Orange Ink

[PAKMAN]

One that hasn't been mentioned is the Lamy special edition Orange. It is my favorite!

[uceroy]

Here's a selection of some of my orange inks. Do any look close to what you're looking for?

 

 

Such pretty colors..

[Guest jonathan7007]

Excellent, informative posts/photos shared, thank you! Bob Hayden, the close-by presentation of a hand-written color/legibility comparison was especially useful.

 

My question is about the way mixing inks might work...

 

I write a lot of notes for my own organization and to capture thoughts, and I like modern flex (as I can't afford to invest in multiple examples of early 20th century versions.) I noticed Monteverde's Fire Opal in Halloween's amazing swatch set/collection.

 

I found this thread by searching for "Private Reserve" because I wondered about their company's status. I have a maybe seven-year-old bottle - now low - of Orange Crush. I wondered about buying a newer bottle to see what changes might have occurred to both my older stash and perhaps, a newer formulation. Specifically, my Orange Crush appears to be darker than Bob Hayden's entry in the comparison.

 

For some months I have made Diamine Ancient Copper my most-often used reddish-brown. To try an alternative I got a bottle of Monteverde Canyon Rust. It appeared "flatter" and less interesting to my eye than Ancient Copper. I wonder how well I can approach a color I want by mixing (with attention to ratios so I can reproduce what I decide I like.) Will same-manufacturer combinations work better? In this case Fire Opal and Canyon Rust?

[bob_hayden]

While we wait for the experts to chime in, I will share what I have learned mixing inks for a few months now. I began by buying a lot of Thornton ink in bottles when it was being cleared out for about $2.50 per bottle. That was cheap enough for experiments. I also ordered an assortment of hypodermic-like syringes with blunt needles sold on eBay for use in the shop (as in mixing glue). By now I have made dozens of new colors, nearly all of them usable. Along the way I started including ink I had from long ago that had changed color over the years to the point where they were now an unattractive color. I have not had any explosions or damaged pens. I have had some surprises. One is that some mixes are about the same color over a wide range of proportions while others are very sensitive to small changes. And while usually mixing two colors will give something in between, that is not always the case. Once I added a little black to some purple to get a darker color with some shading and got instead a pastel lavender color. There is always the possibility of a chemical reaction between the dyes that creates something unexpected. Most of my test batches fit in a 10ml bottle, though I may mix larger batches of outcomes I especially like. I would imagine surprises are more likely if you mix different brands of ink. In addition to color issues this could create inks with odd properties re flow, dry time, resistance to fungus growth, etc. In fact, at one time Private Reserve had a sub-line that they urged you NOT to mix with other inks.

 

In my experience the inks from pen manufacturers are pretty stable while the inks from gourmet sellers of inks in dozens of colors have been less so. In particular, I have had multiple issues with Private Reserve and Noodler's. I have a bottle of Noodler's Black that is paler than my many grey inks. I think that is to be expected as they have had fewer years to test their inks and they may use a lot of non-standard tweaks to get various non-standard effects such as sheen. And these may be applied to some of their inks but not others, adding compatibility issues.

[Guest jonathan7007]

I have not had any explosions or damaged pens. I have had some surprises.

Glad to hear this. In high school 3 of us were [supposedly]doing advanced work in Chemistry class and had unaccompanied access to a small "Tutorial Lab." Big mistake but fun for us. Explosions were regarded as a feature, not a bug.

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences and suggestions.

 

I did see those syringes and got a few a couple of years ago. They are super handy, because they can more surgically refill a cartridge or eyedropper or ink piston chamber such as those found in a Noodler's Ahab/Neponset. They can help cleaning pens, too, as the stream is stronger than a bulb syringe.

 

You have had some interesting results! I, too, have found some combinations don't budge the needle. I think caution and cost argues for adding Goulet's small sample vials - in the colors with which I want to experiment - to other orders.

 

A few years ago I bought from a Private Reserve dealer a mixing kit with little eyedroppers and two small inkwells for mixing experiments.

 

We should have a "Frankenink" thread.

Edited December 19, 2018 by jonathan7007

[bob_hayden]

Well, if I do have any explosions I will let you know right away, and send full details so you can have one, too!-)

 

Yes, the syringes have been great. The first batch of 10ml bottles I got had too narrow a mouth for some of my pens so I ended up filling a converter with a syringe.

 

I am not sure how big the sample vials are, but you could run out of one color if the ratio turns out to be extreme. I made a nice very dark blue that a friend here would call blue-black, but the ratio was about 8 blue to 1 black. This is where it is nice to have an assortment of syringes as I could measure the 1ml accurately with a 1ml syringe and the 8 with a 5ml syringe. I probably overbought. They were described as disposable but I have yet to have one wear out or break.

 

I got a PR mixing kit but wouldn't again. It was pretty pricey, but it did get me started. I still use the very light plastic mixing cups but am thinking a shot glass would be much harder to tip over, and less likely to stain. The kit had a couple bottles but what I ended up doing was buying 100ml bottles and filling them with the Thornton ink I bought in bulk. That liberates three bottles to hold the mixes I want to recreate in quantity, but I expect to be making multiple shades of green once I decide on my favorite ratios.

 

It appears we have a forum on ink recipes which includes mixes of existing inks. Alas, it appears that only a minority of the posts include scans;-( But we could add some;-)

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/forum/126-inky-recipes/?prune_day=100&sort_by=Z-A&sort_key=last_post&topicfilter=all

Edited December 20, 2018 by bob_hayden

[amberleadavis]

Oh dear, I had to go look up ink explosions.

 

 

Not orange, but purple was cool.

[OCArt]

So 60's!

[bob_hayden]

I put lots of scans of mixes made with Thornton inks over on the Thornton thread. For example #85 at

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/302389-thornton-ink/page-5

 

and #75 in the same thread. More to follow. (This is in response to the question about mixing inks, and not particularly about the color orange.)

[MKB]

For mixing trials, I work on a piece of plastic wrap or baggie. I place one drop on the plastic of one color with a blunt syringe and with one or more clean syringes a drop of the other color(s). I use a paper clip to stir the two drops and then write on paper with the paper clip. Then add more drops as needed, keeping notes on the paper of the ratio of drops. This uses very little ink, is easy to do and gets me very close if I keep the drops about the same size. Then, when I have a winner, I make up a sample tube with the same ratio to confirm the mix.