Are Blackstone Inks Vegan Friendly ?

[JustWrite Pen Company]

I've been asked this question so many times and at first it had me scratching my head until I did a bit of research. I assumed Vegans were simply vegetarians and wondered why the question was being asked since fountain pen ink isn't a foodstuff.

Vegans aren't just vegetarians, they are opposed to the exploitation of animals and avoid all animal based products. So, the question finally made sense.

It seems important to a lot of people so I decided to check whether Blackstone Inks do meet the Vegan Friendly criteria. I wasn't all that surprised to find they did they did but I was surprised to learn that glycerine, which is used in a lot of fountain pen inks as a humectant is usually derived from animal sources.

We don't use glycerine so we were able to issue the following statement for the information of Vegan fountain pen users which there seem to be quite a few of based on the number of inquiries I've been receiving.

Blackstone inks do not contain any animal products or animal derived ingredients and no animal derived materials are used in the manufacturing process. None of the ingredients used in Blackstone inks contain any animal products or animal derived ingredients and have not been tested on animals.

Blackstone inks do not contain glycerine, a humectant and lubricant often used in inks, that is usually derived from animal by products.

Edited May 3, 2019 by JustWrite Pen Company

[Scylax]

Thank you so much! I was one of those inquirers and I really appreciate this detailed response!

[mke]

Glycerine is not only made from animal products, it can be made from plants, it can be made fully synthetically.

So, if your product's properties can be improved by adding glycerine, you can do it without hesitation.

Edited May 3, 2019 by mke

[Frozenoak]

So, my glycerin is ok? Glycerin Vegetable - 1 Quart (43 oz.) - Non GMO - Sustainable Palm Based - USP - KOSHER - PURE - Pharmaceutical Grade https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004C7MTLA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qtrZCbWNTQNMD

[mana]

Very cool, thanks for letting us know. And yeah, if you can source plant based/cruelty free glycerine then that is definitely an option.

[JustWrite Pen Company]

So, my glycerin is ok? Glycerin Vegetable - 1 Quart (43 oz.) - Non GMO - Sustainable Palm Based - USP - KOSHER - PURE - Pharmaceutical Grade https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004C7MTLA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qtrZCbWNTQNMD

 

Yes, since it's clearly branded vegetable glycerine it's safe to assume it's made from vegetable sources.

[Honeybadgers]

Man being vegan must be hard if you have to be this specific about every single possible minutiae of your life.

 

Not being critical of any vegans, it's their life to live. Just an observation.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Scylax]

It's a lot easier now that companies are starting to make this kind of information available, especially on websites where it can be found easily without having to send messages

 

Anyway, I've been looking into buying some of these lovely inks although I'm really curious - what is a "surrogate" iron gall ink? One that acts like an iron gall without being formulated like one?

[mana]

Man being vegan must be hard if you have to be this specific about every single possible minutiae of your life.

 

Sorry for continuing off topic, just have to chime in a bit. Also, feel free to browse past this post if you do not find it interesting (or to your liking). Thanks!

 

I would say that it is far from "being specific about every single possible minutiae" of one's life, more like, it is just a part.

 

The fundamental idea, or let's say, guiding principle in veganism is rather simple. It is to avoid exploitation of animals and causing harm to them. Well, that is the primary thing for people who are vegans for ethical reasons (animal rights), loads of other things factor in such as the environment, health etc. but that varies person to person.

 

Anyhow... how does it play out in real life? It is fairly simple, vegans do not use (or avoid where possible) products that are made out of animals or contain parts made out of animals (dietary choices like no meat and dairy being the obvious ones), or products or services that are made by exploiting animals in other ways.

 

Sadly, such harm can not be avoided entirely even with an entirely plant based diet (agriculture and modern industrial scale farming does kill animals in the process inadvertently, pharmaceuticals have mandatory animal testing built in, same applies to some foods thanks to FDA etc.) but that said, the strive for that is there. It doesn't mean that vegans would be all consumed by thinking about what they can or cannot do.

 

Veganism is not a religion or a cult with dogma that dictates your life 24/7, it is more like a collection of a few basic rules/guidelines and it all flows from there. So yeah, it is more like a philosophy.

 

How difficult is this all then? It really depends on what one's baseline on general awareness about what one consumes is (you care if you care) and like Scylax said, being a vegan has definitely gotten a whole lot easier during the last decade or so.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading.

[JustWrite Pen Company]

It's a lot easier now that companies are starting to make this kind of information available, especially on websites where it can be found easily without having to send messages

 

I get asked a lot of questions about Blackstone Ink, some of them quite surprising, but the Vegan question became more and more regular until I decided to look into it and decided since so many people were concerned about it that I should do something. I sort of assumed that no animal products were involved but I didn't know for sure until I checked it out and glycerine was a surprise.

 

I think most people would be surprised that cochineal, a common food dye that's been around for years, is made from crushed insects and animal derived glycerine is made from tallow, an euphemism for rendered animal fat from slaughterhouses.

 

 

Anyway, I've been looking into buying some of these lovely inks although I'm really curious - what is a "surrogate" iron gall ink? One that acts like an iron gall without being formulated like one?

 

Barrister Blue was originally a 'surrogate' iron gall ink but when blue nano pigments became available to us, we changed the ink to a pigment ink.

 

The industrial chemist I consult with suggested referring to it as a 'Surrogate Iron Gall' ink' or a 'Ferro Tannate' ink because it was quite different from traditional iron gall inks. Iron gall inks were traditionally made from Oak Galls, hence the name, but the original Blackstone Blue was made directly with tannic acid without an oak gall in sight. The term was used for the sake of clarity so people wouldn't assume the ink was made the traditional way by boiling oak galls to extract the tannic acid.

[Scylax]

Awesome! So theyre all pigment? I like that best. Yeah, animal Ingredients can be quite unexpected. Cochineal/Carmine is a major one in many areas. Shellac too for the same reason. In the food world its harder because some ingredients can be truly unexpected- like animal derived vitamins added to orange juice!

[bluebellrose]

Awesome! So theyre all pigment? I like that best. Yeah, animal Ingredients can be quite unexpected. Cochineal/Carmine is a major one in many areas. Shellac too for the same reason. In the food world its harder because some ingredients can be truly unexpected- like animal derived vitamins added to orange juice!

ha reminds me of the class where the prof tried to demonstrate making ink using cochineal and I passed around my jinhao filled with j herbin blue pervenche