When people who have purchased a tip dip or Sheaffer Admiral find themselves facing costly ink bottles - and then ask me how on earth such a pen can be more economical to use than a Bic....there is a problem. Ink should not be so high priced that affordable luxury pens lose the battle for economic viability over the long term. A gold nibbed $25 pen has until recently always been a better deal over several years than purchased ball pens...as well as maintaining a resale value (often appreciating over the purchase price if well cared for) and avoiding permanent deposits in landfills as is experienced with disposable ball pens.

"Where can you get good fountain pen ink that is safe for use in pens yet affordable and with a decent color selection?" Right here, and if you want to have it stocked by your local ink/pen retailer at a location near you so that postage costs are avoided - please let them know about the all new Noodler's Ink.

Please note that due to computer imaging and the difficulty of matching true color in natural vrs. artificial light sources - the ink colors shown here are only to be used as a general reference (being in digital form of course). Apache Sunset, for example - is a brighter and more golden color than depicted here, as Habanero is redder than Apache Sunset (like the hot pepper!)....Beaver has a teal base and is not in the brown family though it appears similar to brown, Sequoia is a type of dark mossy evergreen yet is not as teal as Squetegue (a color that copies the back of a fish that is hard to catch on the Atlantic shoreline in isolated estuaries), nightshade is an extremely dark purple mimicking the deadly family of plants, and so forth. Please only use this scan as a guide to color range and your selection, but not as a certain or scientifically exact replica of the true colors produced by the inks. Ask for physical ink blots from your retailer if you would like a close up impression. Most sample blots can also be replicated if you send them in (vintage inks no longer available such as Persian Rose come to mind).

Finally a formula has been settled upon that I think will please the majority of people. Safety and feathering resistant ink was a priority voiced by several pen collectors - and many wanted a more traditional ink that more closely followed the traditions of 1950's Skrip and Quink. Thus an ink one can use on the newspaper crossword puzzle, most recycled smooth papers, and even card board and industrial brown paper, rice paper and tissue thin papers from the far east. Feathering has been virtually eliminated (unless you use paper towel type material!) - yet the ink is still extremely safe when in contact with vintage pens - safer still than the quick dry formula and more similar to 1950's Skrip for such factors. However, several of the brighter colors were lost in the transition - yet other colors were gained. Those colors people liked to use have been selected as the "basic 36" with other more unusual colors with white tints and neon effects to be offered as custom orders at a later date.

"Quick dry" ink was called by some as "revolutionary" - but it does not behave itself on cotton fiber and some of the higher recycled content papers. The colors may have been intense and with the greatest penetration ability since Parker 51 ink, but it was not an ink to write ideas on the airport meal sheet, back of the newspaper, or on an insert torn from a magazine. Without universal abilities, the utility of such an ink suffered in my opinion and greatly contributed to the decision concerning its elimination. Noodler's ink must be capable of doodling ideas and concepts in as many places and forms as is possible for a fountain pen ink - the greater the utility to the user - the better. I've sent a sample bottle of quick dry ink to Chuck - and some left handed writers will try it out...if they don't mind its feathering tendencies with broad nibs on recycled paper it may be offered again at some time in the future. The benefit of quick dry was intended for left handed writers - as no matter how fast you write and press the freshly written word - it won't smudge...even if it hit the page a fraction of a second earlier. It truly hates recycled papers though - and dislikes broad nibs as it feathers from too wet a nib.