Tag: fountain pen ink

Posted in Fountain Pens

Exploring Ink via Science

Posted on by Charlie

There are a lot of things that fountain pen users look at when choosing an ink to use. Is an ink wet or dry? [Wetter inks have a faster flow while dry inks have a slower flow and more surface tension.] They also ask about the Three S’s .Is the ink a shading ink? [A result of a fountain pen ink pooling in certain parts of a letter when writing, so that the color and saturation of the ink appears different within a single letter or word.] Does the ink sheen? [When the fountain pen ink pools another color can be seen on top of the ink, especially when looked at in different light angles using certain paper types.] And the final S – does the ink shimmer? [Fountain pen ink that has small particles of glitter mixed in.] A common aspect that is also looked at is how water resistant the ink is. [Water resistance means that a portion of the ink will remain after being subjected to water. This might only be one ingredient of the ink, leaving behind a legible remnant with little or no representation of the original color.]

My current collection of bottled ink has five shimmering inks. At least one of my inks has some shading properties and another seems to have sheening properties that are dependent on the amount of ink put on the paper. Three of my inks are highly water resistant (I’d expect so since they are document inks)

There is another aspect that of fountain pen ink that I have decided to explore. That is the chromatography.

In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent called the mobile phase, which carries it through a system on which a material called the stationary phase is fixed.

Wikipedia

In the case of fountain pen inks I am looking at the varying colors that make up each ink by putting fountain pen ink on a highly absorbent piece of paper then using water as the fluid and observing the different colors in the ink separate as they travel up the paper.

For my experiment I used Chromatography Paper Strips that I purchased on Amazon. After drawing a line of ink on each strip with either an inked fountain pen or a dip pen I attached the strips to a wooden dowl that I could suspend over a small bowl of water making certain that the ink line was not submerged when the paper touched the water. I set a timer and retrieved the paper at the 1.20 minute mark and let the water to continue working its way up the paper then waited for it to dry.

Ten ink samples (7 bottle inks, 1 cartridge ink, 2 samples)

Inks Tested

Top Row

  1. Wearingeul Twelfth Night, a sliver shimmering pink ink (bottle)
  2. Diamine Firefly, a gold shimmering orange ink (bottle)
  3. Ferris Wheel Press The Fluttering Heart, a gold shimmering pink ink (bottle)
  4. Platinum Black, a standard black ink (cartridge)

Middle Row

  1. Diamine Syrah, a wine colored ink (bottle)
  2. Pilot Iroshizuku Ka-Jaku, a teal colored ink (bottle)
  3. Jacques Herbin 1670 Stormy, a gold shimmering grey ink (bottle)
  4. De Atramentis Black Currant, a scented purple ink (bottle)

Bottom Row

  1. Diamine Dark Forest, a dark green ink (sample vial)
  2. Noodler’s Ink Bad Gator Green, a green ink (sample vial)
Note: There were a few inks in my current ink collection I did not test – my document inks as I already know from a previous chromatography trial that they do not separate and a shimmering ink that I intend to give away or parse out samples from that I do not intend to use further.

My Observations and Thoughts

I really need to cultivate more patience when it comes to waiting for results. Though this test was meant to separate colors it also showed me which inks are really not water resistance as the lines completely vanished as the water progressed up the strip. The two shimmering pink inks surprised me. The Fluttering Heart leans more brown than pink when compared side by side to Wearingeul Twelfth Night and in the chromatography it seems that the difference is the addition of yellow. I was also surprised to see the yellow and pink in Stormy Grey show up.

After looking closely at the dried strips of paper it quite surprised me to find that many of the inks that seemed to fade completely from the origin line displayed very light grey. I don’t think this is an indication of color but perhaps it is an indication of the inks lubrication. I may look into this further in the future, but for now it’s just an interesting observation.

Overall I wasn’t really surprised or wowed by the results of these inks. Partially because this was my second attempt at chromatography testing with these inks and partially because I have come across some amazing chromatography examples from other pen and ink enthusiasts.

Bonus

One of the many reasons I decided to explore chromatography was that I wanted to be able to fully use up the inks that I own and one of the ways to do that is through art. I came across Nick Stewart on Instagram (quinkandbleach) and was absolutely taken with the idea of creating art using chromatography.

While this isn’t quite the paper finish that Nick recommends in his tutorials (it’s not rough or rough enough) it is the right weight of paper – 200lb. This was one of my first attempts to see if I could do chromatography swatch. It didn’t work out (in this case I really think it was the finish of the paper that made the difference.) But I like it nonetheless. You can actually see the brilliant orange and the bright pink come through in Diamine Syrah which is one of, if not absolute, my favorite inks.

Much love,

Charlie

P.S. If you happen to have ink samples you no longer need or want or are just in the habit of sharing inks with other enthusiasts let me know. I’d be happy to share from my small collection. If you use the Fountain Pen Companion you can find me under Charlie M to look at my ink collection.

Posted in Fountain Pens

All that Shimmers, Sheens and Shades

Posted on by Charlie

After my order from Goulet Pens arrived I took about an hour or two to create the last two ink books I needed. I had less wasted paper and the strips that I have left over I intend to use for jotting quick notes. The Clairefontaine ink book (red) contains white 90 gsm (grams per square meter) ruled paper. The Tomoe River ink book (brown) contains white 68 gsm dot grid paper. And lastly, the Rhodia ink book (black) contains white 80 gsm dot grid paper. (Note for those of you that might not know: GSM refers to the weight of the paper. The heavier the paper, the higher the number)

Colo-ring book, L-R Tomoe River, Clairefontain, and Rhodia.

On Friday I took a break from knitting. I try to take at least one day off to give my hands a rest and do something else. That something else was cataloging my fountain pen ink. I cleaned off my small desk in the studio and set things up.

Let the fun begin! Ink swatching set-up.

I have a total of twelve bottles of ink and two samples currently in my possession. I lined all the ink up, set out the q-tips and the dip pens I wanted to use. (The Hocoro has a calligraphy nib that I am not all that familiar with but I thought it might be fun to try.) A cloth and a cup of water rounded out the supplies.

I did a quick swatch of the only black I use.

Noodler’s Ink – The heart of Darkness.

Then I decided to swatch my De Atramentis Inks next.

Black Current – A scented purplish ink. I would be lying if I said I didn’t pick this up because it was scented. Once the ink dries though the scent does not linger sadly.

Document Ink Green – The document inks are permanent and water proof. Which I found fascinating. Sign legal documents with a non-standard color, oh my.

Document Ink Fushia -This was the first document ink I picked up. Yes, I am that type of person.

Document Ink Yellow – If I remember correctly I picked this color up a several years ago when the color of the year was “Yellow”.

Syrah – This was the first bottle of Ink I purchased after trying a sample or it.

First 6 colors swatched.

After rinsing out and replenishing the water cup a few times, (doc ink likes to stick to the glass nib a little bit.) I continued on to the next 6 inks which I also grouped when I could by brand.

Diamine Shimmer Ink Golden Ivy – this was the first two Diamine shimmer inks I picked up.

Diamine Shimmer Ink Firefly – of the two shimmer shades this is my favorite. I like the bright boldness of it.

J. Herbin 1760 in Stormy Grey – the first time I saw this swatched on Goulet Pens I knew I had to have it. It not only shimmers but it also shades too.

Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku – I was gifted this ink and I think it’s the one I’ve used the most. The last time I had to have Matthew help me open the bottle because I apparently closed it too well and it would not open. I was afraid we might have to break the bottle when the channel locks came out. But no, we managed to get it open without making too much of a mess.

Farris Wheel Press Fluttering Hearts – 2023 special addition color that I really love looking at.

Oblique Love Letters Mori Palace Sumi – this was the bottle of ink that arrived in my package from Oblique Love Letters. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was rather pungent and unpleasant. It was also fairly thicker than the rest of my inks. It wasn’t until I saw a video later in the day that I learned Sumi was the actual type of ink and it was for calligraphy and NOT fountain pens. (No fountain pens were harmed!)

Second set of six colors swatched.

The final two inks were the recent surprise me samples. Both were actually in the green family.

Diamine Ink Dark Forest & Noodles Ink Bad Gator Green.

Two very different greens sampled.

While I was swatching I also jotted notes down in a field notes ledger – denoting if the color came from a bottle or a sample and the dip pen I used. It’s another quick reference for me to be able to take with me and refence what I have and what I’ve sampled.

I cleaned up my desk and pens while I let the all of the swatches dry. When I felt that they were dry enough I sorted them into their respective ink books and left them alone for the day.

This morning I decided to look at how the inks behaved in each book. And I have to say I was quite surprised by what I found while flipping through the books comparing swatches.

  1. I think I need to find the De Atramentis Document Ink Yellow a new home. Of the three doc inks it is my least favorite. I only had slight difficulty reading the ink while I was writing with it and it did darken/deepen as it dried down but I’m not going to be inclined to use it unless I happen to have darker paper.
  2. I didn’t realize that two of the inks were sheening inks before swatching them. For a solid 10 minutes I thought I might have contaminated my bottles in some way because when I write with Diamine Syrah or Pilot Iroshizuku ku-jaku the sheening doesn’t come through (I can’t recall the actual pens/nibs I’ve used with them to determine if that was the reason) AND it almost looked like they shimmered. Except that neither ink has shimmer particles in them. I swatched Syrah a few more times on scrap pieces of paper and then looked for examples on-line. When I found several photos depicting swatches that sheened for both ink colors I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t somehow contaminated my ink bottles.
  3. Shimmer inks are really pretty on the right paper. And oh my word is Diamine’s Firely beautiful.
  4. I feel like I need to try a broad nib with most of the inks I own now.

Do you have a large ink… stash? How do you keep track? Do you gravitate towards one color or multiple. Let me know.

That’s it for now.

Much love.

Charlie