I do quite like special and fun things, and I love most colours… until one day, I found out that there is a particular ink that is COLOURLESS. That would have to be the Noodler’s Blue Ghost, of course. Initially, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me, why anyone would want to use a colourless ink. I got a 5mL sample from a nice friend and took it home. I’ve heard that one needs to use a black light torch (one that shines UV light) in order to be able to see the ink on paper. So I got one, and was ready to play with the ink.
The Noodler’s Blue Ghost is a fluorescent ink, and by definition of Google, this is what it means:
That means this ink absorbs UV rays (shorter wavelength), and reflects it in the form of visible light (longer wavelength), that’s why we are able to see it with our eyes after shining the black light onto it.
Be warned, this is going to be a picture-heavy, and very blue post! You’re see why later.
The ink is not colourless, in fact, it looks like a very very pale hint of mint. Otherwise, it’s as clear as water. Shine the black light torch through it, and you’ll get:
Whooooo! Impressive, bright fluorescent ink!
Okay, I had to start playing with it RIGHT THEN. I searched for a suitable pen to fill with this ink, and decided upon a see-through pen: the Lamy Vista. I pumped in the ink with the converter, and the first things I did was of course to shine the black light through the pen. Yes, I was totally wowed by the appearance!
Blue Ghost in the section of the Lamy Vista
Close-up… you can see the bubbles in the ink!
You can see the ink seeping around in the breather hole!
Swabs with cotton
The ink under black light is actually more of a minty green colour. However with certain angle of illumination, the ink appears white, like in the cotton swab above! The two black spots are actually Sailor Jentle Apricot. You can see how dark and un-special it looks like under black light. Compare that with the vibrant-looking Noodler’s Blue Ghost!
I’ve made a writing sample, pictures and a video below (more to come, keep scrolling!) –
The ink flows well and wet, and dries on my paper in about 6 seconds or so. It doesn’t have shading, or simply is not obvious. But who cares about shading when it’s invisible by normal light, eh? In terms of water resistance, it doesn’t seem to fare too well, as most of the ink is rubbed off or diluted by the drops of water I inflicted upon it.
My verdict of this ink: It’s fun, it’s awesome, but not very practical. Unless you are a person who often writes secret messages to people. Even if I try to write stuff down with this ink, I may not remember where I have written it later on, since it really is invisible on the page! However, I know of people who may write passwords and other confidential information in a notebook with the Noodler’s Blue Ghost, so, to each his own. On the other hand, it can be a fun ink to use if you are playing with kids, or making an educational tutorial about fluorescence.
I decided to drip ink into a bottle of water to see how it turns out, and the result was really awesome:
Check out my video of it (don’t be too hypnotized!):
So, what do you think of it?
I am the founder of this website.
Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time.
I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty.
For writing secret messages of course!
What could it be used for?
Ooh, cool! I don’t have a use for it but the possibilities are endless.
You should get a bottle and try it out! 😀