Diluting Ink With Water

[Essensia]

Lately I've been enjoying the effects of diluting my more saturated inks with distilled water, particularly when I use them in very broad and/or wet nibs.

 

My question is: Are there any FP inks that should not be diluted with water because of increased precipitate, sediment, or some other reason?

 

I realize that in general an increased amount of solvent (water) will do a better job of dissolving ink ingredients, not a worse job. But there are several factors involved in solubility, such as pH and polarity, that could be affected by the addition of water.

 

Hope it's not a stupid question. :embarrassed_smile: Thanks for any advice! I'm concerned solely with inks intended for use in fountain pens.

[Pickwick]

I diluted Waterman's Havana brown with distilled water into 4 different bottles to give me different tones for an ink drawing. When I finished I poured them all back into the original bottle, filled my Sheaffer, and found hardly any difference in the colour.

 

I have done this before and it doesn't appear to do the ink any harm, no more the vintage Sheaffer from the 1930's. Also I now have a full bottle of ink!

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[encephalartos]

I diluted Waterman's Havana brown with distilled water into 4 different bottles to give me different tones for an ink drawing. When I finished I poured them all back into the original bottle, filled my Sheaffer, and found hardly any difference in the colour.

 

I have done this before and it doesn't appear to do the ink any harm, no more the vintage Sheaffer from the 1930's. Also I now have a full bottle of ink!

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

 

All fountain pen ink is supposed to be water soluble so it doesn't gum up the works.

 

I like the Noodlers Rachmaninoff (hot pink) mixed 50/50 with distilled water. Around here, the tap stuff

has a heavy mineral load, so I use a syringe and add half distilled water to a converter before adding

the ink. With that particular ink I can't see that it's becoming any lighter. It does seem to flow

better in the pens. I'd only try this with inks that appear to be think already. El Lawrence might

be another candidate.

[The Good Captain]

I tried diluting Diamine Majestic with distilled water 1:1, just to see if it improved the incredibly long drying time, tendency to smear etc. It worked well and the colour was still very good. It did lose some of the red 'chromatic' sheen though and showed really heavy bleed in a Moleskine book. Nowadays, I try to use it up in mixes.

[Essensia]

Thanks so much for posting your experiences. Sounds like there are not any dangers to diluting.

 

I, too, found that diluting up to 50:50 did not really affect the color of most inks I tried. I'd probably start diluting just to be frugal if I didn't already have more ink than I can use in several lifetimes.

 

Mont Blanc Midnight Blue requires 2 parts water to 1 part ink to make it pleasing to use with a wet BBB nib. Otherwise it comes out as a very aggressive, almost scary-looking black that takes a while to dry. When diluted, it's the nice blue-black I expected. and it dries very quickly.

[KCat]

The only issues you may encounter with some inks is reduced flow or less lubrication because you would dilute the surfactants. But that is ink-dependent.

[Essensia]

Duly noted, KCat. I already ran into the decreased lubrication and pondered adding the tiniest bit of detergent on a toothpick. Another little experiment to keep me busy this coming weekend.

[Bill Wood]

I dilute all my PR inks - Chocolate, Burgundy Mist, Avacado and Forest Green. 2 mls per bottle, and .5 mls of mild liquid detergent. I will be diluting with photoflow in the future though once I find some.

[Floridian]

Nice information on this post. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

[corniche]

Hello Essenia, et al,

 

Remember that fountain inks are aqueous solutions by their nature, (they are typically 92+% water); so adding more distilled water will not harm anything.

 

If you do experience noticeably diminished flow or lubrication properties; a half of drop (per pen fill) of CLEAR dish detergent will solve the flow problems and a half of drop to a full drop of PURE vegetable glycerin (per pen fill) will solve the lubrication problems. If you want to be really technical about it; you can also use Kodak PhotoFlo as a surfactant to aid the flow.

 

You can get the glycerin from Natural Pigments or Amazon.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

Edited October 1, 2011 by S. P. Colfer

[KCat]

Duly noted, KCat. I already ran into the decreased lubrication and pondered adding the tiniest bit of detergent on a toothpick. Another little experiment to keep me busy this coming weekend.

 

I just saw this thread again and had a brief thought - until J. Herbin began making more saturated colors in the last 5 years or so I'd have said you could probably write off diluting any of their inks. Since they have some more saturated colors now that may not be the case but back a few years ago the majority of their inks were shading and not dry but not highly lubricating or wet either. Nice inks, just more subtle than many others.

[Essensia]

Remember that fountain inks are aqueous solutions by their nature, (they are typically 92+% water); so adding more distilled water will not harm anything.

 

If you do experience noticeably diminished flow or lubrication properties; a half of drop (per pen fill) of CLEAR dish detergent will solve the flow problems and a half of drop to a full drop of PURE vegetable glycerin (per pen fill) will solve the lubrication problems. If you want to be really technical about it; you can also use Kodak PhotoFlo as a surfactant to aid the flow.

Sean, thank you for this very useful information. Sounds like I need some pure vegetable glycerin to smooth out the diluted Midnight Blue that I'm becoming attached to.

 

KCat, interesting about the J. Herbin inks. I avoided them for quite a while because I did not care for weaker inks until recently. Now that I've tried a few, they are more robust than I expected from the reviews.

 

Always an adventure.

[coloradogps]

Very good info here....

 

[corniche]

Remember that fountain inks are aqueous solutions by their nature, (they are typically 92+% water); so adding more distilled water will not harm anything.

 

If you do experience noticeably diminished flow or lubrication properties; a half of drop (per pen fill) of CLEAR dish detergent will solve the flow problems and a half of drop to a full drop of PURE vegetable glycerin (per pen fill) will solve the lubrication problems. If you want to be really technical about it; you can also use Kodak PhotoFlo as a surfactant to aid the flow.

Sean, thank you for this very useful information. Sounds like I need some pure vegetable glycerin to smooth out the diluted Midnight Blue that I'm becoming attached to.

 

KCat, interesting about the J. Herbin inks. I avoided them for quite a while because I did not care for weaker inks until recently. Now that I've tried a few, they are more robust than I expected from the reviews.

 

Always an adventure.

 

Thanks Essensia,

 

Glad I could help.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

[dpierrea]

Hello Essenia, et al,

 

Remember that fountain inks are aqueous solutions by their nature, (they are typically 92+% water); so adding more distilled water will not harm anything.

 

If you do experience noticeably diminished flow or lubrication properties; a half of drop (per pen fill) of CLEAR dish detergent will solve the flow problems and a half of drop to a full drop of PURE vegetable glycerin (per pen fill) will solve the lubrication problems. If you want to be really technical about it; you can also use Kodak PhotoFlo as a surfactant to aid the flow.

 

You can get the glycerin from Natural Pigments or Amazon.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

Now that's info I can use! Thanks, Sean.

 

D

[fabrimedeiros]

I've diluted Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue and Electric DC Blue with 25% distilled water. Both don't show any visible difference, even the writing feel is about the same, in my opinion.

 

I don't think there are any contraindication in diluting your FP inks, just avoid dilute less saturated inks, obviously.

 

Only use DISTILLED water.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Lol, I had Noodler's Bad Green Gator NINETY PERCENT diluted in my accidentally-stubbed Hero 616. It wrote just fine, no problems with flow, and was an interesting dusty sage color.

[encephalartos]

re: glycerine.

 

I think it is also used some by watercolorists, a drop at a time, mixed into washes, for the same purpose.

It's not something that I've personally tried in ink. If I do add water, the most I've used is 50/50,

for the Noodlers hot pink Rachmaninoff (Russian series). That ink is plenty intense and doesn't seem

to suffer otherwise, even with half distilled water. Using our local tap water to dilute ink is

probably like adding a dose of Epsom salts or other minerals to the ink, and that probably doesn't

enhance flow.

 

I think I bought glycerine in a bottle, from a drugstore. Even the small bottle is a really good

supply if you are only adding a drop. I don't recall needing to mail order it from Amazon

or anyplace else.

[Mangrove Jack]

I use Noodlers Bad Belted Kingfisher in my extra fine nib Parker 75 diluted with 4 parts water and one part ink. It strangely does not change the colour or the perceived consistency of the ink.

[torstar]

Dilution is fun for awhile, then life gets in the way and the ink is fine as is, then after a few months I get on a dilution kick again.