I've been using ink pens since a long time before ballpoints & gel pens were even thought of. The more popular inks on the market were products of the pen manufacturers who seemed to devote their engeneering energies into the pens themselves, thus most inks were just functional. The only waterproof writing ink I remember was blue/black in color, & did lighten significantly when doused in water. Of course, there was India Ink with its deep black, etc, but it didn't function well at all in fountain pens. A friend introduced me to Noodler's Heart of Darkness, & I'm hooked. It's deep black color & resistance to water, etc, are outstanding. I especially like its non-feathering characteristic, which becomes more obvious when writing on flow grade & some recycled papers. Finally, the flow of ink from the pen nib is smooth and flawless. Without doubt......the best ink I've used. I prefer Noodler's eliminate the free pen, & thus reduce the cost of the ink a couple of bucks. Noodler's Heart of Darkness Black Fountain Pen Ink
i'm an illustrator, concentrating in oil - but eventually hitting all media. i bought the Noodler's on a tip from a pen and ink buddy. i use the ink in a fine tipped fountain pen. the flow is smooth and steady. the coverage is very good, especially compared to my old india ink standard. it dries quick enough with minimal smearing when dry. i have found a bit of pigment release when i go over the ink drawing with watercolor, but it isn't a waterproof ink, so that is to be expected. overall, a very good ink. i'm planning to buy more noodler's products - brown, green... mix up that drawing effect a bit, especially with the watercolor over it.
Noodler's Heart of Darkness black bulletproof ink. I write my personal journal in 'Composition' wide ruled notebooks. The ones I use have 100 sheets bound between two hardboard covers which gives me 200 pages. Last year I used two of these notebooks . . . Because my handwriting is poor I started using a fountain pen with black ink to print with so I cold read what I was putting on paper as my writing was just not legible. I used both cartridge ink as well as getting converters for my pens so I could use bottled ink, which immensely decreased my cost per page of printing. However the black ink I was using, cartridge and bottled, just didn't yield a dense black . . . tending more to a very dark gray.
I read a review of Noodler's 'Heart of Darkness'Noodler's Heart of Darkness Black Fountain Pen Ink and even though expensive, 4.5 ounces of ink is a lot of ink, I ordered it from Amazon. Wow! Dense, opaque black with no noticeable feathering and wonderfully quick drying. There is not a hint of gray in the dried ink . . . truly a wonderful ink and appropriate for anyone that want's archival quality in what they write
Rob+
This is a really good ink. The free pen is junk, but good enough for a first pen. The free pen isn't why you want to buy this anyways. The ink fantastic. Once dry, you've got exert serious effort to get a smudge (I even tried running water!). For the price, this cannot be beat.
I have several fountain pens, and i was looking for the blackest black I could find. Heart of Darkness seemed like a good bet with lines like "absorbs as much of the light spectrum as humanly possible." Turned out to be right on the money, as far as I am concerned. Very black, no feathering at all, and once it dries...man...its not going ANYWHERE. If you get it on your clothes...well...i would say burn them. As for the pen...it is probably the single most ingenious thing I have seen in many moons. It is a Japanese refillable fountain pen that has been hollowed out, therefore quadrupling the amount of ink it can hold, and just to make sure there are no leaks, they put some silicone grease in the threads and an o-ring on the base. This pen writes REALLY well. I no longer use my Montblanc when i write thanks to this little invention, and i ordered some of the Japanese ones, in case i need some part replacement. I also got some silicone grease. Noodler just needs to add a spot on their site that sells those pens, as far as i am concerned. The pen they used, i am pretty sure, is called Platinum Preppy. It writes OK with the stock ink, i guess, but Noodler steps it up a notch with their modifications. I write a lot, and it took more than two weeks of constant writing with that pen before refill was needed. The cap is a little flimsy, but that's why I ordered the others...just in case, you know? If they could make one of these out of metal, or a thicker plastic...perfection!!! So...in summary...Heart of Darkness? You bet. Definitely as black as black can be. The pen it comes with? Give it a try and see what you think. It is now MY pen, to be used at all times, substitution not authorized.
This ink is Very Black unlike some ink that say that they are black but has a hint of blue in them.
No blue here.
The ink flows well and hasn't clogged or dried on the pen nib.
It dries fast on paper but will smear a bit if the paper gets wet.
The bottle comes with a medicine dropper (or ink dropper as the case may be).
This is convenient for filling some pens but I use a refillable cartridge that must be inserted into the bottle to refill. The bottle would be better if the top had a larger opening.
I have purchased Noodler's ink in the past and have yet to be disappointed by its quality.
I give the ink a 5 and the bottle a 4.
I've always been fascinated with fountain pens. I mean, it takes skill to write with one, so there is an air of seriousness and intent surrounding them. After all, technicalities aside, you don't tweet with a fountain pen.
Also, the pen itself is an engineering marvel -- an aestetically pleasing outer shell enclosing a carefully designed system to enhance a controlled leak of the contained ink via capillary action through the nib. I mean, really, when they wrote "the pen is mightier than the sword", I don't think they were referring to the cheap plastic pen attached to a chain at the post office.
The other main ingredient to the system is the ink. The ink is what leaves a mark on the paper -- an expression of the writer's intent, creativity, and expression. It is what conveys the words to the reader. And leaving writers aside for a moment, I'll note that an octopus risks his life on the quality of his ink. So the choice of ink is not a trivial decision.
Though I'll leave fountain pens for another discussion, regarding inks, I must say I've really been happy with the Noodler's Heart of Darkness Black Fountain Pen Ink ink.
In case it isn't obvious from the Joseph Conrad allusion, this ink is really black. Blackhole kind of black. It is also, well, bulletproof, in that it is meant to stick around on the paper for a long time. No worries about your snail mail address washing away when your letter drops into a puddle on route.
This package offered by Amazon includes a free fountain pen with the bottle of ink. The bottle of ink itself has a built-in dropper for ease in refills. The free fountain pen is probably not the best fountain pen around, but I have really enjoyed it and use it almost daily -- this is the pen I carry around with me in my bag. I don't have to worry about it getting stolen or broken, and so carry it with me wherever I go. As a result, it actually gets used more than some of my other pens. And so far, it always writes when I want it to write, so I really can't complain.
But the main attraction here is the ink. If you are confident in what you want to say, and want the security of knowing it won't be lost or distorted, then choose Noodler's Heart of Darkness Black.
(review by Kendall Giles) - Fountain Pen - Fountain Pen Ink - Ink Bottle - Ink'
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