I've given it a try. A good try. It's lived in my VP for almost three months. However, it just does not fullfil my needs. Let's be frank: its drying time is too long. I write fast and by the time I'm done with a page I have to wait several minutes before I can turn the page. If I don't, the new page will simply print on the previous page. My ideas run faster than its drying time. That and I get ink all over my fingers as I accidently smear the text if I want to add things in between just written lines.

I love the colour. I do. But I need an ink that dries faster than that, even in my wettest writer. So I'm retiring Tulipe Noire. Lamy Turquoise now lives in my VP. No smears in sight.

Well, as you said, you gave it a try. If the ink does not suit your writing style, you need to do as you did, move on. The issue of drying time then becomes a criteria for any future FPN LE inks. Thank you for sharing your experience. Apparently the drying time is not an issue for me as I really have not been aware of it. I appreciate knowing someone has an issue with the ink and I will be aware of the drying time in future votes for FPN inks.

I've noticed that the drying time of highly saturated inks is considerably greater than conventional ink, regardless of the ink manufacturer.

What you gain in depth of color means longer drying time. Thinner inks are better for day to day usage because they dry quickly. Again, I find this characteristic of any ink regardless of manufacturer.

I keep two or three pens inked at any given point in time. Sometimes I have to pick and choose between pens, depending upon how I will be using them.

For my day to day ink, I've been using some Fort Madison made Sheaffer Scrip blue. I bought everything a nearby store had when they went out of business a year ago so I probably have several years worth.

For other purposes, I let my imagination go wild. Noodler's Antitiem; Private Reserve Plum. Kathy has a bottle of Levenger Pinkley and I have a few bottles of some other delightful colors by Noodler's & others.

"To everything there is a season and a purpose for all things under the heavens" is one good way of looking at it. Or, to quote Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado, "let the punishment fit the crime."

Would diluting the ink, say 1:1, with water improve its drytime by reducung the concentration?

Good question. Would not the colour be diluted too?

Thank you. So far, this has been the only ink with which I've had drying issued. This said, this was my first Noodler's made ink. All others are from "bigger" manufacturers.

I keep five pens inked and use all. I too choose pens based on use. The VP I have bought with quick notes in mind. A slow drying ink counters that purpose for me. I still may use it, for one off projects, but it well no longer be a daily ink for me.

I have different issues with my Tulipe Noire. Yes, it takes a little while to dry, but no longer than many of my other inks. My problem lies in the color itself. I had been expecting a dark purple-black ink, and what I got was a luscious, foofy fuschia ink! But I am coming to terms with it. I found that by putting it in a rather wet writer, it looks somewhat like dried blood when it dries. Thus, nicely suited for signing contracts and such!

Scott.

Amen!

I have a bottle on the way. It will give me an excuse for thinking slower if the words I write don't dry very fast.

Since color has come up, does anybody else find their Tulipe Noire to be just about a shade darker than Private Reserve Black Cherry? They're similar enough I'm glad I only got a sample of Black Cherry from the KCat system.

The drying time is a known issue and was a known issue before the ink was commissioned. In fact, there was either an actual poll or an informal poll of the members to get their preference.

Noodlers makes two kinds of inks - slow-dry and fast-dry. The slow-dry inks are formulated to be very low feathering so you can write on even really cheap paper like newsprint or recycled filler paper without any bleed or feathering. However, on better papers or heavily sized papers they dry really slow (and even slower if there has been any evaporation, either in the bottle or in the pen).

The fast-dry inks are just that - fast drying. However, they are much more prone feathering than the slow-dry inks.

Nathan apparently says you have to choose one or the other. He has experimented with trying to find a middle ground, but apparently got too many complaints that it was too one-or-the-other (when I have mixed slow-dry and fast-dry Noodlers I have gotten a slower-drying ink that feathers ). So he offers the choice of either slow-dry or fast-dry, and the general concensus here was to make this ink a slow-dry.

I would try diluting it. I think several people here have done that with success, and the ink is saturated enough that it won't look too washed out.

John

I've found myself tending more towards the slower drying inks. I don't like how the faster drying inks spread out -- they don't perform as well in a shaped nib like a stub or italic.

Stephen

That's worth experimenting with. Some of the Noodler's inks are over-saturated. I experimented with adding water to bulletproof black. At 1/3 ink-2/3 water, the color was something I would not mind using in my checkbook, and at 41% ink I couldn't tell the difference between it's color and the full saturation.

I don't know that you can dilute Tulipe Noire that much, but it might be worth experimenting with a small sample and seeing how the properties change versus how the color changes.

I've been having problems with Tulipe Noire in some of my pens. Just didn't flow well, and I couldn't achieve the same color as in the review scan. However, I finally found a pen that it works well in - a cheap (albeit pretty) Chinese glass pen. It works very well in this pen, so I'll keep it there. The color is just a mere hint more purplish than my Red-Black, though.

I think Black Cherry looks browner(less red, more neutral) than Tulip Noire. Black Cherry also flows better. Tulip Noire does not flow well in the pens I've tried. But then, neither does Apache Sunset. If I slow down the flow is better.

In my medium nib Parker Inflection, not only does TN flow well, it actually flows much better than the Levenger Cocoa I had in the pen immediately before getting my TN. Are those with flow issues also those of you who prefer finer nibs, or have I just found a good pen-ink match?

I haven't been using my Tulipe Noire very long, but either I've been lucky (or not). With medium and fine nibs it writes somewhat like a darker red brown but dries to a nice black purple The change in color is always a surprise...I tend to think..."why did I get this color--and then as it dries--"oh yes, now I remember". Anyway I can't wait for the new FPN Blue.

You know, I've noticed the color changing thing with Legal Lapis before. I haven't paid much attention to TN, but I did jot something down with it at work today and went back to it later. I would have to say it did indeed dry to be darker if not a different shade. I'll check that note tomorrow to be sure.

Actually I have done this fairly often, I will be at work and my pen runs out, so I fill it with water and finish the night. I have not really noticed that much of a reduction in the color saturation. I have not really noticed any difference in the drying time, but I don’t have any problem with it (with most inks) anyway.

I love my Tulip ink.

and I love mine. Drying time really isn't an issue for me. I love the colour enough to wait a bit and it doesn't seem that I have to wait long. I've had no flow problems with either my vintage Balance or a modern Pelikan 200 with med oblique nib. I haven't used it yet in other pens.

Hmm, drying time with Tulipe Noire on Clairefontaine paper for me is about 20 seconds or less. Faster with cheaper paper. I really like it!

Don

And I'm going to have to go with Dad on this one... I've got a thread going about my Tulipe...
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=45758
it's kinda died down, but theres still some good ideas and information there.