REVIEW: NOODLER’S UPPER GANGES BLUE (Bulletproof)

The photographs are of a sample written with a Waterman Hemisphere (fine nib) on 80gsm recycled paper. I cap my pens when not writing so cannot comment on how the ink starts up after a leaving the pen uncapped for a few minutes. The review includes a nib creep rating. I am not worried about nib creep unless the ink creeps onto the section or leaks into the cap and I’ve not had this problem with any of the Noodler’s inks I’ve tried. The reason for including this rating is to inform those of you with differing views on nib creep.

General comments:
I bought this ink because it looked like a vibrant blue on the Pendemonium website. It is in fact a subdued, dark blue. Although this was somewhat disappointing, this bulletproof ink is a well behaved, reliable ink. I have used this ink only in my Hemisphere.

Colour:
Medium saturation, doesn’t pop off the page. This is definitely a blue ink and not blue-black. It is darker than I expected it to be, but if you are looking for a well-behaved, bulletproof blue ink, this is one ink definitely worth considering. In fact, looking at the writing sample again for this review, I quite liked the colour so obviously my initial disappointment that the ink did not look like the sample on the website has worn off.

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Ink flow:
Very reliable. It lays down a tight line and lubricates the nib very nicely.

Dry time:
Fast drying ink.

Nib creep:
Moderate.

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Start up:
Very good. It starts up easily even after the pen has not been used for several days. At first it feels a bit dry but I did not experience any skips.

Bleedthrough:
There is a little bleedthrough in spots where the ink is laid down more heavily. In the writing sample bleedthrough occurred at the ‘n’ in the word ‘fine’ on the first line, the ‘tt’ if the word ‘little’ on the second line and the ‘p’ in the word ‘creep’ also on the second line.

Thanks for the reminder; I was going to buy this ink, and then decided I'd purchase Blue Upon the Plains of Abraham, and forgot about Upper Ganges.

Hi Harry,

Thanks for the review. Annie sent me this for a present (ground hog day, I think it was), and she thought it would be a more vibrant, maybe a turquoisey blue. Like you, we were a bit disappointed that it was so "flat". Undaunted, I quickly added one of my milder green inks (Lamy, I believe). Presto! Turquoise. Though not exactly bulletproof now, the turquoise a la satrap still had staying power. That is, it smeared, but remained very readable.

Thanks, Annie! for all you do, this dance is for you!

The first swatches of Upper Ganges were turquoise! Where's Vivek? He worked with Nathan on this one and has a quart (or is it a gallon) of Upper Ganges; he'll know the story behind the color.

hi annie, when i first got sample batches from nathan trying out the new label i helped develop, the ink had a dark hue, almost the color of penman sapphire. i realized that when you used the ink with eyedroppers and free flowing pens, then ink saturation is great. however, as it is an 'oily' color, as most bulletproof inks are, if you use them with dry flow, the colors are apt to look very anemic. a good experiment to try is to lay a blob of bulletproof ink, be it green, blue, etc, and drag it with a q-tip. you will see the distribution of color that markedly varies with thickness.

and do not forget to thoroughly agitate the bottle with an agitator syringe (the barbaric method of inverting the bottle is at times used) before filling, as with all bulletproofs, darker parts of the ink tend to settle as dye sediment in the bottom.

Thank you, Viv!

Hiya Viv (wavin' atcha) and thanks for the info!

I've been hoping a good colour sample would show up on here! I like it.

Reminds me quite a bit of blue-black Quink.

Here are the results of the water- and alcohol resistance testing of this ink:

Water test: 30 seconds under running water followed by 30 minute soak.

Alcohol test: conducted after water test by wiping wet page with alcohol soaked swab.

Result: Upper Ganges Blue is completely waterproof and no further ink was released by the alcohol swab.

I shall have to try this ink after I get through my Blue on the Plains of Abraham. It's a very likeable shade of blue.