I´ve been playing around with the Noodler´s flex pen for a bit. When I first got this pen, I was quite careful with it when I tried it out. (See my first impressions here.) Since then I have started to push the limits a little, trying to figure out how far I can go with this pen in terms of line variation.
It is not an easy flowing, easy flexing pen. It is flexible, but it is not a ‘wet noodle’ – far from it. You have to use a little force to make those maximum wide lines, but when you do, the pen delivers. The ink feed can´t quite keep up with the widest lines if you draw them too fast, there is always a risk of ‘railroading’ (see image if you don´t know what it is), but if you doodle around with it, you get the hang of it after a while. It´s kind of like an old car – once you get to know it, with it´s quirks and limits, it´s really charming.
One thing that is a bit disturbing is that the ink sometimes tend to smear on top of the nib, so you may get inky fingers if you don´t watch out. Plus the ink that I use (Platinum carbon ink) sometimes dries up a bit in the nib, so you have to start up the pen with a few strokes if it has been unused for a couple of days. Otherwise this is a nifty little pen. Plastic, cheap, actually a bit too small for my taste and with a somewhat funny smell, but really cool to draw with.
14 x 14,5 cm, Noodler´s flex pen with Platinum Carbon ink on Schoellershammer drawing paper.