Noodler’s Ink #41 Brown
04/09/2010Did I ever mention how much I like brown ink? Next to black I find it to be the most versatile of colors. Conservative enough for business, elegant enough for correspondence, and perfect at giving nature drawings a vintage quality. So any announcement of a new brown gets my attention and Noodler’s Ink #41 Brown proved no exception.
Named in honor of Senator Scott Brown from Massachusetts, the color is a deep, dark sepia. No flash but a rich color that shows subtle shading with the right nib. The color leans yellow rather than red though not pronouncedly so. That makes it a neutral brown that won’t be mistaken for black. Excellent on any cream or buff paper, it will also work on colors like those of G. Lalo Verge de France Pistache or Rose stationery.
Coverage is consistent and the flow is excellent. In fact my Pilot Elite Socrates pocket pen worked as well with #41 Brown as any ink it’s ever met. On Rhodia paper drying time exceeded 10 seconds for the wettest dots but on the more absorbent Apica 6A10, it dried significantly faster. For those of you keeping track of such things, #41 is archival, bulletproof, eternal and pH neutral, all of which means your writing will out-live you and likely most of your descendants.
The color is similar to Sailor Deep Rust Black, Iroshizuku yama-guri, and Diamine Chocolate Brown so #41 might be redundant if you already own one of those inks. But if you don’t, The Pear Tree Pen Company amongst other retailers currently offers #41 Brown at $12.50 for a 3 oz bottle. That’s 89 ml which sounds like a veritable bargain for anyone who uses lots of ink and has a penchant for a truly versatile brown.
I really like the colour. Looks nice 😀 Also I like how you framed the photo.
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by Gentian 04/09/2010 at 7:48 pmAny success with photos is purely accidental. 😀
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by inkophile 04/09/2010 at 8:21 pmSince Yama-guri is my favorite ink for note taking, and it runs pretty steep in price, I will have to try out #41 Brown. Is it really as dark as Yama-guri?
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by Paul 04/10/2010 at 10:30 amComparing a test swatch of yama-guri to #41, the two inks are very, very similar. Yama-guri might be a tad richer and #41 a tad darker, differences that are barely discernible except in a side to side comparison. #41 will likely dry slower than yama-guri but, at least outside of Japan, the per unit cost of an Iroshizuku ink will be higher. There is a lubrication or silkiness to Iroshizuku that is subtle and unlike other inks. I could imagine in a very fine nib that difference might be noticeable. But that is being very, very picky indeed.
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by inkophile 04/10/2010 at 12:03 pm[…] Noodler’s Ink #41 Brown « An Inkophile’s Blog […]
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by Card Tutorial – Mother’s Day (Shabby Chic Flowers) 04/13/2010 at 4:39 am[…] Noodler’s #41 Brown – Dark brown. […]
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by Is This Ink List Too Long? « An Inkophile's Blog 09/15/2012 at 6:52 pm