Noodler's Bad Blue Heron

[Ruminator]

I decided to take a mental-health day. Wife and I had a bunch of running to do, including taking our youngest to the airport for a trip to see his girlfriend. I had a sample of Noodler's Bad Blue Heron and an un-inked Ahab (also quite blue), so I decided to put the two of them together and piddle... or putter... whatever.

 

I noticed a surfactant smell on opening the sample bottle. It's not horrible, but if you're sensitive you should be aware. The 3ml sample is not quite enough to really get a good load of ink in the Ahab, but I was able to get enough in the pen to write with it.

 

The color is a wonderful dark blue. I think there's a hint of turquoise in there, at least to my eyes. The scan is pretty close to what I see on the paper, at least on my monitors. The ink shades nicely if that's your sort of thing. I think it would be really interesting in a medium or broader nib.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at flexing the nib, so the line variation is all accidental. The color appears similar to the Sailor Sei Boku in my Waterman Phileas with a medium nib.

 

The ink did not bleed through the HP laser paper, but it did show some bleeding through my Rhodia journal. There is ghosting in my Moleskine reporter's notebook as well, but no bleeding noted. I tried the ink on a cheap paper pad from Staples and it bled badly -- through to the next sheet.

 

The dry time is reasonable at about 15 seconds or so on the HP paper. I noticed no smearing once the ink dried. The wet-finger test looks about like the original. Some dye was smeared from the ink, but very little so this ink is more water resistant than most I've tried.

 

All in all this is a dark blue (bordering on turquoise) with some nice shading and is water-resistant. If you can tolerate the bleeding on some papers, it is a good choice.

 

Enjoy...

 

-=d

[Yoda4561]

Assuming no formulation changes since I've gotten my bottle a year ago, you'll find if you let it dry for a bit longer that you won't be able to smear it with a wet finger. It's similar to Kung te Cheng in that it's dries solid given enough time. It's also why you should be careful not to leave the pen uncapped too long, it's a "high maintenence" ink, moreso than something like bulletproof black or legal lapis.

[IWantThat]

I adore the shading of this ink I have the Bad Belted Kingfisher and keep meaning to add the Bad Blue Heron (I like birds!), but haven't done it yet. Must remedy that right away.

[WayTooManyHobbies]

Nice review - I like the wave.

 

I had a sample of this ink from member Paperskater, along with a sample of Bad Belted Kingfisher. As you noted, the Bad Blue Heron does have a chemical smell, but I didn't find it too objectionable. The color was very nice, a bit more blue to my eyes than BBK.

 

However, I found Bad Belted Kingfisher to be a more pleasant ink to use. In both my Lamy Safari and my Rotring Initial, Bad Blue Heron displayed dryout issues. Any time over 10-15 seconds uncapped would cause hard starting, and I had to resort to an Ammonia flush to get the pens clean. Bad Belted Kingfisher displays much better behavior in both pens.

[tonybelding]

I haven't used BBH, aside from a sample vial, but I have a lot of experience with its almost-twin ink, Noodler's Texas Blue Bonnet.

 

TBB is slightly more blue (and, to me, slightly more attractive) than BBH, but otherwise I believe them to be very close in most characteristics. I find TBB has exceptionally nice shading, and I think it actually bleeds and feathers less than your average ink -- less than Noodler's Blue, for example.

 

Yes, TBB does smell funny. And although it's "mostly bulletproof", there's a bit of cyan element that does rinse out.

 

The biggest negative of TBB (and I've heard enough reports about BBH to believe this is true about it too) is that it's high-maintenance ink. I mean, moreso than most Noodler's, even. Over time deposits of "blue gunk" tend to accumulate on nibs and feeds, and they don't easily rinse off with tap water. A bit of ammonia seems to take them out. I feel a bit more comfortable using this ink in pens that I can easily take apart for cleaning, just to be on the safe side.

 

In spite of that, it's my all-time favorite blue ink.

[Ruminator]

Assuming no formulation changes since I've gotten my bottle a year ago, you'll find if you let it dry for a bit longer that you won't be able to smear it with a wet finger. It's similar to Kung te Cheng in that it's dries solid given enough time. It's also why you should be careful not to leave the pen uncapped too long, it's a "high maintenence" ink, moreso than something like bulletproof black or legal lapis.

 

I believe you. I waited about a half-hour before smearing my slightly-wet finger across the test. That's my "about-right" time and I do all my reviews mostly the same way. I'm not OC about it, but try to be consistent. It's amazing what you learn by being consistent.

 

That's good advice about capping the pen. I never (intentionally) leave my pens uncapped when I'm not writing with them. At least not more than about 10 seconds.

 

BBH is a bit of a bleeder on thinner papers, such as the graphics tablet (cheap) that I tried it on. I also notice hints of bleeding in my Rhodia journal and Moleskine reporter's notebook. BBH probably would be fine in drier-writers, but I'm not so good with inks that bleed.

 

I might have to order a sample of Legal Lapis to compare to my Luxury Blue. Thanks!

 

 

I adore the shading of this ink I have the Bad Belted Kingfisher and keep meaning to add the Bad Blue Heron (I like birds!), but haven't done it yet. Must remedy that right away.

 

If you're OK with the behavior of BBK, then you'll be fine with BBH.

 

Nice review - I like the wave.

 

I had a sample of this ink from member Paperskater, along with a sample of Bad Belted Kingfisher. As you noted, the Bad Blue Heron does have a chemical smell, but I didn't find it too objectionable. The color was very nice, a bit more blue to my eyes than BBK.

 

However, I found Bad Belted Kingfisher to be a more pleasant ink to use. In both my Lamy Safari and my Rotring Initial, Bad Blue Heron displayed dryout issues. Any time over 10-15 seconds uncapped would cause hard starting, and I had to resort to an Ammonia flush to get the pens clean. Bad Belted Kingfisher displays much better behavior in both pens.

 

I committed the greatest act of admiration -- I copied the wave. Well, kinda-sorta in my not-so-artistic manner. I'm not an artist, but I like to draw.

 

The smell isn't awful, but some folks are quite sensitive to odors so I noted it. All of Nathan's inks have an oder of some kind -- some just are a bit more "smelly" than others.

 

I like the colors of both BBK and BBH. If I was going to use inks for artwork, both would be in my collection. (Hmm... there's a thought.) I could see using them on thick papers or where bleeding isn't a concern and their water-resistance is a real plus. The shading is wonderful, too. Good comments!

 

I haven't used BBH, aside from a sample vial, but I have a lot of experience with its almost-twin ink, Noodler's Texas Blue Bonnet.

 

TBB is slightly more blue (and, to me, slightly more attractive) than BBH, but otherwise I believe them to be very close in most characteristics. I find TBB has exceptionally nice shading, and I think it actually bleeds and feathers less than your average ink -- less than Noodler's Blue, for example.

 

Yes, TBB does smell funny. And although it's "mostly bulletproof", there's a bit of cyan element that does rinse out.

 

The biggest negative of TBB (and I've heard enough reports about BBH to believe this is true about it too) is that it's high-maintenance ink. I mean, moreso than most Noodler's, even. Over time deposits of "blue gunk" tend to accumulate on nibs and feeds, and they don't easily rinse off with tap water. A bit of ammonia seems to take them out. I feel a bit more comfortable using this ink in pens that I can easily take apart for cleaning, just to be on the safe side.

 

In spite of that, it's my all-time favorite blue ink.

 

I remember the sample of TBB (thanks again) and almost called Dromgoole's a couple of times to order myself a bottle. I have a couple of Nathan's pens now and they're trivial to disassemble for cleaning. I need to find good (non-flexy) nibs for them to make them daily writers. When I do that, I'll be all-over the high-maintenance inks that have colors I enjoy. TBB is a really saturated blue/turquoise and, although it's not the color of Bluebonnets, I like the color.

 

Thanks for the comments, and good comments, all...

 

-=d

[sitnstew]

This is definitely one of my favorite blues. I'll be ordering a bottle this week!

[Rabbit713]

I just tried a sample of this ink from Goulet Pens in a Lamy Safari with F, M, and 1.1 Italic nibs. I was impressed by the shading, and how much the changes in nibs brought out different aspects of the ink. I'm hoping to grab a bottle of this soon.

[amberleadavis]

I like the ink, but now that I have the TBB or even better Blue Steel, I don't use the Warden inks any longer.