Ink Review - Noodlers Brown

Ink review time! Noodlers brown is on the plate today. I'm going to use an adapted version of my new review system for this. We'll see how it works out. :)

Noodlers Brown ranks about 65% in my book.


Overview:
Noodlers brown originally got me interested for two reasons:

1) It looked like it shaded really well.

2) It looked like the perfect shade of brown.

Overall I am a little bit disappointed in this ink. Not completely, but it certainly is not exactly what I thought it'd be. It has some major (t0 me at least) downfalls, that I'l hit on in this review.

The good:

• It is a nice shade of brown. Not perfect, but better than most.
• It's a Noodlers ink, so it's not expensive to buy.

The Bad:

• It has some major bleed-through issues. Wait till you see the photos below...
• Color is too dark for me. Sometimes it looks black. It's the right shade of brown, but it needs a touch more light to it.
• Dry time is a bit slow.

All in all, it's a decent ink, but I'd like to find something to replace it. I only bought a sample, in my hunt for the perfect brown. This is not the perfect brown. It's a good one, and some aspects are real close, but it's not there.

Onto the review!

Ink Review: Noodlers Brown

Pen and nib: Lamy 2000 - B nib

Color: Dark Brown

Dry time: 15-20 seconds. Not bad for such a wet pen.

Smear when dry: A tiny bit...

Shading: Low/moderate. I think a less wet pen would actually shade better.

Lubrication: Good.

Bleed-through: Quite a bit actually. I wish it wasn't so...

Feathering: A very small amount.

Here's the scan. I think this one's pretty accurate.

Here is a shot of that bleed-through. Yikes! You'll notice that the bleed-through looks red-ish. It is in person too. It seems that the red-hue of the ink is separating, and bleeding through the paper.

Another shot of the swab...

Overall:

This is an okay ink, but it's poor behavior makes it a no go for me. Again, if these small problems were fixed, this could be a real winner. But until then (or if ever), I will be searching for another brown.

Anybody here got a brown to recommend? Waterman Havana Brown is next on my list to try, thanks to Peninkcillin. :)

Anyone else ever tried this ink before? Did you get the same impression that I got? I'm wondering if it's just my pen and nib combo. I'll try it in my fine nibbed VP, and see what happens.

I hope you enjoyed the review. As always, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you've never left a comment before, now's your chance. :)

Until Wednesday then!

Regards,

Tyler Dahl