Review: Noodler's Britannia's Blue Waves

[Will Argyle]

Hi all,

 

Please excuse the brevity of my review and my poor penmanship.

 

The paper is a Rhodia Notepad. The pen, a Pilot Vanishing Point (Bold).

 

http://willargyle.googlepages.com/8-23-07043.jpg

http://willargyle.googlepages.com/8-23-07.jpg

Here's a color corrected photo:

 

http://willargyle.googlepages.com/8-23-07.jpg

 

By request (Thanks Ann) I edited this review to add the following:

 

Dry time: The ink stays wet on the page for a few seconds--after it dries, it's bulletproof. Even so, any ink that doesn't absorb into the paper will smear if rewetted. Since this is such a light ink, the smudges aren't as obnoxious as they are with Bulletproof Black.

 

Feathering: Surprisingly good. I wrote the review on Rhodia paper, which seems feather-proof no matter which ink I use, so I pulled out my pulpy sudoku puzzle book. I expected an inky disaster. Instead, I was surprised to note that this ink is very feather resistant. There was some feathering, but considering the paper, that's high praise.

 

Bleeding: Again, I was surprised. Aided, perhaps, by the lightness of the ink, there is very little bleedthrough. In fact, I could easily use this ink to do sudoku's in my big pulpy sudoku book (on both sides of the paper)--but there are some things that I prefer a pencil for.

 

Mixing: I'm adding this because someone in the thread mentioned mixing this ink. I thought it was a good idea too, so I mixed a bit of bulletproof black expecting a darker shade of blue. Instead, I got an interesting shade of green (I kind of dig the color, it's just not what I expected). My advice: mix the ink in small batches--you might not get what you'd intended.

 

I also added a photo that I think more closely displays the actual color of the ink, but the new photo still doesn't capture the brightness of this ink.

 

Final Impression: Thumbs down. I'm a huge fan of Noodler's eternal inks, but the inconsistent flow of this ink is annoying. The 'hard starting' quality of this ink has continued, but it doesn't appear to be getting worse. I don't know why it does this. Next time, I'll mix it with a better flowing ink (like Iraqi Indigo or Eternal Brown). So, as a mixer, this ink may be okay.

 

Of course, this is all my humble opinion.

 

Will

Edited April 1, 2008 by Will Argyle

[Deirdre]

Thanks Will!

 

I'm sending some as a sample to someone who likes conservative inks -- I figure it's a good mixer with other colors, if nothing else.

 

I quite like it, but then I'm wearing that color today (actually, somewhere between BBW and Noodler's Navajo Turquoise).

[Rapt]

Well Britannia is a "she"... so the colour seems appropriate to me....

[Whippet]

Yay for Britannia!A nice bright blue, ideal for dull days when you need cheering up.It beats the formality of black, and makes me smile. Not that I'm depressed, or female, I just like it's sunny mood.

[Combat Marmot]

I have a bottle of this - I thought it was much more of a turquoise (cyan) colour than a blue.

[QM2]

Just how badly flowing is this ink? Is it in the same category as El Lawrence or Boston Brahmin Blue, or not that bad? Has anybody tried distilling it with water?

 

Thanks,

QM2

[Combat Marmot]

I used it in a Lamy al-star (EF). I found that it wasn't as smooth as Quink and also it could be temperamental to start again if left the lid off for about 2 minutes. Other than that I can't really say any more because I don't have any experience with El Lawrence or Boston Brahmin Blue.

[Melnicki]

I'm so tempted by this ink (and I hate blues!) I received a writing sample from someone that looks more like this, a greyish mute blue. but some peoples' scans (including yours, Deirdre!) make it look like a turquoise, much brighter, which I definitely would never use!