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Heath posted:The big criticism of the TN for me is that it only has one strap built into the cover. It makes fitting more than two notebooks a little awkward, as the middle one always ends up sandwiched a little funny between the others. I've seen custom ones on Etsy that have 3 strings, which seems like a better setup to me. I made one with the three-string design and I love it, but it's going to be thicker than a branded TN. I love it though and have two notebooks, two pocket folders I made out of a file folder, and a Midori card sleeve/zip pocket insert.
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Oct 22, 2016 04:13
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The paper on the techo smokes the midori, and the latter has really weird sizing compared to the techo's more standard a5/6. But the techo is page a day and probably less flexible than the midori. I just buy the notebooks from techo (they sell them on the site, it's a brilliant little thing with tomoe river paper that is detachable - not the planner) for use in the office
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Oct 22, 2016 04:35
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Bertrand Hustle posted:Should I get a Traveler's Notebook or a Hobonichi Techo? I'm looking for something that can be used as a planner and also for random notes and thoughts and is also customizable. The Hobonichi has perfect paper and has enough space for notes, but it's not really customizable, it's a bound page-a-day planner. You can buy covers that have all sorts of space to stuff supplies in but you're not really rearranging sections or anything. I love mine, though. This is the cover I use: http://www.1101.com/store/techo/2015/planner/detail_cover/c_cl_hamish.html
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Oct 22, 2016 04:39
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long-rear end nips Diane posted:The Hobonichi has perfect paper and has enough space for notes, but it's not really customizable, it's a bound page-a-day planner. You can buy covers that have all sorts of space to stuff supplies in but you're not really rearranging sections or anything. I love mine, though. Apparently the TN "lightweight paper" refills use Tomoe River paper as well, but there doesn't appear to be a lightweight planner refill option.
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Oct 22, 2016 15:05
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After some 4 years I got interested in pens again and picked up a pink Lamy Safari. My prior experience with fountain pens was a Plumix (unenjoyable?) and one of the original Noodler's flex pens. Creaper? (A pain in the rear end!!) But now I'm in love. Thinking about grabbing one of the Retro Pop Metros. I've seen a million and one recommendations and I know it all comes down to personal preference in the end, but any suggestions for a good waterproof black ink that I could sketch in a Moleskine with? I know QC on Moleskine paper is really... really hit and miss, but I just don't want to start another sketchbook. It's been playing well with the blue cartridge that came with my Lamy, as well as the Noodler's Lexington Grey I bought with the flex pen years ago. On another note, I pulled out my flex pen and uh... it sort of melted. I'm assuming from heat, though I have no idea where it would have been in contact with it. Still usable though... and still a pain in the rear end. 
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Oct 22, 2016 21:32
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Noodler's Heart of Darkness gets a lot of love as a bulletproof black. I haven't tried it myself. I rather love his Borealis Black but it's unfortunately not waterproof.
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Oct 22, 2016 21:48
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I am partial to Raven Black, but I think that's Canadian exclusive.
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Oct 22, 2016 21:59
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Heath posted:Noodler's Heart of Darkness gets a lot of love as a bulletproof black. I haven't tried it myself. I rather love his Borealis Black but it's unfortunately not waterproof. Borealis Black buddy!  The chart claim's it's waterproof, but really it's water resistant at best.As for waterproof black inks, Noodler's Black is bulletproof and quite popular, and I hear Bad Black Moccasin is supposed to be pretty good. There's also the De Artrementis Document line, which are waterproof.
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Oct 22, 2016 22:14
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Sexual XXXXX! posted:Thinking about grabbing one of the Retro Pop Metros. I've seen a million and one recommendations and I know it all comes down to personal preference in the end, but any suggestions for a good waterproof black ink that I could sketch in a Moleskine with? I know QC on Moleskine paper is really... really hit and miss, but I just don't want to start another sketchbook. It's been playing well with the blue cartridge that came with my Lamy, as well as the Noodler's Lexington Grey I bought with the flex pen years ago. I sketch with Lexington Grey and Heart of Darkness, both Noodlers, and both sturdy enough to be painted over and around as long as I don't glob it on. Haven't tried alcohol based markers like Copic or Prismacolor over it yet. (Over the holidays I think I might do a mini-FAQ for fountain pen + art issues, so we can share knowledge. Post anything you figure out and I'll add it!) The free pen that comes with the big Noodler bottles is okay for sketching but vomits pretty badly if you don't firmly push the feed into the pen, or have too much air in the barrel. Metros are better. The Pilot Metro medium nib is very close to a Copic or Pigma Micron 0.1. My new toy is the Platinum Carbon Brush Pen, with a converter and Lexington Grey. The brush tip is similar to the one on Copic Ciao/Sketch markers, but a bit smaller and a touch more rigid, which makes it much easier to control line variation. I think I might get another the next time I order from Goulet.
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Oct 22, 2016 22:42
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Solumin posted:Borealis Black buddy! I got a sample of Black Swan in English Roses last night, and I used Borealis Black for the outline of a drawing of a rose I did to test it out. It picked up a little bit of the black in the red and created some very nice shading. You can see it here with a little writing for comparison.
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Oct 23, 2016 00:46
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Heart of Darkness is a great black ink if you want solid, dark black with no shading. It is weird though in that the top layer is not 100% waterproof and will smear, but all of the ink will not wash away. I tried using it with watercolor crayons and as soon as I added water the black smeared.
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Oct 23, 2016 02:37
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You guys are the best. I might go ahead and pick up Heart of Darkness, then. I don't use watercolour a whole lot, and I'm definitely not a Serious Artist so I won't mind if stuff gets a little smudged when I do. Also really good to know about the Metro to Pigma comparison, since that's what I'd be replacing. .... I can't stop looking at pens and inks again, I should never have come back to this thread. 
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Oct 23, 2016 16:18
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Heath posted:I got a sample of Black Swan in English Roses last night, and I used Borealis Black for the outline of a drawing of a rose I did to test it out. It picked up a little bit of the black in the red and created some very nice shading. You can see it here with a little writing for comparison. That looks beautiful! rio posted:Heart of Darkness is a great black ink if you want solid, dark black with no shading. It is weird though in that the top layer is not 100% waterproof and will smear, but all of the ink will not wash away. I tried using it with watercolor crayons and as soon as I added water the black smeared. From what I understand, a lot of the bulletproof inks will smear when wet, especially the Noodlers ones. They work by binding to the fibers of the paper itself. Because they're so saturated, not all of the ink will come in contact with the paper and thus won't be able to bind. It'll still dry but some of the ink will smear if it gets wet. Someone correct me if that's the wrong explanation!
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Oct 23, 2016 16:25
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Ink in general works by binding to paper fibers. If the ink has no paper fibers to bind to, it just sits on top of ink that can, and will eventually dry atop that ink without binding to anything. Thus, ages later it'll smear with enough pressure/moisture. The Bulletproof/waterproof/water resistant inks all just bond to paper in different degrees Noodler's tends to run wet, so with a wet pen you'll get quite a bit of ink. Add to this any of the nicer papers, which don't feather or otherwise soak up ink (the way, for example, cheap/light copy paper visibly does), and you'll almost certainly end up with a layer of ink that's bonded to nothing but itself. I wouldn't say it's a foregone conclusion, although it is worth noting that for anything that isn't just Black Ink, the color (if anything) is what'll wash away if you were to drop your notebook in a puddle or whatever — the black is the bulletproof part, and the various other hues are (to varying extents) just along for the ride. That said, I think stuff like Platnium's Carbon Ink works slightly differently, which is why it's fairly popular for a drawing ink, either in various fountain pens or brush pens.
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Oct 23, 2016 16:47
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Not everything in the bulletproof inks is bulletproof. Some of the pigments will be water-soluble etc. and will wash away/not bind to the paper but there's a core pigment(s) that will irreversibly bind to the paper. Here's a good guide to the full range of Noodler's inks
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Oct 23, 2016 17:53
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What's the general opinion of Noodler's writing instruments? I ordered an Ahab and I'm kind of looking at his brush pens, but are they worth using? They're on the cheap end of course so I'm not expecting stellar quality, but are any frustrations really evident?
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Oct 23, 2016 19:03
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Heath posted:What's the general opinion of Noodler's writing instruments? I ordered an Ahab and I'm kind of looking at his brush pens, but are they worth using? They're on the cheap end of course so I'm not expecting stellar quality, but are any frustrations really evident? My Ahab is a perfectly functional pen, except the threads on the converter were garbage and stripped from the barbaric act of "unscrewing the drat thing to clean it." I think they've fixed this at some point in the past few years. They're all perfectly functional pens, although a few models are very clearly meant to be hosed with (mostly the Ahab, I think most other ones are just normal cheap-ish pens). Also a million people are going to complain about how the pen smells like something other than nothing.
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Oct 23, 2016 19:30
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I got a free Charlie that I wasn't too impressed with (it vomited on the page virtually every time I used it) that had a pretty strong silicone grease smell, but that went away after a week or two. Can't really complain about it since it was a free pen.
Heath fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Oct 23, 2016 |
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Oct 23, 2016 19:47
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Heath posted:What's the general opinion of Noodler's writing instruments? I ordered an Ahab and I'm kind of looking at his brush pens, but are they worth using? They're on the cheap end of course so I'm not expecting stellar quality, but are any frustrations really evident? My Ahab was a total pain and a bad flex experience. I put the non flexible nib into it and now it is at least a decent pen. I have not bought a pen from them since and don't plan to. Amazon has cheap brush pens in three packs - I went that route and they are fun to mess with.
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Oct 23, 2016 20:12
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Heath posted:What's the general opinion of Noodler's writing instruments? I ordered an Ahab and I'm kind of looking at his brush pens, but are they worth using? They're on the cheap end of course so I'm not expecting stellar quality, but are any frustrations really evident? If you're okay with tinkering with your pens, they're fine. If not, I would avoid them. I don't think I've ever gotten a Noodler's pen that wrote out of the box.
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Oct 23, 2016 20:38
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I mostly just want to play with a flex nib. I don't mind tinkering so much, so long as I'm not going to break poo poo doing it. Edit: What's everyone's experience with getting counterfeit Lamy pens? I bought a white Safari from Amazon directly because I was under the assumption that Amazon themselves wouldn't sell fake poo poo, but the one I got was very off. It came with a converter for one thing, felt all-around cheaper, and the stub nib I bought with it didn't fit it at all, but it fit my other legit pens perfectly. The nib was scratched and had the logo engraved on it rather than stamped like my other pens. The body was slightly bowed as well. Total piece of poo poo. I went back and bought one from Junipers' Amazon storefront, for two dollars cheaper than the fake, and it seems to be completely legit. I'm just floored that Amazon does this. Heath fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Oct 23, 2016 |
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Oct 23, 2016 20:49
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grack posted:If you're okay with tinkering with your pens, they're fine. If not, I would avoid them. I don't think I've ever gotten a Noodler's pen that wrote out of the box. Grack is totally right. You will have to tinker with the fitting of the nib and feed, but you can make a Noodler's pen do exactly what you want it to. The out of the box writing experience seems to be hit or miss for many people, however. For the guy with the leaky Charlie, jam the feed in deeper. There was some discussion about it a while ago.
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Oct 23, 2016 21:26
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Return the Lamy if you think it's fake. Amazon will bend over backwards to help you. If you want a cheap flex nib to try look at Fountain Pen Revolution. Their flex pens are a good alternative to Noodlers and seem to have a better chance of writing out of the box.
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Oct 23, 2016 21:31
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I'm in the returns process for it. I'm just surprised that Amazon would sell fake pens from their own distribution and that Lamy themselves don't step in and be like hey what the gently caress because that seems pretty brand-damaging.
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Oct 23, 2016 21:37
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Heath posted:I'm in the returns process for it. I'm just surprised that Amazon would sell fake pens from their own distribution and that Lamy themselves don't step in and be like hey what the gently caress because that seems pretty brand-damaging. Amazon is/has been having a ton of problems with counterfeits in their supply chain.
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Oct 23, 2016 21:57
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Amazon is also so massive that poo poo like that is probably inevitably going to pop up from time to time.
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Oct 23, 2016 22:32
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grack posted:If you want a cheap flex nib to try look at Fountain Pen Revolution. Their flex pens are a good alternative to Noodlers and seem to have a better chance of writing out of the box. I have a Triveni, Indus, and Guru. I'd recommend any of them with the flexible nibs, but I think maybe the Guru most of all. The ebonite feed, piston fill, and $9 price point are a stellar deal.
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Oct 23, 2016 22:38
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NeurosisHead posted:I have a Triveni, Indus, and Guru. I'd recommend any of them with the flexible nibs, but I think maybe the Guru most of all. The ebonite feed, piston fill, and $9 price point are a stellar deal. FYI I just happened to take a look at these and the Jaipur (usually $18) is 40% right now
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Oct 23, 2016 22:55
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I guess I'll have one of those in about a week too. And it isn't even getting shipped all of the way from India this time!
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Oct 23, 2016 23:17
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My honeymoon with Tekker custom ink is over, it seems. I initially tried it in an incredibly dry pen that basically wouldn't write with 'normal' inks as an experiment. This stuff is so wet that it just drips out of every other pen I own. It's pretty and otherwise well-behaved, but holy crap does it run. Word on the street (or, at least, my local pen club) is that Tekker is taking a break to figure out a better formulation or something. I'll probably try diluting it 1:1 with water, since it's even more hilariously dye-rich than most of Noodler's armory. Speaking of Noodler's, I came across an Economist article this weekend while rummaging that mentions him. I get the feeling that I'll be reading about him again after the election.
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Oct 24, 2016 00:37
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Nathan is a crazy, crazy man but by God does he make some pretty inks.
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Oct 24, 2016 00:54
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Bertrand Hustle posted:Nathan is a crazy, crazy man but by God does he make some pretty inks. I've never heard the phrase, "tin-foil hat" used so consistently about a person. What's his deal? Pixelante fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Oct 24, 2016 |
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Oct 24, 2016 00:57
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Pixelante posted:I've never heard the phrase, "tin-foil hat" used so consistently about a person. What's his deal? That question has so many answers. The Nathan Experience can be summed up as a quick ink demonstration video that quickly devolves into a 1.5 hour trade against "american consumer communism" while his hands violently shake as he tears apart a cheap Indian pen that he had the balls to once claim was made in the USA*. He also has a very specific fear about his checks being altered by postal workers. I met him at a pen show once and he was pretty fun to talk to, though. *This has been alleged, but I can't find anything to back it up. Rudeboy Detective fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Oct 24, 2016 |
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Oct 24, 2016 01:18
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Quote =/= edit.
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Oct 24, 2016 01:19
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What is "American consumer communism?"
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Oct 24, 2016 01:38
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You know, I've never understood the Noodle Man's hate for Indian pens, since his vegetal resin, pen styles, and component manufacture are all sourced in or ripped off from Indian fountain pen manufacturing.
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Oct 24, 2016 02:16
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He is like if TobleroneTriangular was real.
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Oct 24, 2016 02:26
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NeurosisHead posted:You know, I've never understood the Noodle Man's hate for Indian pens, since his vegetal resin, pen styles, and component manufacture are all sourced in or ripped off from Indian fountain pen manufacturing. All Noodler's resin pens are made in India.
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Oct 24, 2016 03:00
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The components are. He puts them together himself here and then distributes them through Luxury Brands.
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Oct 24, 2016 03:52
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Pixelante posted:I've never heard the phrase, "tin-foil hat" used so consistently about a person. What's his deal? Nathan perfected bulletproof inks so that people can't wash his checks. From his site: "Nathan" posted:“Eternal” refers to any Noodler’s Ink that resists the effects of time – moisture, humidity, UV light, acids, water exposure, and many common detergents such as dish soaps and household ammonia, as well as alcohols and acetone (which conventional ball point pens have no resistance to – often rinsing off a newly written check within 8 seconds of being washed with acetone). Many Noodler’s inks such as “eternal” and “bulletproof” inks are made with the ideal of reaching out as far into immortality as the written word permits us to reach – the only way to speak to future generations remains the written word durably made upon the page (a VCR tape is simply not as durable or as universally readable through time!).
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Oct 24, 2016 05:03
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