Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue

[yazeh]

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  

 

 

[LizEF]

10 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It'll eat your paper.

A paper-eating bacteria!

 

Nice chroma.  The ink color sort of reminds me of Diamine Misty Blue, but that's without actually pulling up a picture of Misty Blue...

 

Is that a snowman on Marlene's card?  I'm shocked not to find a kitty!

 

Love the ocean of faces.  It's a very soothing color.  And intriguing that it writes wider when you turn the nib upside down!

 

Thank you for your review, sharing your art, and hunting down that quote!

[Sailor Kenshin]

@yazeh, thanks for saving me from this ink!  Sky blues are my sort of color, and fast-drying can appeal… but not one that's both draggy and gushy.  And I already have Misty Blue.

 

Thanks for the detailed review.  And the drawings!  At least the cat has his mouse to keep him company.  👍🏻

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

A paper-eating bacteria!

Well, I can rephrase it, embraces your paper

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Nice chroma.  The ink color sort of reminds me of Diamine Misty Blue, but that's without actually pulling up a picture of Misty Blue...

Misty Blue:

https://inkswatch.com/ink.html?inkId=464

 

Upper Ganges is closer to Asa 

https://inkswatch.com/ink.html?inkId=1744

 

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Is that a snowman on Marlene's card?  I'm shocked not to find a kitty!

That was way before the kitty fad

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Love the ocean of faces.  It's a very soothing color. 

🙏

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

 

And intriguing that it writes wider when you turn the nib upside down!

Isn't it?

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

 

Thank you for your review, sharing your art, and hunting down that quote!

Much appreciated

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh, thanks for saving me from this ink!  Sky blues are my sort of color, and fast-drying can appeal… but not one that's both draggy and gushy.

I'm glad I could be of help  It's ok with medium or broad, but you know that

 

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 And I already have Misty Blue.

I believe it's slightly lighter than Misty Blue

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Thanks for the detailed review.  And the drawings!  At least the cat has his mouse to keep him company.  👍🏻

A mouse is a great companion for our cat 😛

 

[inkstainedruth]

I tried this ink a few years ago.  The water resistance was a nice feature, but overall the ink was too pale for me (I was afraid to use it for signing checks because it made me think of "non-repro blue"...).

Thanks for the review though, yazeh -- your batch seems to be slightly more legible than mine, especially with a broader nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

13 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I tried this ink a few years ago.  The water resistance was a nice feature, but overall the ink was too pale for me (I was afraid to use it for signing checks because it made me think of "non-repro blue"...).

I had to look up non-repro blue  You were afraid that the scanner won't read your check?

13 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the review though, yazeh -- your batch seems to be slightly more legible than mine, especially with a broader nib.

Yes it's clearly legible but still a light blue ink....

[txomsy]

If it is so wet, I'm afraid it is not for me. Polar Blue is already too wet for my taste. Actually, I find it hard to imagine a use case where I could put such an ink to work.

 

But nevertheless, this is a very nice review and certainly has been most useful (at least to me).

[yazeh]

28 minutes ago, txomsy said:

If it is so wet, I'm afraid it is not for me. Polar Blue is already too wet for my taste. Actually, I find it hard to imagine a use case where I could put such an ink to work.

If it was lubricated it would have been acceptable. I actually like Polar Blue, but haven't reviewed yet. It's funny how the Polar Blue & Purple are so different from Green and Brown.

@XYZZY posted this from Richard Binder's site, on this thread

Not so well known for their extreme wetness are Noodler’s “bulletproof” inks. It turns out that these inks are really really wet. Unlike ordinary fountain pen inks, they are not perfect solutions; their coloring agents (dyes) are dissolved, but the component that causes the ink to bond permanently to the cellulose in paper is suspended particulate matter. It’s very fine, but inks containing particulates of any type must also contain a greater amount of surfactant than other inks to keep from clogging the narrow fissures in a pen’s feed.

28 minutes ago, txomsy said:

 

But nevertheless, this is a very nice review and certainly has been most useful (at least to me).

Glad it was useful and I appreciate your inputs and comments 🙏

[txomsy]

Thanks for the quote from Richard's site. It is most illustrating. I should re-read his site periodically.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, txomsy said:

Thanks for the quote from Richard's site. It is most illustrating. I should re-read his site periodically.

Most welcome

[Lithium466]

Thank you for that review. Hard pass
It looks like Koh-I-Noor document blue, but the KIN ink is much better behaved!

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Thank you for that review. Hard pass
It looks like Koh-I-Noor document blue, but the KIN ink is much better behaved!

Yes. It's close from what I can say. I believe the latter has a nice red sheen

 

[Lithium466]

I wouldn't be able to tell just with regular writing and F/EF nibs, but that wouldn't surprise me. To be tested next time I have that ink in rotation!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

I wouldn't be able to tell just with regular writing and F/EF nibs, but that wouldn't surprise me. To be tested next time I have that ink in rotation!

Yes, I believe the same I saw was with a broad nib