Review: Noodler's Antietam ink

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

Antietam (pronounced something like an-TEE-dum) is not one of the more frequently appreciated colors of Noodler's ink, but I'm a big fan.  This ink is generally described as looking "antique" or like dried blood. It caught my eye while searching for a rich, red-tinted brown, and it fits the bill very, very well.  

This particular color of Noodler's isn't widely available but right now it does appear to be stocked by both Writer's Bloc and Goulet Pens. 

Because the color has such strong shading, it changes a lot depending on what you're using it with - your paper and especially your pen make a huge difference.  In general, the thicker it is laid on and the less absorbent your paper, the more the ink moves towards an extremely rich deep red.  A lighter layer can look like rich orange or thin tomato, depending on the paper and pen.  Some paper pushes it towards brown.

Here's the ink looking like thin tomato, loaded into the cartridge of a Kuretake Hair Brush pen and applied to cream-toned Aquabee watercolor paper. While I don't love the tomato shade, the layering options it allows for are quite fun.

Here it is looking like a rich, antique brown, loaded in a Lamy Safari and laid down in a Moleskine Sketchbook.  These are salvaged architectural pieces sketched last December during a Portland Urban Sketchers expedition to the Architectural Heritage Center.

This was on vintage accounting paper, applied in combination with a Kuretake Fudegokochi gray pen and lots of water (Antietam is a water soluble ink).

These two animal sketches are from the same Moleskine notebook, but the giraffe page had a coat of red acrylic on the opposite side which may have affected the ink absorption... which affected the ink color. I think that's why the giraffe looks a deeper red, while the sloth is a little bit orange.

The Noodler's flexible nib pen (review forthcoming) was a great match for the Antietam ink - check out the gorgeous shading on the sloth's fur. It's a little like what you get from a bamboo dip pen.

Antietam ink has a huge amount of character and a lot to say - all these sketches show different tones, but all the ink came out of the same bottle.  I recommend this ink most highly for use in line drawings using a pen that allows line variation, in which case it adds a lot of energy and shading without the need to add watercolors.  

If you do want to use it in combination with other colors, it will take some caution as the Antietam is strong and can clash with your regular palette, and of course be careful adding water since it is not waterproof - but there's a lot of room for adventure here, and the gorgeousness of the color will make you want to find new ways to use it.

Pilot FriXion Colors Erasable Marker Review

This one was a bit of a head scratcher when I saw it pop in the JetPens new product feed a month or two ago. I understand and am behind the Pilot FriXion gel ink line of pens - write your notes, erase your mistakes, rinse, repeat. But the FriXion Colors erasable marker, I'm not really sure where this pen falls in to line.

Despite my confusion, there are several things I like about this pen. One, the barrel design is great. I love the white barrel with red text, and the translucent cap makes for a nice presentation. Secondly, the eraser works like a champ. You can see in the photo above how well it erases letters and solid blocks of colors.

On the downside, I am not crazy about the ink and the tip. The tip is softer than I like in a felt tip marker, and it seemed to me like it was breaking down almost immediately after starting to use it. A small little felt ball even rolled off it at one point. The ink color is nice and lays down on the page ok, but if you write over ink that is already on the page - like if you were coloring in a circle - the second layer of ink removes some of the underlying layer. You know how when you are at a white board and you write ink over ink and it leaves white streaks? It's like that. 

So in buying this pen, it all boils down to what you will be using it for. Any ideas?

Click here for the XL review.

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