Ink Review: Noodler's Black Swan

One of the funniest videos I've seen recently was Nathan Tardiff introducing Black Swan in Australian Roses, and explaining that the Noodler's catfish mascot was trying to allay the swan's fears of being eaten (didn't know about the migrating waterfowl being eaten by large catfish). So when Brian of Goulet Pens announced these were on the way and to hurry up and order I got right on it and snagged one. Which is good, as he's now sold out and taking emails for the day new bottles arrive.

Black Swan calls up a lot of thoughts, most recently Nouriel Roubini's The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. For quite some time you could barely move without someone wanting to know if another Black Swan was on the way (an interesting question, since the concept of a Black Swan is of something that can't be conceived of, much less taken into consideration--I have problems with this, but that's not for this post).

So when the below video made its rounds I was really interested, and couldn't wait to get my bottle from Goulet Pens. And serendipitously it arrived just as I was making my way out of the office Wednesday afternoon for a 4 day break. The Ink Gods and Goddesses are smiling, I'm sure.

The Black Swan in Australian Roses is a black cherry color, with a tremendous amount of shading on the downstroke. I know that Nathan Tardiff mentions in the video that he wants to create a flex nib that won't cost a fortune, and this ink is specifically for flex pens, but I was surprised as how well it worked in a semi-flex Namiki Custom 823 medium nib.

Definitely a lovely color, but it can take forever to dry. If you're not going anywhere and are very careful (sorry lefties, this may not work for you) then take a look at this ink. Especially if you like unusual or dark colors, it's both!