I really like Noodlers' red black and was wondering if anyone had a recipe for a green black using PR Sherwood green? I was thinking of adding a little Pelikan or Noodlers black to speed up the drying time of the Sherwood green but would like to hear from anyone who has experimented with this.

Thanks.

Greg~

My favourite is to use PR Spearmint + Noodler's Black.

I think Sherwood Green on its own is already a dark colour, it's easier to start with a brighter green then add black.

Get some Slovenian Sheaffer's Blue Black. Mine turns greenish gray when it dries.

Donnie

I have only mixed Noodler's Black with one of Herbin's greens and I would not recommend it, because some black particles didn't dissolve and kept swimming in the ink (eventually clogging the pen). Generally I would not mix 'bulletproofs' with other inks again, despite the fact that some Noodler's and Swisher inks are originally made with a bulletproof component. Your Pelikan Black should work fine, however. Just - as many here have suggested before - remember that a little black goes a long way.

no recipe needed. try diamine blue black!

I'd use MB Racing Green.

But then I would - it's my favourite ink

I've made a few batches of a gray-green by mixing Sherwood with PR Gray Flannel, and darkened to taste with PR Velvet Black. I don't have a real recipe with proportions, but I got it by mixing an entire bottle of Gray Flannel with two eyedroppers full of Sherwood and two eyedroppers full of Velvet black.

My best guess of the proportion then is 25:1:1 Gray Flannel:Sherwood:Velvet. Sounds like you'd want something darker, but all that gray subdued the bright vibrancy of the green while keeping the lovely hue. Sherwood is at the same time bright and dark. Confounding, isn't it?

I can recommend Noodler's Spirit of the Bamboo. One of their Singapore inks you can buy from Tay. A beautiful bulletproof green-black, which feathers a tad but flows great.

I would darken it with Noodler's Black, as you're thinking of doing, but then I'd water it down some. That will not only allow you to see some of the green (adding the black will swamp it out, since Sherwood is already quite dark), but will also help you deal with the drying/smearing issues that saturated inks sometimes have. You might sacrifice a bit of smoothness, though. If it was a fine nib, you could then add a bit of detergent, but I wouldn't do that with a M or wider nib because adding detergent tends to make an ink spread.

So my recommendation is to try something like 3:3:1 Sherwood:Water:Black. Or just try something like 3:1 Sherwood:Black and then keep adding water until it suits you well. You also might enjoy adding a dark brown instead of black. I have added Walnut to either Verdun or Green Marine and get very nice shading.

The amount of black you could add to Sherwood to darken it and still have a green would not be sufficient to make much difference in drying time.

I've read that some folks have added up to 50% distilled water without degrading the color, and had faster dry times. Or you could also add something like Diamine Woodland green to the Sherwood in a 1:1 ratio, and have better dry times. To make it darker, without adding black, try mixing in a little red on the blue side of the spectrum (not orange leaning), Arabian Rose, Amaranth, or even Saguaro Wine. This will darken the green without making it muddy or brownish. Try it with just a small amount at first. Take 10 drops of green and add the red one drop at a time and see what happens. Test after each drop. If you overshoot, you can always add more green to bring it back.

Sometimes mixes continue to change or darken overnight, so be prepared to adjust accordingly the next day.

Have fun! Mixing is an adventure.

Dan

Thanks everyone! I think I am going to track down some MB British Racing Green.

Greg~

or Quink blue/black. I was very disappointed when I realized that Quink blue/black turns green/black as it dries.

I'm flabbergasted! No one mentioned Noodlers Zhivago- a very fine ink indeed! Blacker then green, but a definite green black and with great permanence.

The only Noodlers I have ATM is Black, and since finding Zhivago I've no desire to use pure Black. I ended up ordering some Zhivago, but I figured I didn't need to if I could make it myself! I'd have to redo it to be sure the ratios are right. The first batch I mixed by trial and error- add some ink, Qtip swipe, compare and repeat. It was something like:

6 parts Noodlers Black
3 parts Pelikan 4001 Brillint Green (full vintage bottle from an antique shop for $2! 1960s?)
1 part PR Copper Burst

I'm sure that is blasphemy in a bottle to someone, but hey, it is indistinguishable from the real thing. I was even thinking of doing an ink review in the mix thread where I'd ask people to try and figure out which scans were real and which pseudo-Zhivago. They even perform similarly in the chromatography test. In some ways, it is better than the real thing- quicker drying! Though, it isn't as lubricated as straight Noodler's Black.

Regards,
Aaron

If none of these ideas are satisfactory, I'd suggest going with a base of PR Ebony Green and adding just a couple drops of black to a larger amount of the base color.

What ratio do you use for the Spearmint and Black and can you do a scan?

I can't give you a recipe (I rarely mix brands of inks) but I can add to some of the suggestions already made. I'll echo RevAaron's post about Noodler's Zhivago - it's probably the closest green version of the Red-Black that you could find. Noodler's Aircorps Blue-Black, in spite of the name, is quite greenish, too. And I'll second the recommendation of MB's Racing Green - a nifty color that has its own unique personality.

Why bother with hand mixes? Noodler's Zhivago is an excellent green/black that is mostly bullet proof (if you get it wet, only the black remains).

I only hand mixed Zhivago because I have a huge thing of Bulletproof Black and didn't want to order yet another bottle of ink.

Pelikan Brilliant Green
add a really dark blue black until you like the colour.


Murdoch

Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black. It's perfect.