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I Want To Sign With Noodler's Zhivago!


dragos.mocanu

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Noodler's Zhivago is my favorite ink for many different reasons, it's completely waterproof (although not advertised as bulletproof but partially-bulletproof), it behaves splendidly in all the pens I've tried so far (it's on a permanent stay in my indispensable Lamy 2000 with a medium nib - tough reliable combo), it doesn't bleed or feather on even the worst paper (not considering handkerchiefs and such), I've had it write a tight crisp line on papers which bled like crazy with even the driest of inks (Pelikan BB or iron gall), and most importantly, it's such a wonderful and mysterious color...It's black..oh gosh, it's green..nope, it's black again, but not the plain ole' black, 'cause that would be terribly boring.

 

So there I was, signing this random paper (it wasn't even all that important) with my Lamy and this lady tells me "You're not allowed to sign in black because you won't be able to tell the original from a photocopy" and hands me a ballpoint. Of course, I get angry (because of the ballpoint :sick: ...the calumny) and calmly tell her "the ink has a very subtle but easily distinguishable green hue if you look close"...you really can't fake this color, and of course that the pen also leaves a trace on the back of the paper, so you'll know for sure which is original. But she says "No...you have to sign in blue"...and here's the thing, not only I despise ballpoints, but I don't like blue ink/gel/paste whatever, at all! (except for Pelikan Turquoise...but that's another, non-water resistant story). Otherwise, I would've avoided this situation by using a waterproof blue-black (Noodler's BBK, I'm looking at you)...but I can't, because

 

I want to sign with Noodler's Zhivago! :gaah:

 

Cheers! :happyberet:

"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true..." (Carl Sagan)

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  • The Good Captain

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I'm a big fan of Zhivago as well. I have a huge Varuna Gajendra, an Indian ebonite ED pen that doubles as a softball bat, and I changed out the stock nib for a Meisternibs steel B nib that's excellent for signatures. That pen is inked with about a pint of Zhivago right now. I could probably sign stuff with it until my arm fell off before the ink would run out.

 

I think you nailed the best thing about Zhivago: that ever-so-subtle green hue that you have to look hard for, but there it is. It's a black that isn't black, I guess. Sometimes you need black ink but sometimes it's a little, uh, boring. Zhivago lightens up the boring factor a little.

Happiness is an Indian ED!
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It may be a comfort to you to know that if you start carrying and intend to start signing with blue ink you will be told that you cannot because only black is acceptable. It really does not matter what ink you want to use there will always be someone who insists you have to use their pen only.

To hold a pen is to be at war. - Voltaire
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The color copiers today are so good you sometimes can't tell the copy from the original.

Be Happy, work at it. Namaste

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The only safe way is to carry at least 2 pens; black (or a variation of it, say Zhivago) and blue (or a variation of it, say PR DCSS blue).

I've also been in that situation; one place wants their document signed in blue ink, another place wants their document signed in black ink. If you only carry one pen/ink color, you will loose sooner or later.

To this is a 3rd, if they don't care what color ink you use. I would use green.

 

Depending on the situation and what you are signing, it may not matter what color ink YOU want to use. It is the beaurocracy and its rules that will win, and force you to use their choice of ink color. The best you can do is pick a variation of the basic ink color that you like.

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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Noodler's Zhivago is my favorite ink for many different reasons, it's completely waterproof (although not advertised as bulletproof but partially-bulletproof), it behaves splendidly in all the pens I've tried so far (it's on a permanent stay in my indispensable Lamy 2000 with a medium nib - tough reliable combo), it doesn't bleed or feather on even the worst paper (not considering handkerchiefs and such), I've had it write a tight crisp line on papers which bled like crazy with even the driest of inks (Pelikan BB or iron gall), and most importantly, it's such a wonderful and mysterious color...It's black..oh gosh, it's green..nope, it's black again, but not the plain ole' black, 'cause that would be terribly boring.

 

So there I was, signing this random paper (it wasn't even all that important) with my Lamy and this lady tells me "You're not allowed to sign in black because you won't be able to tell the original from a photocopy" and hands me a ballpoint. Of course, I get angry (because of the ballpoint :sick: ...the calumny) and calmly tell her "the ink has a very subtle but easily distinguishable green hue if you look close"...you really can't fake this color, and of course that the pen also leaves a trace on the back of the paper, so you'll know for sure which is original. But she says "No...you have to sign in blue"...and here's the thing, not only I despise ballpoints, but I don't like blue ink/gel/paste whatever, at all! (except for Pelikan Turquoise...but that's another, non-water resistant story). Otherwise, I would've avoided this situation by using a waterproof blue-black (Noodler's BBK, I'm looking at you)...but I can't, because

 

I want to sign with Noodler's Zhivago! :gaah:

 

Cheers! :happyberet:

I have never heard of this.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

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I would have taken the paper and promptly folded it in half in front of her, then said, "Here's the original."

 

Drop it, put on shades, and moonwalk out the door.

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I would have taken the paper and promptly folded it in half in front of her, then said, "Here's the original."

 

Drop it, put on shades, and moonwalk out the door.

Nice!

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

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Just a person trying to do her job like anyone else.

I work for a university and some things I have to sign in blue and some things I have to sign in black. I use Kiwa Guro in one pen and Sei Boku in another. Saves unnecessary issues over ink colour.

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I like to sign documents with Noodler's Kung Te Cheng (Although the pen I use it in is currently out of rotation, and I've been using El Lawrence and 54th MA a fair amount recently).

I just sort of blink my eyes and say "Well, it's SORTA blue...." (I would probably use that same tack with El Lawrence, with those people insisting it *has* to be black :lol:).

Although I've signed credit card slips with brown and magenta inks as well, if that's what pen I had available at the time. Next time I have to sign stuff that's carbonless, though, I'm gonna be ready and bring one of the Esties with a manifold nib....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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i'm getting more and more fond of KTC myself. it's... i think i might be able to claim with a straight face that it's either black OR blue, really. especially in a low light, it's dark enough to pass for black. if somebody doubts it's blue, turn a bright fluorescent on it.

 

then again, the only time anyone has ever cared what color i wrote anything with was while refinancing my house. and that time the banker himself realized the policy was ridiculous, just that his hands were as tied by higher-up corporate authority as mine.

 

(KTC in a fine-point Pilot 78G coats the entire nib to the point where it looks anodized black. it's neat, really. i do worry some about clogging, but no such issues so far --- knock on wood.)

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My EDC are violet vote, eternal brown and legal lapis. When told I must sign in blue and was offered a BP, I said "I have teal, will that work?" I signed all the documents with legal lapis.

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I recently sold a house and took my MB pen filled with MB royal blue to the closing. When I pulled out the pen the assistant asked if the ink was blue. I said that it was blue and signed all the papers with it. The assistant even complimented me on having a nice pen.

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It is quite pointless to require a non-black ink in the age of color scanners and printers. But on the other hand it is not surprising considering that public service offices live in a different century than the rest of the human kind.

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My annoyance is somewhat different.. many a times, true, they won't let me sign with my fountain pen.. but the times that they don't notice or let me, they seem to make sure to handle the paper ONLY where I signed and smear/smudge the ink before drying all over the place.. THEN they look at me and say: That's why we don't like fountain pens!

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