My 5-year-old son has become interested in fountain pens! What is the most washable fountain pen ink out there? He tries to be careful, but he is a kindergartener -- spills happen; I'd like them not to be permanent.

--HedgeMage

In my experience Waterman Florida Blue is the most washable ink! I actually tested it by accidentally spilling a half bottle across my desk pants and carpet. Came right out!

Quink Washables are pretty decent too.

Parker have a Washable Blue in their Quink range, as well as Washable Black.
Diamine have a Washable Blue in their Old English line of inks.
Pelikan have a washable Royal Blue ink.

Depending on where you are, and what is locally available, you may have to order via the Internet.

What pen is he using, because unless you are going to fill the pen yourself, you may wish to buy cartridges rather than bottled ink?

Many 'permanent' inks, especially the Parker Quink Blues, disappear with the gentle application of bleach anyway.

I'd suggest Lamy Blue, but the ink fades rapidly.

This all started when I was ebay-ing with my son in my lap (dangerous!) and my search for fountain pens turned up one decorated with Spider-Man. I have no clue what brand it is (neither did the seller, apparently), just that it has a bladder. For $4 plus actual shipping, I decided it was worth a shot.

I will *definitely* be handling, or at least closely supervising, the filling process.

--HedgeMage

Yeah, Waterman Florida and Lamy Blue is what I let the kids put in their pens. Turquoise washes out well too.

+1 On Waterman Florida Blue, that ink is so scared of water that if you mention it your page turns blank
(I've lost many a verses to some random snowflakes landing on a page so that should give you an idea of this ink propensity to be erased

Definitely Waterman Florida blue and or Lamy Blue.

Hi,

I suggest Pelikan Royal Blue. It's a nice rich color now, and it washes out really well. If you need a pen, I have the Pelikano kits that include two ink eradicators, a converter, a Pelikano pen, and a bottle of Pelikan Royal Blue.

One warning with all washable blues--they tend to fade, especially if exposed to sunlight or UV.

Dillon

With "Florida" in the name it obviously wasn't meant to be used in snow.

Pelikan Royal Blue and Sheaffer Skrip Blue (the new Slovenia kind) are very washable in my experience. I've never tried Waterman Florida Blue or bottled Lamy Blue, but I'm sure those are good choices, too.

I don't know how I forgot about those. In fact we ran out of Lamy so we've been using Skrip recently. I like Pelikan RB too, I just don't have that much of it. I guess all of these blue inks are intended for schoolchildren, so are pretty washable.

HedgeMage

My grandsom jus turned six two weeks ago. He has been using fountain pens for a little over two years now and I never have worried to much about his ink spills or stains. He is almost always supervised with his pens. I have gotten him some Pelikan Pelikino, Jr. pens which don't accept converters very well, so most of the time he is useing cartridge ink, but I do refill his cartridges for him with anything he picks out. His tastes have run the gambit and he picks them based on the look of the bottle. So far we have had no inky accidents with him, where I have recently had two. Baystate Grape stains everything from wooden kitchen table, to simulated wood floors to kitchen counters and even stainless steel sink. He was no part of it, a syringe filling of a cartridge backfired on me. He has been very good about his pens and his ink. Right now he is using an older unknown model Pelikan with Noodler's Navy in it and we both seem to like to color a lot.

http://flickr.com/photos/grannykass/2629424676/

The above link is to a pix of him at my desk last month. Hope you and your son have a great love affair with pens. Nothing like starting them out young. So, unless you have white furniture and carpet just keep an eye on him and things ought to go well no matter the ink.

Too cute! Thanks for sharing that with me.

--HedgeMage

I'd suggest pelikan blue. Pelikan makes a eradicator for that ink. However:

"washable ink is not a challenge"
"washable ink is not a challenge"

Bart Simpson


Juan in Andalucía

I use the Diamine Washable Blue in my P51.
Getting it off my fingers is a pain, so I would guess it's trickier to remove.

However... from past experience with ink, the Pelikan blue cartridges tend to be ok and wash out no problem. (Probably because they are made mainly for school children...)
I don't know any makes of the ink removers here, since I never used them in the UK, but the ones in Germany used to remove ink pretty efficiently, even if they were smelly.

ah ah ah good one

If it's from clothes you want to remove stains, then I have found that Parker Quink, Black goes clear when subjected to temperatures of 90C or so (try for yourself, drip a drop into a cup of near boiling water and see it disappear) - so a boil wash in the washing machine will clear everything.

And it might make some of your clothes fit him.

Regards

Richard.

I was going to say that even before I opened this thread--I got a considerable quantity on a dress shirt and with a little soaking in diluted vinegar, followed by a rinse in plain water and a regular wash, it came out just fine.