white ink

[tzmcneill]

I was wondering, and maybe this might be a challenge for some industrious ink maker, has anyone ever seen a white fountain pen ink? I'm asking for a specific reason, an opaque white ink would make several colors possible that I currently am not finding. For example, white with black could make a saturated gray, etc. Is this color just very difficult to make, or, since it is not a color one would write with, is it just not produced.

Just curious.

 

tom.

[Betty]

I think adding white to any color besides black would produce a milky color .

[OldGriz]

I think that the amount of solids content needed to create a pure opaque white would clog the feed of any fountain pen it was loaded in. I remember reading somewhere about someone who had modified the feed and nib of a pen so that it could be used with India ink... it was done for cartoonists...

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

White ink at this point can only flow down an ebonite (hard rubber) feed because of some properties.

 

Nathan is working on it.

 

By the way, I use India ink every day in my Parker 88. (Pelikan Fount India)

 

Dillon

[Goodwhiskers]

Nathan is working on it.

That's Nathan Tardif (spelled with one "f"), the never-resting inventor of Noodler's Ink. His username here on the FPN is "Eternally Noodling," and he occasionally posts messages (they can be found through the FPN's "Search" utility). I haven't met him personally, although it would be an honor to do so.

[Eternally Noodling]

I was wondering, and maybe this might be a challenge for some industrious ink maker, has anyone ever seen a white fountain pen ink?  I'm asking for a specific reason, an opaque white ink would make several colors possible that I currently am not finding.  For example, white with black could make a saturated gray, etc.  Is this color just very difficult to make, or, since it is not a color one would write with, is it just not produced.

Just curious.

 

tom.

There are only 35 dropper bottles of a custom shop label for an art supply dealer in India, they have artwork of a catfish in the pool near the Taj Mahal....which of course was made white on the label. It is a weird non-water based ink that flows like a water based ink and is a very intense white. I still do not have the guts to try ANY of the white prototypes in a market test here in the states or in Europe. They have to be water based and hopefully...if I can swing it...the usual pH neutral rating. Thus far white ink prototypes HATE narrow plastic based convertor to feed transfer areas of modern pens....they do not like narrow plastic feed channels either.

 

It is bulletproof though. I find it interesting that so many like the high acid "water resistant" conventional inks of central europe while they use pens with trim rings. The reason I posted the aluminum/brass/bronze experiments with acid inks on the Noodler's site is simply because every modern pen with a section trim ring that is corroded or broken has always had the tell tale signs of acid ink and did not simply become that way over the course of a couple years due to air and exposure to moisture!

 

pH levels of 1.5 and 2.0-3.0 destroy trim rings that are plated...but still are made for the most part of base metals such as aluminum, brass, bronze, etc... Likewise pH levels of 9 to 12.... You can see the effect in any experiment within hours - not just days. If you crumple some aluminum foil and drop it into a fluid oz. of ink....and it heats up in your hand, produces white smoke, bubbles, and turns into water and mud.....then you have an ink with an unfriendly pH level. It is that simple.

 

So..there should be no shellac (as in India inks) and there should be pH neutrality...and when the white is water based and pH neutral it will have a test market trial in the US and Europe. Until then, it remains a novelty for artist supplies. I AM working on it...even if the market turns out to be only 3 bottles....I will in time solve this problem!

[saintsimon]

...  I find it interesting that so many like the high acid "water resistant" conventional  inks of central europe while they use pens with trim rings.  ...

I think, it is less about 'liking' than about choice.

 

These inks appeal to the traditionally thinking, and are 'established', e.g as official 'Registrar's' inks in some places. And there is actually no choice, as nobody (except you) shows up with new formulas. So, if you go into a shop, if there is any waterproof ink at all on the shelves, it is iron gall nut stuff, by Lamy, MB etc. (those even don't declare that fact on their German packages).

Edited March 24, 2006 by saintsimon

[krz]

I AM working on it...even if the market turns out to be only 3 bottles....I will in time solve this problem!

Well, make it 4. I need at least 1!

[*david*]

Hi,

 

White ink at this point can only flow down an ebonite (hard rubber) feed because of some properties.

 

Nathan is working on it.

 

By the way, I use India ink every day in my Parker 88. (Pelikan Fount India)

 

Dillon

Pelikan Fount India is poorly named. It is good ink, I'm sure, but it is NOT India ink. India ink contains shellac, which will permanently bond to the inside and outside of your pen, and build up like paint. Don't say you use India ink in a fountain pen, because (a) some poor newbie will get the wrong idea and ruin his pen, and (b ) it simply isn't true.

Edited April 4, 2006 by *david*

[artbrown]

I was wondering, and maybe this might be a challenge for some industrious ink maker, has anyone ever seen a white fountain pen ink? I'm asking for a specific reason, an opaque white ink would make several colors possible that I currently am not finding. For example, white with black could make a saturated gray, etc. Is this color just very difficult to make, or, since it is not a color one would write with, is it just not produced.

Just curious.

 

tom.

 

We will be recieving "The Whitenessw of the Whale", Noodlers whit ink early next week. There is a limited production of 288 bottles by Nathan. They sell for $12.00 per bottle. We will ship on a first come first serve while our small supply lasts. It can be ordered at http://www.artbrown.com.

[RLTodd]

Looking forward to reading a review of Mr. Tardif's limited production white fountain pen ink, "Whiteness of the Whale." Off hand I can not think of a use for it, but give a baby a hammer............

 

 

[bbqncigars]

I just ordered my bottle. Now I can ponder the possibilities whilst I wait for delivery.

 

 

 

Wayne

[LDF]

Looking forward to reading a review of Mr. Tardif's limited production white fountain pen ink, "Whiteness of the Whale." Off hand I can not think of a use for it, but give a baby a hammer............

 

 

There are dark colored stationery that could use white ink.

I won't be the first to use it. But will give it a try provided there's no harm to feeds over the long term.

[kissing]

If you wrote with it on black paper, for instance, would it still come out white like current liquid-paper-pens?

[Tricia]

The "Whiteness of the Whale" isn't an opaque ink in that it doesn't write white on black.

[Shelley]

Two thoughts: tattoists use white ink...no idea what it is etc, and possibly noodles blue ghost may let you water down colours...

[BillTheEditor]

If you wrote with it on black paper, for instance, would it still come out white like current liquid-paper-pens?

Nope. It's kind of strange. When I write on a black Moleskine Cahier cover with it, I can't see the writing as white at all -- at first. Right after writing, I can read it because it shows as a blacker color than the color of the cover. Over the next 24 hours, most of the writing slowly turns white. However, this does not always happen. Sometimes the writing simply disappears almost completely until you shine an ultraviolet light on it.

 

Strange. Very "Moby Dick," in a way.

 

Haven't tried it on any other color of paper except for white where it just matches the paper almost exactly (duh) unless the light hits it just right. When I get more time, I will try some other experiments.

[Tweel]

The "Whiteness of the Whale" isn't an opaque ink in that it doesn't write white on black.

Heck -- I just lost interest. I was hoping for something like Pelikan, et al, white drawing ink, but with dye instead of pigment, so that it <A> works in a fountain pen and <B> doesn't constantly settle out.

 

-- Brian

Edited August 8, 2007 by Tweel