EFNIR: Noodler's Apache Sunset

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Noodler's Apache Sunset

This is review #255 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: I know this ink is a shade-monster, but not from this fine a nib, which is the reason I didn't rate it high in shading.  If you want to see this ink in all its glory, you need a larger, dry-ish nib.  An Ink Guy is the one and only person I've seen rate this as having a fast dry time.  That rating is true on absorbent paper (for me), but on FP friendly paper like Rhodia, basically, the ink doesn't dry, so keep a blotting page in your notebooks and just use that.

Cleaning was quick and easy with plain water, but may need an extra flush or two because the dye is pretty concentrated.  The microscope slide was boring as can be, just solid orange/yellow - perhaps because it never dried...

NOTE: This ink was renamed to "Southwest Sunset".

Zoomed in photo (The image exaggerates the shading a lot.  Also, the color I see is like the darker colors from the image - the lighter colors there aren't on the paper - to my eyes.)

Screenshot (Text is a little too dark, but the dry-time smear is closer to what I see.)

Scan of Completed Review (The text is probably a little too light, but mostly, the smear for the dry time should be much yellower.  Otherwise, I think this is the closest to the actual color.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (The mini microscope camera didn't like this ink. It's not quite as fuzzy as the absorbent paper part suggests. The ink is a little darker in real life.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink" in "Extra Fine Nib Ink Review". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 284µm. With 255 inks measured, the average line width is 295µm.)

Previous Review: Kakimori Kurun.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[yazeh]

This is one of the first inks i bought blind. I liked the reddish orange hue especially with wide nibs, but the eternal dry time was a complete a turn off. Nowdays I only use it for art work and then let it dry under the fan in Sumner or on the radiator during winters.

Thanks for another entertaining review with murky wizard and weary sneks 👍🙏 

[LizEF]

14 minutes ago, yazeh said:

This is one of the first inks i bought blind. I liked the reddish orange hue especially with wide nibs, but the eternal dry time was a complete a turn off. Nowdays I only use it for art work and then let it dry under the fan in Sumner or on the radiator during winters.

Given the infamy of this ink's never-dry property, you have to wonder why Noodler's ever let it on the market / don't change it.  But then, the yellow Pilot Mixable Colour ink behaved similarly.  Art and absorbent paper, I guess....

 

16 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for another entertaining review with murky wizard and weary sneks 👍🙏 

You're very welcome!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Given the infamy of this ink's never-dry property, you have to wonder why Noodler's ever let it on the market / don't change it.  But then, the yellow Pilot Mixable Colour ink behaved similarly.  Art and absorbent paper, I guess....

 

You're very welcome!

Noodler's has several inks like this, so a few other brands, like all Kakimori pigment inks  It can be mitigated for those who use thick absorbent papers. It's all about find the right paper/ink/pen / climate (  ) combo

 

 

[LizEF]

44 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Noodler's has several inks like this, so a few other brands, like all Kakimori pigment inks  It can be mitigated for those who use thick absorbent papers. It's all about find the right paper/ink/pen / climate (  ) combo

  Indeed.  I can see it now, a relocation company specifically designed to locate you in the ideal spot for fountain pen use!  Dry enough that mold isn't much of a problem, humid enough that paper doesn't become impervious to ink, near to a good fountain pen shop, with a local pen club and annual pen show...  Why it'd be like Camelot for FP users!

[yazeh]

@LizEF glad you got the giste of it. Now @InesFhas to tell us where the ideal spot is or we should ask our trio 😁

[LizEF]

50 minutes ago, yazeh said:

@LizEF glad you got the giste of it. Now @InesFhas to tell us where the ideal spot is or we should ask our trio 😁

Yes, we need our inky scientist to locate Inkelot!

[Sailor Kenshin]

@LizEF, you certainly got the Eternal Dry Time right.  My sample of Apache Sunset could smear even days later.

 

I love orange inks in general, AND shading, but this was just not up my southpaw alley.

 

Eerie groaning and what could be the scratching of frantic claws as the story takes a spooky turn.  I always enjoy it when you review an ink I've used.  Thanks so much for making Tuesdays special!  

[LizEF]

37 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@LizEF, you certainly got the Eternal Dry Time right.  My sample of Apache Sunset could smear even days later.

 

I love orange inks in general, AND shading, but this was just not up my southpaw alley.

  Indeed.  I was sure this one would be your most favorite-est ink! You could draw the setting sun and come back a week later and add smudgy clouds across its surface...

 

38 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Eerie groaning and what could be the scratching of frantic claws as the story takes a spooky turn.

 

39 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I always enjoy it when you review an ink I've used.  Thanks so much for making Tuesdays special!  

  You're most welcome!

[TSherbs]

7 hours ago, LizEF said:

Given the infamy of this ink's never-dry property, you have to wonder why Noodler's ever let it on the market / don't change it. 

 

Um, cuz it's stunningly beautiful (although not so much in narrow nibs)! Please don't change it, Nathan!

 

My adaptation for the dry-time issue is like other slow-dry inks: I only use it on page 2 (back side) of stationery so that I can lay it aside and give it time to dry enugh not to smear from being folded into an envelope. I do get how it would be a problem for a lefty-overwriter. 

 

I feel the same why about Noodler's Golden Brown: yeah, its dry time is a pain in the butt, but it is the most striking golden-brown out there (IMO)!

 

Thanks for the review, LizEF.

[LizEF]

37 minutes ago, TSherbs said:

Um, cuz it's stunningly beautiful...

  And actually, on absorbent paper, it "dries" (or soaks in?) quickly.  As long as the paper isn't too awful, it behaves well, too.  So there's always that.  If I used my stubs more often, I'd probably like this ink more - it really shines in fat nibs.

 

39 minutes ago, TSherbs said:

Thanks for the review, LizEF.

You're very welcome!

[Lithium466]

Thank you for that review, and for the André Gide quote

I stopped reading at "below average lubrication". Yuck. Sailor Kin-Mokusei will have to do it! (It dries, too)

[LizEF]

47 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Thank you for that review, and for the André Gide quote

I stopped reading at "below average lubrication". Yuck. Sailor Kin-Mokusei will have to do it! (It dries, too)

You're very welcome!  I'm looking forward to testing Kin-Mokusei.

[InesF]

Thank you, @LizEF, for the story part and for the inktroduction! I like especially the black-sack cross reference to V for Vendetta and the light-from-below cross reference to Conan. At least, that's the visions you drew with the episode  .

 

Advanced psychology, unavoidable fountain pen use developments or simple magic has brought me to like orange inks. It required many years, if not decades, of intense fountain pen use to reach that point. Only recently I bought new orange inks - but with the drawback of becoming as picky as I am with blue inks. The one is too pale, the other too yellow, the third with an unliked pink undertone, ... 🤫. Whatever the future will bring, I made a note about this Noodler's ink and about its property about refusing to dry.

 

 

14 hours ago, yazeh said:

@LizEF glad you got the giste of it. Now @InesFhas to tell us where the ideal spot is or we should ask our trio 😁

 

13 hours ago, LizEF said:

Yes, we need our inky scientist to locate Inkelot!

 

Ha ha! OMG! 

I lived in Inkelot and moved away some years ago! 😭 I was so over-saturated with the stationary shops being only some steps away and I was overstrained with the huge selections of inks and fountain pens exhibited in the shop windows. I couldn't bear with the situation any longer ... 😱 Now, I feel much better in the (almost) stationary desert of Austria.

But, still, air humidity is great here for using pen and ink!  

[txomsy]

I considered getting it, and in then decided for Stipula Calamo Zafferano, which is said to be drier and behave better.

 

Maybe I went for it because I grew up in a (at the time major) saffron producing area and saffron (and its scent) always hit a weak spot on memories. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to say how similar or different their hues look as I never tried Apache Sunset.

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for the story part and for the inktroduction!

You're very welcome!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I like especially the black-sack cross reference to V for Vendetta and the light-from-below cross reference to Conan. At least, that's the visions you drew with the episode  .

I'm afraid this drawing is your own unique work (I've never seen either).

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Advanced psychology, unavoidable fountain pen use developments or simple magic has brought me to like orange inks. It required many years, if not decades, of intense fountain pen use to reach that point. Only recently I bought new orange inks - but with the drawback of becoming as picky as I am with blue inks. The one is too pale, the other too yellow, the third with an unliked pink undertone, ... 🤫. Whatever the future will bring, I made a note about this Noodler's ink and about its property about refusing to dry.

  I was very surprised when I discovered that I really like Akkerman Oranje Boven (gifted to my by an FPNer - part of the first ink sample gift I received - very generous and set me on the path of inky variety).  I think it's the magic of fountain pens.  Colors you would never have said you like suddenly become gorgeous!  Get yourself some blotting paper, load up a demonstrator with a stub nib, and admire the wonder that is Apache Sunset shading - at least a sample's worth, anyway.  (Not sure it's worth the eternal dry times for a whole bottle, but it is for a sample.)

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I lived in Inkelot and moved away some years ago! 😭 I was so over-saturated with the stationary shops being only some steps away and I was overstrained with the huge selections of inks and fountain pens exhibited in the shop windows. I couldn't bear with the situation any longer ... 😱 Now, I feel much better in the (almost) stationary desert of Austria.

You left Inkelot!?  Clearly this was in your mad scientist phase!   (PS: I bought my first fountain pen in your almost desert - in Vienna (which maybe is why it's almost?).)

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, txomsy said:

I considered getting it, and in then decided for Stipula Calamo Zafferano, which is said to be drier and behave better.

 

Maybe I went for it because I grew up in a (at the time major) saffron producing area and saffron (and its scent) always hit a weak spot on memories. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to say how similar or different their hues look as I never tried Apache Sunset.

I've added it to my list of inks to sample, though I don't see any US source for buying it.  If it ever becomes available so I can compare, I'll let you know how it does.

[jmccarty3]

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

I've added it to my list of inks to sample, though I don't see any US source for buying it.  If it ever becomes available so I can compare, I'll let you know how it does.

Apache Sunset has been renamed at the insistence of the "woke" contingent. It's a shame that Nathan capitulated to their demands. Don't know/care what the new PC name is.

[LizEF]

23 minutes ago, jmccarty3 said:

Apache Sunset has been renamed at the insistence of the "woke" contingent. It's a shame that Nathan capitulated to their demands. Don't know/care what the new PC name is.

I was referring to Stipula Calamo Zafferano.  The new name for Apache Sunset is Southwest Sunset.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks as always for the review.

I'll admit that I tried the ink a few years ago, and while I don't particularly remember the slow dry time, I *do* remember that while it did have pretty impressive shading, it was also, well, orange....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth