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Noodler’s Empire Red Another eternal/forgery proof Coral red from Noodler’s, originally specific for the British market but now available in North America. It's pricier than the normal lineup of Noodler's line. Ink is touted as fluorescent but I couldn't detect any fluorescence with my UV flashlight. It’s wet, coral red ink , lacking in the lubrication department. It’s pleasant enough to use, but I won’t be buying a bottle of it, in case you’re wondering. It has some shading as you can see with a broad nib. All the other shading you see, is exaggerated by the scanner. I used most of the ink on cheap envelopes and it really behaved well. Let's start with the chroma, which looks like blood red. Writing samples: I tried to find humorous quotes about the holiday season to add some levity Photo: Comparison: Water test: and finally an art work: Stirred not shaken, which I hope it's self explanatory Other inks used: Platinum Carbon Black Akkerman Delfts Blauw J Herbin Vert Empire Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B/Stub 1.1), Nibcreaper semi-flex What I liked: Colour, didn’t dry up in long writing sessions. What I did not like: Lack of lubrication, long dry time on Japanese paper, What some might not like: Long dry times on Japanese paper, price Shading: Not really, only Ghosting: Faint on copy paper Bleed through: Negligible on copy paper. Flow Rate: Wet Lubrication: Below average. Nib Dry-out: Not at all. Start-up: No. Saturation: Reddish. Shading Potential: With broad nibs Sheen: Beyond dismal. Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. Staining (pen): Did not notice. Clogging: No. Cleaning: It’s a waterproof, red ink, so do the math. Water resistance: Excellant Availability: 90 ml / 3 oz bottles. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Noodler’s Rachmaninoff I have been stalling this review for quite a while, as I love the composer, and dislike the ink, a colour made for Barbie with the consistency of Pepto-Bismol. I’m assuming this atrocious colour was chosen because of the lovely lyrical melodies of the composer. If that’s the case, then it shows an absolute misunderstanding of the music. The composer A bit about Rachmaninoff, one of the greatest composers, pianists of early 20th century, born in Russian Empire in 1873, and died in Beverly Hills, USA in 1943. Rachmaninoff’s music was slightly out of the sync with the musical trends of the era, and critics often panned his music for being too lyrical. This is from the Groves' Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1954 edition: His music is "effective but monotonous in texture" and consisted "in essence mainly of artificial and gushing tunes accompanied by a variety of figures derived from arpeggios. The enormous popular success some few of Rachmaninov's works had in his lifetime is not likely to last." Well, I can assure you this article has been rewritten. Mostly known for his piano work, especially his lyrical 2nd and monumental 3rd concerto. I personally love his youthful first and his misunderstood 4th. Here is his Prelude in C Sharp Minor, recorded by the Rachmaninoff himself in 1920. He has written 3 symphonies, the first of which, nearly derailed his career as a composer, due to bad premier thanks to a presumably inebriated conductor. His 2nd is lyrical and brought him fame, but with the advent of Bolshevik revolution he went to exile to the West, and made a living mostly as a Pianist. He composed few works, notably his Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and his intense Symphonic Dances. It might be noted that the medieval theme of Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), peppers his work. Ink Review: Now for the ink, it has an offending scent, qualified as archival, fluorescent, forge resistant and water resistant. It'll clog your pen and blind your eyes It distinctly had flow issues in the Kakuno Ef, and then was extremely wet, in the Lamy Ef. Then over time it was playing hard to get with the B nib in Lamy Safari. I was glad when I dunked it down the drain. I didn’t bother to test it with a stub or flex nib, it seemed counterintuitive after having bleeding through Midori paper. It behaved decently with Rhodia and Tomoe River and it has fast drying time. I don't recommend this ink. Chroma: Writing Samples: I tried finding quotes by Rachmaninoff, though one should know the man, the music and his times to get the gist of it. Photo: I didn't bother with a photo. It's not worth it. Comparison: Water test: and finally an artwork, the Pianist Charcoal, graphite, Sumi ink · Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef, Lamy (EF/F/M/B,) · What I liked: Listening to Rachmaninov, fast dry times · What I did not like: Colour, stench, behavior. · What some might not like: Scent, colour, bad behavior. · Shading: Absent. · Ghosting: Yes on most paper. · Bleed through: On Midori, worse on copy paper. · Flow Rate: Awful in Kakuno with Ef, sluggish. · Lubrication: Ok. · Nib Dry-out: A bit · Start-up: Yes, with Kakuno. · Saturation: Saturated pink. · Shading Potential: Dismal. · Sheen: No. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: A bit. · Staining (pen): I won’t be surprised. · Clogging: I think it did · Cleaning: High maintenance. · Water resistance: Excellent. · Availability: 90 ml bottles. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Noodler's Akhmatova Named after the great the Russian poetess, Anna Akhmatova. Famous and beloved before the Revolution hounded after, until death of Stalin. On a trip to Paris, she befriended an unknown and impoverished Modigliani, who drew her several times. She was famous for her signature shawl, even in the height of poverty, she managed to stay regal... The ink harbours a deep melancholy, recalling that of coniferous forests in the deep of winter under a grey day. It reflects well Akhmatova's soul. For the sake of this review, I have cropped pages, to give a hint of the dynamic of this ink and not my musings.... Chroma Comparison: This is one of the best, if not the best eternal ink I have ever tried. The ink is so will lubricated that beckons you not to force the nib but let the pen glide. I could buy this ink for the tactility of it, only. Ink is eternal/ bullet proof/ fluorescent. The shading is best experienced on white and bright paper. Dry time is super fast. Cleaning nothing was left. Water test: On Hilory one of the most absorbent papers I know: On Peter Pauper Paper (Thick absorbent paper) On Hammermill Multipurpose Paper 20 lb On Midori The ink is so smooth that I wrote a whole page with a reverse Lamy broad.... (midori) Tomoe River classic Tomoe River 68 gr (thicker) A couple of sketches... • Pen used: Noodler’s Ahab / Lamy Safari Broad/ Jinhao Medium • Ghosting: None • Bleed through: None. • Flow Rate: Wet • Lubrication: Out of the world. • Nib Dry-out: Needs a well-sealed pen. • Start-up: None • Saturation: Murky and dark. • Shading Yes. • Sheen: No • Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: None. • Nib Creep / “Crud”: None • Staining (pen): It doesn’t stain. Very easy to clean. • Clogging: Nope • Water resistance: Waterproof/ Eternal/Fluorescent. • Availability: Only in bottle 90 ml bottles.

I’ve been enjoying this eye searing ink for quite a well. In general, most of the Russian Series ink are some of the best “bulletproof” inks I’ve tried, and Esenin is in that category. Sergei Esenin or Yesenin was a Russian Poet. In his young life he married four times. His 2nd wife Zinaida Reich, a famed Russian actress, was killed in 1939 by Soviet Secret service. His 3rd wife was famed American dancer Isadora Duncan. And his fourth wife a granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy. It is said that his last poem, was written with his blood, as he couldn’t find ink in the hotel room, he was staying. Hence this reddish eye searing colour. The next day, he was found dead in his hotel room, having committed suicide at age 30. Some say, he was killed by the soviet secret police and his suicide was staged. Poem (from wikipedia's translation) on Tomeo River 68gr. The pen is Kawrite Ultraflex. The smudge on the word "die" is intentional. The best way to describe his poetry is a quote from Wikipedia: The Empress told me my poems were beautiful, but sad. I replied, the same could be said about Russia as a whole," The ink with a fine nib has an orange red hue, but with the flex it shares more character. Ink is bulletproof and fluorescent. When I first inked, it, I was sketching foxes..... This is with the fine nib of a Kaweco Perkeo Here is another written text: from the Song of Songs.... this time on thin Tomoe River, pen Kanwrite Ultra flex... Savour the richness of the red... and the delicate chroma: In all this is a delightful red ink, for those who are for looking for an unabashed eye searing red Note the Russian series are more expensive than the other bulletproof inks. • Pens used: Kaweco Perkeo Fine/ Kanwrite Flex • Shading: Quite a bit • Ghosting: Not really. • Bleed through: Depends on paper nib/ combination. • Flow Rate: Wet • Lubrication: Great • Nib Dry-out: No • Start-up: No • Saturation: Eye searing… • Shading Potential: With flex and depending on paper • Sheen: None • Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not noticed… • Nib Creep / “Crud”: Yes. • Staining (pen): Easy to clean… • Clogging: Nope • Water resistance: Excellant • Availability: 90 ml bottles

Noodler’s Upper Ganges Blue This is an ink that you would either love or hate. It's a sky blue ink, with very fast drying times and then nothing moves it. It hates Japanese Ef steel nibs, wet pens and flex nibs. It'll almost bleed through anything. Ironically the line was thicker when I wrote reverse with Japanese Ef nib. It's very paper specific, Rhodia, Midori and Maruman Mnemosyne. But don't try writing with a gusher/flex nib combo. It'll eat your paper. Let's start with the chroma: Writing samples: While the colour of the first three lines look different it's the scanner not ink. It didn't like the TR at all. Look at the bleeding and bleed through with EF, reverse Ef, fine, flex and fude. Ironically it likes only M and B nibs Massacre of Hammermill Water test: It doesn't budge. Comparison: As usual an art work. This naïve work was inspired by Tara Brach's quote: When we trust that we are the ocean, we are not afraid of the waves. The paper is Fabriano Water colour Black ink Platinum Carbon Black The colour is darker, but the phone camera couldn't capture the blue correctly. The dilution effect was created by a water brush before applying the ink. The ink doesn't budge the moment it touches the paper. Note: Like the Russian series, this ink is more expensive than typical Noodler’s ink. Ink is fluorescent. · Pens used: Pilot Kakuna Ef, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B), Jinhao with Kanwrite Ultra-flex /fude · What I liked: Super fast daytimes and looking for spiritual quotes · What I did not like: In general, I prefer inks which have better lubrication or more saturated. · What some might not like: Dry ink, the fact it doesn't like cheap papers, plus it needs a well-sealed pen preferably. · Shading: No. · Ghosting: Depending pen paper combo. Doesn't iike cheap paper. It prefer M/B nibs. · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Very wet. · Lubrication: It doesn't make your scratchy pen cushion-y. · Nib Dry-out: None · Start-up: None · Saturation: Unsaturated · Shading Potential: Maybe with broad nibs. · Sheen: None · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Yes on newspaper paper and depending some pen/nib combos. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Depends. · Staining (pen): No · Clogging: No · Cleaning: Surprisingly easy. I put one of the feeds in an cleaning solution. It was clean. · Water resistance: Excellent. · Availability: 90 ml bottles Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Noodler’s Tolstoy Tolstoy on 23 May 1908 at Yasnaya Polyana,[1] Lithograph print by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Disclaimer: I’ve been avoiding reviewing this ink, mostly because I dislike Tolstoy. I have read some of his books in my youth and recently watched a documentary about him, preparing this review. I was impressed by his very modern vision of school system (mostly like the modern Finnish school systems) and “liberating” his serfs. The second part of his life, he becomes erratic. The highlight, I believe, was being ex-communicated by the Russian Orthodox church And to deprive his wife and children of the royalties of his books in favour of charities. It left me perplexed as it was his wife who transcribed his undecipherable handwriting of his early masterpieces. There's a 2009 film, The Last Station which deals with Tolstoy's struggle to balance fame, wealth and his ideal of living devoid of material things. However, this is an ink review. 😛 The greatest part of doing this review was discovering the fantastic colour photography by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. You can see most of them here: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/ethnic.html So, lets get on with the ink review with the chroma: I don’t like this ink. Filling the pen is torture. The chemical smell is awful and thankfully dissipate with time. But it gave me a headache a couple of sneezes. This isn't a good ink, it has start up issues, it hated pilot Elite, had hiccups with Lamy Safari, until I wrote a few lines, but tolerated well Pilot Kakuna. I recommend it, only to those, who have no sense of smell, love Tolstoy, like a challenging ink, are light handed, use well sealed wet pens and work under UV lights. Writing Samples: Note the difference between the Ef in Pilot Elite and Kakuna. I really had to press hard the Elite to make it write. I didn't bother to scan of the "good papers". But if you're heavy handed, use wet pens, you'll have ghosting and probably a bit of bleed through. Photo: Watertest: Left side was held under water. Kitty was waterproof Comparison: And finally a sketch. I do the yearly Inktober challenge. The prompt was Beard. The black ink is Sailor Kiwa-guro. fluorescence: · Pens used: Pilot Elite/ Kakuna(Ef/), Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B) · What I liked: Fast dry time, spectacular fluorescence (I’m pushing it!) · What I did not like: Name, and chemical stench, bleed through, flow issues. · What some might not like: Same as above, minus the name · Shading: No · Ghosting: On most papers yes. · Bleed through: Depending nib, paper. If you’re heavy handed for sure. · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Ok · Nib Dry-out: No. · Start-up: It didn’t like Pilot Elite. Lamy stopped working after a few days of not using. · Saturation: Sort of. · Shading Potential: Dismal · Sheen: No · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Didn’t notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Yes · Staining (pen): Possible · Clogging: No. · Cleaning: Like most permanent inks, the more the ink stays in the pen, the more time consuming it is to clean. I won’t recommend these inks for pens that cannot be fully dismantled and pens that don’t have a great seal. The pilot Kakuna’s transparent section was tainted in a lovely blue hue, and no amount of Q-tip would remove it, but after several hours of soaking, I should be able to remove it. Safari needed an overnight soaking, and 5 minutes in pen cleaning solution, as a safe measure. · Water resistance: Excellent. · Availability: 90 ml bottles / 3 Oz bottles Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Noodler's Dostoyevsky is a bulletproof ink, belonging to the Russian series. Note Russian series are more expensive than Noodler's normal line up. After the De Atramentis Artist/ Document Cyan and Turquoise disaster reviews, I was weary of trying another permanent blue. To my surprise Noodler’s Dostoyevsky was “quite good” compared to the above, i.e. it's very usable with the good pen/ paper combo. A bit about Dostoyevsky (1821-1881). He’s one the greatest, if not greatest Russian novelist of all times. His mother died when he was young and his father, a doctor was killed by one his surfs, when he was about 17, about which time his epileptic attacks started. It marked his literature. In his youth he was condemned to death by firing squad, for belonging to a political movement. His sentence was commuted at the last moment (detailed in his novel, The idiot )to 4 years in Siberia, which were described in the harrowing The House of the Dead. Dostoyevsky was addicted to Gambling, , which inspired his Gambler. His masterpiece Crime and Punishment, about a young man who commits murder for all the good reasons, and his magnum opus The Brothers Karamazov, which I haven't read. Now for the ink. This is a legible turquoise ink. I enjoyed journaling many pages with it. I forgive a lot of things in permanent inks. What I don’t like are long dry times and bleed through. This ink fares quite well. It’s not a perfect ink. Far from that. It’s not very lubricated. So, if you don’t like feedback and use Ef/F nibs it's not for you. I enjoyed it best with Safari M/B nibs. It can create wooly lines if feed is primed, nib B/ Double broad. This ink needs good paper. There's some faint ghosting on Tomoe River but it worked flawlessly on Rhodia and Midori. However, I won't recommend it with a wet stub/ fude nib. It'll bleed through. Also, with the semi-flex, I really pushed it to the limit and there was some bleed through. Would I buy a bottle? If I wanted a permanent turquoise, maybe. Writing samples: All quotes are by Dostoyevsky. You can see it doesn't like very much Hammermill White, 20lb paper. These lines were written with EF/F/M nibs. Watertest: Left side was held under running water. A bit of ink was washed out. But most of the ink stayed put. As usual I had some fun doing a little sketch. This is done on a Fabriano Watercolor paper. It was inspired by a Gaube Lake, a high altitude Lake in the Pyrenees, France. Inks used Sky: Kakimori Karari for the sky Gutenberg Urkundentinten G!0 IG ink Kakimori Kurun And Dostoyevsky for the lake. I use a bit of bleach on Dostoyevsky. Where you see a small triangle on the right side. Under UV light, the triangle changes colour. If I get around to it, I'll post some photos and comparison with other turquoises. · Pens used: Pilot Elite (Ef) Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B), Soennecken Schulfuller S4, Jinhao 450 Fude nib · What I liked: Writing with a medium/stub nibs. Easy cleaning for most pens. · What I did not like: I like turquoise in general, but not for inks. · What some might not like: Woolly lines with broad nibs. Relative dryness. It needs good paper. Longish dry time. · Shading: Not much. · Ghosting: I would say, it was more than acceptable on good paper. · Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper · Flow Rate: Excellent · Lubrication: Dryish. It’s best with Medium/ Broad nibs. · Nib Dry-out: None. · Start-up: None. · Saturation: Not saturated. · Shading Potential: Faint · Sheen: None. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Yes, a primed broad nib on some papers. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: No. · Staining (pen): No · Clogging: No. · Cleaning: Quite easy. Though, I would put it in a pen where you can take the section a part. · Water resistance: Very good. The excess ink came off, but the rest was stable. · Availability: 3 oz/90 ml bottles. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Noodler's Tchaikovsky is a bulletproof/fluorescent, muted purple ink, belonging to the Russian series. It's more expensive than traditional Noodle's inks. A bit about the composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893), well known for his Swan Lake and Nutcracker ballets. It is ironic that one of the greatest Russian composers was educated for a career as a civil servant as music wasn't a viable option at his time. Even more ironic his music wasn't “Russian” enough for some of his compatriots. I was 11 or 12, when I discovered his violin concerto, by the legendary Nathan Milstein. It remains to this day, one of my favorite concertos. and soon after I discovered his First piano concerto in the electrifying 1941 version, with Vladimir Horowitz and Arturo Toscanini. It is a recording that will never age. I could go on and on about Tchaikovsky, but this is an ink review after all, and to paraphrase a movie quote, I doubt this ink would make classical music lovers fans of fountain pens or ink lovers fan of Tchaikovsky's music 😅 I’m not sure why Mr. Tardiff used this muted purple to represent Tchaikovsky. Like most bulletproof inks it doesn't shade and like most fluorescent inks, it's well behaved and easy to clean. Though it can and will stain demonstrators, which with a touch of Doyou or Noodler's Red Eel, it could be fixed, if you really insist on using this ink with a transparent section :😜 Let's start with the chroma: I really love muted purples, it has a silver haze about it on Tomoe River 68gr: Writing samples: All quotes are by Tchaikovsky. Hammermill Printer Paper, Premium Multipurpose Paper 20 lb paper. Comparison: Excellent waterproofness. Ink didn't budges under running water: And finally a sketch, a homage to Tchaikovsky: And the fluorescence A · Pens used: Pilot Kakuno (Ef /Stub) Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B) / Jinaho 450 with an Ultraflex nib/ Jinhao 450 fude · What I liked: Wet ink, muted purple, with the silver haze, well behaved. · What I did not like: Nothing much. · Shading: Only with fude nib. · Ghosting: This ink is best for coated paper. · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Excellent · Lubrication: Excellent · Nib Dry-out: None. · Start-up: None. · Saturation: Muted · Shading Potential: You can’t have it all · Sheen: none. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Didn’t notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: No. · Staining (pen): It’s a purple ink, so it would stain. Though a bit of Sailor Doyou/ or Noodle's Red Eel will clean it up. · Clogging: No · Cleaning: Surprisingly very easy · Water resistance: Excellent · Availability: 3 oz/ 90 ml bottles Please don't hesitate to comment or share your experience with this ink. The more the merrier

Members - and little kids alike - love invisible inks and secret messages. I have a huge fondness for Noodler's Ghost Blue. After years of using different inks (I have now sampled more than a thousand unique inks), I was looking for my doodle with Noodler's Proctor's Ledge, so I had my notebook and a strong UV light. Much to my surprise, I found a whole lot of inks fluoresce. So, here is where we can show some pictures. It doesn't matter if the ink was advertised as UV reactive ink - just show us what it is all about. This thread is not for full blown reviews, just show us the ink under blacklight (or blue light, uv-a, ultraviolet light, filtered light, mercury vapor, LEDs ... you get the idea). Here is the first sample, Vintage Sheaffer Permanent Red. This ink was said to fluoresce AFTER someone tried to tamper with it. The middle ghost is untampered and the side ghosts have water washes. http://www.sheismylawyer.com/2017_2_Ink/12-December/slides/2017-12-28_UV_05.jpeg

A rich red, homage to the great Russian poetess, Marina Tsvetayeva. Note Nathan Tardiff uses an alternative spelling for Tsvetaeva. Information gleaned from her biography is from wikipedia and poetry foundation. Note: The selected poems are from a translation by Andrey Kneller on Kindle. I've chosen certain lines and not entire poems. Marina Tsvetayeva was born in Moscow 8 October 1892. Her father was a professor of fine arts, her mother a concert pianist, who wanted her to become a musician and not a poet, as she found her poems insipid. She spend most of her life out of use. Don’t mistake these soulful eyes for meekness. Tsvetayeva’s poetry, reads like punctuated bullet shots: an explosion of emotions, imagery, and sounds. She once famously said, “Next time I will be born not on a planet, but on a comet!” A prophetic poem on Midori/ Ahab Note how the saturated feed lightens Some of her poetry is especially apt in the current situation of war. To love a country that does not love you, to be a stranger in exile and in exile in your own country. That was the lot of Marina Tsvetayeva. Tomoe River She and her family paid for it dearly. Her life was mired with poverty, exile, and tragedy. Tsvetayeva married an army cadet, Sergei Efron, who fought in the World War I and during the Russian revolution joined the white army, and after their defeat in 1920, emigrated to Paris. Stuck in Moscow during the great famine, she left her daughters in the care of orphanage, believing they would be fed better. One of them died from starvation. She emigrated in 1922 to Paris and reunited with her husband. In Paris, she was shunned, by the Russian intelligentsia, especially after she wrote to a Soviet poet. From then on she lived from hand to mouth. TR 68gr Her daughter, Ariadna, espoused communist ideals and left for the Soviet Union in 1937, followed by her husband, Efron, who unbeknownst to Tsvetayeva had become a NKVD spy and was involved in a couple of assassinations of Russian dissidents. HP 32 Ironically both Efron and Ariadna were imprisoned in charges of espionage in 1941. Efron was murdered, and Ariadna spend 16 years in the gulag. This is on Hammermill Printer Paper, Premium Multipurpose Paper 20 lb, 92 brightness.... Tsvetayeva moved back to the Soviet Union in 1939. From then on, she lived in abject poverty and hanged herself in 1941. She was 48. To finish the train wreck of her life, her beloved son, volunteered and was killed in 1944. Now for the ink: I thought I had found my dream bulletproof red. But for some reason this ink, like other Noodler’s red, has difficult to dry and depending on the pen/paper/nib can smudge. For example, with a Jinhao 450, it lays a lot of ink that smudges on Midori 30 minutes later. Ironically with Ahab it behaved in a much different fashion. But still, I won’t recommend it to lefties, or those who write copiously on Japanese papers with wet pens and wide nibs. Ironically on absorbent paper it dries instantly. This is an unrelated text. It is a photo to show off the shading with a fude nib.... Though dry times is atrocious... Paper is Apica Comparison Cleaning is a bit like other red/ pink inks, a pain. Though I have had worse, Skrip Red/ Sailor Grenade and Herbin rose cyclamen. But you definitely need a pen liquid wash. This is one beautiful red, and if it didn’t have the smudge problem, I would been buying a bottle. I suspect that a drop of water might alleviate the smudge problem much like Red-Black. Note Russian series inks are more expensive than standard bulletproof inks. Ink is bulletproof, fluorescent. Note the left side was held under water. I didn't wait 24 hour for the ink to dry completely. The excess ink washed away. • Pens used: Ahab/ Jinhao 450 fude • Shading: delightful with wider nib. • Ghosting: a bit on absorbent paper… • Bleed through: No. • Flow Rate: medium.. • Lubrication: average • Nib Dry-out: No. • Start-up: No • Saturation: Deep rich red • Shading Potential: Yes • Sheen: None • Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not noticed • Nib Creep / “Crud”: it depends. • Staining (pen): you need to rinse it in a pen wash. But surprisingly it was easier to clean that Rose Cyclamen/ Skrip red. • Clogging: None • Water resistance: Excellent • Availability: 90 ml bottles – More expensive than traditional Noodler’s inks.

Noodler’s Pushkin Agreeable muted green/blue. While it doesn’t capture the flamboyance of one Alexander Pushkin, it encapsulates the Russian spirit complexities and nuances. A bit about Pushkin before touching his namesake, considered the father of modern Russian literature. His great-grandfather was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, kidnapped from “Africa” gifted to Peter the Great, freed, and ennobled. Most of his works are in form poetry. And he was killed in a duel of honor, by his bother-in-law, a French Officer, in a duel at age 37. Now to the ink. I had difficulties reviewing this ink. This is the first Noodler’s which seemed to have flow issues. It absolutely disliked Ahab, especially when flexed. However, when I wrote with a light touch, the pen glided effortlessly. Chroma: However, compared to similar inks, i.e. Akhmatova, General of the Armies the writing experience was uneven to put it diplomatically. I enjoyed it however, in Lamy Safari. Ink even diluted, is waterproof. Here is diluted test: Ink is fluorescent, I would place it between Akhmatova (subtle) and General of the Armies (striking) General of the Armies... Writing samples: On Midori (photo)/ TR 68 gr (scan) Sketch on super absorbent paper (Peter Pauper) Swatches: Pros: Bulletproof/ very easy to clean/ doesn’t stain etc. Cons: Flow, and chemical scent. Note: Like most Russian series, this ink is more expensive than the typical Noodler’s ink. · Pen used: Noodler’s Ahab / Lamy Safari Broad/ Pilot Metro Fine/ Kanwrite Flex · Ghosting: Yes on thin papers like Stalogy · Bleed through: None · Flow Rate: On the dry side, sluggish · Lubrication: adequate · Nib Dry-out: No. · Start-up: Depends · Saturation: Yes · Shading Yes. · Sheen: No · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: None · Nib creep: Yes, quite a bit. Though, Lamy has a black nib, so I didn’t see anything. · Staining (pen): None · Clogging: None. · Water resistance: Bulletproof · Availability: Only in 90 ml bottles

I placed an order for a bottle of Noodler's Blue Ghost back in March, when I saw it was offered at a good price. However, the retailer was unable to fulfil the order right away (and that's understandable), and when their order of inks came in from the US a month later but there was no Blue Ghost in sight, that was the last update I got, even though I told the staff there I still wanted a bottle of ink and wasn't letting them off the hook so readily. Then, I saw this other invisible ink in 18ml bottles on eBay, with no brand name or detail -- including whether it's safe for fountain pen use, much less whether it's "bulletproof" -- for just a few dollars and came with a tiny UV torch, I bought one just for the hell of it, even though the per-millilitre unit price is 220% of that of the Noodler's ink. However, since then I was able to order a bottle of Blue Ghost sold and delivered by Amazon US for a reasonable price, so I had confidence it was actually in stock. That order was delivered yesterday. (I have since cancelled my original order from the first retailer and got it refunded.) I wonder how many of us here would bother with getting two different invisible inks, even though we wouldn't blink an eye about ordering the sixteenth "different" shade of blue, or even coloured two inks that are supposed to dopplegangers of each other? Anyway, so here they are: Both are equally invisible on the page under normal lighting conditions, of course. Once dried, you can write on top of it with coloured inks, with minimal interference (feathering, etc.) and certainly not every place where two ink tracks cross, but there is nevertheless some with either of the invisible inks if you look closely. Neither of the inks are what I'd call waterproof (but they are fairly water resistant), which I guess precludes them from being "bulletproof". This is what they look like after a two-hour soak: Even though the Wing Sung 3008 into which I filled the Turritopsis ink has an EF nib, and the Sailor Profit Junior that holds the Blue Ghost ink has a MF nib, I don't expect the difference in the line widths to be substantial. What I'm finding, though, is that Blue Ghost has more of a tendency to spread once laid on the page. The paper in the Maruman m.memo DMP-A7 notepad I used there is not apt to be absorbent, and I was careful to cover the rest of the page with a paper napkin while I wrote, so as not to compromise the paper coating. (I can see from the washed out writing how fine or broad the contact surface from the nibs are. (Yes, I can test them properly against each other with a different ink, or even swapping the inks around in the pens, but right now I don't feel like cleaning them and flushing ink down the drain.) Between the lack of evidence to support the claim of being "bulletproof" (but I really should look up if there is any word definition and test procedure published by Noodler's), and the tendency for the lines to be broader than they need to be because of the spreading, I must say that the Blue Ghost ink has disappointed me, if so no-name ink (actually, there is one in 3-point Flyspeck on one side of the bottle label: Tramol) from China proves equally as water-resistant but seems to work better. Now, of course I don't actually trust or assume the Turritopsis ink to be perfectly fountain pen safe, so I'm not going to put it in a $200+ gold-nibbed pen, but then I'm not inclined to do so with Blue Ghost (or Noodler's inks in general) either; a Sailor Profit Junior which cost me twenty-odd bucks to acquire is about as much as I care to risk on a lark. Still, writing with invisible ink is fun, and more fun (and much easier!) when my order of UV bulbs for my desk lamp comes in. I can't wait to show the young'uns at the next Christmas family gathering, and I've already put in an order for some non-fountain pens that also dispense invisible, fluorescent-under-UV-light ink to give them -- and a couple of big UV torches for their parents; I'm sure they'll need those.