Could You Suggest A Good Fp Ink Recipe Using Actual Chemicals?

[trayvyz]

I have always wanted to try mixing my own ink. Right now I have access to a very large variety of chemicals including triphenylmethane dyes (methylene blue, coomassie blue, cresol dyes etc), surfactants, solvents, antimicrobials and ways to pipette/weigh them with precision. What I don't have is a reliable recipe that I could follow. Most people seem to mix already existing components to create mixtures with desired colors but I want a list of ingredients down to the chemical level. I have an idea as to what types of compounds go into an ink but I have no idea about the range of concentrations for each compound that could give good results, at least as a starting point. I have tried reading patents for famous inks but they only provide vague information, like all patents do. Does anyone have a good chemical recipe for ink? I have a background in chemistry so please DO become technical if necessary!

[sciumbasci]

I have always wanted to try mixing my own ink. Right now I have access to a very large variety of chemicals including triphenylmethane dyes (methylene blue, coomassie blue, cresol dyes etc), surfactants, solvents, antimicrobials and ways to pipette/weigh them with precision. What I don't have is a reliable recipe that I could follow. Most people seem to mix already existing components to create mixtures with desired colors but I want a list of ingredients down to the chemical level. I have an idea as to what types of compounds go into an ink but I have no idea about the range of concentrations for each compound that could give good results, at least as a starting point. I have tried reading patents for famous inks but they only provide vague information, like all patents do. Does anyone have a good chemical recipe for ink? I have a background in chemistry so please DO become technical if necessary!

Chemistry is beyond me.

I tried, I really tried.

 

Perhaps you could try to recreate the medieval blue?

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-followed-15th-century-recipe-recreate-medieval-blue-ink-180974709/

[trayvyz]

Chemistry is beyond me.

I tried, I really tried.

 

Perhaps you could try to recreate the medieval blue?

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-followed-15th-century-recipe-recreate-medieval-blue-ink-180974709/

 

Too vague again, plus no way to source the berries.

 

I was looking something more like "1% glycerol, 0.1-0.3% sodium benzoate, 0.01-0.07% bromocresol blue, adjust pH to 5.5...". Most manufacturing sectors of the chemical industry have handbooks that cover almost everything there is to know about their products. Fountain pen ink doesn't seem to be one of them. Scientific literature is also very very scarce on the topic. It's as if it's a huge trade secret between fountain pen manufacturers.

[Parker51]

It is possible to obtain a copy of an early Parker's formula from patent documents, but I would not suggest using them as some of their inks were not particularly nice to pens, specifically the quick drying ones developed for the Parker 51.

[peroride]

maybe something in these threads?

• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/195141-making-fp-ink-from-cold-water-soluble-dye/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/2183-make-your-own-ink/

[sansenri]

difficult question because (my opinion) ink producers keep their recipes very secret!

 

Here is a starting point with methylene blue powder

 

- 100ml distilled water
- 1 coffee spoon citric acid;
- 2 coffee spoons of methylene blue powder
- 5 ml glicerine

 

sorry the recipe is not accurate in the measurements (coffee spoons...), I have not tried it myself either, but might get you testing easily as you already have the starting materials...

 

curious to know what you get

 

my personal opinion is that methylene blue is one of the first dyes to have been used for fountain pen inks and I suspect all inks like Pelikan 4001, Aurora Blue, Visconti blue, Montblanc Royal blue, Parker Quink and several similar others use this dye...

Edited June 3, 2020 by sansenri

[sansenri]

two other untested chemical formulations

fountain pen ink 1
gallic acid 100 g
iron sulphate 150 g
glacial acetic acid 10 g
methylene blue 35 g
distilled water 10 liter (!)

fountain pen ink 2
gallic acid 100 g
iron sulphate 150 g
tartaric acid 10 g
methylene blue 35 g
distilled water 10 liter (!)

 

I would reduce the amounts by 10...

 

the second one looks easier (tartaric acid)

both are clearly ferro-gallic recipes

 

long time ago I used to make my own photographic formulations starting from raw chemicals (to which I had access at university, I'm a chemist too...) I also used to make my own photographic paper by making a sensitized pigmented gelatin which I would paint on cotton paper (all this in the dark of course...) which I would then expose through large format negatives by contact using an UV lamp...

 

good old days of youth, fun, experimenting and nights without sleep...

Edited June 4, 2020 by sansenri

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Here is a recipe:

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/care/51_ink.htm

Patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/4f/ae/35/f1dedf651f6e35/US1932248.pdf

Pls note this ink is the most destructive ink ever marketed ...

 

So its probably not a good idea to make it...

 

I only offer it in the hopes it will help you figure out where to start. Not in any kind of expectation you would actually replicate Parker 51 ink

 

Good luck. I look forward to the review of your results!

 

Edit: if you DO make 51 Tunis Blue, I very much would like some please!

 

Edit: patent for superchrome. Slightly less deadly

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f2/99/62/34f89aa3ff3c70/US2528390.pdf

 

Not sure on this one. Maybe two Quink colours?...

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ff/d4/d0/7f2b2878f8a089/US1972395.pdf

 

Recipes are contained in the patents (some more complete than others)

Edited June 4, 2020 by IThinkIHaveAProblem

[BrassRatt]

See if this thread gives you anything useful: Using Dye To Make Ink

[cellmatrix]

Here is a post in another thread which may be of help.

[Octopus Goodness]

This might be a late response but... I've mixed my own fountain pen ink for 3 years now. It never works 'perfectly' but now that I'm finally using actual ink (too much schoolwork to do ink right now) I'm finding even some of my simplest recipes work equivalently, and there's one that I seriously think is better behaved than Noodler's X-feather.

I never really got deep into the chemistry, but I find that a concentrated carbon black mixed with some solvent, surfactant, water and glycerin works pretty well. Generally you just have to feel your way from there, mixing in compounds that help the rheology. I've messed with sucrose as an anti- feathering agent (it works insanely well, if you can keep it from fermenting) as well as PVA (it clogs pens if there's enough to stop feathering, but increases nib adhesion in small amounts to make extra shading inks) Use a cheap pen- just because it's not going to dissolve anything doesn't mean it won't clog, although I haven't had a clog I couldn't fix so far, even when I unwittingly filled a fountain pen with straight India ink.