Noodler's Liberty's Elysium

[Uncle Red]

Great review, thanks for the hard work.

[Tokugawa]

Interesting. I'd like to see how LE does in a fine, slightly wet nib to see if it gets shading similar to Noodler's Polar Blue.

[mhosea]

I have put a coffee cup ring and some randomly flung water on the Clairefontaine page. It's drying now. I think the lesson is going to be that if you spill on a page with this ink, submerge it as quickly as possible.

 

Just blot it before the released ink has a chance to soak into the paper. The results will still be legible. Worked fine with Liberty's Elysium, didn't work with Army Green (which isn't bulletproof or anything). It's not pretty, though. However, I would recommend a different ink for line cooks to read. Noodler's Bad Blue Heron, maybe.

[raging.dragon]

I have put a coffee cup ring and some randomly flung water on the Clairefontaine page. It's drying now. I think the lesson is going to be that if you spill on a page with this ink, submerge it as quickly as possible.

 

Just blot it before the released ink has a chance to soak into the paper. The results will still be legible. Worked fine with Liberty's Elysium, didn't work with Army Green (which isn't bulletproof or anything). It's not pretty, though. However, I would recommend a different ink for line cooks to read. Noodler's Bad Blue Heron, maybe.

 

How about Noodler's Black? Or even pencil (it's waterproof!).

[WOBentley]

Hope my Florida bottle isn't in Connecticut! A recent parcel from 2 towns over took 9 days, so I hope USPS isn't messing with the Goulet's speedy service.

 

I see why references to Ganges Blue got made after soaking.

Interesting you should mention this... I placed two orders with Goulet recently, one shipped on the 17th with two Rhodia dot pads and some D'Atramentis Sherlock Holmes ink and then a second order listed as shipped the day of the introduction with LE an a Diamine ink...both arrived yesterday 3000 miles away from Virginia!

So far I love the LE ink...great blue.

Edited May 28, 2012 by WOBentley

[mhosea]

How about Noodler's Black? Or even pencil (it's waterproof!).

 

Sure, Noodler's black, polar blue, baystate blue, etc., etc. For that matter Namiki Blue seems rather solid with respect to water. Pencil works, but I assume the context of the question here is limited by the assumption that people want to write with their fountain pens, not so much with pencils, ballpoints, or laser jet printers.

[SamCapote]

For sure people should not look at this as waterproof like a Sharpie marker. Water creates a flood of blue, but if you keep rinsing or soak in a tray of water you will be left with a lighter 'permanent' blue...but drops of water hitting your page of writing, or being caught in the rain will be a blue splash mess unless you continue the watering to remove all that flooded blue. If the flooded blue from water drops dries before rinsing the whole page, it will still wash off later.

By the way, I got a new pH meter, and the pH of this ink is 8.09

[The Good Captain]

but there is no green or purple here.

 

 

I'd ordered a bottle to be shipped to the UK before reading this and I'm delighted as this was my fear. I always felt that Noodlers Blue and Eel Blue lean towards green and was hoping that this would be different.

Let us know when it arrives and it you have to pay any blood-duty to HMR&C plus VAT & Royal Mail charges!

[CalvaryMaid]

If you already have a similar ink like American Eel Blue, is there that much of a difference that would justify buying Liberty's Elysium? LE sounds interesting, but I already have a lot of Eel Blue, and I wonder if it would be redundant at this point in time.

[raging.dragon]

If you already have a similar ink like American Eel Blue, is there that much of a difference that would justify buying Liberty's Elysium? LE sounds interesting, but I already have a lot of Eel Blue, and I wonder if it would be redundant at this point in time.

 

Depends: LE is (semi?) bulletproof, is this a property that is important to you?

[Jimmy James]

I think I can now say with confidence that this ink is semi-bulletproof. Following up on Sam's post, I just soaked the Clairefontaine for 10 minutes (ended up being closer to 20). There is one splotch where it looks like some excess bulletproof ink bonded to the paper after splash, but virtually all of the water splash damage is gone leaving behind the lighter blue bulletproof component. It is very clear that there is a vibrant blue washable component to this ink and a more pastel blue bulletproof component in my opinion.

 

Here is the post-splash but pre-soak scan. I'll update again with the post-soak scan to put this one to bed.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/7287701478_12cafd8c80.jpg

Liberty's Elysium by Erechtheus, on Flickr

 

To be clear, I really like this ink. I think it's also useful to know I could "mess up" a page of writing by having water spill on it and yet salvage it by soaking the page. I'm still very thrilled by this ink. I just don't think it is accurately called completely bulletproof given the properties we have uncovered.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Jimmy James

[Lloyd]

For sure people should not look at this as waterproof like a Sharpie marker. Water creates a flood of blue, but if you keep rinsing or soak in a tray of water you will be left with a lighter 'permanent' blue...but drops of water hitting your page of writing, or being caught in the rain will be a blue splash mess unless you continue the watering to remove all that flooded blue. If the flooded blue from water drops dries before rinsing the whole page, it will still wash off later.

It sounds like one could duplicate this by mixing Lux Blue with an intense blue (e.g. PR DC SS Blue, Levenger Cobalt) to obtain a similar effect. In a similar vein, I frequently mix Pilot Blue and either PR DC SS Blue or Levenger Cobalt (1:1) to get a semi-waterresistant ink (not semi-bulletproof).

By the way, I got a new pH meter, and the pH of this ink is 8.09

Has duplicating your prior measurements shown any of them to have been erroneous?

[Jimmy James]

It would seem doubtful that the precise mix is Luxury Blue since it is apparently a very expensive ink to make (1 ounce at the 3 ounce price), but the general idea holds, Lloyd. That's why I was originally focusing on Upper Ganges Blue since it's apparently much cheaper to make (it comes in 3 ounce bottles), but it's not quite the same color as that ink. I actually hope somebody with Luxury Blue might weigh in with some testing in the future. I don't have any.

[ravantra]

So if you are expecting a flood or dropping your notebook in a lake this ink makes sense. For splashing water near a sink or placing your coffee cup on your notes you may cause a bit of a mess unless you then dunk the notes in water quickly. Are these assumptions correct?

 

I like the ink and am using it in one of my Edisons. For water resistant qualities I will stick to Noodler's KTC.

 

Here is a quick test. 1 minute in water on cheap index card I used Hebrin Rouge Hematite 1670, Noodler's KTC, Iroshizuku Kon-peki and Noodler's Liberty Elysium. I my humble opinion Kon-peki fared no worse than Liberty. KTC was unaffected by the water. YMMV.

 

Before Soaking

http://allegroarchitects.smugmug.com/FB/FPN/i-2TBhkmr/0/L/IMG0071-L.jpg

 

First seconds in water

http://allegroarchitects.smugmug.com/FB/FPN/i-3ppDgg4/0/L/IMG0073-L.jpg

 

After 1 minute and water agitation card is removed

http://allegroarchitects.smugmug.com/FB/FPN/i-tsbCLNs/0/L/IMG0074-L.jpg

 

edited for links issues and spelling

Edited May 28, 2012 by ravantra

[Jimmy James]

No, it doesn't appear you have to submerge the paper in water immediately. You can do so at any time. My Clairefontaine page I'll scan after submersion was allowed to completely dry before I submerged it. Otherwise, it seems you have it correct.

[mhosea]

I think I can now say with confidence that this ink is semi-bulletproof.

 

With respect to what we observe with this ink and with Bad Belted Kingfisher (two that I'm aware of that clearly have an unbonded part), it seems that "bulletproof" means "forgery resistant" rather than "virtually impervious". As you say, the take-away is that spills will make a mess, even if the writing is, in some sense, durable.

Edited May 28, 2012 by mhosea

[Colors]

I was wondering if you experienced any staining issues, to the pen, that is????

 

I put mine in an Ahab Flex just in case....

[pen2paper]

I just held my Lux blue bottle up to the monitor. No wonder I like this new ink color, Very close.

[Ruminator]

Thank you for the review!

[Jimmy James]

This should complete the review, I think:

 

Here is the scan of the now soaked Clairefontaine page. There is a small circle of blue that does not detract from reading about 1/3 of the way down the page and about 3/5 of the page to the right. That is the only evidence that there was ever splattering.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/7292272420_a7a6b91a9c.jpg

Liberty's Elysium by Erechtheus, on Flickr