Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts - Ink Review

Welcome to day 3 of the 24 Days of Inkmas!

I pulled my first Noodler’s ink of this experiment and thought it was only appropriate to load it up in my newest pen, the Noodler’s Nib Creaper!

It’s also my first ‘bulletproof’ ink- if you’re new to inks and are unsure, a bulletproof ink is one that undergoes a chemical reaction with the cellulose in the paper it’s being used on, and binds in such a way that it’s water proof.

Also, this ink has a pretty great backstory. Here is a video where Nathan, the genius behind Noodler’s, discusses how his personal family history ties into this special ink. It involves some really fascinating history, and I really love listening to people tell the stories that inspire the things they make.

Okay now let’s take a look at the ink:

Writing

This ink goes down pretty wet- at first I thought it was just because of the flex nib on the Noodler’s Nib Creaper, but even when I loaded it into my Pilot Prera with a Fine nib it went down surprisingly wet

I experienced some feathering but only when I really threw the ink down with the flex nib, and a little bit on copy paper as I was writing through the day.

Dry Time

For being a wet ink, I was expecting a long dry time- something in the range of 35 to 40 seconds. On my Rhodia paper the ink was dry by 20 seconds.

Water Test

Since this ink is a bulletproof ink, I wanted to do two water tests- one where I dripped water on the ink immediately after writing and one after the usual 2 minute waiting period.

The ink really does live up to it’s waterproof claims- immediately after writing, there was some movement off the page because not all chemical reactions are instantaneous, but it still stayed put to an impressive degree

After the two minute drying period this ink didn’t budge under water.

I imagine that thicker, more cellulose rich paper, such as watercolor paper, would increase the dry-time needed for the ink to fully absorb into the page but for the average piece of paper it’s ready to face the water pretty quickly.

Color

This is a blue-black ink that can get into the grey-ish territory.

Somehow Noodler’s was able to capture a vibrant color in such a traditionally boring shade range.

The ink really does waiver between a deep blue and black as it goes down and sets into the paper.

This color ink is perfect for professional settings.

Verdict

Y’all, I straight up am in love with this ink.

I don’t buy full sized bottles of ink- generally they’re costly and I simply don’t go through inks fast enough to justify the storage space or cost of buying a full sized bottle of ink. The only non-sample sized ink I have is Brad’s Pen Addict x Robert Oster Fire on Fire ink, and I purchased that partially to support Brad and partially because it’s a rad color.

But I might have to just pull the trigger and snag a full bottle of this ink.

It feels silly that the one I would pick is a “simple” blue-black ink as a full bottle purchase but there’s just something about this that I love.

Who knew that out of all the colors I’ve tried while writing this blog, this would be the one I’d cave for and purchase a whole bottle.

Thanks for reading the 3rd day of Inkmas, I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 4!