Goulet Pen's July 2011 Ink Drop - Part 2

The July Ink Drop from Goulet Pen Company is one that features inks used in highlighter pens. The remarkable thing about these particular inks made by Noodler's Inks is that they react to UV light. Just like the blacklight posters those of us of a certain age remember, or don't remember depending on the amount of smoke you consumed, these inks glow in the darkness of UV light.

The ink drop came with a very cool UV flashlight which can be used to produce this effect with the ink samples, but I wanted to get a bigger light so that I could sit back a contemplate the groovy glow. So I took a short trip to a local Head Shop. This shop is a relic of the seventies which is across the street from a very good Art Supply store called University Arts. I can't recall the name of the Head Shop. It sells all things needed to partake of that culture characterized by the phrase, “Hey man.” Sometimes this phrase is shortened to. “Dude.” This can be used as a response to any conceivable utterance.

Anyway, I looked around at the posters, Tie-died T-shirts, beads, pipes, inscent sticks and burners, buttons, patches, and sandals in the dimly lit shop. Finally I resorted to asking the dude at the counter if they sold blacklights. He wandered through a maze of counters, racks and more counters to the other side of the shop and took up a small box from a pile of other small boxes. It was a 75 watt black light bulb. Perfect I thought. Actually, not so perfect. For when I got it home and screwed it into one of my desk lamps it was a dud. “Dude”, I said, “It's a dud.”

So the photo posted here was taken with the light from the ink drop flashlight. This is the test maze glowing in its light.

Here is the test maze in normal light.

It was drawn using the Dragon Catfish Green and the Dragon Catfish Pink. These Noodler's inks behaved very well. They dried quite quickly as they should for their designed purpose of highlighting. The maze turned out better than I thought it would. Both of these inks contrast enough with the white paper to be easily seen. For the maze I used the inks in a Noodler's Fountain pen and a Ducati Limited. The pens worked well in both of these pens.

Here is the scanned and lightly edited version of the maze.

I'll have another test maze later.

Jonathan