Ink Mixing And Avoiding Pen Issues?

[New_Falcon]

Hello All,

 

I ended up with a bunch of blue ink and black ink. As expected I decided that I would like to give a blue black ink a go. So I had 4ml of Waterman Serenity Blue and I added 2ml of Camel Black.

 

The resultant blue black seems to be a nice tone that I like. I left the ink for about 24hours before filling an Esterbrook.

 

Is there anything that I can do to make sure that I'm not putting something bad into my pen?

 

Thanks.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

You're on the right track - wait for a while before loading any blend into an FP.

 

My rule of thumb is to blend inks of the same type: nano, cellulose-reactive, simple aniline, and the hybrid aniline+iron-gall.

 

It is also a good idea to blend inks of similar pH, mostly because the dyes used are happiest in their original formula, and to alter the pH too much in a blend may result in grumpy dyes or worse.

 

Some ink Co.s have stated that their inks may be intermingled, and some inks were designed to be blended, such as the Platinum 'Mix Free' series.

 

Remember that we're only blending, not reformulating/manufacturing; and are most often doing so at ambient temperature and pressure using simple methods and materials, often without aid of any monitoring other that our five senses, (common sense is optional.)

 

I tried some recipes blending iron-gall and cellulose reactive, but that was more curiosity and proof of concept than working towards something I'd actually use, yet it opened the door at least a bit for others to go though if they so choose.

 

Bye,

S1

 

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I've outlined my safety checklist here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/234049-noodlers-lexington-gray-galileo-manuscript-brown/?p=2517090

Edited September 22, 2015 by Sandy1