Noodler's Empire Red (UK series)

       The last of the inks I received for Christmas, Noodler's Empire Red, was an ink that first drew my attention because of its label. Noodler's inks usually have fantastic labels, but this one is particularly good.  In some instances you can judge a book by its cover.  I was also drawn to this ink because of its eternal qualities, because I use inks for schoolwork and can't have them coming off a page if it's a bit rainy outside.

They are a nice couple aren't they?

This ink is extremely smooth and writes a little wet on the page.  I'm amazed that this ink writes on Moleskine paper really well, just like Noodler's Axmatoba, which I recently reviewed here. There is no feathering on even cheap papers and the ink behaves very well in the few pens I tried it in.

The ink label that could stop a man in his tracks...

This color is pretty unique as far as reds go. It's paler than an ordinary red and isnt as dark as a standard red. It has pretty much no shading at all and dries after a couple seconds. I was surprised to have found that this pale red ink turned a sickly yellow-white under a blacklight. This led me to believe that this ink is a combination of standard red and Noodler's Whiteness of the Whale. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to mix this ink with the right ingredients. I'm looking forward to trying some of the other inks in this series, such as Queen Victoria's mint and Socrates, but especially the latter because it seems like it will be a very unique ink with great characteristics.

Edited to add water test picture!

Aha! Finally an ink for comparison. Noodler's Red-Black will be featured soon!

You can somewhat see, how in the center of the blacklight,
 the ink "whites" out. Thar' she blows!

After a 5 minute soak, the ink held up exceptionally well!

Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe

Ah, the majesty of the unfurnished basement.  Upon its shelves can be found treasures beyond your wildest dreams strewn amongst the greatest junk one could ever find.  I haven't even fully searched the entirety of my basement, which means that there may be more vintage fountain pens and other gizmos and doo-dads.

Eye candy...

The next in the series of pens I found is the Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe.  The pen's barrel is a very nice blue that feels comfortable in the hand, just like so many of the other vintage pens that I have been using.   Perhaps it is due to that "worn-in" feeling, but every pen thus far feels as if it has a unique personality of its own.  I intend to get to know each pen better, but for now, back to the Sheaffer.

This pen is somewhat similar to the Parker 51 in body design
but the nib and filling mechanism are different. The Parker 51
is a classic pen, but this Sheaffer is a pen that is similar and
cheaper.

This pen was found in fantastic condition, needing very little cleaning.  A quick inspection of the parts and then rinsing of the black rubber filler and I was ready to write and practice some language, but I wasn't sure which one, so I tried a couple. I found this pen worked really well for Arabic, because it has a smooth medium point nib.  This nib is absolutely fantastic and is much better than the medium nib that I have for my Lamy Safari.  I used Noodler's Empire Red which is a very smooth ink too. The combination was without a doubt one of the best combinations that I've been able to find for an ink and a pen.

 The Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe is a pen that is made predominantly of plastic and as such weighs very little, and is a bit lighter than you would guess just by looking at it. A distinguishing feature of this pen is the smaller clip on the cap, which does make it a little less useful in a pocket, but still keeps it from rolling around.  The filling mechanism was new for me, but I absolutely loved it.  It's called the "Touch-Down Method" in which you pull the end of the pen out and then push it back down.  The trick to getting this to work is to leave the pen in the ink bottle for a few seconds after the lever is fully depressed because that is when the ink is being drawn into the pen.

                                                              Long live the vintage pen!

Bad Green Gator feathers a lot on Moleskine Paper and with a wet pen, but this pen is still fantastic.