A Few More Remarks On Noodler’s Australian Roses

There is one characteristic of Noodler’s Black Swan In Australian Roses (new version) that bears mentioning. Though it is very pleasant to use on Clairefontaine paper, it takes FOREVER to dry. Writing with a 1.1 mm calligraphy nib brought new meaning to the concept of patience – on the order of “you could go gray in the interim” kind of patience. On a cheap envelope, drying time was fast. On Staples 5 x 8″ writing pad with paper from Egypt, it took 15 – 20 seconds to dry with a few faint dots of color taking longer. Paper really matters with this ink.

A fine or extra-fine nib or a pen with less than average flow might be more manageable. As a chunky nib user, BSAR will get limited time in my italic nibs even if it does look amazing in a thick, luscious line.

Adding a small amount of water to the BSAR might improve drying time. Experiment by adding a drop or two of distilled water to the filler and then sucking up ink from the bottle or top-off a fill with a little water. Gently agitate the bottle to insure there is adequate pigment in the fill. The color should remain true with a 10% – 20% dilution. Shading might be more evident, but performance should not be noticeably affected. Noodler’s Inks are particularly good with such treatment. Limiting experiments to just one fill at a time will be a good test of the results without risking much ink. It isn’t very different from leaving water in the feed between changes of ink.

All things considered, strongly saturated inks are at risk for being slow to dry whether from Noodler’s or any other maker. But when you are smitten by the color, it’s worth the effort to match ink, pen, and paper for best results.