Need To Write W/pen On Paper Cards Which Take Dye Printer Inks

[Guest jonathan7007]

Pen folks,

I'm a photographer and want to mail my own images to friends, clients, and prospects. I know the print world of today: much color printing work is fused toner and poor color. small batches are high cost and I lose the spontaneity of printing my own images on them right in my office for the exact communication I need to create. When I started in the business we made separations and thought in CMYK and grey component replacement. Black magic, really.

 

OK, current day. I use dye inks. Strathmore makes a folding digital printing card and matching envelope that ends up 5x7 on a nice paper - pretty good for the color image but terrible for fountain pen inks. I have experimented with a fair number of inks and nibs. Some are better than others but there is usually way too much feathering. I have written several paper manufacturers for samples to consider buying the paper loose and either going to a converter for custom envelopes... well, you see the issue. We fountain pen users are a tiny army.

 

The best ink appears to be Noodler's Bay State Blue for its fast drying. (Amazingly this ink allows me to safely write on the slimy back of a Canon 4x6 glossy stock if I give it just a bit of time before throwing it into a mailbox.) I considered the idea of printing on an 8.5x11 photo paper and folding it but usually the emulsion side cracks in a goofy way, and it's clearly a print... needs to be stationery. (I hope that makes sense to others beside just me...) For another example, I don't want to place a print in a cardboard "frame" that can go in an envelope, and anyway, that super-soft paper would probably not be appropriate for fountain pen inks.

 

I admit that there are many inks I have not tried. I found some smooth 100-lb cover card stock that's very good with my pens. But the smooth papers I find like this cover stock do NOT take color ink with enough "punch" for professional-level photography presentation.

 

OK, enough telling why I have NOT been successful. Please pass on any suggestions of card stock that works for both printer and pen. Doesn't have to fold. It's nicest if there's a matching envelope. In fact that's kind of the point of my request for help. A true stationery/personal letter experience.

 

Thanks in advance, everyone.

Jonathan

www.jonathanrawle.com

[LizEF]

Have you tried pigment or iron gall inks on the Strathmore paper? These seem to be better behaved on poor (for FPs) paper than other types of inks.

 

Also, I've always heard that fast-drying is bad for poor paper because it's designed to accomplish this by soaking in - which leads to feathering. (Just something to consider.)

[Tasmith]

Have you tried pigment or iron gall inks on the Strathmore paper? These seem to be better behaved on poor (for FPs) paper than other types of inks.

 

Also, I've always heard that fast-drying is bad for poor paper because it's designed to accomplish this by soaking in - which leads to feathering. (Just something to consider.)

 

I too found Iron Gall inks tend to work well on paper and envelopes where other inks feather, smear or don't want to dry.

 

The Iron Galls I use are:

 

Rohrer & Klinger Salix dries blue black

Platinum Classic Khaki Black dries sepia

Platinum Classic Cassis Black dries burgundy red

Akkernan #10 Ijzer-Galnoten dries dark grey

Edited January 14, 2018 by Tasmith

[Guest jonathan7007]

Interesting: I see references to iron gall ink which if memory serves say that it's hard on pens and for which some nibs aren't suitable. I'll research this. Of your list Tasmith, I'd want to try the sepia.

 

I would guess this means dedicating one or more pens/nibs to that kind of card. That would be too bad. I love the flexibility to change the pen and nib to suit my mood. I'll see what research tells me about iron gall inks in my mostly low-end pens.

 

I had discovered already that "fast drying" was usually applied to inks that soaked into their paper immediately. I bought Noodler's American Aristocracy to try that on the back of Canon 4x6 prints and it smeared if not given a lot of time to "dry" and smeared a little even after extended time. What works, as I wrote above, is the Bay State Blue. (What is that solvent?)

 

Use of Bay State Blue also benefits from dedication of one pen to this unique formulation. I chose my Platinum "Cool" as it was a blue-tinted demonstrator (kinda) and I'd probably sprung the nib a bit looking for the safe amount of flex in that interesting nib. I've adjusted that nib back - mostly - it's a good writer. I love the color of BSB and it works on papers and situations the other inks do not. I wish there was more choice of color in that subset of the Noodler's line.

 

Here's another anecdote about drying handwriting on the back of a Canon 4x6: I bought an extra-fine Sharpie "pen" which comes with a more fountain-pen-like body shape and cap. Turned out it had the exact same nub as the prosaic white and black marker form factor. OK, so I cut the nub at a 45-degree angle as I have in the past to give it some stubby characteristics. But the Sharpie "ink" - for all its reputation - did not dry quickly on that plasticky surface. Sharpie ink still required a hit of hair dryer hot hot air to be safely handled. The BSB is OK after a while without hot air, like, after-writing-notes-take-them-to-the-mailbox kind of curing time.

Edited January 15, 2018 by jonathan7007

[Tasmith]

Interesting: I see references to iron gall ink which if memory serves say that it's hard on pens and for which some nibs aren't suitable. I'll research this. Of your list Tasmith, I'd want to try the sepia.

 

I would guess this means dedicating one or more pens/nibs to that kind of card. That would be too bad. I love the flexibility to change the pen and nib to suit my mood. I'll see what research tells me about iron gall inks in my mostly low-end pens.

 

 

I've read that modern Iron Gall isn't as hard on pens as in the past. I do dedicate less expensive pens to Iron Gall:

 

Wing Sung 698, one with a extra fine nib and one with a Pilot Plumix stub. These have R&K Salix.

 

Rotring Artpen, 1.1mm stub one with Platinum Cassis black and one 1.1mm stub with Platinum Khaki Black. If I need to write fine lines to embellish or touch up the letters, I use a Speedball Crow Quill 102 and just dip it.

 

TWSBI 1.1 stub, Akkerman #10 Ijzer Galnoten

 

Been using Iron Galls for a year now. Zero problems, I just make sure I clean each pen thoroughly before refilling.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Tasmith