Noodler's F P N Van Gogh Starry Night Blue

[Sandy1]

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★ ✩ ✶ ✩ ★

Fidelity

• At time of writing, this ink is not depicted on the Noodler's site, so one cannot determine if the ink I used is as intended.
• Wiki does provide us with an image of the ink's namesake, De sterrennacht.

Figure 1.

Swabs & Swatch

Paper: HPJ1124.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK954_zpsba0abb1a.jpg

Figure 2.

Nib-ism ✑

Paper: HPJ1124.

Depicts nibs' line-width and pens' relative wetness.

Distance between feint vertical pencil lines is 25mm.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK953_zps1ef09794.jpg

L ➠ R: 45, 440, Estie, PPP, P99, Carene.

 

WRITTEN SAMPLES - Moby Dick

Ruling: 8mm.

 

Figure 3.

Paper: HPJ1124.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK956_zps9cffbeed.jpg

Figure 4.

Paper: Rhodia.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK957_zps4ababa97.jpg

Figure 5.

Paper: G Lalo.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK959_zps2f8fefda.jpg

Figure 6.

Paper: Royal.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK960_zps9dbd5cbd.jpg

 

Figure 7.

Paper: Staples.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK961_zps55b79860.jpg

 

OTHER STUFF

 

Figure 8.

Smear/Dry Times & Wet Tests.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK955_zpsa93f2903.jpg

 

Figure 9.

Bleed- Show-Through on Staples.

Obverse of Figure 7.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2013/Ink%20review%20Noodlers%20FPNVGSNBl/INK962_zps94b81f59.jpg

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

 

Type:

• Dye-based fountain pen ink.

Presentation:

• Bottle.

Availability:

• Exclusive to the Fountain Pen Network, fountainpennetwork dot com
• Kindly monitor the linked thread, or its successor, to determine current availability, etc. LINK
  

Daily writer?

• Quite possible.

A go-to ink?

• When a smooth robust extremely dark Blue-Black ink is desired.

USE

 

Business:

(From the office of Ms Blue-Black.)

• Suited to general business correspondence that requires a far more gravitas than animation or conviviality.
• Ms Blue-Black would be a bit shy of this ink, which is easily misread as Black; and would keep an alt/aux ink to hand that is more animated and convivial. e.g. Visconti Blue, Stipula Sepia.
• A contender for personal work product with its pleasant writing experience; and may be boon for those who prefer very narrow nibs on toothy copy/print paper.
• Readability is OK, though I prefer inks that are not so stark, more distant from Black, and move along at a greater pace.
• I'd rather an ink with a crisper line for teeny tiny marginalia.
• Too little tonal separation from material printed in Black to support annotation, mark-up, editing or dedicated forms work; and not enough zap for error correction or grading.

Illustrations / Graphics:

• Possible.
• Being very dark, I'd not use it from a pen in conjunction with Black, but as an alternate to Black.
• High lubricity and generous flow support large rapid strokes typical of gesture drawing.
• As a watercolour, there is quite a difference in behaviour of the dyes upon application of water, so it may be possible to generate colour gradients by reworking dry ink with a wet brush.

Students:

• Worthy of consideration.
• It offers a pleasant writing experience on coarse toothy paper, and the water resistance is admirable, though the use of a dry writer is likely needed to avoid bleed- show-through on 'lowest-bidder' papers.
• As this ink does very well when diluted, it may appeal to those who wish to get the most mileage wordage scribbling per inky ounce.

Personal:

• Well now, even though I use quite a few 'business appropriate' inks for my personal correspondence, I do not use Black FP ink. As such, I have chosen not to use NFPNVGSNBl as it comes from the bottle. However, like some other near-Black inks, I prefer to dilute the ink, and the performance envelope of this ink very easily accommodates such manipulation. Dilution Samples
• Definitely suits pro forma personal business correspondence, but I avoid signing documents in Black ink.
• As I would not use this ink as it comes for personal 'personal' writing, I leave it to other Members to contribute their suggestions and experience.

PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

 

Flow Rate:

• High.
• Controlled.

Nib Dry-out:

• Not seen.

Start-up:

• Immediate.
• With confidence.

Lubricity:

• High.
  
• Feedback was clear.
• Very narrow nibs were comfy on toothy / textured papers.
• Wide nibs were wont to wander on smoooth papers.

Nib Creep:

• Not seen.

Staining (pen):

• Not seen after three days.

Clogging:

• Not seen.

Feathering / Wooly Line:

• Not seen on papers used.

Aroma:

• Slight.
• A bit reminiscent of latex, but sharper.
• Barely noticed whilst writing.

Hand oil sensitivity:

• Not evident.

Clean-Up (pen):

• Quite quickly with plain water.

Mixing:

• No stated prohibitions.

Archival:

• Not claimed.

THE LOOK

 

Presence:

• Solid.
• Are you sure that's not Black?

Saturation:

• Very high.
• A fully inked line is typical.

Shading Potential:

• Very low.

Line quality:

• Most often quite high for a dye-based ink.

Variability:

• Pen+nib combos used:
  • Less than expected.

  [*]Papers used:

  • Much less than expected.

Malleability:

• Not so much, largely due to the high saturation.
• It appears that some effort is required to shift this ink from its home range, though the performance envelope of the ink is should support reasonable changes.
• The wily practitioner would choose their pen before paper to generate their desired appearance.
• A quite consistent appearance across a range papers makes NFPNVGSNBl a strong contender for those, like yours truly, consistently use one daily writer.

PAPERS

Lovely papers:

• Slightly toothy natural white papers.

Trip-wire Papers: ☠

• Not seen.

Copy/Printer Paper:

• Quality of the writing is very good indeed.
• Dry pens would seem necessary to enable two-sided use on 'lowest bidder' papers.

Tinted Papers:

• Inviting.
• The dark tone, high saturation and covering power supports use on most tints.
• I've used this ink on the G Lalo Verge de France Bleu. The ink performed very well on that paper, and the Blue paper sort of brought-out the Blue aspect of the ink.

Is high-end paper 'worth it'?

• Unlikely, and given the high lubricity and low shading potential, one might choose to avoid papers with coated surfaces that are too smooth, opting for smooth uncoated [bond/laid] papers. e.g. Original Crown Mill 100% cotton, Character, MK Papier Exquisit.

ETC.

 

Majik:

• 'fraid not, the ink is not sufficiently malleable.

Billets Doux?

• Most certainly not from yours truly.

Personal Pen & Paper Pick:

• The Estie on HPJ1124.
• The quite narrow line keeps the ink from appearing bolted to the page; and when viewed in person, there are hints of the interesting colour hiding in the darkness.
• I like the crisp slightly cool HPJ1124, which keeps the narrow line of the dark ink very 'present'.

Yickity Yackity:

• I'm still trying to get a handle on such dark inks. As much as I appreciate the subtle aspects of ink, this is another one that is so close to Black that it has me on my back foot.
• Ah kushbaby, does it seems easier to say 'yes' than 'no'?

======

 

NUTS BOLTS & BOILERPLATE

 

Pens

Written Samples:

A. Parker 45 + 14K XF nib.

B. Sheaffer 440 + steel F nib.

C. Esterbrook J + 1555 Firm Fine (Gregg shorthand) steel nib.

D. Platinum President Purist + 22K B nib.

E. Pelikan P99 Technixx (Red) + steel B nib.

F. Waterman Carene + 18K stock Stub nib.

Lines & labels:

◊ Kalligraphie Bordeaux-Violett from an Estie + 9550 and a WASP Vacuum-Fil.

Papers:

• HPJ1124: Hewlett-Packard laser copy/print, 24lb.
• Rhodia: satin finish vellum, 80gsm.
• G. Lalo Verge de France: natural white, laid, 100gsm.
• Royal: 25% cotton, laser/inkjet copy/print, 'letterhead', 90gsm.
• Staples: house brand multi-use copy/print, USD4/ream, bears FSC logo, 20lb.

Imaging:

• An Epson V600 scanner was used with the bundled Epson s/w at factory default settings to produce low-loss jpg files.
• Figure 2 was scanned at 300 dpi; other Figures were scanned at 200 dpi.
• No post-capture manipulation of scanner output was done, other than dumb-down by Epson, Photobouquet, IP.Board s/w, and your viewing gear.

Densitometer Readings on HPJ1124:

• Red 74
• Grn 87
• Blu 107
• Lum 97

Other Inks

• This Review uses the same Written Sample format, atrocious handwriting and some pen+paper combos common to most my previous Reviews Blue-Black inks. Consequently, ad hoc comparisons through manipulation of browser windows is supported.
• Should that functionality not meet your requirements, I welcome your PM requesting a specific comparison. Additional scans may be produced, but the likelihood of additional inky work is quite low.

Fine Print

The accuracy and relevance of this Post depends in great part upon consistency and reliability of matériel used.

Ink does not require labelling/notice to indicate (changes in) formulation, non-hazardous ingredients, batch ID, date of manufacture, etc.

As always YMMV, due to differences in materials, manner of working, environment, etc.

Also, I entrust readers to separate opinion from fact; to evaluate inferences and conclusions as to their merit; and to be amused by whatever tickles your fancy.

 

-30-

Tags: Fountain Pen Ink Review Sandy1 Noodler's FPN Van Gogh Starry Night Blue Black BlueBlack Blue-Black

 

Edited February 25, 2013 by Sandy1

[The Good Captain]

Nice review and I agree: it's so nearly black it's not blue. Or something like that. Good to have though, if sparingly used. Diamine Denim comes to mind as a paler alternative.

[Sandy1]

HOUSEKEEPING

 

The Dilution set is next door at the ICS&T Forum: Dilution Set

[Jared]

Thank you for the excellent and accurate review. I also find this ink to be too dark for my liking, with little shading. I'm still looking for the perfect blue-black, but am now enjoing ESSRI thanks to your review.

[Korybas]

Thank you, Sandy, for the amazing review! Once more you hit the bullseye with your excellent review...

However, from what I have seen from using this ink, VGSNB does have amazing shading qualities from my HS 1.3 Stub and from my Nakaya BB Stub. Is it just me? On top of that, I think there is a distinct dark blue/grey tint in this ink; at least this ink does not seem to lean towards the black side.

 

Aris

[Frank C]

I bought a bottle of this along with the other FPN inks. I like dark, almost-but-not-quite, black inks for work. In theory I'm supposed to use black ink so that it can be photocopied, but I like to push the limits by using inks like this one. And of course, they photocopy just fine.

 

Once again, thank you for another of your very thorough reviews.

[Sandy1]

Nice review and I agree: it's so nearly black it's not blue. Or something like that. Good to have though, if sparingly used. Diamine Denim comes to mind as a paler alternative.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment!

 

Diamine Denim has a strong Indigo aspect, and is far more vibrant (higher chroma).

 

Bye,

S1

 

--- ---

Diamine Denim: My Review

[Sandy1]

Thank you for the excellent and accurate review. I also find this ink to be too dark for my liking, with little shading. I'm still looking for the perfect blue-black, but am now enjoing ESSRI thanks to your review.

 

Hi,

 

You're welcome!

 

I think you'll find that Dilution can bring out some subtle shading, but nothing in the league of ESSRI.

 

A few more Blue-Black inks are enqueued, so one of those may tempt you away from ESSRI for a few minutes, but that may be wishful thinking.

 

Bye,

S1

 

--- ---

ESSRI: My Review

Edited February 27, 2013 by Sandy1

[TWRDO]

Ms. Ink Queen, you're making me want a bottle of this one. Seems to be similar to Sheaffer Blue-Black (which I also quite like) but darker.

[Sandy1]

Ms. Ink Queen, you're making me want a bottle of this one. Seems to be similar to Sheaffer Blue-Black (which I also quite like) but darker.

Hi,

 

I'm glad this ink appeals to you!

 

As I tend to add Blue to Sheaffer Blue-Black, aka Blue-Grey, it seems our colour preferences are a bit divergent. (Nothing new!)

 

In terms of performance, NFPNVGSNBl has greater flow, lubricity, water resistance, and tendency to give bleed- show-through on 'lowest bidder' copy/print papers. In terms of appearance, NFPNVGSNBl at bottle strength is much darker and more saturated, hence lower shading potential.

 

It may be of interest to see how SSBlBk compares to the samples of diluted NFPNVGSNBl, but please don't hold your breath!

 

I do plan to review SSBlBk - it even has a place on my bottomless To Do list.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited February 28, 2013 by Sandy1

[GutSchrift]

I really love this color and find it to be a little brighter when used in drier pens or with smaller nibs sizes. Either way I love the 'darkness' of this blue.

[steb]

Fabulous review. Not my favorite shade being blackish blue-black but nice to see in action.

[Sandy1]

I really love this color and find it to be a little brighter when used in drier pens or with smaller nibs sizes. Either way I love the 'darkness' of this blue.

 

Hi,

 

I'm really glad you like the darkness of this ink.

 

I certainly agree with your observations of the ink's appearance when dry or narrow nibs are used. (My personal pen pick was the Estie with the very narrow and dry 1555 Gregg nib.)

 

Bye,

S1