White Ink Or Thoughts

[The_Beginner]

hiya i have some beautiful diamine ink and i was wondering if there was a safe white ink that i could use to "lighten" the color of the ink.

 

The ink i wanna test this with is diamine sherwood forest a nice deep green. Is there a way to lighten these colors

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Noodlers makes a white ink. Whiteness of the whale. Its expensive. Bulletproof. Often hard to find. It will require something like a 5:1 white: colour mix ratio to begin to make a difference and turns your ink opaque/pastel.

 

All that said, it can be fun to play with

 

The General way of lighting an ink is either

a) try diluting it with water or

b ) find a lighter shade base ink that is closer to what you are looking for

Edited April 18, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[azbobcat]

hiya i have some beautiful diamine ink and i was wondering if there was a safe white ink that i could use to "lighten" the color of the ink.

 

The ink i wanna test this with is diamine sherwood forest a nice deep green. Is there a way to lighten these colors

 

A "White Ink" is sort of any oxymoron, In essence you are talking about a paint. If you want to "lighten" a color just add distilled water, and in doing so you dilute the ink and thus it will be lighter. There is only one "white ink" so to speak and it is Noodlers "Whiteness of the Whale" , which tends to be an Invisible Ink that shows up under U.V. Noodlers Blue Ghost is a true Invisible Ink.

 

Best suggestion: Experiment with dilution of a given ink and figure out how much D.I. water you need to use per unit of ink to get the desired color you are after.

[LizEF]

De Atramentis Document Ink has a white version. The pigment (or whatever it is) settles, so you'll need to shake up the mix. Also, since you'll be mixing across brands, practice safe mixing by using a sample vial, letting the mixture percolate in said sample vial for a few days, and testing with a dip pen before putting it in a fountain pen.

 

I second the "dilute it" suggestion. I know that won't yield the same color as mixing with white, but it would be safer.

 

NOTE: The De Atramentis ink is not opaque, so if you were hoping for that, this won't get you there - I don't know of any opaque FP ink.

[The_Beginner]

by safer what do you mean what would be worst case scenario in this case.

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

by safer what do you mean what would be worst case scenario in this case.

Mixing inks, especially across brands can have undesired results. Precipitation, turning to gel, turning to goo, separation and other chemical reactions.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/223444-ink-mixes-that-didnt-work/

 

Worst case scenario is probably: you mixed IN the bottle and then put it straight into a good pen.

 

And then the mix goes south. So now the entire bottle of ink is ruined/wasted and the pen may be ruined. Maybe it hardens and plugs the feed, maybe it melts the feed plastic. Maybe it damages the body of the pen (piston filler/vac). This is the worst case scenario. Maybe you accidentally recreate superchrome / 51 ink and put it into a vintage Parker Vacumatic and it melts your pen from the inside out...

 

General best practice is to do any mixing in small quantities in a separate container, like a sample vial, and let the mix sit for at least 24 hrs before putting it into a pen. Then to only use cheaper pens you can disassemble for a while until you KNOW the mix is stable. I like twsbi ecos since they allow me to see the ink in the pen so i can keep an eye on the mix. Also they disassemble nicely.

 

Good luck. And post any recipes you come up with in the ink recipe sub forum!

[lgsoltek]

White ink makes it pastel, not lighter:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/301933-pastelize-your-life-permanently-de-atramentis-document-ink-white/

[toymachine]

Helpful thread. Having the same issue. Tried the diamine but the result was, as noted above a white ink that looks like the white ink from a gel pen. While this was a good effect it wasn't my intention. Has anyone tried Noodlers "White of the Whale"? Does it yield better results or the same milky, gel-like effect?

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/353347-white-ink-or-thoughts/?p=4314050

[DilettanteG]

Helpful thread. Having the same issue. Tried the diamine but the result was, as noted above a white ink that looks like the white ink from a gel pen. While this was a good effect it wasn't my intention. Has anyone tried Noodlers "White of the Whale"? Does it yield better results or the same milky, gel-like effect?

Noodlers Whiteness of the Whale is specifically for mixing. As noted above, you’ll get more of a pastel effect. If you want to write with an opaque white, there’s Noodlers White Peacock. I can’t remember if it’s fountain pen safe or not.

 

For more on ink mixing: http://harmless-dilettante.blogspot.com/2010/09/ink-mixing.html

 

edited to add: White Peacock is not fountain pen safe http://harmless-dilettante.blogspot.com/2010/08/noodlers-white-peacock.html

[amberleadavis]

If you want to lighten an ink without making it a pastel, try adding Noodler's Ghost Blue.

[Intensity]

Just adding water makes an ink lighter, reducing the concentration of the dye.