Is Food Dye Suitable To Fill Fountain Pens With?

[Chickenscrawl]

A rather strange question but on the weekend while scanning through a list of noodlers inks a strange thought came to me, could I mix my own inks using household food dyes? I was wondering if anybody has tried this before, or if it is such a stupid idea that nobody would dare do something like this out of fear of damaging a pen. Anyhoo I was just curious to hear everybodies thoughts on this as I am new to FB's and pretty inexperienced when it come to appropriate inks.

[Possum Hill]

A rather strange question but on the weekend while scanning through a list of noodlers inks a strange thought came to me, could I mix my own inks using household food dyes? I was wondering if anybody has tried this before, or if it is such a stupid idea that nobody would dare do something like this out of fear of damaging a pen. Anyhoo I was just curious to hear everybodies thoughts on this as I am new to FB's and pretty inexperienced when it come to appropriate inks.

It has been tried. A search of the archives should turn up a thread or two.

[JonB55198]

I doubt it would damage the pen... but I also doubt it would look pretty on paper. It would probably absorb in and cause massive feathering

[USMCMom]

Watch-art used food coloring and water (I think it was water) a good while back and posted his results. I wish I could remember when that was. I'll try to find the post.

[USMCMom]

This isn't the post I had in mind, but it shows a brown ink made with food coloring by watch_art. He'll probably see this thread and give more information.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/190408-dead-leaves-brown-ink/page__p__1923529__hl__%2Bdead+%2Bleaves__fromsearch__1#entry1923529

[Uncle Red]

Hmm, an interesting idea. I wonder about fabric dye...

[pharmacist]

Hi guys,

 

A base to make a good writing ink for fountain pens is as follows:

 

-food dye 1 gram (Amaranth, Brilliant Blue, Acid Green, Food Brown, Brilliant Black)

-glycerol 5 gram (prevents feathering and clogging and edible)

-250 mg sodium benzoate (edible preservative)

-destilled water up to 100 ml

 

This will give you a good writing ink, which is completely safe and well preserved. Write on edible paper and you can eat yoour letter :roflmho: .

[ehemem]

Hi guys,

 

A base to make a good writing ink for fountain pens is as follows:

 

-food dye 1 gram (Amaranth, Brilliant Blue, Acid Green, Food Brown, Brilliant Black)

-glycerol 5 gram (prevents feathering and clogging and edible)

-250 mg sodium benzoate (edible preservative)

-destilled water up to 100 ml

 

This will give you a good writing ink, which is completely safe and well preserved. Write on edible paper and you can eat yoour letter :roflmho: .

 

This sounds like a good recipe for those who chew on their nibs, use their pens as toothpics, or are otherwise orally fixated!

[Chickenscrawl]

Hi guys,

 

A base to make a good writing ink for fountain pens is as follows:

 

-food dye 1 gram (Amaranth, Brilliant Blue, Acid Green, Food Brown, Brilliant Black)

-glycerol 5 gram (prevents feathering and clogging and edible)

-250 mg sodium benzoate (edible preservative)

-destilled water up to 100 ml

 

This will give you a good writing ink, which is completely safe and well preserved. Write on edible paper and you can eat yoour letter :roflmho: .

 

Thanks for the recipe any ideas where I could find sodium benzoate?

[JonB55198]

Thanks for the recipe any ideas where I could find sodium benzoate?

 

VWR Scientific or another lab supply warehouse might have it... but it may cause cancer. So instead of using it... just mix up a batch of ink that you intend to use very quickly. Either that or find another preservative.

Edited September 15, 2011 by JonB55198

[pharmacist]

Nonsense about those urban legends concerning sodium benzoate: it is uses as expectorant in coughing syrups and the supposed ill effect is questioned as the circumstances in which the dangerous benzene is formed, is very unlikely as you will need ascorbic acid and high dosages of uv radiation and even then the amounts are negligible.

[lovemy51]

i came up with a great looking green ink using and mixing food dye. i did add surfactant for better flow. no problems!

 

see for yourself (can't remember the recipe)

 

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n419/peterpaul_rguez/scan0001-11.jpg

 

the only thing that lacks is shading and it's not water resistant... alas!

[Uncle Red]

This is a great thread. Thanks for the recipe pharmacist.

[radellaf]

I made a homemade iron tannate ink and used a traditional humectant - honey. Let's just say that fungus rather loves a dilute solution of honey, and doesn't mind having some tea to go with it.

[USMCMom]

:ltcapd: That's too funny!!

[Chickenscrawl]

Well I finally made some ink using food dye, I was trying for a burgundy so I mixed some red food dye with Parker permanent black quink, I'm guessing that the preservative in the quink will give it some shelf life, I'll try and post my results

[watch_art]

Thanks for the mention Mom! I also made a green ink way before this brown...

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/160700-homemade-ink/page__st__-35

[virgilio]

I tried using food dye to make ink many years ago, but it clogged my pens, altho some of the colors were really pretty. However, I was too ignorant to know that ink has to have some sort of a surfactant to flow properly. Ivory Dish Detergent and Kodak Photoflo are well-known ink surfactants. From pharmacist I learn that glycerol has also been used to satisfaction.

 

As a fungicide 1 ml of 4% phenol (carbolic acid) per bottle is mentioned by the experts on this site, such as samcapote. I have also heard of adding 50 mg of ascorbic acid (vitmain c) per bottle. Pharmacist's recipe has sodium benzoate, which I have never heard of, but which I am quite willing to believe would also be effective. Ascorbic acid might possibly not be so good for nibs...

 

I once tried using Speedball Water Soluble Block Printing Ink to make up ink. It comes in plastic squeeze canisters (like dentifrice) and is a paste. It is even cheaper than food dye, and comes in a vast range of colors. Don't know if they still make it tho. My ink mixture moulded after a few months, but I didn't know enough back then to add some sort of fungicide.

 

I am wondering if glycerol would make ink smoother, as well as serving as a surfactant?

 

Thanks for the throught-provoking ink recipe pharmacist. The things you can learn on this site!

[dcwaites]

I have used the Australian Queen Food Dye as an ink. It has the dye, and some preservative --

 

Water, Food Colour (133) (1.8% total dyestuff),

Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid (330);

Preservatives: Potassium Sorbate (202), Sodium Benzoate (211).

 

It works nicely as an ink, and the assumption is that if it is safe to put inside children, then it is probably safe for your pen, but that's an assumption.

[virgilio]

I believe pharmacist has also mentioned salicylic acid (aspirin) as a fungicide in another thread. I think it would be about 100 mg per bottle. Of course you would want to get the pure powder, with no fillers. It's on amazon and any pharmacy I suppose.

 

Ivory Dish Detergent is a good surfactant for fountain pen ink. I add anywhere from 2 or 3 drops on up to 9 drops to make commercial ink flow better, depending on the brand. Usually a few drops extra is enough. In the old days Frank Dubiel told us that a major ink maker used dish detergent as a surfactant. But maybe glycerine would be smoother...

 

I have been looking on amazon, and am SHOCKED at how cheap McCormick food dye is. You can get a 16 oz bottle of blue, red, green or yellow for only around $8. That may be cheaper than Speedball ink... Of course you would mix the green and red to get black.

 

Of course it's no waterproof, but that really isn't a problem for me.

 

Now what do I do with all the commercial ink I've got lying around? And why have they been charging us ten prices all these years?