Noodler's Texas Inks, Part 1
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Noodler’s created 9 exclusive inks for Dromgoole’s in Texas, so let’s take a look at four of them today: Black Bat, Alamo’s Twilight, Texas Live Oak and Blue Steel. You can find these inks online at Dromgoole’s or at Vanness Pens (they have samples too).
Swabs:
Left to right, Black Bat, Alamo’s Twilight, Texas Live Oak and Blue Steel.
Writing samples:
Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.
Dry time:
Live Oak and Blue Steel both dried in 3 seconds. Black Bat dried in 60 seconds and Alamo’s Twilight dried in 30 seconds.
Dry time: 3-60 seconds
Water resistance: Medium-Black Bat and Alamo’s Twilight both smeared with water, and Live Oak and Blue Steel feathered badly when exposed to water.
Feathering: High-feathering everywhere!
Show through: High
Bleeding: Medium
Other properties: no shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.
On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was lots of feathering in every nib size as well as quite a bit of bleeding, so I would not recommend these inks for cheap paper.
Comparison Swabs:
Noodler’s Black Bat is similar to Sailor Jentle Black. Alamo’s Twilight is similar to Birmingham Piano Girl Pink. Texas Live Oak is similar to Colorverse Laurel. Blue Steel is similar to Robert Oster Blue Denim. Click here to see the Noodler’s inks together.
I used a Bond A5 (Tomoe River 68gsm) Notebook and TWSBI pens with medium nibs.
Frankly, I don’t like any of these inks. Black Bat takes a long time to dry and dries to a very shiny finish that almost looks like sheen (but isn’t) and can be smeared days after fully drying. Alamo’s Twilight performs the best out of the four, but I don’t care for the color. Live Oak and Blue Steel remind me of different colored versions of House Divided (the worst ink I’ve ever tried). They feather everywhere due to the fast drying of the ink-the ink sinks straight down into the paper causing massive amounts of feathering. I just can’t see myself ever needing these inks. If I want a shiny looking black like Black Bat, I’ll reach for Sailor Jentle Black instead.
Disclaimer: Samples of these inks were provided by a reader for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.