Noodler's Rome Burning

[mhphoto]

This is my handwritten review of Noodler's brand new Rome [is] Burning. Overall I'm torn on this ink. Since writing the review I've grown more attached to it, and no longer think I wasted $13. But it is an ink of limited uses. And it's a shame too, because it's such an interesting color (and concept). Without the horrendous feathering and gushing problems (see my shameful Brause example ) I would like it a lot more.

 

There are a few things I want to touch on that aren't in the written review. First off, you can't get the completely purple changeover without soaking the page for at least ten minutes, and running it under the tap doesn't do all that much (although you can see the yellowish runoff as it drains away from the letters). I had no problem with staining in the Noodler's, which is a demonstrator. And interesting note: it goes onto the page VERY brown, but within the—very fast—five seconds or so of dry time it lightens to the final color. Shading is very heavy when you first put ink to paper, but when dry everything evens out and shading become minimal to null. On cheap and thin copy paper bleed through is horrendous.

 

Now on to the review.

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeIsBurningMedium.jpg

 

Very bad feathering on Rhodia.

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeIsBurningPensUsed.jpg

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeIsBurningBrause.jpg

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeIsBurningObservations.jpg

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeIsBurningComparisons.jpg

 

Here is a sample before washing:

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeBurningSmallSampleBefore.jpg

 

And here is after approximately twelve minutes submerged in water:

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/RomeBurningSmallSampleAfter.jpg

 

Overall, I'll say that if you can find your own little use for this ink it would be worth the $12.50, but if you're looking for a good, everyday ink, look elsewhere.

[mhphoto]

Also please note that my reviews will feature these new, fancy STRAIGHT sentences, thanks to my new Rhodia dot pad.

[terminal]

This review is super upsetting to me -- I already ordered a bottle of this stuff and it's well on its way. To me, even though you say you're not as angry about it as when you first tried it, the feathering is just shameful. /run away :mad:

[Grendel]

Thanks for the review, very nice !

 

Yep, reflects exactly my experiences -- bleeding, feathering, show-through, the color change when laying it down. To me it feels like it got too much surfactant in it (could be an inherent problem to keep the two colors in suspension.) Dang, I was really looking forward to use it as the ink to fill out checks with.

 

It's more manageable in a dry Hero 616, still no good for the checks I have tho.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Grendel

[Scriptorium Pens]

I got my bottle today, and I love the color. I do not like the feathering in a medium nib, so it will take some experimenting to find my driest, finest nib for it.

[JLT]

I received my bottle in the mail onSaturday (Thanks Goulets! Awesome service, as always.) and I was not able to give it a try until today. I inked up a Michael's Fat Boy fine nib with RIB and went to work taking notes and roughing out some model forms. I held my breath just a bit because I had seen a few comments on this ink's propensity to feather and bleed.

 

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised. Feathering has not been a problem at all, even on lowest-bidder paper. I wrote a few pages in a cheap composition book that I use for scratch paper and the only critical aspect of the ink's performance was more bleedthrough than I would like but I noticed no feathering and all other performance characteristics were just fine. Not Bulletproof Black, but not bad at all. I have to say that line quality is pretty good and RIB is just fine for general use.

 

I was quite impressed with the drying time. This stuff dries almost instantly and the color lightens a bit as it does on most papers.

 

As for the color, I find it intriguing. I look forward to working with this ink.

[bitterwonder]

I have been using it for two weeks; cheap paper, newspaper and good drawing paper and no feathering at all.

[mhphoto]

The feathering was only a problem for me with flex nibs and broad nibs. With the dip nib is would gush down onto the page once the first bit of ink was deposited. In a fine tip nib it wasn't a problem.

[Scriptorium Pens]

Success! I tried it in my mother's Lady Sheaffer with a super fine nib, and in an Esterbrook Dollar pen with a 9550 nib, and the results were much better. My main papers these days are Staple's Loose-leaf Bagasse (for journaling) and Rhodia notepads. I got much less feathering on the Rhodia. RB seems to perform much like Noodler's Galileo Manuscript Brown for me. I have to use it in extra-dry, extra-fine nibs, too. I have a Twsbi Extra-Fine dedicated to Galileo. Looks like I'll be doing the same for Rome Burning. Cool color!

[Chi Town]

Seems like a color that takes too much effort to work with. Why couldn't Noodlers have made it an ink where you just put it in a pen, any pen and it works flawlessly as an ink should!

[SheilaM]

For those that bought it, I do hope you like it. For me, between this and Blue Nose Bear I'd have to say I wish Nathan would quit trying to astonish us with fantastical ink qualities that don't really pan out, and stick to astonishing us with good quality ink.

[DoctorZhivago]

For those that bought it, I do hope you like it. For me, between this and Blue Nose Bear I'd have to say I wish Nathan would quit trying to astonish us with fantastical ink qualities that don't really pan out, and stick to astonishing us with good quality ink.

He has astonished us with good quality ink, so often that we're no longer astonished.

[daii]

I have a very small sample of this ink and I find it to behave tolerably to well on heat pressed papers but not so well on cold pressed paper.

[danahn17]

Interesting... on my computer at least, the gold-brown part of RiB looks very similar to my Iroshizuku Ina-Ho.

 

Thanks for the review!

Edited May 8, 2012 by danahn17

[mhphoto]

For those that bought it, I do hope you like it. For me, between this and Blue Nose Bear I'd have to say I wish Nathan would quit trying to astonish us with fantastical ink qualities that don't really pan out, and stick to astonishing us with good quality ink.

 

Hehe, my three full bottles of ink I recieved today were Rouge Hematite, Rome Is Burning, and Blue Nose Bear.

 

BNB just has something about that I'm crazy about. I don't know why. It feathers and bleeds through like a madman, but still, I love it. So much so that I bought a bottle.

 

I know some people see this picture garish and ugly, but I think it's just about the coolest thing since I discovered the merits of quality papers.

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/BlueNoseBearBrause.jpg

[mhphoto]

This review is super upsetting to me -- I already ordered a bottle of this stuff and it's well on its way. To me, even though you say you're not as angry about it as when you first tried it, the feathering is just shameful. /run away :mad:

 

Sorry I threw the bummer blanket over you, but the ink is growing on me. So maybe after a few days you'll like it.

[WayTooManyHobbies]

Nice Review! I particularly like the variety of pens you're using, and how concise everything is. Your review of Apache Sunset was beautiful - I had to pull my bottle back out and ink a pen after seeing/reading it.

 

Prior to your review I had already ordered a bottle of Rome Burning and just received it yesterday, along with a Konrad flexi. Your review is spot-on. I used the pen and ink while doing math with my daughter, and the color is growing on me a bit. It's too bad the shading fades out completely as the ink drys.

[WendyNC]

Thanks for this review. The pen in which I'd been planning to use this stuff has a wet, medium nib, so I don't think it will work for me. You've saved me a disappointment.

[JLT]

I uncapped my pen this morning and found something unexpected. The purple dye in this ink was clinging to the nib - not badly, just a purple film from the points of the shoulder down to the tip. It's an odd experience - the nib creep is a different color than what is being laid down on the paper.

 

And this does look like Ina-Ho.

[terminal]

This review is super upsetting to me -- I already ordered a bottle of this stuff and it's well on its way. To me, even though you say you're not as angry about it as when you first tried it, the feathering is just shameful. /run away :mad:

 

Sorry I threw the bummer blanket over you, but the ink is growing on me. So maybe after a few days you'll like it.

 

Oh not at all it's a great review and very insightful. Hopefully I can find a use for it too!