Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses: Ink Review

Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses is one of the more popular purple/burgundy inks that we carry at Goulet Pens. 

Supplies Used:

• LAMY AL-star with medium steel nib (also EF and B nib)
• Rhodia No. 16 dotpad, 80g white paper
• Tomoé River white paper
• Moleskine notebook

Smear Test (Dry Time):

• Around 30 seconds: This is a pretty average time for fountain pen ink to dry.We didn't have any issue with it smudging while waiting for it to dry.

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

• Medium: This ink is labeled as water resistant, and is about 16% bulletproof. The combination of dyes in this color makes it very unique fountain pen ink! When applying water to the ink, the purple moves ever so slightly while the black component stays put. If you're looking to make ink washes, I wouldn't recommend this one.

Saturation:

• High: The ink is the same color in all three of the swabs. As you can see, the color of ink is going to be look darker when written with a broad or flex nib. However, this ink is going to have a fair amount of variation. We've seen it dark and leaning more purple, and brighter leaning more to the pink side of things. 

Ease of Cleaning:

• Medium: The ink came off the nib while cleaning with ease. You may need to work a little bit harder to get the ink out of the converter.

Shading:

• High: This beautiful ink offers tons of shading!  We recommend you try this ink in a flex nib to really see the shading.

Flow:

• Medium/Wet: This wasn't a gusher, but it has great flow. It was easy and enjoyable to use!

Packaging and Aesthetics:

• 3 oz bottle
• Wide opening making it easy to fill your fountain pen.
• The bottle is really full! Be careful not to overflow the ink with the first few fills.

Inks Similar In Color:

Summary:
I loved using this ink! It's so unique because of the black and purple dye, that there's really nothing else like it. You can find Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses available in a 3oz bottle.