Coffee Filter Chromatography

July 22, 2012

Was messing around with some coffee filter chromatography, to some rather surprising results.

Diamine Imperial Purple: Is purple. SOME blue fringing but not much at all. must only contain purple dyes

Pilot Blue: Washable blue with a smidge of purple blooming.

Noodlers Baystate Blue: ONLY BLUE. on a page, there appears to be purple in it, but I think it's just the blue's saturation.

Private Reserve Avacado: most surprising. this ink has alot of red in it, then of course, the green and yellow it's known for.

Noodlers Polar Brown: probably an orange base with some brown to darken it. looks neat.

Aurora Black: pretty darn black with a bit of green cast.

Diamine Graphite: no color separation other than the gray moving up. will compare with noodlers lexington gray.

Noodlers Borealis Black: not waterproof at all, has blues, yellows, grays, blacks.

Noodlers Bulletproof Black: most surprising that this even bled at all. the base is definitely black, but the blue and yellow blooming was surprising to me.

I'll do alot more of these, gonna try to get my entire collection sorted by colors and posted accordingly. I just wanted to do a handful of inks right off to see how the process was gonna work, pretty cool stuff.

Sorry for the gigantic picture, figured it needed to be bigger to pick out detail if you really want to look at it.

July 22, 2012

I'm always intrigued to see ink chromatography tests. Thanks!

July 22, 2012

It's really interesting

July 22, 2012

It is interesting, and surprisingly easy to do.

One tip I have learned is to put the bottom edge in the water IMMEDIATELY after ink deposit, before it has time to dry (within 1-2 seconds). Otherwise, the waterproof/bulletproof components will bond to the paper, and result in less color separation being displayed.

July 22, 2012

Is the other color what they call "undertone"?

July 22, 2012

It is interesting, and surprisingly easy to do.

One tip I have learned is to put the bottom edge in the water IMMEDIATELY after ink deposit, before it has time to dry (within 1-2 seconds). Otherwise, the waterproof/bulletproof components will bond to the paper, and result in less color separation being displayed.

This is what I was trying to do, especially on BB. I folded the paper such that I would have a decent piece left over with no ink so it didn't contaminate the water. Folding also allowed me to get enough ink out of the cap residue. I dipped it in the ink, folded it over a chopstick and stuck just the tip in the water overnight, then hung em up to dry.

July 23, 2012

It is interesting, and surprisingly easy to do.

One tip I have learned is to put the bottom edge in the water IMMEDIATELY after ink deposit, before it has time to dry (within 1-2 seconds). Otherwise, the waterproof/bulletproof components will bond to the paper, and result in less color separation being displayed.

This is what I was trying to do, especially on BB. I folded the paper such that I would have a decent piece left over with no ink so it didn't contaminate the water. Folding also allowed me to get enough ink out of the cap residue. I dipped it in the ink, folded it over a chopstick and stuck just the tip in the water overnight, then hung em up to dry.

I just put a dot of ink with a pen or toothpick and immediately put the end in water. My pieces are rectangular, and only keep in the water until I see the water traveling up to about 3/4 of strip's length, or less time if no more ink is being carried with the edge of the advancing water--never done one for more than 5-6 mins. I hold the top and watch it moving.

July 23, 2012

It is interesting, and surprisingly easy to do.

One tip I have learned is to put the bottom edge in the water IMMEDIATELY after ink deposit, before it has time to dry (within 1-2 seconds). Otherwise, the waterproof/bulletproof components will bond to the paper, and result in less color separation being displayed.

This is what I was trying to do, especially on BB. I folded the paper such that I would have a decent piece left over with no ink so it didn't contaminate the water. Folding also allowed me to get enough ink out of the cap residue. I dipped it in the ink, folded it over a chopstick and stuck just the tip in the water overnight, then hung em up to dry.

I just put a dot of ink with a pen or toothpick and immediately put the end in water. My pieces are rectangular, and only keep in the water until I see the water traveling up to about 3/4 of strip's length, or less time if no more ink is being carried with the edge of the advancing water--never done one for more than 5-6 mins. I hold the top and watch it moving.

hmmm, the quickest I could start to see the colors blooming out in mine were ~ 30 minutes. i could watch the water moving up the strip, and see it take some ink with it, but not in great quantities. it might be like a watched pot though.

What brand of filters are you using, or do you use lab strips?

July 23, 2012

I was surprised to see the extra colour in Noodler's BP Black: I've done this myself using blotting paper, and seen no sign of anything other than black. Must try harder!

July 23, 2012

It is interesting, and surprisingly easy to do.

One tip I have learned is to put the bottom edge in the water IMMEDIATELY after ink deposit, before it has time to dry (within 1-2 seconds). Otherwise, the waterproof/bulletproof components will bond to the paper, and result in less color separation being displayed.

This is what I was trying to do, especially on BB. I folded the paper such that I would have a decent piece left over with no ink so it didn't contaminate the water. Folding also allowed me to get enough ink out of the cap residue. I dipped it in the ink, folded it over a chopstick and stuck just the tip in the water overnight, then hung em up to dry.

I just put a dot of ink with a pen or toothpick and immediately put the end in water. My pieces are rectangular, and only keep in the water until I see the water traveling up to about 3/4 of strip's length, or less time if no more ink is being carried with the edge of the advancing water--never done one for more than 5-6 mins. I hold the top and watch it moving.

hmmm, the quickest I could start to see the colors blooming out in mine were ~ 30 minutes. i could watch the water moving up the strip, and see it take some ink with it, but not in great quantities. it might be like a watched pot though.
What brand of filters are you using, or do you use lab strips?

Some generic form of Melita coffee filters that fit those cones. Like below....and separation of colors starts within 5 seconds as soon as the water hits it.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/51SQ-s4TXnL.jpg