The label of my Noodler's Antietam has an inscription that reads "the oldest vintage replica ink," and another that reads "Antique Americana in color!" In the latter phrase, the words are written in different colours (blue and green), neither of them the colour of Antietam.

This seems to suggest that Antietam is part of a series of "antique Americana" inks, but I have not found any others, or any mention of such a collection. Are there indeed other Noodler's inks with this theme besides Antietam?


Thanks,
QM2

Nathan Tardiff, the owner of Noodler's Ink, has an interest in old pens, inks, and writing history, I believe. Antietam was developed to match a sample of Civil War vintage dried up ink in an inkwell, but I don't know if he has a specific line of reproduction colors or just made that one for fun (he really seems to enjoy developing ink colors!). I know that the new Baystate Blue is a reproduction of an ink color sold during and just after WWII in the Bay State (Mass.) but again, I don't think he's attempting to reproduce ALL the contemporary inks.

Antietam may be on my next wish list, though -- don't have much in the way of red inks.

Peter

Yup, I know about the history of Antietam and about Noodler's inks. I'm from the Bay State myself : ) I would be very happy if Noodler's did an entire line of vintage shades, and I thought that just maybe the label of Antietam suggested there would be more of them.

There is also Ellis Island Blue, for FPH. Isn't that based on documents from Ellis Island?

Yup, but I think he went by the dry-on-paper color in this case.

Some of the inks have cultural/historical significance, such as Ottoman Azure. It was designed to replicate the decorative blue used in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Best,
Summer

You're right:


Also in this vein are the inks that salute the branches of the U.S. military: Army Green, Navy, Aircorp Blue-Black, Green Marine.

By the bye, I just ran across this from Nathan, responding to the commonly-held notion that Aircorp Blue-Black is, at bottom, green:


On this I can't comment, as I've just received -- but haven't yet opened -- my sample of Aircorp B-B from Pear Tree Pens. Now I'm curious....

(Later...) I did a paper towel test (see scan), and it bears out QM2's comments below. Interesting.



Apologies for sidetracking the thread.

I recently bought the Aircorp Blue-Black and came to the same conclusion: It is not really green, just seems that way. Speaking in terms of painters' pigments, it is like a Cerulean Blue mixed with Paynes Gray (which is called "gray" but is in fact a black). The combination creates an illusion of a green tint, when in fact no green pigment is there. When you mix a blue black using a different blue pigment, like Cobalt or Ultramarine, the result looks more of what we tend to think of as "blue-black". From what I've sen, standard blue inks by most manufacturers are based on Cobalt and Ultramarine, not on Cerulean blue, so people might simply not be used to that pigment and interpret it as "greenish".

In my experiences with it, Aircorp Blue-Black shows off best in a pen that makes ink look lighter, not darker. I have a Montblanc Fitzgerald, which does this -- makes any ink look considerably lighter -- and it shows off Aircorp Blue-Black as a very interesting, nuanced colour.

Back to the original "Americana" question, I guess I was hoping there might be a historical-colours sort of collection, complete with rust-red, slate gray, and so on. When you see folk art from the early American period, that is the colour scheme I am always looking for in inks. Legal Lapis fits it well, so does Antietam. When I read the label on Antietam, I thought that it was maybe part of a commemorative set -- but it seems not.

QM2

Nathan favors colors with an American connection, and he's certainly not shy about making new colors, so perhaps he could be persuaded to jump in. Maybe it could be sold as set of small (10 or 15ml?) bottles with all the colors in the range?

P.S. When you mentioned slate gray, I thought of Lexington Gray as another color with an American historical connection.

I mix Legal Lapis and Lexington Gray 50/50 to get what I call a "Perfect Slate". I also get a nice "Antique Paisley" by mixing Lexington Gray with Hunter Green 70/30 or so. I tried to make a "New England Maki-e" pen once, by painting Shaker-style motifs on a cheap wooden pen with casein, but let's just say it didn't work out : )

In my experience, Nathan does not tend to respond when contacted, so I don't want to rile myself up with the idea of a folk-colours ink set which has no prospect for realisation. But maybe if I think the idea through first and come up with an eye-catching email title, it'll be worth a shot in my spare time.


QM2

The "blue" in Aircorps is indeed a Cerulean blue, know in the photographic world as cyan (the complement of red). Different section of the color spectrum, and it does sort of overlap with the green end a bit, so some people see it as green, although it's not.

There is quite a large variation in color perception, I've discovered. I, for instance, see PR Tanzanite not as a "royal blue" but as an eye searing PURPLE, hardly blue at all. I suspect this is because I see further up the blue spectrum than most people, and see that as a strong violet color. Invisible to most people. Hence I tend to see more violet/purple in things than many other people, especially in inks, which usually don't have simple abosrbance spectra. I do NOT see green in all of Noodler's blue inks like some folk do, they are all pretty much neutral blues to me. Navajo Turquoise is a cyan ink (may be the same stuff as in AirCorps).

For those who see too much green in blue inks, add a tiny bit of red ink -- this will balance out the abosorbance spectrum a bit and make what is probably a cyan ink more blue (cyan plus red additive colors produces blue).

Peter

Yup, you can think of Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine blues as progressing from green to purple in terms of how people perceive them, though neither one of them is actually green or actually purple. People have very different reactions to these colours indeed. I dislike cobalt and ultramarine intensely, but cerulean is very pleasing to the eye for me.

There are also different red, green, violet and brown pigments that exist on their own (meaning they are not mixes) and are entirely different shades of those colours.

Most popular red inks, for example, tend to utilise not the Cadmium pigments, but the Crimson. I hate that, and would really like to find a Cadmium Ink! My most recent purchase on my quest for this was Noodler's Dragon Napalm, so we'll see how that works out. Similarly, most greens seem to be based on Veridian, whereas I prefer the Chromium Oxide, and still ave not found an ink that is a pure CO Green pigment. Noodler's Army Green is probably closest, but not quite. Maybe if I mix that with the Hunter Green.

QM2