Noodler's Liberty's Elysium: Ink Review
Video timeline:
- Meaning behind the label (0:55)
- Ink performance (5:25)
- Comparison to Baystate Blue (8:53)
- Bleach torture test (10:01)
Liberty: freedom from external or foreign rule; independence
Elysium: the abode of the blessed after death
Here's the newest ink from Noodler's, our Goulet-exclusive ink called Liberty's Elysium. This is a brand-new ink, not a reformulation or repackaging of any previous Noodler's ink. What we wanted was a bulletproof vibrant blue, on par with Noodler's Blue (one of my favorite colors) that was inspired by Patrick Henry. Our Goulet shop is located in Henrico Va., which is just minutes down the road from Scotchtown Plantation where Patrick Henry was born. In fact, I went to Liberty Middle School and Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Va., so early American history is quite prevalent in our area!
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium bottle label, inspired by Patrick Henry, Mary Dyer, and Nathan Hale.
The label is done in typical Noodler's fashion, steeped in history, deep meanings, and somewhat in-your-face images. There are three people featured on the bottle, Patrick Henry, Mary Dyer, and Nathan Hale. Each of them had a strong impact of the formation of early America, and they all devote their lives (or lost them) for the cause of liberty and freedom.
We were looking for the most vibrant bulletproof blue that could possibly be made, and we're thrilled with how it turned out. Here it is:
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, reviewed by Brian Goulet.
There are a couple of slight drawbacks to the ink, it takes a little while to dry on ink-resistant paper like the Rhodia that I tested. It's a pretty vibrant and saturated color, and its bulletproof properties make it so that it needs to soak into the paper and bond to the actual paper fibers, as the way that Noodler's inks are bulletproof is by cellulose reaction. Because of this, there may be some excess ink that sits on the top of the page that can smear a bit when wet, as you see in my drip test. However, there isn't another blue this shade that even comes close to this level of water resistance, so we're happy with this result. As the ink dries over several days, it'll become even more permanent.
There are only a couple of other bulletproof blues, and they're really much darker. Bad Belted Kingfisher and Bad Blue Heron are both bulletproof but are really more blue-black. Noodler's Blue and Blue Eel are close in color, but not waterproof at all. Diamine Asa Blue and Private Reserve American Blue are also close in color, but again, not waterproof at all.
Now I knew we wouldn't be able to come out with a vibrant bulletproof blue and have it NOT get compared to Baystate Blue, so I went ahead and swabbed up the two side-by-side. Baystate Blue is more vibrant, and has more of a purple-tinge to it, but Liberty's Elysium is going to be more permanent and a little more conventional than the infamous BSB.
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium and Noodler's Baystate Blue, compared.
Liberty's Elysium is bulletproof, which means that it's fraud-resistant and will fight against aggressive chemicals like bleach that are used to wash ink off paper. I wanted to test this out for myself, so I soaked a q-tip with straight household bleach and rubbed it on the ink. The ink held fast, but the paper did not! As long as the ink is making contact with the fibers of the paper, then it's going to create a permanent bond that is so strong that the ink will hold fast to the paper right up until the end:
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium bleach torture test
Many Goulet fans out there suspected this would be a blue that would be dubbed as 'Goulet blue', matching our ink splatter in our logo, as well as the blue stretch-wrap that we use for packaging up products as we ship them out, and I think that's a pretty dead-on description :) This ink is distinctively Goulet and one that I am hoping will help to fill a much-needed gap in the ink world. You can check out more info and pick up your bottle of Liberty's Elysium here.
