Best Ink To Spill On Clothing (And Be Able To Remove)

[vossad01]

Assuming I am going to spill ink on my clothes, are there any inks or brands that have a better reputation for to washing out?

 

I am wanting to be more careless in transporting and carrying a pen which I figure makes it a question of when rather than if I will get ink on my clothes. As such, buying based on the ability to remove it may be a good idea.

 

I am thinking I should do an empirical test with the few inks I have, but they are mostly Noodler's.

[Uncle Red]

Some Noodler's will wash out like Blue. However, try Pelikan Royal Blue.

[inkobsessed]

Parker Washable blue

Waterman FLorida blue

Lamy blue

 

Joop

[vossad01]

Hmmm... all of the suggestions seem to be ones that work with a [Pirat] Ink Eradicator. Maybe there is something to that?

Edited March 17, 2014 by vossad01

[framebaer]

Waterman Blue Black

[Sasha Royale]

Ink on the fingers. Ink on the clothes. Are these bad things to be undone ?

Nay ! Wear thy colors with pride !

[Koyote]

The list of colors that will wash out of clothes is too long...But here is some advice: if you do get ink on clothing, use a stain remover, a loooong soak in soapy water, and then more stain remover. Every time you use the stain remover, rub it in, rub it around, dampen it, etc.

 

Then wash normally.

 

 

I've heard that milk might work, too, but I would feel too silly trying that.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Koyote

[haziz]

The only two I ever succeeded in getting out were Pelikan Royal Blue and Waterman Blue Black. Hooray for washable inks!

[PrintersDevil]

There is a product called Amodex that is supposed to remove ink stains and it is available online.

Not sure how well it would do with say a Noodler's bulletproof.

[Oranges and Apples]

MontBlanc's invisible ink which they use to test their nibs in their factory.

[vossad01]

I would recommend Diamine Steel Blue or Noodler's Yellow as the best (of what I have tried of course). They seem to wash out completely.

 

I would consider the washable blues you guys mention the next best. I would rank them in the following order (from best to worse):

• Lamy Blue OR Parker Quink Washable Blue (tie)
• Pelikan Royal Blue
• Waterman Serenity Blue

The first two I am considering a tie one has staining from adjacent red while the other adjacent blue. Lamy looked paler when I just looked in person but that could be because it blends more with the adjacent blue staining than Parker does with red. Since the photo does not support Lammy being paler I am calling it a tie. The Waterman is clearly the darkest of the four.

 

Other honorable mentions:

• Noodler's Bluerase: leaves a pale orange stain
• Diamine Majestic Blue: still visible but greatly reduced and not as apparent of stain as some of the others

_____

 

 

I bought some samples of the inks you all listed to do a test. I also included a number of other inks I had on hand.

 

The inks tested (top-to-bottom, left-to-right):

• Noodler's Apache Sunset
• Noodler's Dark Matter
• Noodler's Yellow
• Noodler's Navajo Turquoise
• Noodler's Shah's Rose
• Organics Studio Join or Die
• Organics Studio Foggy Bottom
• Private Reserve Tanzanite
• Private Reserve Black Cherry

• Organics Studio Halley's Comet Blue
• Organics Studio Vanadium
• Organics Studio Raven Red
• Diamine Monaco Red
• Diamine Majestic Blue
• Diamine Steel Blue
• Noodler's Saguaro Wine
• Noodler's Blue
• Pelikan Royal Blue
• Waterman Serenity Blue
• Parker Quink Washable Blue

• Susemai Blue Amber
• Lamy Blue
• Noodler's Baystate Blue
• Generic Chinese Cartridge Black
• Noodler's Borealis Black
• Noodler's Watererase Blue
• Noodler's CMY Mix Black
• Noodler's Black
• Noodler's Heart of Darkness
• Noodler's Red
• Diamine Dark Brown

I apologize in that I neglected to include Noodler's Blackerase and did not realize until examining the results. It is considered a Bulletproof ink though, so I suspect it would behave similarly to Noodler's Black.

 

While I was not precise about it, though experimentation I found that about 1/10th ml was a decent amount for the test. I applied the ink with a syringe to a sacrificed white T-shirt. It was done on a glass surface and was allowed to set for the ink to soak in overnight (lets say ~7 hours). This resulted in the following

 

 

I then saturated each spot with Shout, and scrubbed each for a few strokes, then threw it in a bucked to cold soapy water to soak. Dumped a lot of the water after ~30-45 minutes as it had a lot of dye in it and refiled it. I let it soak for about 10 or 11 hours which left it like this:

 

I sprayed it a little less heavily with Shout again, scrubbed a little bit more, rinsed of some excess dye and threw it in the wash. I gave BSB more scrubbing attention because while soaking in water really did not do anything to it, the Shout made it run and I was concerned for what was washed with it since there would be detergent in the wash. The result:

 

Now begins the all-weather fade test:

Edited July 12, 2014 by vossad01

[vossad01]

This shows the results after, as I recall, two days that had both rain and sun. I knew it would be a while before I would actually be able to get the time to post it so I brought it inside after that as there was already considerable fading. I can put it back out if anyone wants to see longer term results. Otherwise I consider this experiment concluded.

[tinysnail]

Very cool. Interesting to see that you included PR Blacl Cherry! That's been the only ink I've gotten on my clothes thus far. It made an awkward splotch in my chest region so I ran back to the hotel (I was on vacation), stuck my shirt in a sink full of soapy water, and let it sit there for a few hours. It came out entirely! It was a huge relief. I liked thag shirt a lot and it had already been the target of some nasty tea stains.