Inky T O D - Would You Buy Ink Powder To Mix If It Were Fp Safe?

[amberleadavis]

So, JustWrite, DCRoe and I were conversing back stage about saturation levels of ink. Seele and DCWaites have both directed me to powder inks. The concept of powdered inks is hardly new ... You can still buy some that is for dip pens at various historical parks.

 

BUT if a reputable manufacturer made one safe for fountain pens, would you buy it? Would you want it to be mixable?

 

[knarflj]

 

BUT if a reputable manufacturer made one safe for dip pens, would you buy it?

 

Did you mean, "safe for fountain pens"?

[amberleadavis]

 

Did you mean, "safe for fountain pens"?

 

Yes I did and I fixed it. Thank you.

[The Blue Knight]

Yeah why not.I probably would use it if it wasn't very safe as well as life is too short to care about little thing like a build up off ink sediment that probably could be cleaned away in about 1/2 hr at the sink.

[The Blue Knight]

Also been meaning to ask what is inky tod?

[David_W]

Inky Thought (of the) Day.

[The Blue Knight]

Inky Thought (of the) Day.

 

Thinking it might be that but I would have thout it would then be inky TOTD

[Tberry010]

YES. Not to be overly enthusiastic but WHEN????

[Inkysloth]

Yep! It would also make ink mixing easy, with combining dry powders by volume / weight less potentially messy than mixing liquid ink.

[lapis]

No, just a feeling out of the gut.

 

Nut

[ndw76]

I would definitely get some. With no water shipping would be so cheap.

[Moshe ben David]

I guess I don't use that many different inks -- although I've about 9 different ones on hand right now.

 

At least for domestic shipping in US I just don't get the concern about shipping cost. Unless you're shipping a lot of inks at once, the cost for a bottle or two is kind of nominal I think -- seems to be about minimum UPS charge....

[amberleadavis]

Uh, well, it was sort of a Top O' the Morn kind of thing... which is why we Vegans aren't allowed out much. So, "Thought O' Day" and besides TOTD was sort of silly.

[beak]

I'm no expert, but would imagine that many of the inks we buy are, in fact, powders mixed with water. I would buy if the brand were reputable, in the hope of benefits in postage, storage space and shelf life.

[knarflj]

I would buy if the brand were reputable, in the hope of benefits in postage, storage space and shelf life.

 

Yep, me too.

[amberleadavis]

I found this video from a seller. I am afraid I would look like the first guy if left to my own devices.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IjyvpSOIrgw

[TheGreatRoe]

I would certainly be interested. At this point, both with FPs and Inks I'm looking for things I don't already have, whether that be colors or features. So a powdered ink would be fun to play with. I wouldn't require that it be mixable, but it would be fun.

 

On the flip side, though, I don't think it's it's too likely. To much potential for someone to try supersaturated ink only to clog their pens. Or to leave ink less than perfectly capped, so that some sort of growth gets in. Based on the reading of far too many threads, the ink maker would get the blame. With liquid ink, an ink maker gets to pick their max saturation, and can make sure the proper anti-fungals are present.

[Seele]

I certainly would buy and use, as dried ink has been around for ages. When WWI was about to break out, Onoto pens were advertised for having the versatility of being able to use ink pellets: unscrew section from barrel, insert one pellet, add water and you're ready to go. To my mind, dried ink - in the form of powder or pellets - was just one of the ways in which ink was sold; bottled ink was the convenient but costly form, dried ink was the less expensive but needed some work. Think about ready-to-drink bottled Gatorade and powdered Gatorade and you get the idea.

 

It appears that the convenience and consistency of bottled ink won out at the end, partly because of the extra mark-up the manufacturers can apply. Besides, the manufacturer had to assume that users of dried ink actually read the instructions and followed them correctly, so the manufacturers were getting the backs covered by producing bottled ink only.

 

By the way I found pictures of this old packet of powdered ink, made between the wars in Harbin at another fountain pen forum based in mainland China. The forum mod said that he remembered seeing salesmen offering similar dried inks to schools as late as the 1980s.

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2014 by Seele

[amberleadavis]

Despite the video above, I admit, I'd buy (atleast) one in every color to use, another set to mix and another to hoard.

[Lou Erickson]

Looking at that tin: Mix with 1 quart of water.

 

I don't, possibly ever, need a quart of ink!

 

I dunno. Sounds fiddly and more messy. I might, but I might not. I can buy household cleaner concentrated or as power, and I don't. I don't want to mess with it. I think I want to mess with ink less.