I'm down to the last 4 or 5 mls of my Levenger Cocoa. This is a pretty concentrated ink. I've considered filtering. And I've consider decanting after letting them sit for a while and...

suggestions?

Are there solids in your cocoa? IF not I usually just drop the ends of the present color into the next new bottle. For example I have been doing this with my browns for the last 8 years so I have a Havanna brown that also has parts of at least 5 other types and several more bottles!

Kurt H

IF there are in fact solids in the ink I would say toss it and buy a new bottle!

I hate to dump it but it there are "solids" - this ink has a very high dye content and if left to dry out in a nib will leave leave the telltale powder. My bottle is several years old. I'd read something from Nathan about just not shaking up a bottle but the Levenger bottles force you to tilt them to get ink into the well. Some love this device, I'm finding that it has it's drawbacks. One is that if there is sediment, you'll stir it up. I'll probably transfer it to a wide-mouth jar and decant what I have. Just because I'm cheap.

PS. Good to see you here!

Hi KCat,

Your solution, decanting, is what I was going to suggest. Just like a good Port....

Warm regards,
Wim

With solids I would also recommend getting a funnel and a coffee filter fold the coffee filter in half then half again to form a cone. Then put the cone in the funnel and pour the ink through it. It's basic wet chemistry lab procedure for capturing solids.


Kurt H

I just had to this for a 1977 vintage Taylor Fladgate. There was about 1/4" of dregs in the bottom. Being rated a 98 and at auction for $130 a bottle I was ever so cautious and made sure I got every usable drop out!


Kurt H

i have Melita filters - any reason they won't work? They're considerably heavier than other filters but they do funnel.

KCat,

That'll work just fine, but you'll loose a fair bit of ink if you don't use a metal filter.
Maybe just tear the bottom part off and use that, essentially as little as you can get away with.

HTH,
WtMD

okey dokey. Thanks much!

Wim,
I guess it depends on what you consider alot. A two stage approach would be best. First decant off the ink as slowly as possible before pouring the remainder through the filter. If you pour quickly I bet a half to 1 ml might be lost. I did this with some slimy PR and didn't seem to lose all that much. If you're really concerned a pinhole in the tip of the nib will allow flow as well.

Kurt H

MSChE

Hi Kurt,

What do you mean by this? I can't figure it out without your assistance..
TIA,
Kind regards, Wim

I am not sure I would do anything but toss out ink with sediments visible in it. I had a bottle of Levenger Cobalt Blue for a couple of years and when it went bad, it went really bad. It clogged my pens horribly. It's a heavily color-saturated ink, too.

I would only use that Cocoa in one of my B-team pens, not one of my prized treasures.

Seriously, though, sediment seems like one of those brick through the window clues, "THROW ME AWAY!"

That's my two cents, but I had a heck of a time getting all the gunk from the old Cobalt Blue out of my Magellan, and it was still a little balky until I got some Florida Blue to cleanse the feed with.

What to do with ink dregs? Use them as a proof that I need to order more ink

When you fold the filter paper into a cone if you poke a pinhole through the very tip you'll still get the big stuff and won't tie up alot of liquid in the filter waiting for the tiny stuff.

Kurt H

Ah, ok, thanks for that, Kurt!
Kind regards, Wim

KCat,

do you remember the reason ? I always shake my bottles before filling a pen. An old habit...

Hi Denis,



So do I, in order to mix the ink properly. Standing for too long makes especially black ink separate a little... Or is that just my imagination?

Regards, Wim

yup - because over time sediments accumulate no matter how careful you think you are. Ink particles settle out, tiny bits of fibre can get in there if you're in the habit of wiping nibs after filling (i suspect most of us are) and so on. So his feeling is that stirring these up just runs the risk of sucking up the stuff into the pen and clogging it. This particular bottle is quite old - one of the first inks I bought after I finally decided WM Violet wasn't the only ink in the world. So while it is slime and mold-free, it has does have some ink dregs. I hadn't noticed them because I had no occasion to shake the bottle or tip it until recently when it got so low. I think after I finish dinking around on-line I'll go try the filtering as per the cumulative wisdom on the group. I recall someone else once saying not to shake ink bottles. But I don't recall who. I sometimes do - and sometimes don't.

It's a pretty basic wet chemistry method and if you haven't seen it done it really isn't that easy to understand or explain. And I didn't even get into how you fold over one of teh inside sections to make the full cone!

Kurt H

Hi,

When I fill my pen, I flip my bottle over to catch all the condensation in the cap. This keeps the ink from getting saturated. If there is sediment, I throw all of the ink out, especially if it is used with one of my 14 stylographical pens. (Bad ink snapped the needle of a 0.1mm before). If it is fountain pen ink, I use it with my special dip pen.

Dillon