Scented Inks - Adding Scent

[Eoghan2009]

I only like two aftershaves, the pinecone scented one and cedarwood. You will realise that I prefer woody "masculine" scents.

 

Looking on EBAY I found one black cedarwood ink which was extortionate. Can you add essential oils to standard inks, without changing the ink properties?

 

An oil is essentially an oil but would it dissolve in the ink solvents? Never sure what is in an ink to dissolve the pigments.

 

I do not consider rose or lavender as scents I could entertain.

[Oldane]

I would not use an ink which contains solvents which can dissolve oil (if such an ink exists). If it can dissolve oil, it may also dissolve this or that in the pen. That said, most inks use water soluble dyes, so special organic solvents are not needed. Often additives such as wetting agents are added. Normally, with iron gall inks a measured amount of acid is needed to prevent (too rapid) precipitation of insuluble iron salts. Some ink have phenol derivates or other compounds added to prevent fungus and bacterial growth. Some special modern inks may have other additives added too. But hardly solvents like ethanol and the like. Oils in the ink will form droplets which can clog the feed.

 

BTW, I wouldn't like my writing to have any smell - but that's just me.

[Maurizio]

You can add essential oils to inks but you must be very careful about it and test the scented ink in pens which you can afford to lose before trying in expensive pens.

 

Many essential oils have corrosive properties so you must be careful. As you know, orange oil for example is used in cleaning liquids because of its ability to dissolve grease etc - and I think, also moderately bleach surface areas. Clove oil is also fairly caustic and should not be applied to human skin and thus should not be used in our pens with their delicate feeds. Be careful and read up on the oils you wish to experiment with before putting them in ink or in pens.

 

That said, I have successfully added basil oil to ink without any problem. I have not tried other essential oils. I have added 2 drops from the dropper bottle in which the oil comes to a standard roughly 4 oz bottle of Sailor Jentle Blue ink. This was 4 months ago and I have run that ink through a Sailor 1911, a Pilot Custom Kaede, and 2 Pilot Vanishing Point pens without any problems so far.

 

This works for me. It is not a recommendation to go out and do it. Essential oils are powerful substances so do your research first and proceed cautiously. I am pleased with my basil ink and will probably make another batch but Im not planning on experimenting with more scents. Basil oil is supposed to give a small mental lift and I use the ink in my office. I also use the oil applied to a tissue and diffuse it in my office in the afternoon to accompany my afternoon cup of coffee. So the ink for me is a bit of fun in the office.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Maurizio

[Fermata]

I did this once, it was a big mistake.

 

Just as the same perfume and aftershaves smell quite differently on one person to another, I put a single drop of perfume in some ink, thinking that it would remind me of that person, well, tbh......the ink stank within days.

[Karmachanic]

Back in the old days, when inks were boring and came in five colours, one would spritz a little cologne/perfume on the inside of the envelope before sealing. Still works in these modern times.

 

There is no Monsieur de Givenchy ink.

[A Smug Dill]

https://www.de-atramentis.com/en/ink-inks-cedar-.html

 

You can add scents, including that of cedar, to ink. Don't ask me how, though; I don't know the answer, and it's not a DIY question I'm inclined to consider. I prefer not to reinvent the wheel, especially when I don't know what's safe to do but ink manufacturers of repute do; and EUR 12.80 (less tax) for a 35ml is hardly extortionate.

 

Obviously, if the green colour doesn't suit you, and you want what you want and that's that, then it's up to whoever can supply it to charge their asking prices because that's what they want in return, in a fair exchange where both sides are happy. Or you can just compromise and add some plain black ink of the same brand to the cedar scented ink to get a darker colour; I'm confident the manufacturer will be happy to tell you whether it's safe to do so if you ask the question.

Edited December 4, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Maurizio]

Started new experiment today. Put 2 drops of cedar essential oil into a 4oz bottle of Sailor Jentle Blue ink and loaded it into a Noodler's Konrad Pen.

 

I will report any negative effects to the ebonite feed if I see any. I dont expect any, but I guess I'll have to see.

[Tom Kellie]

Started new experiment today. Put 2 drops of cedar essential oil into a 4oz bottle of Sailor Jentle Blue ink and loaded it into a Noodler's Konrad Pen.

 

I will report any negative effects to the ebonite feed if I see any. I dont expect any, but I guess I'll have to see.

 

~ Maurizio:

 

I'll be interested to read about the results of your experiment.

Tom K.

[Maurizio]

So far so good but obviously, too early for any conclusions. It’'s nice to write with the cedar-scented ink but it remains to be seen if this little pleasure has a downside.

 

I’ll report back in maybe 3 months or so.

[lgsoltek]

Perfumes are alcohol-based, whereas inks are water-based. It would be cautious to check out first whether a certain essential oil or aroma chemical is soluble in water. Several websites (esp. those who sell perfumery materials) would be useful for this (The Good Scent Company, Pell Wall, etc. - no affiliation).

Edited January 10, 2020 by Lgsoltek

[Maurizio]

I don't wish to be disagreeable and I assume you simply didn't look closely at the bottle. But, as you can see from the bottle depicted, this is not a "perfume" and does not contain any alcohol; but is a distilled essential oil. That certainly does not mean that this oil is not caustic.

 

Of course everything from the 'net must be taken with large grains of salt and a healthy skepticism. I am no professional chemist, and unfortunately, I don't know any. The link below is not from anything more than a commercial website, not any sort of official pharmacopoeia. But, since cedar oil is - anecdotally - apparently safe to apply directly to human skin (unlike other essential oils such as clove), I am making the assumption that it is not caustic at least not in the amount of the small droplets in put into the ink. Therefore, I have acted on that assumption by putting it into my ink and into my pen with an ebonite feed and steel nib because I believe the risk is relatively low that it will do any damage. I don't have enough faith in my assumptions yet however to risk the adulterated ink in any of my more expensive pens like my Pilots and Sailors. I have set a 3-month tickler and will use the pen and continue to refill it with same ink and report back here then with any negative effects.

 

https://draxe.com/essential-oils/cedarwood-essential-oil/

 

 

I would love to hear from any chemists or other knowledgeable people tuning in, and encourage others to try some experiments with an oil of their choice and an inexpensive pen like a Wing Sung or other such pen.

[Tom Kellie]

I have set a 3-month tickler and will use the pen and continue to refill it with same ink and report back here then with any negative effects.

 

~ Maurizio:

 

I've made a mental note to check back here in mid-April to see if any results might have been reported.

I'm interested in encre parfumée, scented inks, therefore your experiment is well worth following.

Thank you for undertaking this investigation.

Tom K.

[lgsoltek]

I don't wish to be disagreeable and I assume you simply didn't look closely at the bottle. But, as you can see from the bottle depicted, this is not a "perfume" and does not contain any alcohol; but is a distilled essential oil. That certainly does not mean that this oil is not caustic.

 

Of course everything from the 'net must be taken with large grains of salt and a healthy skepticism. I am no professional chemist, and unfortunately, I don't know any. The link below is not from anything more than a commercial website, not any sort of official pharmacopoeia. But, since cedar oil is - anecdotally - apparently safe to apply directly to human skin (unlike other essential oils such as clove), I am making the assumption that it is not caustic at least not in the amount of the small droplets in put into the ink. Therefore, I have acted on that assumption by putting it into my ink and into my pen with an ebonite feed and steel nib because I believe the risk is relatively low that it will do any damage. I don't have enough faith in my assumptions yet however to risk the adulterated ink in any of my more expensive pens like my Pilots and Sailors. I have set a 3-month tickler and will use the pen and continue to refill it with same ink and report back here then with any negative effects.

 

https://draxe.com/essential-oils/cedarwood-essential-oil/

 

 

I would love to hear from any chemists or other knowledgeable people tuning in, and encourage others to try some experiments with an oil of their choice and an inexpensive pen like a Wing Sung or other such pen.

What I mean is that perfumes are alcohol-based, so putting essential oils in inks is different from putting essential oils in alcohol to make perfume. If you put perfumery materials in ink they may not dissolve.

[inkstainedruth]

A lot of flavorings are soluble in alcohols; I'm guessing that the scents in essential oils might be similar. So, just because the bottle doesn't *say* alcohol, it doesn't mean that it isn't an ingredient in the essential oil -- you don't know how the product is made.

I'd be very interested in your results. But I'm wondering whether you could ALSO try contacting a company like J Herbin or De Atramentis (both of whom are known for making scented inks) to see how much it would cost for them to do up a special batch for you (mind you, it might not be cheap).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

But I'm wondering whether you could ALSO try contacting a company like J Herbin or De Atramentis (both of whom are known for making scented inks) to see how much it would cost for them to do up a special batch for you (mind you, it might not be cheap).

 

 

I think that's a great suggestion! Didn't think of the idea of a custom-made batch before, but only the fact there is no need to reinvent the wheel and gain the professional know-how as a consumer.

[AntiqueApprentice]

Hi

Like the others I will be very interested to hear of your ongoing thoughts and results with this project.

I had previously bought the De Atrementis malt whisky and chocolate scented inks but have found a few years down the track anyway that the scent does not last long enough. Pity.

Thanks for sharing your experiment.

Cheers

AA

[Maurizio]

What I mean is that perfumes are alcohol-based, so putting essential oils in inks is different from putting essential oils in alcohol to make perfume. If you put perfumery materials in ink they may not dissolve.

Ah . . . now I understand. Thanks for the clarification.

 

On the question of solubility, I think I can safely assert that the two essential oils I have experimented with so far have dissolved thoroughly in the ink I have put them into. Of course I gave each bottle a thorough shake and so far there has been no noticeable oil separation. Sailor Jentle Blue is a nice free -flowing ink and the oils have so far appeared to have dispersed in the liquid completely. I have not seen any oil floating at the top of the bottles. If I have a chance this weekend maybe I'll try to take a photo.

 

As I noted above, I have had no problem with the basil oil in Sailor Jentle Blue and have felt so confident about that mixture that I have gone out on a limb so to speak and put that ink into both a Pilot Vanishing Point and a Pilot Custom Kaede which is essentially like a Custom 74 but with a beautiful wooden body. That was a month ago and I have had no ill effects so far and even refilled the VP once already.

 

I don’t have enough ink to give to all, but if there is some brave soul who would like to try the basil ink in the continental US, I will be happy to send a sample..Of course I would accept no responsibly for any damage. What I would suggest, if you're brave, is you put the ink in an inexpensive Chinese pen or something else you wouldn’t cry about if it was ruined. Obviously, I myself feel confident enough about this mixture that I've put it into some good pens.

 

The cedar ink is a new experiment which I'm not yet willing to trust without more time in inexpensive pens. Tonight I'm also going to put the cedar ink into a Wing Sung 3008.

 

Re contacting JHerbin or others that might not be a bad idea if I had an unlimited budget but any kind of custom batch of ink - assuming they would do it - would no doubt be prohibitively costly. Maybe if we got 5000 or so FPN to make such a request they might think about it at a reasonable market cost.

[A Smug Dill]

Re contacting JHerbin or others that might not be a bad idea if I had an unlimited budget but any kind of custom batch of ink - assuming they would do it - would no doubt be prohibitively costly. Maybe if we got 5000 or so FPN to make such a request they might think about it at a reasonable market cost.

 

 

Probably not that expensive on a per ml or per bottle basis. I'm only making a wild stab in the dark, but I seriously doubt the minimum order quantity with, say, De Atramentis for a custom scented ink would be more than 100 of its standard 35ml bottles, at no more than twice the effective price per bottle of scented inks in its regular catalogue, properly packaged in a manner that the purchaser could easily resell on FPN, eBay, or through his/her own retail channel.

[txomsy]

Well, some suggestions are to start looking for water soluble scents.

 

Tea and wine have been used in dip nib inks for centuries... one may assume that anything extracted in tea or similar concoctions should be water soluble.

 

They may be water soluble but not pH neutral. That's an important point. Wikipedia may help find information on the main components of some of these concoctions and following the links to those, one may be able to find info on pH and solubility. At least one can always google "NAME solubility pH". PubChem is a great resource, as is PubMed.

 

Now that "Natural Medicine" is on the upsurge, it should not be difficult to find books on plants, their active components and extraction methods: I would stay away from scents that require alcohol or organic solvent extraction and concentrate on the ones that are water-extracted.

 

Note that none of this ensures it will work, infusions typically extract many components, some of which might interact with some ink components, but as these are usually a trade secret, one still needs to carefully check by sensible experimentation (by that I mean, try it first with small quantities of ink and even smaller of scent, add scent gradually, check for precipitates/supernatants, try them first on valueless pens, patience, extend tests on time, did I mention patience?, being patient...).

[booboo_vn]

I added lavender (Lavanula Off.) oil to blue pilot ink and use in Kankuno pen.