Greetings!

I am interested in finding a couple of seriously waterproof inks, primarily to augment my feeble efforts with watercolors. I did a little test.

Using a Strathmoor cold pressed watercolor paper and a dip pen, I used:

Calli black,
Calli burgundy # 013,
Higgins India Ink,
Swisher issue Noodlers Nile Ebony
Swisher issue Noodlers Burgundy
Swisher issue Noodlers Tahitian Pearl (blue color)
FPN Noodlers Manuscript Brown.

For all inks, I used a Nikko G EF nib, a remarkably smooth nib with a delicious flex allowing for a very wide, wet line. In all cases, the Noodlers inks were thoroughly shaken prior to use.

The inks were allowed to dry overnight and then I hit them with a hair drier to add a bit of heat to make sure they were seriously dry. The paper was then submerged in room temperature water.

With water contact, I instantly saw a "puff" of color from the Noodlers Nile Ebony and Tahitian Pearl. I could see nothing from any other ink. The paper was soaked for about 10 minutes with periodic swishing back and forth. No further color was seen moving around. After an overnight dry the paper was examined under a very bright light with magnification. The paper around the Nile Ebony and Tahitian Pearl was discolored. I could see no discoloration of paper around any of the other inks. At 6 power magnification, examination of the lines of the Calli inks showed essentially a perfect edge as was the Higgins India ink. The Noodlers burgundy and manuscript brown are relatively light colored inks and it was hard to see if there was any loss of edge quality after soak. There was apparently no discoloration of the paper near these inks and I suspect they were quite stable in the water.

I should point out I was looking for any movement of pigment or dye, which for my watercolor needs would not be acceptable. While the Nile Ebony and Tahitian Pearl inks from Noodlers did show some discoloration of the paper the actual line quality was not compromised. From the widest to the very finest lines with these two inks I could see all details of my test writing. Had these been addresses on an envelope there is absolutely no question that the address would have been 100% legible.

If you want a waterproof ink, the Calli brand seems like a winner. They are advertised as being suitable for both "drawing" and "fountain pens". I've not used them in fountain pens, only with dip pens, I cannot comment on how they work in a fountain pen. I do know that the burgundy is a very red ink, good saturation and the black is indistinguishable from the Higgins India ink in this test.

Questions?

Cheers,

Bill J

My datapoint: I've had Calli blue ink in a pilot varsity for months now with no flow issues.

Stephen

I've recently tried Platinum Carbon Black and Pilot Security Black for use with watercolours, and they have been fantastic so far - no colour release from either. I'm using them in a Platinum Carbon Pen and Pilot Desk Pen respectively.

Noodler's Nile Ebony, Burgundy and Tahitian Pearl are all in the Swishmix line of inks made especially for Swisher Pens. The "mix" in "Swishmix" refers to the fact that these inks are mixtures of bulletproof/waterproof and regular (non-waterproof) inks -- specifically, as to the latter, the quick-drying inks that Noodler's makes for Swisher Pens. For example, Nile Ebony is a mix (1:1, I believe) of Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Swisher's Midnight Black. The result is a quicker-drying ink with a substantial bulletproof/waterproof component. The non-waterproof component of these inks no doubt accounts for the "puff" of color you saw when Nile Ebony and Tahitian Pearl made contact with water. (I imagine that a similar "puff" occurred with Swishmix Burgundy, but wasn't readily visible due to the lighter color of the ink.)

Excellent data and thoughts. I expect you're right regarding the Swishermix Burgundy, but the color did not lend itself to being easily seen.

Might I expect that a standard Noodlers bulletproof ink would be seriously water proof, ala the Calli? Anyone have any data on that? Calli is nice, but Noodlers has such a delightful range of colors.

Thanks for the great input.

Bill

Yes, just because an ink is bulletproof does not mean you won't get that puff of pigment coming off. Noodler's Hunter Green for example is bulletproof but is loaded with so much dye that not all of it reacts with the cellulose in the paper. The excess just sits on top and air-dries. When hit with water, depending on the type of paper, that excess unreacted green dye will lift off or run and smear. What remains is just as dark and is bulletproof.

I dilute my Hunter Green 50/50 with distilled water to reduce this problem. If I address an envelope with it and it gets wet, I'd rather not have the green smears and stains.

It should also be mentioned that the stuff that comes off is "dead" and will not react with the paper anymore. It's just green dye. If you use straight Hunter Green and the paper gets wet leaving smears and smudges, it is easily fixed by simply rinsing the paper properly. The smudges and smears will wash right off leaving only the crystal clear original writing.

I don't have any hard factual data (and, unfortunately, no scans), but I have done some home testing of the actual bulletproof inks. Specifically Lexington Gray, Eternal Brown, and Black, and Red-Black (which is a lot like a Swishmix, in that it is not fully WP/BP). The three bulletproofs I have tested have survived underwater agitation, varying water temps, dish detergent, laundry detergent, household cleaners, etc., all with ZERO fading, ZERO run-off, and ZERO line softening. In fact, when the paper started to fall apart in tests with straight tap water (after several days), the ink was still holding on to the scraps of paper.

The Red-Black (being part bulletproof Black and part standard red) exhibited behavior identical to your study of the Swishmix (the red ran off, the black stayed).

~~King