Favorite/Must Have Noodler's Inks

[Queue]

I bought my first fountain pen recently and it is being rapidly followed by a cavalcade of others... (this is a dangerous place to hang out). I got a couple of Noodler's inks (Kung Te-Cheng and Bad Belted Kingfisher) and am basically happy with them and was wondering what others you would recommend. Thanks.

[tonybelding]

My most used inks. . .

 

• Noodler's Black
  
• Noodlers Legal Lapis
  
• Noodlers Texas Blue Bonnet
  

 

All of them are "bulletproof" inks. Legal Lapis is a blue-black that's only available through Pendemonium, and Texas Blue Bonnet is only available through Dromgooles.

 

I just got Baystate Blue today, which is proving fun to play with. It's definitely an in-your-face kind of color.

[betsypreston]

My three favs:

 

Cactus Gruene (a nice bright green)

Saguaro Wine (a nice reddish purple)

Ottoman Azure (a nicely exotic blue - mostly navy, slightly teal, but not too much)

[Goodwhiskers]

Boring names in Noodler's do not mean boring colors.

 

Black

Red (for writing or markup; not water-resistant)

Gruene Cactus (bright green for markup; not water-resistant)

Brown (balanced between red, green, and yellow; has some waterproof black)

[txinsk]

Baystate Blue

Polar Black

Lexington Grey

 

I am still looking into greens and reds.

[WendyNC]

I'm personally quite fond of Zhivago, in part because it behaves beautifully in a Visconti 20th anniversary Ragtime which balked at the first couple of inks which I tried in it. Okay, I also like the deep olive green color.

 

Edited to add that Navy is a nice deep but bright medium blue which has performed wonderfully for me in several very different pens.

Edited January 29, 2010 by WendyNC

[mikeyp]

I used to have and loved Gruene Cactus (American eel) and Habenero, but have the Black and Polar Black here somewhere, had a bottle of Blue eel but it leaked all over.

[djpyle]

My favorites are:

 

Nikita

Heart of Darkness

Gruene Cactus

Navajo Turquoise

Zhivago

 

If I could only have one, it would probably be Nikita (for editing my manuscripts),

[Deirdre]

Most used:

 

Bulletproof:

 

Legal Lapis

Violet Vote

Luxury Blue

Kuprin

La Reine Mauve

El Lawrence

 

Non:

 

Navy

Saguaro Wine (nice when mixed when Lermontov to make Lermoguaro)

Ottoman Azure

[psfred]

Standard Brown, Bulletproof Black, Bad Blue Heron, Noodler's Blue (great regular blue ink).

 

Peter

[ladyambrosia]

This is a great thread to have found because I got my first Noodler's (Tianamen) the other day and I enjoyed it. And I am making a list of some other Noodler's colors to get I am debating on another purple I really want to find a Good RICH purple.

[agchristie]

I love Legal Lapis (even have 2 of the 4.5 oz bottles!) and bad blue heron. You can get the Legal Lapis also in the UK at thewritingdesk and in Germany at missing-pen. Other favourites are Violet Vote, also from missing-pen, Blue Ghost (fabulous secret ink) and Year of the Golden Pig which is an excellent highlighting ink. Have fun!

[Ellen]

My vote goes to:

Beaver (nice reddish brown);

Gruene Cactus

Zhivago

[Defacto]

Well my favorite's are:

 

Zhivago

El Lawrence

Legal Lapis

Iraqi Indigo/Violet Vote

Heart of Darkness

Aircorps Blue Black

Nikita

[BillZ]

Present stock:

Bulletproof Black

Midnight Blue(a favorite. Close to Blue-black but on the blue side)

Blue

Beaver(a dead ringer for Levenger Cocoa)

Texas Blue Bonnet(I was in Dromgoole's and got a 1 oz. bottle.Not a favorite but nice.

 

When i repeat it will probably be Black,Midnight Blue and Beaver as my go-to ink colours.

[Triplet Mom]

I own several Noodler's, but the colors I use the most are:

 

Zhivago

Ottoman Azure

Ottoman Rose

Dark Matter

[Hemingway]

Legal Lapis is definitely a must. Incredible inc.

 

Peter

[ehebert]

My favorites are:

Gruene Cactus

Cactus Fruit (to me, it’s an even more saturated red/purple than Saguaro Wine)

Black

 

But Navajo Turquoise Eel is the best. It has made many of my dry/scratchy nibs write beautifully. It is also very consistent. I have had some turquoise inks start off with a darker blue hue (which I prefer) and turn into a lighter shade by the end of the page. Navajo Turquoise maintains its rich shade.

[irbyls]

If I had to choose one ink to use for the rest of my life, it would be Bad Blue Heron. However, I also like Noodler's Red for proofreading; it's a nice, plain red. I might edit this post once I get my hands on a bottle of Noodler's Walnut...

[opus7600]

My favorite is Green Marine, and second place goes to Heart of Darkness.

 

My wife doesn't use anything but La Reine Mauve.