EFNIR: Noodler's El Lawrence

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Noodler's El Lawrence

This is review #357 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Sample from Goulet Pens, August 2023. Noodler's list this ink as: Archival, Bullet Proof, Fluorescent, Forge Resistant, Water Resistant. You'd think a lover of murky greens would have at least a few that are similar, but nope. Sailor Rikyu-cha was closest, but nothing else. (And to those who are wondering if Diamine Salamander might be similar - nope.) I would call El Lawrence a murky green-black.

Forgot to note in the video that this is on the front side of the Rhodia sheet.

I've grown tired of using the Penmanship body for potentially staining inks, so I'm risking my precious Prera with a Noodler's ink... Cleaning wasn't as bad as I expected since I heard this ink stains. I brought all my weapons to bear, swabbing the inside of the section and cartridge, and the back of the nib. I tossed everything into the ultrasonic cleaner, just for good measure. Only the disposable plastic pipette used for filling and the cartridge had any signs of staining.

STORY NOTE: In order to give Essri extra warmth, and facilitate access, Quin is wearing his pack on his chest, under a coat designed to accommodate that.

Zoomed in photo (Color is a tiny bit too dark and desaturated - in person, I can see a little more green, but not much.)

Screenshot (It's actually not that far off as far as the overall impression, but if you zoom in, you really won't see any color.)

Scan of Completed Review (Even this doesn't show much color. Hard to say if it's accurate - the ink is so dark. Either way, it's closest to the real thing.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (Both show less green than my eyes see.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". 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 300µm. With 357 inks measured, the average line width is 298µm.) (I was surprised by the line width - expected it to be narrower.)

Microscope image (100x. Cell phone photo.)

Water Test Results

Swatch card comparison

Previous Review: Sailor Miruai.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

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!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Holy squeaking creepy-scary half-eaten globe, Batman!

 

Noodler's El Lawrence, aka El Motor Oil, is an ink I have but seldom use.  It's fun to see you review one of my own inks.

 

  I also have the Stipula Musk; it seems more brown than green.

 

Thanks, @LizEF, for the review and story.  Hope Essri warms up fully later on, magically or no!

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Holy squeaking creepy-scary half-eaten globe, Batman!

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Noodler's El Lawrence, aka El Motor Oil, is an ink I have but seldom use.  It's fun to see you review one of my own inks.

  It was interesting to see in person.  My image of the swatch card doesn't show it, but it really seemed to separate out black parts and green parts, hence my calling it a green-black.

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I also have the Stipula Musk; it seems more brown than green.

Yes, by comparison, definitely.  I didn't have much similar to El Lawrence, which really surprised me, since it's generally classed as a murky green, but I thought Musk Green would show that El Lawrence doesn't lean to that shade of murk.

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks, @LizEF, for the review and story.

You're most welcome!

 

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Hope Essri warms up fully later on, magically or no!

  He's nice and cozy when he's in his room, but yeah...

[yazeh]

I was so excited when I saw it's El Lawrence you're reviewing, and it doesn't disappoint.

 

I was surprised when I saw the long dry times. I had to double-check my old review to verify my impression. For me it was a fast-drying ink and the green was obvious unlike your batch. Though when I see the screen capture, I get an overall green tinge on the paper.

 

 

The microscopic image has an embroidery feel to it.  Lovely.

 

I thought Essri will be somewhere in Makhabesh's feathers. But he seems to have the equivalent of a modern RV, the Magical infinity caravan.

 

BTW, you've written Front on the Rhodia paper.

 

Looking forward to next week's review, desperately searching Professor Eeness.  😊🙏🙏🙏

 

 

 

[LizEF]

46 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I was so excited when I saw it's El Lawrence you're reviewing, and it doesn't disappoint.

  Now we just need an ink called "El Cid".

 

47 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I was surprised when I saw the long dry times. I had to double-check my old review to verify my impression. For me it was a fast-drying ink and the green was obvious unlike your batch. Though when I see the screen capture, I get an overall green tinge on the paper.

I think the EF nib concentrates both the ink and the color, so that it looks especially dark and takes longer to dry (ironic, but I think that's the case).  Broader nibs would definitely allow the green to be seen better.

 

48 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The microscopic image has an embroidery feel to it.  Lovely.

 

49 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I thought Essri will be somewhere in Makhabesh's feathers. But he seems to have the equivalent of a modern TV, the Magical infinity caravan.

  Well, he has to finish reading all the exchanges between Eenness and Heilari, to help his "find" magic work.  Where better than in a nice cozy little apartment in Quin's pack?

 

50 minutes ago, yazeh said:

BTW, you've written Front on the Rhodia paper.

I wrote it after I completed the review, before I did the scan.  If you look at the screenshot closely, that's the word doctored in with a graphics editor.

 

51 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Looking forward to next week's review, desperately searching Professor Eeness.  😊🙏🙏🙏

  Thanks!

[InesF]

"Murky Green Maze at the City Wall" - by InesF. Subtitel: "A microscopic book for microscope owning scientists"

Thank you, @LizEF, for the inspiration! 👍 If I ever write another book, it will be this one!   

 

I always find it surprising and interesting when an ink refuses to dry (to the stage of becoming smear resistant) within the length of an ink review video but is water-resistant within seconds. Science is full of secrets.  🤷‍♀️

 

Thank you for this ink review, for adapting the ongoing story to the current outdoor temperature (we had -1°C in the morning) and for the inspiration. Yes, this "almost green" ink would be within the interesting colour range, but would somehow dilute my experience with the other "almost green" inks already in my collection. Now I feel happy about no need to search for this one.

My ink drawer, all the other inks already feeling home in my drawer, my purse and, finally, myself say all together: thank you!   

[inkstainedruth]

This is reminding me that I should pull my bottle out again at some point and ink something up with it.  

It's definitely an odd color, but it behaves well, and I like that it's pretty permanent.  

I didn't remember it drying that slowly, though.  Dug out one of the cheapie sketchbooks I bought (I think at Barnes & Noble) to test inks on, and my notes said that on the crummy absorbent paper in that it dried in about 10 seconds.  Of course that test was done maybe close to a decade ago.  And we all know that there will be "variations" between batches of the Noodler's inks (which Nathan Tardif seems to think is a "feature").

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

"Murky Green Maze at the City Wall" - by InesF. Subtitel: "A microscopic book for microscope owning scientists"

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for the inspiration! 👍 If I ever write another book, it will be this one!   

 You're most welcome!  I look forward to reading it (or the English translation thereof).

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

I always find it surprising and interesting when an ink refuses to dry (to the stage of becoming smear resistant) within the length of an ink review video but is water-resistant within seconds. Science is full of secrets.  🤷‍♀️

Right!?   It's baffling!  The "written just now" ought to have at least come up onto the paper towel a little.  

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you for this ink review, for adapting the ongoing story to the current outdoor temperature (we had -1°C in the morning) and for the inspiration.

Gladly!  Brrr!  (I hate that period of year in spring and fall when I have to run the furnace at night and the AC in late afternoon.  There are never many days that require this, but it feels so pointless - just even out, already, Mother Nature!!  )

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Yes, this "almost green" ink would be within the interesting colour range, but would somehow dilute my experience with the other "almost green" inks already in my collection. Now I feel happy about no need to search for this one.

My ink drawer, all the other inks already feeling home in my drawer, my purse and, finally, myself say all together: thank you!   

Happy you're happy!   Sometimes it's enough to enjoy an ink from afar (or in sample form) without needing anything more.

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

This is reminding me that I should pull my bottle out again at some point and ink something up with it.  

It's definitely an odd color, but it behaves well, and I like that it's pretty permanent.  

 

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

didn't remember it drying that slowly, though.  Dug out one of the cheapie sketchbooks I bought (I think at Barnes & Noble) to test inks on, and my notes said that on the crummy absorbent paper in that it dried in about 10 seconds.  Of course that test was done maybe close to a decade ago.  And we all know that there will be "variations" between batches of the Noodler's inks (which Nathan Tardif seems to think is a "feature").

That, and I remember someone saying that he doesn't really go for the FP-friendly Japanese and European paper that the rest of us do - he intends his ink to be used on ordinary paper that anyone might have, and ink dries a lot faster on such paper, presumably due to absorption¹.

 

¹Why is this word not spelled "absorbtion"!?

[Mercian]

Thank you for this review - I was keen to see what the 'Old Motor Oil' ink looked like from an EF nib.

Essentially, it looks a little bit too like a 'black' for me to use it

I don't use much black ink at all, and already have two bottles - one of Kiwa Guro (which meets my desires for water-resistance and light-resistance), and one of Edelstein Onyx (for the few occasions on which I wish to run a black ink through a piston pen).

I also have ESS RI and a Parker UK Duofold - a pen that is 'wet' enough to turn it into a fully-'black' ink that still gives shading ()
And I have a vintage Pelikan 400 that is 'wet' enough to make 4001 Blue-Black turn 'fully' black.

 

I must add that I love your writing prompt in this review - it is either/both marvellously direct and inspiring, and/or hilariously satirical. Kudos.

 

Oh, also:

10 hours ago, LizEF said:

...absorption¹.

 

¹Why is this word not spelled "absorbtion"!?

 

The answer to ↑ that is of course that we are communicating in a language whose spelling conventions were largely set in the era in which the educated classes in this septic isle were drinking a pint of Port wine with their breakfast, several pints of beer during in the day, and a healthy bottle or two of claret and/or cognac (or whisky) in the evenings. Every day.

That English has woefully-incoherent/wilfully-eccentric orthography should, therefore, not come as a surprise to anyone

Frankly, I am amazed that anyone in the British Isles even survived the Georgian era, let alone that these people discovered so many advances in Science and Technology, and agriculture and industry at the same time.
I suppose that, in the days before clean water supplies and central heating, those who lived in our 'bracing' climate found that the daily consumption of enough ethanol to anæsthetise a bull elephant was merely necessary - both in order to make the water potable, and to warm the blood enough to persuade it to get moving  

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Thank you for this review

You're most welcome!

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I was keen to see what the 'Old Motor Oil' ink looked like from an EF nib.

Essentially, it looks a little bit too like a 'black' for me to use it

Yeah, unless you dilute it, you're going to need a broader and probably dryish nib to see the green.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I also have ESS RI and a Parker UK Duofold - a pen that is 'wet' enough to turn it into a fully-'black' ink that still gives shading ()
And I have a vintage Pelikan 400 that is 'wet' enough to make 4001 Blue-Black turn 'fully' black.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I must add that I love your writing prompt in this review - it is either/both marvellously direct and inspiring, and/or hilariously satirical. Kudos.

  If one is writing a fictional book, then unless one of the major themes of the book is loneliness, it's impossible to be lonely whilst doing so - because you'll have all those people in your head, keeping you company.  

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

The answer to ↑ that is of course that we are communicating in a language whose spelling conventions were largely set in the era in which the educated classes in this septic isle were drinking a pint of Port wine with their breakfast, several pints of beer during in the day, and a healthy bottle or two of claret and/or cognac (or whisky) in the evenings. Every day.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

That English has woefully-incoherent/wilfully-eccentric orthography should, therefore, not come as a surprise to anyone

  I'm guessing that there's a more boring and logical and anatomical answer.  "b" is just a voiced "p".  The sound at the start of "tion" is unvoiced (otherwise, we'd pronounce it zhun rather than shun).  When followed by an unvoiced consonant, a voiced consonant loses its voice (so to speak).  So, because it would be awkward and more work to enunciate absorbtion, our lazy mouths pronounce it absorption.  I guess that phonetics class I took in college wasn't completely useless...

 

Now I'm wondering if we always changed the spelling when a consonant is forced to voice or unvoice, or if there are occasions when we leave the original consonant and just pronounce it wrongly...

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Frankly, I am amazed that anyone in the British Isles even survived the Georgian era, let alone that these people discovered so many advances in Science and Technology, and agriculture and industry at the same time.
I suppose that, in the days before clean water supplies and central heating, those who lived in our 'bracing' climate found that the daily consumption of enough ethanol to anæsthetise a bull elephant was merely necessary - both in order to make the water potable, and to warm the blood enough to persuade it to get moving  

Humans are very strange creatures with a remarkably strong will to go on living, even when life is awful.

[yazeh]

@Mercianit's always a pleasure to be absorbed by your witty prose..

 

@LizEF I'm not linguist, but often times these "weird" spellings have to do with the etymology and evolution of the original word. 

https://www.etymonline.com/word/absorption

 

 

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

@LizEF I'm not linguist, but often times these "weird" spellings have to do with the etymology and evolution of the original word. 

https://www.etymonline.com/word/absorption

Yes, but I really think this one is simple phonetics.

[InesF]

6 hours ago, Mercian said:

^{Frankly, I am amazed that anyone in the British Isles even survived the Georgian era, let alone that these people discovered so many advances in Science and Technology, and agriculture and industry at the same time.}

Humans are surprisingly stringily-tenaciously-resilient!

They can even withstand inconsistent grammar and spelling as if those were a warm summer breeze. ...