On acpp there is a discussion about tweaking Noodler's inks with other Noodler's inks and someone said that most people don't want to bother with mixing inks. Perhaps it is true, but it seems like a lot of us are quite adventurous with inks.

Just today I mixed my first recipe. I thought Eternal Brown would be a darker brown. Straight-up it's quite reddish, so I mixed it 10:1 with black to get the walnut shade I was after...


Tom

I haven't felt the need to do so. I'm still exploring inks as they are out of the bottle. With one exception, I like them the way they are. The only ink that I'm currently using that doesn't really appeal to me is Herbin Bleu Azur.

I find it too light and washed out.

On the other hand, Herbin Bleu Pervenche, to my eye, is an incredible, saturated, brilliant light blue. Wow.!

George - I too have found the Herbin Bleu Azur to be a very lighht ink and after reading your post think I will see what I can do to give it just a little deeper saturation without affecting the ink's colour too much.

I'll let you know how the experiements proceed.

Cheers

Keith

Well, I'm waiting for my next ink fix right now. I will be mixing Eel inks. That's partly why I ordered the Rattler Red and the blue. Might make an interesting purple in there. I've yet to have a pen self-destruct from an ink mix, and mixing two from the same company is probably safe enough. You only live the once!

Unfortunately I have had some precipitation issues with inks I have mixed. So I try more to find an existing ink that I like rather than make my own. Maybe if you stay within a family of inks then there would not be a problem.

The only ink I do mix now is a 'stone soup' brown that consists of pretty much every brown ink I've used. When a brown ink bottle gets low it gets dumped into that bottle. So it's an average of many colors and is quite nice.


Kurt H

i've had one precip problem and that was with NOS Skrip red in a mix. Of course, there are the Do-Not-Mix inks that Private Reserve used to make, Candy Apple Red, Orange Crush, Hot Bubble Gum... and I think there was one other but can't be sure. Since they can still be found on shelves, people need to be aware that they shouldn't be mixed with other inks. I did test this once with HBG. It's true.

otherwise, i've mixed Herbin with Omas and PR with Omas and Levenger with just about everything and so on. I think it's wise that if it's a highly saturated ink, test drive the mix either in a cheap pen or let the mix sit for a few days in a container to make sure there's no precip.

I thought that there were three that could not be mixed: Candy Apple Red, Tangerine Dream, and Hot Bubble Gum. Orange Crush is still available, and I don't believe it has any mixing problems.

I successfully mixed Orange Crush and Fiesta Red to make a deep orange/red color. Adding some Buttercup lightens it a bit, and makes it a bit more like a orange/red fall leaf color.

Mark C.

Just mixed an interesting color, which I call "Cedar Blue", as it is very very close to the color of my Blue Cedar "51".

Keith,

Thanks. But I'll probably let the Herbin Bleu Azur fall into disuse as I have with one or two other inks that just did not appeal to me.

Meanwhile, I'll be looking for something with which to replace it. Don't like Pelikan or Sheaffer blue. Waterman Florida Blue is OK. Color charts on the computer screen frustrate me because my monitor shows colors a little too dark for accurate comparison; but, If I brighten the screen, everything else seems too bright.

Thus the wonderful world of technology.

I'll keep looking.

Mark - you're right. I just confused "Orange Crush" and "Tangerine Dream" - they're both citrus fruits right.

Geroge - you can get s/w to properly calibrate your monitor. But then, you have to assume that the person who scanned in the ink sample properly calibrated their monitor and scanner. And then, you have to remember to calibrate your monitor about every 6 months as an aging monitor will gradually change it's output.

Just messin' with you. I have to calibrate my other system regularly. Adobe graphics software usually includes a rudimentary calibration program. But for daily use by non-graphics folks, it's pretty much a wasted effort as long as the majority of users don't know how or choose not to calibrate.

KCat,

Hi. I'm aware of the monitor "problems" but, most of the time, don't really care.

Most of my computer time is spent emailing, surfing, Fountain Pen Networking, or working with spreadsheets and/or databases.

I've never had to critically calibrate my monitor. For the most part, I prefer it to be a bit darker than necessary.

If I were working with images, I'd be much more critical (and probably using a Mac!!). Come to think of it, when I finally replace this aging PC, I'll probably get a Mac.

Now, for a really good black ink... Aurora, Diamine, Noodlers, Private Reserve,...?

Any suggestions?

I've been using Waterman.

i started out with WM because it was all i knew.

I love Aurora. I've heard very good things about Noodler's but haven't tried it myself. I have seen it and it looks very saturated. Aurora black is a satiny saturated black to my eye. And I'm not much into black ink. I found WM to be too thin. Too grey. But if you like the shading, then you can like WM black. What are your requirements? Saturation, wet/dry flow?

KCat,

I recently sent a Parker Vac with a flex nib to Richard Binder for repair/restoration and have decided that I want to use black ink with it upon its return

I've nothing against Waterman, but I'm looking for a deep, rich black. Also, I like a "wet" ink. There's something that I find very satisfying about seeing a line of just written characters on a page that could benefit from the application of a blotter.

Many, many years ago, I recall doing first drafts of papers in school with a fountain pen. It was most satisfying after the pen had just been filled and was laying down a very wet line of ink.

Also, I recall that there seemed to be a characteristic difference between writing that had "air dried" vs that which had been "blotted". The "air dried" characters appeared darker and sharper.

At the time, I would have been using either my 51 Aero or a Sheaffer Desk pen that has since disappeared with (most likely) Sheaffer Black Ink.

I'm rambling, but hope this helps.

well - i wish i could speak for Noodler's black inks.

I can say that Aurora has that slower drying characteristic. When I first tried Aurora blue, that was one of the things I babbled about on the boards and I understand it completely. There's something about that sheen as the ink goes on then gradually dries that is entrancing. I rarely blot. Of course, I'm right-handed and rarely in a hurry with my writing so smudging is a really minor issue for me 99.9% of the time.

so... my tendency would be to recommend Aurora. But you might want to work a sample trade of a couple of these inks. I can't recall if you got any vials or not. I am all out of 'em. But if there's more interest I will get another round of them soon.

Yesterday I did my first ink mixing: I felt the Zhivago to be a little on the bright side so I put my pr ink mixing kit to use for the first time and put 15 ml of the Zhivago and about 1.5 ml of the noodlers black ink.
It creates one of the greatest darkest greens imaginable, I wonder what more black would of done to it??? How much is too much.

So I had a very positive first experience with ink mixing.

I once mixed some Levenger Pinkly (bright pink) with Private Reserve American Blue to create....purple

To quote my 3 year old niece: I like pink!

I also used to mix ink: for me, it was an attempt to get the right color. Unfortunately, I rarely got it, and if so, I found it hard to reproduce it the next time. Also, I’m a bit worried about the danger of clogging: I’d rather use my FP than clean it...

I was planning on trying this as I have been buying inks lately that are almost something I would use but not quite. I even had my local pen seller order me a PR Mixer Kit. However, when it came time to actually try it, I opted out and went back to the inks I already know and like.

I mix Waterman inks to get shades I want. My favorite, always loaded into my Blue Cedar "51", is 1:1 Florida Blue and Violet. In my Taperite Corinth, I currently have a deep, deep teal that I made by mixing 6:6:1 florida Blue, Green, and Black.



George, I recommend Aurora for a good, sooty black black. It flows well, lubricates well, and is about as black as it gets short of carbon -- which I recommend avoiding like the plague.

I have a 1:1 mix of American Blue and Aurora Black in my VP. It's one of the few really successful mixes that I've produced, a beautiful dark blue.

Just mixed some Private Reserve 2005 DC Supershow Blue with Pelikan's Brillliant Black, for fun. It's now black with a hint of dark green but I'm not enthralled with it. Oh well, better luck next time.

My favorite mixtures:

1/2 Montblanc red + 1/2 Sheaffer Gold = nice rich orange
2/3 Private Reserve Copperburst + 1/3 Noodler's Shah's Rose = reddish brown
2/3 Waterman Florida Blue + 1/3 Omas Violet = (kind of) Bleu Royale

Hugs,

Alejandro

Yes, I like that a lot too. Watching the light glint off a written word that's still wet just seems so satisfying and somehow esthetic to me. It's why I don't object to some of the Noodler's inks not drying all that fast.

Yes I love that too, to see a wet line brings great satisfaction to me, it is just nice to see the change from inpermanent wet line to the permancenece of a dried line, it is one of the many reasons I love private reserve

I'm just starting. First one I did got a dark dark brown, unfortunately some foil from the lid of the PR bottle got in the ink. Does anyone have a coffee filter I could use?

Mixing is fun.

Richard, how does your 1:1 Waterman mix compare to the color of Aurora blue? I love that ink. Nothing else touches my favorite 75.


I am looking for a good dark red, like PR Black Cherry or Noodlers Red Black, but faster drying and less thick? I think this search is going to lead to my first mix. Anyone know if Montblanc burgundy and Aurora black are okay to mix? Both have the flow character and drying times I like.

Don't leave Diamine and J. Herbin out of consideration!
Diamine is very economically priced everywhere, while J. Herbin is very expensive outside the EU and medium-priced inside the EU. Fountain pen inks from those two brands are non-saturated but colored very interestingly, some even entertainingly, and no one here has reported problems with using them in mixes.

Thanks for the suggestion Goodwhiskers. I haven't gotten around to trying those yet.

My current favorite red mix right now is 50/50 Noodler's Antietam and Tianamen.

I'm calling it BLOOD.

Looks like dried blood on the page. Sorta a brownish medium red.

I'm still looking for the perfect dark, clear red.

I was sent a sampler with OMAS Vespuchi Red and that was just the bee's knees. I've since found out 1.) it's no longer made , and 2.) was incredibly corrosive for the pens it was used in.

I haven't found anything to compete with it looks wise.

I've looked at Diamine and hope to get a look at J Herbin someday soon.

I hold out great hopes for this new 'dark red' from Stipula. . .

i better start being a bit more careful

I keep mixing these random brands together and put them straight into my pen hoping they wont precipitate

no problems thus far. . .

Some years I wanted a Green/Black in the same mould as Blue/Black ink as I like green ink but not bright green. I therefore started putting a bit of Black Quink into green Penman to create my wish and have been doing so ever since. With the demise of Penman I use Lamy green with any black I have (but not Aurora) to similar effect. Only takes a tad of black (no idea of actual ratios) to do the job. I have now discovered the wide range of Herbins, Noodlers etc and will try some of those, but I have half a bottle of mix plus a NOS bottle of green Penman I couldn't resist to use up yet. Only recently I threw away the empty green Quink bottle I used for the mixing process!


Greg

My latest mix of ink is suspected of being Fermented + containing living organisms which Greg has called "pets"

I'll never get lonely knowing that when i write, im putting thousands of living things onto paper at the same time

my writing is literally ALIVE!

I call this one "Blue Moss" - but some may call in "cheese mould" but it's more attractive than the title.

3 parts Noodlers Polar Black

1 part PR Spearmint.

and there you have Moss. A little on the bluey side. I'm surprised how well it flows (must be the Polar Black). If you want Moss to be a little bluer add a little more Spearmint.

That's the fun of inks. My spearmint order was a mistake and I kept it around to using it with some Noodlers Polar Black. No precip so far after a week of sitting.

Bill Wood

I like to add a bit of black to my Waterman Brown, but I do not want to mix up a whole batch (different ratios for different pens), so I came up with a great solution:

I fill my pen with black, empty it (leaving a bit in the converter and feed), then fill with Brown. Suprisingly, it works with all of my pens.

I recently bought a cartridge-only pen and since I didn't have anything I wanted in carts, I slotted a Levenger Amethyst cart in there, wrote a few lines with it, then pulled it out and put in a Levenger Gemstone Green. Makes a surprisingly interesting color that's very close to Prussian Blue. As the green flowed, the color veered more toward the teal end of the spectrum. If I paused for a moment, the beginning of the next stroke showed a bit of the Amethyst.

Really too much fun for .25 worth of ink cartridges.

Hello KCat and the rest of the FPN Gang,

I began my on and off relationship with fountain pens around 30 years ago and began custom blending colors around 28 years ago, (inks have always fascinated me),- but in those days you really had to because the color selection was so limited.

Mind you, I had my cases of sludge and just generally disgusting looking colors; however, it surprises me that with the spectrum of colors that are available today, people still feel the need to do custom blending- I suppose this is the epitome of the creative human spirit.

Best wishes to all,

Sean

* Edited for grammatical error.

Hi

I like to mix inks when I have a colour that I dont particularly like and feel I wont use. I chuck a couple of other colours in at random to see if I can make a shade that I do like.

Sometimes it works, sometime it dont

Dawn

I have mixed out of necessity because I did not like the color of an ink I bought sight unseen. The ink was too light for my taste and so I darkened it up with the addition of a dark blue and a touch of black. I'm too thrifty to throw this stuff out so I will use it up by modifying the color to my liking.

[QUOTE]

Mike,

This is precisely my motivation for mixing inks. I ordered a bottle of Private Reserve's Shoreline Gold and found it to be much lighter than I expected. But I bought this ink so it MUST be used! I mixed 5 parts Shoreline Gold and 2 parts Sheaffer Brown. I let this sit for two or three days so that if an explosion took place , it wouldn't be in one of my pens. All was well after the waiting period so I've been writing with this mix and really like it. I call it "Santa Fe Chestnut" because it is exactly the color of my little chestnut filly named "Santa Fe."

I'd really rather not mix inks, but don't have any choice when I buy something I don't like.

Judybug

Before today, I'd only mixed different colours of Quink, and made a nice reddish brown, then a blue-purple.

Seeing the poll, though, inspired me to try something I've been meaning to have a go at for a while: mixing Noodler's with Quink.

I've now got some ink that's seven parts blue-black Quink, to one part Noodler's Eternal Black, and very nice it is too. The Noodler's is so powerful that you only need a small amount to make quite a dark shade, and the blue-black Quink gives it some nice shading.

Best part is, it still seems to work reasonably well as waterproof ink. The Quink washes out quickly with water, but you're left with the black of the Noodler's, although it's toned down to a grey. It may not stand up to the kind of abuse Nathan tests the stuff with, but it seems to withstand a tap pretty well, which is as much as I really want. If you just want to make sure the writing stays readable through a spillage, it should do the job.

Plus, with all this Quink lying around that I picked up so cheap at Staples, it makes a very cheap mix

I mix too, for similar reasons to Judybug and Mike1. These inks are so new that I feel I have to give them a fighting chance before either giving them away or throwing them out. I've achieved some nice results, others not so nice. But for sure, I'm using up the ink in the process.

Aside from color tweaking, I'm finding it useful to mix for flow tweaking. I have some inks that flow too well and gush out of certain pens, and so I've successfully blended in some not-so-gushy ink to make it more useable.

I don't think I've had any sort of explosion as Judybug mentioned :ph34r: but I'm not really sure what this means. I've heard of the possibility of sludge, but what does that look like? The mixtures I make just look like ink to me. Can anyone describe it?

(Edited to omit the quotes from Mike1 and Judybug, because the quote function does not appear to be working for me.)

If your mixes just look like ink then you're good. Sludge, gunk, etc. will either be slime, sometimes ropy slime , or little chunks or flecks of solid stuff.

KCat - Noodlers Black I find is extrodinarily black. Someone once told me there are 24 shades of black and this seems to be at the end of the spectrum. If I can find something to put it in, I'll send you some.

I've never been brave enough to mix ink. I just think that whoever made the ink made them to be the colour they are for a reason and I aint gonna mess with it. This from a woman who messes with watercolour pigment in vast quantity every day. I know, there is no logic to this...

Blueiris,

I was just kidding when I implied the possibility of an explosion. I guess I think we ink-mixers are a little bit like mad scientists - and, as everybody knows, mad scientists occasionally cause explosions. My real reason for waiting a couple of days before I use a mixture is to be sure no sludge or sold particles form. Oh - BTW - the quote function doesn't seem to be working for me either.

Judybug

Hey Judybug, I figured you were talking about sludge or particles rather than a true explosion. I've never had either occur, so I really was wondering what that meant (thanks for explaining, Sonia_Simone!). When you mentioned the "mad scientists" in us, I just had an image come to me, in the form of mixing inks and having a reaction similar to mixing vinegar into baking soda. You never know!

I voted that I plan on mixing inks but that's not really true because I've already tried mixing waterman BB with quink black. I thought the waterman was too light so when I was refilling a cartrigde I added a few drops of black to it. But the flow was not so good, made my pen really scratchy and it ended up an ugly colour green anyway. So I flushed it out. Also because I was a bit afraid that it started to react to each other because of the scrathyness it caused.

Now that I've got 5 bottles of ink I'm going to try mixing some more. As mentioned above, of course you can buy so many colours already but why not experiment a bit too.

What if I mix that Aurora blue with the waterman blue/black? Or a little bit of black mixed with PR Tanzanite, to get a really dark purple? It's fun to try and create your own private colour. Now all I need is a bunch of little bottles. I used to have a truckload of tiny marmelade jars. I kept them for years because they were so cute but in the end trew them out because I had no use for them.

About the different shades of black, there is only one true shade of black IIRC. And that's the one that absorbs all colours of light making it pure black. You cannot see black because it doesn't reflect anything (any colour of the light spectrum) back. But what you see it just that, that nothing is being reflected back to you. Technically this isn't a colour. I think I was told that it's very hard if not impossible to make that 'colour', but I don't rember exactly. Same thing is true for the true white, that reflects all colours of light. This is also not a colour.

Yeah, well, when they start building little microbe Hoovervilles in the ink channel of your fountain pen you may not view them so giddily. It'll be time to call in General McArthur to clear it all out!

Part of why I started getting into mixing inks was because I really like the waterproof quality of the Noodler's waterproof inks, but I'm craving variety in my old age. So I started to mix a bit of waterproof ink in with other, non-waterproof, colors. And now I'm just enjoying the mixing itself. And one day that perfect blue will get mixed!

Well, you've gotten some other answers, and I'll give you my experience. I mixed Waterman's Florida Blue and Noodler's Gulf Stream Blue in equal amounts and after a couple of weeks I ended up with a sort of gel forming and clogging the pen.