Ink Review #180: Noodler's Polar Purple
/
Noodler's Polar Purple is one ink from the Noodler's Polar collection, which has bulletproof properties. According to Noodler's website, "'Bulletproof' refers to any Noodler’s Ink that resists all the known tools of a forger, UV light, UV light wands, bleaches, alcohols, solvents, petrochemicals, oven cleaners, carpet cleaners, carpet stain lifters, and of course…they are also waterproof once permitted to dry upon cellulose paper." I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens.
The color:
Polar Purple is a light purple. The ink starts out as a dark purple and gets lighter as it dries.
It took a long time for the large swab to dry, so I ended up photographing it while part of it was still wet.
The ink drops are still wet as well, even after a few days.
Dry time: 3 seconds-very fast drier in writing.
Water resistance: High-the water had no effect on the ink.
Feathering: Medium-the ink feathered in all nib sizes on Leuchtturm, half of the nib sizes on Rhodia, but did not feather on Tomoe River paper.
Show through: Medium
Bleeding: Medium-the ink bled through in the flex nib on every paper, but it also bled in other nib sizes as well.
Other properties: No shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.
On 20 pound copy paper the ink bled and feathered in every nib size. It's not an ink I would recommend for copy paper.
Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Sailor Jentle Ultra Marine, Noodler's Polar Purple, and Montegrappa Violet. Click here to see the Noodler's inks together.
Sailor Jentle Fuji-musume, Organics Studio Potassium Lavender, and Nemosine Alpha Centauri. Click here to see the purple inks together.
Longer writing:
I used a medium Edison Nouveau Premier Delphinium on Tomoe River paper. The medium nib felt between a broad and double broad nib on this paper-it spread out quite a bit on the paper as it laid down ink.
The ink felt extremely wet, one nib size over what I was using. If you use it in a fine, expect it to look like a medium on paper. In the flex nib it was very hard to control, because it spread so much on the paper. I also had problems with nib creep. I filled six pens with this ink, wiped the nibs and put them down for ten minutes. After the ten minutes every nib showed huge amounts of ink, one of the pens even had some ink creep down to the grip section.
Overall, this ink does dry very fast and is water resistant. However, due to its bleeding and feathering, it's not an ink I would ever plan to use again. If I had to choose, it performed best on Tomoe River paper in an extra fine or fine nib.
Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.