I don't know why, but when I first inked up this pen, I didn't really like this ink. I honestly could not tell you why, because now that I've used a fair amount of it I really like it! Strange how those things work, huh?
This ink comes from a line of Noodler's inks called the V-Mail line. If you want to know more about them and the inspiration behind them, you can find that here, as well as reviews of all the inks in the series. I'm not certain that I'll be covering the others in the immediate future, but they are in the Swab Repository and feel free to let me know if you want to see them sooner rather than later (feel free to do that with any of the inks in the Repository, to make it easier for me to pick my next ink!).
*Note - I don't know why all of my scans for this review seem a bit fuzzy. But it's not your eyes, it's me. I'll clean off my scanner and hopefully that will resolved the problem for next time.*
Overall, this ink has been very well behaved and a pleasure to write with. The color is an indigo violet, which I prefer as opposed to the purples that lean more to the red side. On good paper I had no problems with any bleeding or feathering and did not notice excessive dry times. While not a huge shading ink, there is some to be had and the ink is definitely light enough to make it noticeable.
It also held up well to both liquid and pencil highlighters (I have found that some pens will smear with the "dry" highlighter pencils, which is why I have started testing them). I was also pleased to see that this ink scoffed at water drops and in the image above it's hard to tell that I even did the water test at all.
I also thought it might be worthwhile to test the ink in the same Field Notes Pitch Black that I was using during Pencil Month, and it was surprisingly well behaved there. The line does seem a bit fatter, but it did not feather or bleed. There is some show-through on the back side but it is still usable.
Overall, I think this is a nice ink that is worth a try. It's nothing mind blowing, but sometimes you just need something basic that works. Especially because the color is more on the blue end of the spectrum, I could see this being an ink that could be used in a workplace where blue pens are allowed, and the waterproofiness means that it would probably be okay for signing official documents, as well. Also, if you like Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu but you don't like the price, this ink is a dead match as far as I can tell.
This ink was provided to me for use and review and I am not being compensated for this review in any way. All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like.