Ink Review #173: Noodler's Golden Aspen

Today's ink is Noodler's Golden Aspen. This ink was created for the 2017 Colorado Pen Show, but there are still a few bottles and samples floating around. When I first saw pictures of this ink it immediately reminded me of Noodler's Apache Sunset, and I wanted to see how they compared. I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens. They don't have any bottles left in stock, but they still have samples available.

The color:

Golden Aspen is a dark orange with shading. 

After three and a half days, half of the ink drops still haven't dried. The top three ink drops are still completely wet. 

Dry time: 45 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: Medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer. 

On 20 pound copy paper the ink did really well. I was really impressed with how well it did-I actually think I prefer this ink on copy paper over any of the other nicer papers.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Noodler's Apache Sunset, Noodler's Golden Aspen, and Sailor Jentle Apricot. Golden Aspen seems like a slightly darker version of Apache Sunset. Click here to see the Noodler's inks together. 

Diamine Golden Honey, Nemosine Solar Storm 1859, and Montblanc Lucky Orange. Click here to see the orange inks together. 

Longer writing:

I used a medium Pelikan M605 White Transparent on Tomoe River paper. 

This ink had a slightly wet flow, and the pen has a wet flow as well. I think in an average flowing pen the ink would have shown more shading than is visible in this writing sample. 

Overall, Golden Aspen takes 10 seconds longer to dry than Apache Sunset, is just slightly wetter, and is about one shade darker. If you like the look of this ink, since it is a limited edition ink, I would give Apache Sunset a try.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.