Water Resistance Test of a Few Inks

[NeoTiger]

I was bored, so I decided to test my collection of inks for water resistance. Mainly for my own interest really, I already had expectations for the results from what the inks were advertised as anyway.

 

The paper used was normal printer A4 paper and the same pen was used to write all samples (DaniTrio Tactical pen, M nib, dipped in each ink only... of course thoroughly flushed before dipping into the next).

 

List of inks:

 

Noodler's Black (bulletproof)

Lamy Black

Parker Quink Blue-Black

Waterman Florida Blue

Rohrer & Klingner Salix (iron gall ink)

Rohrer & Klingner Solferino

Visconti Red

Noodler's Tiananmen

Private Reserve Black Cherry

Private Reserve Spearmint

Noodler's Hunter Green (bulletproof)

[NeoTiger]

And here are the results of the test.

 

The paper was soaked into a bath of room temperature water for a period of time (at least an hour I think), then taken out and dried on a table.

 

Most of the results were as expected. PR Black Cherry did better than expected, leaving most of the red behind. All other inks faded except the bulletproof and Salix.

[NeoTiger]

And just one more photo, an action shot of the inks under water. Just liked the effect of the inks floating off.

[krz]

Thanks, that's good to know. I like that Black Cherry!

[southpaw]

Thanks for the tests. I liked the under water shot

[Goodwhiskers]

Cool, indeed !

[jbb]

NeoTiger,

 

Thank you for the idea of testing inks. I've been wanting some waterproof ink but my budget is very tight right now. I ran a test of my own thanks to your post and found that I have a blue ink (the label is in some foreign alphabet so I don't even know what brand it is) that holds up fabulously under water. Thank you!

 

JBB

[NeoTiger]

Thanks for all the comments

 

JBB, thanks for the praise, but I can't claim credit for the water testing of inks. Many people have done this before already on FPN and there's a pinned topic in the Ink Reviews forum that has a list of them, some with a much larger range of inks tested.

 

Anyway, glad that people enjoyed my test.

[kissing]

that Noodler's bulletproof black sure stands out in the action shot

 

Makes the photo almost surreal

[Viseguy]

The before and after pics are informative, but the during shot is downright pretty! NeoTiger, your demo raises the bar for all the rest of us inkies!

[Margana]

Good job! Black Cherry is looking better and better to me. Thanks for pointing out one of its better qualities.

[Oldtimer]

i haven't done a formal test "per se" of Tiananmen, but no matter how much time has passed after a sketch, when i swipe a water brush over the lines they wash out and give me a nice shading on the sketch.

[amberleadavis]

Wow, I thought Tiananmen would do better.

[Elyptic]

Great test! I'm now curious how some of my inks fare. I do have Noodler's Bulletproof Black, which seems to set the benchmark.

 

I just may do something similar as I have a whole host of pens inked with different inks at the moment!

 

May I ask how long you let the ink dry before submerging in the water? I know some inks need time to really set into the paper.