Often in conversations about Noodler’s dye saturation, someone remarks “if you don’t like super-saturated inks, you must want to write with food coloring.” This made me wonder: has anyone ever tried writing with food coloring in a fountain pen? So of course I had to give it a go.

I arranged a head-to-head grudge match between Noodler’s Saguaro Wine, McCormick food coloring, and an unnamed baseline ink (let’s just say that it used to be made in New York, and now it’s made in Paris.)
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You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to set up this photo. The Noodler’s and the food coloring kept trash-talking each other and trying to pick a fight, and the baseline was just egging them on the whole time. ^_~

Approximately 1/2 mL of each was put into an empty cartridge of a Sheaffer School Pen. (Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that the unnamed baseline’s had a misalignment issue with the nib, which affected the smoothness compared to the other two.) The test was done on 28lb HP laser printer paper.

First came a benchmark test. I wrote half a stanza of “Women”, by Alice Duer Miller (American women’s suffrage poem, 1915 publication) in the baseline ink, then wrote the full stanza in Noodler’s and evaluated the properties compared to the baseline. I then finished the baseline’s stanza, and wrote with the food coloring.
Next was a smear test. I wrote out a full stanza, then set down the pen, dried any sweat off my hand on my jeans, and ran my finger over each line.
The results:
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+1 is a minor improvement compared to the baseline, -1 is a minor disadvantage, -2 is a serious disadvantage.

Or, to put it another way, each characteristic from best to worst:
Flow: Noodler’s, baseline, food coloring (which was badly sporadic)
Lube: Noodler’s, baseline, food coloring. Again, please keep in mind that the baseline may have been in a damaged pen. Also, when writing several stanzas at a time for the third test, I found that flow and lubrication improved for the food coloring. It was still the worst of the three, but reached a point where it could be used in desperate circumstances.
Feathering: Food coloring, baseline, Noodler’s. Differences are very slight.
Show-thru: Food coloring, Noodler’s, baseline. None of them actually show through unless held up to a light, but the baseline is then slightly more visible from the back.
Ease of starting: Food coloring, baseline, Noodler’s. After filling the pens’ cartridges and loading them up, I put them nib-down in a jar to let them ink flow to the nib. The food coloring was ready to write when I checked 5 minutes later. The baseline was ready when I was ready to start 20 minutes later. I had to squeeze the living daylights out of the Noodler’s cartridge to get it going.
Smear test: Baseline, food coloring, Noodler’s. The baseline only smeared on the very end of the stanza. The Noodler’s, ignoring where the dividing rollerball ink contaminated the test on the first line, smeared slightly at the end of the first line and more significantly on the last line. The food coloring smeared on the last line, more than the baseline but slightly less than the Noodler’s.

Next came a water test. On a second sheet of paper, I wrote out three more stanzas of the poem and then let it dry for half an hour. I then filled the bathroom sink, and put in the bottom stanza plus part of the middle one, and left them there for... however long the sand timer in there runs. I think it’s about two and a half minutes.

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Whoosh, lookit ‘em go!

Upon pulling them out, only the food coloring was left legible. I hung up the paper and left it to dry to see what would happen.
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Conclusion: I have a little too much time on my hands today.

I found your test to be very entertaining. Thanks for doing it. I have to say the food coloring did a lot better than I figured it would.

Go you! A new take on an ink comparison test. Thanks for the amusement value.

Wow, terrific. I wish I'd thought of this experiment.

The flow is easily fixed by means of flow enhancers you can buy or my homemade stuff which is Dawn dish detergent diluted 150 to 1, and I add one drop per ml of ink for a final dilution of 3,000 to 1.

This is hilarious. Food coloring just beat two of the most revered inks in the categories that I hold of critical importance, starting and feathering.

Thanks for the effort. This post is one of the best I've read in a long time! The opening humor is top shelf.

I haven't laughed so much in a long time! Actually, I'm surprised that Noodler's didn't start the trash talking with the baseline ink...about EU restrictions

You'll notice that I thought better of myself and revised my original post. I was aiming for humor, but I feared that it wouldn't be read that way. Thanks, langere, for noticing, though.

Honestly, if the flow characteristic were a lot better, a lot of us might be experimenting with food coloring!

I wonder if the price per unit is higher or lower with food coloring. Anybody have an idea?

this is interesting, a gallon of ESCO Deep Blue food coloring for $45, a metal coffee filter to run it through, a few drops of Dawn or Joy, and a drop of Clorox for biocide. were back to the two oz. bottle of ink for $0.70 of not so long ago.....

Conclusion: I have a little too much time on my hands today.


You know, I as just wondering. Is there no Starbucks near you?


satrap
6 shots espresso on ice , toffee flavouring

Brilliant!
Thanks for the laugh.

Wow, great work!