Mixing With Noodler's Blacks: Hod Or Black?

[Miz Black Crow]

Having recently discovered that the Noodler's black ink I happen to have on hand--Old Manhattan Blackest Black--actually tends to color other inks when mixing, I'm investigating other colors for mix-making. Given that I don't write with black ink on a regular basis, I have little reason to buy both, but I'm pretty much set towards using either Bulletproof Black (BB) or Heart of Darkness (HoD) in my mixes. Neither seems to show up on chromatography scans that I've seen here.

 

For mixing purposes, the blacks used will be set in order to add water resistance and darkness to mixes, but those mixes may include delicate colors (like orange, for example, or yellows)--things that may be sensitive to blue dyes (rather than pure black dye, if such a thing exists).

 

So. Which Noodler's black do you use for mixing? BB? HoD? OMBB? Which is the most color-neutral for mixing purposes?

[Mathematics Teacher]

I've messed around with mixing Noodler's Black with a few inks (Diamine and R&K), but with mixed results. Generally, the blue and red inks I've mixed with Noodler's have worked, but orange was a no go...too much seperation after and quite a bit of gunk. I've had much better luck mixing all those inks with Diamine black. I would definitely suggest if you mix different brands, to mix in small amounts, and wait at least a week to observe the mix.

[dcwaites]

It is really hard to do chromatography with bulletproof inks because as soon as the ink hits the cellulose fibres in the paper, it bonds, and doesn't move.

You would need to find a medium not made of plant fibres, possibly a polymer. (and not rock paper, because Noodler's Black bonds to that anyway, via some other mechanism). You might need to talk to somebody in a Chem. Lab.

 

Generally, the only time I would use Black in a mix is to make a Blue-Black ink, i.e. Noodler's Blue and Noodler's Black, or Sheaffer Skrip Blue and Sheaffer Skrip Black.

 

Someone else on the FPN (perhaps Beak?) suggested using the complimentary colour to darken a colour. So, for Yellow you would add a touch of blue. If you add Black to yellow, you might simply get diarrhoetic puppy poo brown, possibly not what you wanted.

 

See this image -

 

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/700288/700288,1302917175,1/stock-vector-cmyk-color-wheel-true-color-values-in-steps-scale-tubes-ranges-from-graphically-75334588.jpg

or this one

 

Check the notes on additive and subtractive blending.

Edited January 30, 2016 by dcwaites

[Miz Black Crow]

It is really hard to do chromatography with bulletproof inks because as soon as the ink hits the cellulose fibres in the paper, it bonds, and doesn't move.

You would need to find a medium not made of plant fibres, possibly a polymer. (and not rock paper, because Noodler's Black bonds to that anyway, via some other mechanism). You might need to talk to somebody in a Chem. Lab.

 

Generally, the only time I would use Black in a mix is to make a Blue-Black ink, i.e. Noodler's Blue and Noodler's Black, or Sheaffer Skrip Blue and Sheaffer Skrip Black.

 

Someone else on the FPN (perhaps Beak?) suggested using the complimentary colour to darken a colour. So, for Yellow you would add a touch of blue. If you add Black to yellow, you might simply get diarrhoetic puppy poo brown, possibly not what you wanted.

 

See this image -

 

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/700288/700288,1302917175,1/stock-vector-cmyk-color-wheel-true-color-values-in-steps-scale-tubes-ranges-from-graphically-75334588.jpg

or this one

 

Check the notes on additive and subtractive blending.

 

Thank you very much for the links and images and information! If Noodler's offered a decent set of waterproof CYMK inks (as they apparently once did) I would try what you suggest about mixing complimentary colors. Instead I'm trying to blend bulletproof and non-bulletproof inks to make an ink that will leave SOMETHING behind. An orange-black was attempted using Apache Sunset + OMBB. It fared better with AS + Red-Black, but it's still not where I want it yet. My aim is to get the whole spectrum: pink-black, purple-black, blue-black, red-black, orange-black, teal-black, yellow-black, ..... . Or at least inks that will survive a good soak. (There are some massively pretty ink mixes on here, but orange is an area causing me some particular difficulties.)

 

The "correct" solution may actually be to blend a non-bulletproof ink and a pigment ink, but that's some dark, dark magic that I'm not ready to attempt yet. As it stands I'm trying to get some basic X-black inks going without totally ruining the underlying colors, but I'd love to mix more vibrant inks......

 

 

If you add Black to yellow, you might simply get diarrhoetic puppy poo brown, possibly not what you wanted.

 

:lticaptd: Best description I've ever seen of what I managed to make.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Miz Black Crow

[bonsaiboy]

I use Noodler's black in my mixes and similar to dcwaites I use it mainly for mixing up a blue/black. I had a bottle of Hero 233 Blue lying around that I didn't like the look and performance of. Mixed in a little black (~10%) and the colour is much nicer and the water resistance is improved; even the water resistance of the underlying blue appears to have improved.

[UDog]

I have also had good results with Old Manhattan Blackest Black.

[Arkanabar]

I intend to see if I can make a tolerable blue-black from VMail Midway Blue and Bad Black Moccasin. But I may also see what I can do with my Borealis Black.

[MichieMiche]

I intend to see if I can make a tolerable blue-black from VMail Midway Blue and Bad Black Moccasin. But I may also see what I can do with my Borealis Black.

Hello,

How did the mix turn out. I mixed some Bulletproof black with North African Violets from the V-Mail line and wound up with a clumpy mess. I liked the colour and would like to see if I can achieve the same colour by using another black ink from Noodler's. Please, let me know if your mix worked.

[IndigoBOB]

I am curious about this, too. I really prefer how Heart of Darkness flows and behaves over Noodler's black and was thinking about mixing it with other inks from noodler's as well as different brands like Diamine. I love Dark inks close to black, and if they have some water resistance/bullet proofness than that would be great.

 

What has anyone's experience been with mixing HoD?