School me on Pigmented Inks

[Noihvo]

On 1/6/2021 at 12:52 PM, Arkanabar said:

India ink is made for dip pens and often contains gelatin, gum arabic or (most often) shellac.  All are death on a feed.

 

[yazeh]

7 hours ago, Noihvo said:

 

Or if you're using  an Indigraph or Ackerman pen

[High_Noon]

Noihvo:  Thanks.  I found out that my mother used the Pelikan India ink for calligraphy many years ago.  She did use calligraphy pens, I'll have to root around next time I am in town and see if I can find the pen set she used. 

[thorn]

On 1/3/2021 at 10:13 PM, Gomer said:

Thanks for that.  It was interesting.   But, I have to tell you that Noodlers black is not dye based.  I have looked at it under a microscope and it is a colorless carrier and a suspension of black particles.  I suspect the cellulose reaction claim is BS.  It's probably acrylic based.

 

I have a couple of Noodlers bulletproof inks and I think that might be true. I have black and I had not used it in a while and it was weak when I loaded it into a pen. I shook it and it was fine. The cellulose reaction dyes only last a couple of days and need  catalyst/alkali/urea from what I remember. You have to use them fairly quickly. 

 

The particle based inks tend to dry up and the flow slows down. So I have been experimenting with Platinum Carbon Ink and mixing it with some blue dye I have left over from experimenting with making ink. Just a few drops with a few ml of dyed ink I made and it is waterproof, of course a little darker.  So far it flows better is what I was looking for. I put a paper sample in my southern facing window to see how it holds up to light. The dye based ones tend to fade.