In 2017 I wrote my first “State of the Union” where I discussed ink brands, what they had done, and what I wanted them to do in 2018. In 2018 I did the same for 2019. This year’s has been delayed, unfortunately! I really want to get these out before the new year, but sometimes other things conspire against good timing! 2017 was 3,500 words, 2018 was 6,100 words and this year is 8,600 words! I made a PDF in case people find that easier to read!
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Ink Review: Noodler's Dromgoole's Banker's Tan
Noodler’s Dromgoole’s Banker’s Tan (that is a lot of apostrophes) is a Noodler’s ink that was until recently exclusive to the Dromgoole’s store in Texas which is where I bought my bottles from. It is now also purchasable from Vanness Pens. The bottles were originally made in 2015 for the Dallas Pen Show for Dromgoole’s. Unfortunately, this ink, while a unique colour and characteristics has some pretty glaring performance issues.
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State of the Union 2017: Fountain Pen Ink
The last few years really have been a renaissance for Fountain Pens and this year is no different. Lots of expansions and additions to lineups and several standout inks. I’m going to be talking about how various brands have performed this year and what I hope for next year. This will be, of course, focused on inks and not pens. I try to keep my posts as objective as possible but this one will probably have a bit more subjectivity than usual.
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Ink Comparison: 32 Black Inks
This black comparison has been in the works for a while and with resent additions to my Noodler's collection I thought it was ready to go. Blacks aren't terribly exciting inks but they are practical inks and people usually approach them for a specific reason and usually there are things that people are looking to not be present. In this comparison I've got 32 black inks. I originally intended to make this a comparison of Noodler's Blacks, then I decided to add some notable comparisons and finally I just put all my blacks together so it should be fairly comprehensive.
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637 Bottles and 33.47 litres of Ink
It took a while but I finally cleaned the space around my ink shelf and and arranged the bottles somewhat to take a photo of the entire collection. The title is a bit untrue because as of these photos, 619 bottles of ink were on the shelf (well, one I forgot was on my desk) but I have 18 bottles of ink that are on the way as well making for a total of 637 bottles (593 if you discount the 44 duplicated). That's around 33.47 litres (8.84 gallons) of ink. I have an additional 99 samples and swatches of 165 inks that I have neither bottles nor samples of. In total I have 858 swatches of unique inks.
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