Best Way To Make Light Gray? What To Dilute With?

[pensive_ink]

I would like some very light gray ink to use as an underdrawing while sketching. That is, I want to rough in a sketch in light gray before going over it with a deep black. (I'll have a dedicated 'gray' pen with me while sketching.)

 

So it makes sense that I can use a diluted black to achieve a gray tone. It's probably accurate to say I want the tone to be faint on the page. Quite light.

 

But my question is: What's the best medium to dilute the ink with? Can I just use water? For sake of discussion, assume I'll be using Noodler's Black.

 

Thanks for any information!

 

 

 

 

[pensive_ink]

By the way, I'm thinking of a tone that will be lighter than the bottom portion of this gradient as seen on Goulet Pens:

 

http://www.gouletpens.com/IS-OM2300/p/IS-OM2300

 

(Omas Gray)

[Hospitalier]

From what I understand, problems occur when an ink is diluted too much with water, so you can get some dilution solution such as Platinum supply for their 'Mix Free' inks and/or you could start with a light grey ink (such as Omas, but there are plenty others too) to begin with.

 

http://www.gouletpens.com/plat-isv-1200/p/Plat-ISV-1200

Edited January 26, 2016 by Hospitalier

[pensive_ink]

Thank you --I've eyeballed this solution and I wonder if that's exactly what I need.

[jaderiver]

Hello... I have been using a bottle of Noodler's Ebony Nile for some years, which was custom-made just for Swisher Pens. The black was the blackest black I had ever seen and to lighten it considerably to my aesthetic taste, I diluted it as much as 2-3 parts water, 1 part Ebony Nile. I really like a lighter black w/ grey shading. So, that diluted Ebony Nile is what I have been using for my basic black writing ink. My dilution water was simply boiled to sterilize and then placed in a 2 fl.oz Pelikan 4001 bottle. I added a drop or two of dish detergent. I mixed this dilution water a few years ago, but need to formulate again - today as a matter of fact - as the water is murky and dark because of all the diluting I do for many colors of ink. Right now, I am researching on this site to determine if I can also add a drop or two of ammonia to the water mix to adjust the flow-characteristic of inks using this diluting water, more to my liking.

 

I would enjoy reading about any other formulations using regular US tap water to dilute ink colors.

[Abdullah]

I literally just made some grey-ish ink for myself. I used 35mL Dollar Ink Black + 6.5mL water. I get Dollar ink relatively cheap, which is why I use it. I've also made a blue-black variant using Dollar to pretty good results

 

Here are a couple pics:

 

http://i.imgur.com/8KyZBgk.jpg

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/x4WYGfF.jpg

[Alexcat]

Herbin do a very pale grey....the name escapes me, but it sounds like a thought....

 

Alex

[grainweevil]

I've been experimenting with diluting Platinum Carbon Black with water (from the dehumidifier) and got myself a nice pencil grey, but inevitably very dry. Added a whisper of washing up liquid and thus far it seems to be doing very well, starting up first time and so forth. I'm on the look out for any nasties long term, of course. I started out all scientifically with a 1 part ink to 5 parts water dilution, but then ended up adding some more water to the cartridge, so heaven knows what it is now. Less than 1:5 anyway. I'd have bought a grey ink, but I wanted something water resistant so I could watercolour over it if desired and that narrowed down the options to too few inks, each with drawbacks.

 

 

Scribble is undiluted Carbon Black, paper is Clairefontaine, pen Platinum Preppy 0.2. Apologies for inflicting my lousy sketch upon you; it was handy.

 

[LizB]

Grainweevif, is that Carbon Black dilution now water resistant? Have you tried any with a wash over it?

[grainweevil]

That would have been so much more useful a thing to show, wouldn't it? D'oh. Hang on... Again, excuse the appearance; it wasn't intended for public consumption:

 

 

I had to double check the paper to make sure it had had any water on it, and it had.

 

(That's diluted Ancient Copper btw; if anyone has MB Leonardo Red Chalk and would like to comment on whether it appears similar or not, that'd be handy...!)

 

[effrafax]

One obvious, but possibly more expensive solution would be to start with Whiteness of the Whale (USD12.50 for 1 oz bottle) and simply add drops of black until you get the shade you want. You could also combine this with diluting as well to save on ink.

[LizB]

I've just had a play about, diluting some indian ink down to grey with plain water (ratio about 1:8) and using it in a Pilot parallel pen. Looks really good, behaves well (once it has finished frothing), and is very waterproof. I wouldn't use it in a standard fountain pen though. Once I have managed to scrub the ink off my hands (pen/table/everything), I shall try diluting down Pelican Fount India, which isn't completely waterproof but doesn't wash out too badly.

 

I think I may need to get some Carbon Black though. Or Noodler's Black.

[LizB]

Well, I'm not sure how Noodler's Black will work, but I am really happy with my results diluting Pelican Fount India down with water (I used tap water, but I understand distilled water is considered safer).

 

I didn't measure any quantities this time round (I just mixed it straight into the barrel of my eyedropper Preppy), but I think I must have got down to about 1 part ink to 10 or 12 parts water. No issues with flow so far. And the best thing is that the resulting 'ink' behaves better under a watercolour wash. Because it is pale to start with, the ink does not noticeably run (which the full strength black version does) when a wash is applied over it. I'm really pleased with it.

 

Diluting black ink for drawing by Liz, on Flickr

[mariom]

Herbin do a very pale grey....the name escapes me, but it sounds like a thought....

 

Alex

Gris Nuage (cloud grey). Very pale. I had a bottle but couldn't find a use for it, so I gave it away.

[grainweevil]

A cautionary update to the heavily diluted Carbon Black experimentation:

 

I've had it in a Platinum Plaisir with a Preppy 0.2 nib, and had been using it regularly (new toy syndrome) with no problems. However, having left it unused for a couple of days, I'm afraid it totally dried out in the feed. Obviously not good news with an ink such as Carbon Black, and really surprised me given that I'd hoped the Plaisir's slip and seal cap would save my bacon in that respect. I did worry about the amount of water you could get away with, clearly for good reason. Ah well. It could have been a contender, but looks to require a wee bit too much attention for my needs.

 

Off to run the feed through the USC now. Hoping for the best, but I knew there was a good reason for experimenting with cheap pens.

[LizB]

My dilute Fount India is flowing freely after a week in a Preppy 02 stored nib up in a pot. I also experimented with a very pale walnut ink I have, sticking it in a fine Preppy over the weekend, and it was good (also fab in Parallel pen). Very pale soft brown line - almost grey - and waterproof once dry, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't keep that in even a cheap pen overnight though, just in case.

[grainweevil]

Be interested to see how the Fount India goes over time - the Carbon Black was on the go for about three weeks before hitting trouble. Environmental factors may have a part to play too; my Plaisir was in a pretty warm and dry place the whole time, which was never going to help.

 

Anyway, happily the Plaisir's feed was fine after its bath, so I can torture it further in the near future... *evil cackle*