[alexanderino]

Australia has been experiencing a drought of select Noodler’s inks, Apache Sunset included. Eight torturous months passed before I laid hands on my own bottle. Was the wait worth it? Of course! What a gorgeous ink it is

Its behavioural characteristics are enchanting. As one writes, a miniscule comet’s tail of ink chases the nib and forms a pool where the pen is lifted off the paper; thus, printing each letter from top to bottom gives a delicious ‘sunset’ gradient (as befits its name). A wet flow and not-too-absorbent paper are ideal for maximum shading contrast; surprisingly, wider nibs may not be the best choice for this purpose.

My Pilot Elite [EF nib] and Lamy Safari [1.1 mm italic nib] are currently filled up with this delicious ink. The Elite does it greater justice with its ultra-thin line and generous flow, delivering a more contrasty ‘sunset’ that never fails to elicit comments from onlookers [yes, this ink has a growing fan club ].

Attached is a photo of a carelessly written sample written with the Safari on a Cartier test pad. As you can see, the rapidly scribbled cursive has less prominent shading:
 apache_sunset01.jpg (80.17K)
Number of downloads: 28

Time and patience, properly invested, will reap rich dividends out of this mesmerising golden liquid. Noodler’s has yet another winner with Apache Sunset.

[P.S.: the above image may be removed when I attach a better-written sample in a later post to this thread.]

This post has been edited by alexanderino: 29 December 2007 - 10:00 PM

[Taki]

Thank you very much for a very nice review. It's one of my favorite inks. Mmmm I have to flush out my orange Pel and fill it with Apache Sunset.

[alexanderino]

Taki, thanks for the kind words I will build up on the review as time passes.

[goldkiwi]

Oh, that's yummy... I'd heard that Apache Sunset has lovely shading characteristics, but It also makes me miss my Lamy 1.1 nib, which I seem to have carelessly misplaced... I'm curious to see a sample written with your Elite, also! I guess my one concern is that this falls under the category of somewhat impractical inks... I don't know how much usage I would get out of it, considering that it's not really a work-appropriate ink, and dang, those Noodler's bottles are big!

This post has been edited by goldkiwi: 29 December 2007 - 08:26 PM

[alexanderino]

Hi goldkiwi, glad to hear you’ve fallen for it

While Apache Sunset is not a general purpose ink, it can be mixed with others to produce some amazing hues — for instance, my other Lamy [med. nib] has Apache Sunset and Ottoman Azure in roughly equal quantities, and the result is a sumptuous shade of teal. Since it is so light, it can also constitute a bigger portion of the mix [especially . My next version of AS with Diamine Monaco Red will be closer to 75:25 rather than 30:70 [not very different from unadulterated DMR].

I will attach a sample written with the Elite and the Lamy M in about 12 hours.

[Maja]

Apache Sunset is a *great* ink....very different from any other ink I own or have seen.
It looks great on paper but when I first opened the bottle, I thought it looked like tincture of iodine

Thanks for the review, alexanderino----you really show off its unique characteristics!

[girlieg33k]

Thanks for the review, alexanderino. Apache Sunset tends to run inexplicably dry. I put a drop of dish washing detergent into the bottle, and it sorted out the initial flow problems that I was having... As far as Apache Sunset being impractical or inappropriate for "work-related" documents, it's one of the inks I use for editing. The way I see it, the happy color adds a bit of sunshine to everything it touches...

This post has been edited by girlieg33k: 30 December 2007 - 12:32 PM

[Deirdre]

Apache Sunset is a *great* ink....very different from any other ink I own or have seen.
It looks great on paper but when I first opened the bottle, I thought it looked like tincture of iodine

How well did it work on cuts?

[alexanderino]

Thanks for the review, alexanderino----you really show off its unique characteristics!

Thanks

Thanks for the review, alexanderino. Apache Sunset tends to run inexplicably dry.

Exactly what I felt when I laid my Lamy 1.1 to paper. Also, try a fine or extra-fine nib. They may be more conducive to free flow. And your ‘happy bit of sunshine’ description is spot-on

BTW, so much for the 12-hour pic. Work was too hectic to write a sample, and I’m a bit too inebriated to rectify the situation Not to worry, I will get around to it

This post has been edited by alexanderino: 30 December 2007 - 10:04 PM

[playpen]

I have had this ink for a long time and really love the color but now you've inspired me to mix it with another color and see what I can create.....

[Maja]

Apache Sunset is a *great* ink....very different from any other ink I own or have seen.
It looks great on paper but when I first opened the bottle, I thought it looked like tincture of iodine

How well did it work on cuts?

Didn't try it....but just using a fountain pen seems to provide some healing power at times...

[Laeyra]

I love this color! My fountain pen is too dry for any shading to show up, rather it looks light orange, but I use this with my dip pens all the time, particularly my Esterbrook #442 Jackson stub. It's a fascinating ink, for sure! It makes me want to write pages and pages just to see the way it shades.

I haven't had much luck mixing this with other colors. I always seem to get something that looks like ketchup and mustard mixed together and dried. But then again, I don't have a particularly large stable of ink just yet.

[Sharkle]

Thanks so much for the review. I haven't been able to put my Apache Sunset to much good use by itself (usually too light), and now I can see why: most of my F and EF nibs are not really wet writers, and I almost always write in cursive. Your sample with the beautiful shading just gave me the idea to load it in my Cross and then print to see if I can get this effect. I am going to try it on this parchment-type paper I have. This ink really can mix beautifully with other colors. I've made some gorgeous greens and oranges from it.

[MrInkwell]

Great review!

[Michael R.]

I love the shading!

Many thanks.

Michael