding from the broad nib and some feathering and spreading all around. I think you might like this ink better in finer nibs. The other issue that I had was that the dry times were pretty long. Where the ink is thickest it can take quite a while to dry. You'll see some more of that below.

Also below: Chromatography! A video! A whole lot of color comparisons! More! Etc!

The Written Review

Close-Ups!

On Some Papers...

These two (above and below) are from a Pen Habit Currently Inked journal. (He's changed them since then, but I think it's basically the same paper.)

The image below is of the ink on Tomoe River paper in an Ink Journal.

Copy Paper Test

Color Comparisons!

The Maruman Word Card below had the worst dry-time. You can see a smudge and a finger print on the card. I thought it was dry after quite a long time sitting on my desk. I was wrong. The bottom edge of the swatch didn't dry for HOURS. Of course, most pens can't put down enough ink for this to be a problem, but dry times are generally long with this ink. Lefties beware.

Chromatography!

Water Test and Video Review

This ink has way more water resistance than I thought it would. Not perfect, but totally legible after being hit with some water.

This isn't going to make it into my list of favorite greens, and I guess that's okay. It's a limited release, so it's not like I could get more of it if I wanted to. The color is intensely sprucey, and the flow is good. Let me know your favorite green ink in the comments!

Hey! Thanks for reading to the bottom. I don't know how many people do that, but you did. Good for you!

Sailor Jentle Rikyu-Cha

This new set of Sailor Jentle Inks is really good, but this is my favorite. Rikyu-cha is a pretty odd color. I totally admit that. I really like weird colors. I thought it reminded me of Stipula's Musk Green, but it's been a while and those two aren't alike at all(see below). It's a green, but it's a brown green with a little bit of blue in there. Cool.

Rikyu-Cha flows really well, dries pretty quickly, and performs pretty well on copy paper. Mostly, though, this ink is just cool. It even changes color as you write with it.

Thanks go to Anderson Pens for sending this ink sample out for review!


Written Review

Close Ups

There's just a smidge of sheen in this ink, but it's not something you're likely to see.

Copy Paper Test

There's a little bit of bleed and a little bit of feathering on the copy paper, but it's not too bad. I wish it were a little better, but it's fine.

Other Papers...
This first picture is of a Pen Habit Currently Inked Journal. It's a wheat paper of some sort, I think.

These next couple are on Tomoe River paper. You can see the color is much different on this paper. It doesn't look like this anywhere else, but it does let you see the slight sheen you get from this ink.

Color Comparisons

SO MANY COLORS.

Video Review and Water Drop Test

So, go check out this cool ink. It's rad.

Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine (Ink of the Year 2016)

Hey folks! This ink was distributed at the Pelikan Hub event earlier in the Fall this year. I was really looking forward to it, but it turns out that I don't love it. The color is a little flat, it runs a little dry, and it just doesn't feel all that great on the nib. It's one that I think I'd skip unless I were a completionist about Pelikan inks.

I think both Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku and Sailor Yama-Dori are better inks in this range. Or Sheaffer Turquoise or Lamy Turquoise. There's too much competition in this color range to settle for  mediocre performance.

Written Review

Close Ups!

Tomoe River

Pen Habit "Currently Inked" 

Copy Paper Test

 Not terrible performance, but not great, either.

Color Comparisons

Chromatography

Video Review and Water Test