I've been waiting a long time to buy Noodlers, occasionally checking the retailers for one in Chicago ( it's the "second" city figured it wouldn't be long ).
Recently the number of dealers in Illinois has been going down. Now there are only two.

Also on the page "Why Noodler's" it says the only color for waterproof/fraud proof ink is black. I seem to remember there were four colors. Also seems
like a lot fewer lines then before.

What's going on?

The immediate thing I can note is the website update - perhaps the old site simply had a lot of information that was outdated in terms of dealers.

I don't understand the waterproof/fraud proof description - because on the security challenge page, Polar Blue is included on the $4,000 reward. (Perhaps most of the other 'bulletproof' colors are dealer-exclusive and not marketed on the Noodler's Ink site?)

I think that there are two (or more) levels of waterproofness/fraudproofness, one being the hyper fraudproof black and polar blue, which the security challenge speaks of, and then there are the inks that are less fraudproof but are still waterproof, which includes the "eternal" inks like hunter green and fox red. If you mean to imply that Noodler's is in trouble in some way, I would have to say that from my rather uninformed opinion they are doing incredibly well, as there seem to have been a slew of recent new inks that seem very popular.

I've been around long enough so that saying "If you are worried about X, take my word for it they are in no trouble." inspires as much confidence as a President saying" This member of my staff who is now embroiled in controversy has my full support." Hell, half the time I'm the one saying "no problem" only to wind up with egg on my face.

As for my post: No I did not mean to imply that Noodlers is in trouble. It's just one of many possibilities. The one thing that is clear is that Noodlers has changed ( the company not the ink ). Change can be bad, but it can also be good. The changes I see are bothering me because they seem bad, but many times something that seems bad is actually something good. So I ask if anyone knows anything about these changes.

Things I see for example are: the touted "polar blue" is not on the colors page. I don't see a waterproof black, but I do see a bulletproof black.
Then again the only other "bulletproof" color is grey. I see much of the descriptions of the ink totallty gone. I see Illinois dealers of which there were more then ten now at two. It seems to me that overall there are fewer dealers then there were before. So what's going on?

Why not check with Luxury Brands LLC? They are the sales and marketing channel for Noodlers Ink and they can answer your question better than anyone here.

To my knowledge (and I could be wrong) Noodlers is a one man operation with Nathan Tardiff acting as the Willie Wonka of fountain pen ink. I hope he makes some more polar blue, I really like that ink.

Couldn't it be that the company (and its inks) hasn't changed, just the website has?

It looked to me like the result of an incompetent (understaffed and rushed... I don't mean to malign anyone's skills) Web overhaul. There used to be lots of detail, now there's next to none. The pages are cleaner-looking.

Heh. Maybe whoever did the website overhaul looked at the Parker and Waterman sites and decided to follow their lead. "Very pretty and make sure no one gets any information about anything" is a design standard these days, right?

Bubba: I find it interesting that in your first paragraph, you eschew anecdotal evidence, yet in your second paragraph you state with certainty that Noodler's, as an organization, has changed.

What's up with that?

How about we cut the guys and girls at Luxury Brands some slack here. I have met them at if my memory serves correct the 2005 Toronto Pen Show and it's not a a big operation like say Sanford (the owners of Waterman and Parker) and chances are they farm their web maintence out so they focus on representing the fountain pen and ink brands we like.

The following posts may give some information about Noodler's web site:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...st&p=491871
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...st&p=497807

JO

Each Noodler's distributor in each country is the "person on the spot". The web site for Noodler's in Taiwan is very different from the one in Georgia, Korea, Australia....etc...each distributor runs the sites, etc.... I don't speak or read much Chinese - but I certainly like the looks of the site in Taiwan. I don't speak or read much Korean, Russian, Mandarin, etc...either. If the distributor did not have a free hand, the ink would simply fail to reach those pen users in those various places as well as it does. If you are reading this and would like to distribute Noodler's Inks in your country - and nobody does so already - you'll be recognized as exclusive (but please order enough to justify shipping costs, we can't ship at a loss continuously!) and will remain so until, if ever - you drop the ball on a new ink. Free hand - and your own style....except when it comes to ink innovations - each one deserves a fighting chance to be recognized or rejected by the market...but never strangled in the crib before it has even a chance to breath.... Other than that - it's your show. Anything we can manage - exclusives, new inks, revolutionary inks...just ask. Keep in mind though - it still is "the smallest ink company in the world with the largest color selection".

The one bit that is changing regards the European Union. Apparently Brussels believes it needs the source code of software companies as well as the formulas for Irish whiskies and Mexican hot sauces. Brussels can go to hell. If Noodler's must give up its formulas to some bureaucratic dictator on the other side of the pond to be freely given to our much larger and better financed competition - if that is the cost of selling an American made ink in the EU...then Noodler's will soon be available primarily in Asia, Australia, North and South America. They don't care much about a tiny specialty ink company in Brussels. Afterall...Noodler's total annual production is likely less than half a days production at any of the large corporate entities within the EU.

The ink has always been bottled by weight. Brussels HATES ounces, so our boxes will eventually all state only ounces, by weight - the last to eliminate any reference to or estimate of the EU measure will be the one ounce bottle. Instead of 1 oz/30ml it will simply state 1 oz. If Brussels becomes more dictatorial than Beijing, so be it...

Yeah, well the EU is into meddling in business affairs. Instead of meddling with the tiny ink business, they ought to meddle in the olive oil trade and sort out all the phony Italian olive oil that gets on the market.

I always read the fraudproof challenge to be limited to the two inks because those are the two that have undergone the most testing, not because Heart of Darkness, Legal Lapis, etc. would flunk it.

That is correct. We also wanted to avoid going bankrupt in 2 seconds if somebody actually figured out how to remove the ink according to the terms of the challenge. If limited to the two colors that have had the most testing...I can sleep at night.

Heart of Darkness and Legal Lapis can laugh at the sun itself...and seasons of thunderstorms with pounding rain, ice and snow as well...until the paper is but compost. If one needs to put a sign upon a wood fence - heart of darkness in an air brush fits the bill nicely. Cotton T-shirts with standard Noodler's Black as well (some company shirts with company logos were made with Noodler's Black upon white cotton shirts - and have yet to be washed clean of the ink a few years later!).

There's a reason that Legal Lapis is the ink in my one and only (so far) Stipula Netto. Sure, it doesn't NEED the protection of the amber bottle, but the Netto makes filling pens with it convenient.

No wonder Hercule Poirot was such a piece or work, he was from Brussels.
I wonder what ink Poirot would use?

update: In "The Case of the Missing Will"� invisible ink was used.

Who is the distributor for Australia?

So, Nathan...

How much ink do I need to order for my own exclusive color? I have enough Noodler's to open my own shop, but I'm too possessive and I wouldn't be able to actually part with it.

Nathan, how about going to grams? I know it's fun to stir up some scowls, but fluid ounces and weight ounces always confuse me; people don't always put the respective prefix to show which they mean. And besides, shouldn't we be trying to educate our American public about the metric system, anyway??

Nathan, you do cheer me up! Your reply is another reason for buying Noodler's. Some of the ideas of the EU are excellent; it is just the "one size fits all" that makes me mad. Goodness me, living with people who are different is one of the most important requirements for today's world.

Sorry but I think your remarks are out of line. What is it that makes you think the EU is "dictatorial"? Why should Brussels go to "hell"?

I disagree. If the price of selling ink in the EU is revealing your trade secrets, then I agree that would be too high a price to pay.

Stephen

I don't know the distributor, but one retail outlet is Pen City in Melbourne.

Regards, Myles.

I tried that a few months ago with a few letters written on an all cotton garment,
let it dry totally, and after my wife did the laundry, there was no trace of the
letters. Maybe her laundry soap is the key for the challenge?

My guess would be fabric softener still present before the writing. The oils may coat the fibers enough to prevent the ink reacting with the cellulose. Might I suggest a soak in some strong detergent first, like TSP, to remove any oils that may be present?

Should the bulletproof ink still wash off, by all means give it a go on paper and claim Nathan's prize.

Best,
Jon

If it happened to be a new shirt, there's also sizing and small oil residue in manufacturing. It's the bane of dyers everywhere.

I asked the wife, and she said she never uses fabric softener, it had been washed at
least 15 times prior to this washing, and it is over a year old. I will now do some
testing on blank checks and this black ink! (could use $4k, lol)