Lesser Known Inks

[fiberdrunk]

I haven't seen any reviews or mentions of a few inks that I've been using for years, so I thought I'd post some ink comparisons. These inks might be better known in calligraphy circles, though they work fine for fountain pens, too.

 

The ink I use most often is Magic Color, a "pigmented liquid acrylic color. Highly lightfast, waterproof, mixable with water for watercolor effects, non-toxic and acid-free (archival). Layers of color can be built up safely. Because these inks are shellac free, they can be used in a fountain pen or airbrush without clogging. Eyedropper cap makes application and color mixing easy; will adhere to many surfaces. 1oz, 28 ml, eye dropper bottles." I do believe that Magic Color bought out the old Rotring ArtistColor ink company (another ink that I've used for years, but is no longer available. However, you can find bottles on eBay occasionally). The Magic Color and Rotring ArtistColor inks are very similar in properties and colors, so I wouldn't doubt it is the same ink. Magic Color can be purchased from Paper & Ink Arts for $5.95 for a 1 oz. bottle (with an eyedropper in the lid). The opaque line is not safe for fountain pens so use the transparent ones (which I actually find quite opaque). Before Noodler's, Magic Color and Rotring ArtistColors were the only inks I'd found that were both waterproof, very permanent and safe for fountain pens (I conducted my own water and lightfastness tests and can vouch... I don't know if they are forgery-proof, however.) The flow of these inks has always been dependable in my fountain pens, with no clogging (even when set down for a few days). I usually use these inks in a Rotring ArtPen. Paper & Ink Arts has a free color sample sheet available for Magic Color (see below).

 

 

 

I've also used Calli inks. These are waterproof, pigmented inks. Not all the colors are equally permanent. The company uses a 4-star permanence rating, with 4 stars being the most permanent. Their Jet Black India, Blue and Green are rated 4 stars. The Scarlet, Burgundy & Brown inks are rated 2 stars. They're very pretty inks. This is an ink that needs to be used daily, however, because it does dry and clog the nib if you set your pen down for a few days (I usually dip the nib into the same bottle of ink it came from and wipe it with paper towel to get it flowing again). It flows dependably in my Jinhao X750 fountain pen, better than my Rotring ArtPen. Paper & Ink Arts sells it for $4.90 in 1-ounce bottles or for $26.60 for a set of all 6 colors. John Neal Bookseller also sells it for $5.25 per bottle or for $29.95 for a set of all 6 colors. It is available on Amazon as well.

 

Finally I'll give a brief mention to Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks. "Lightfast, brilliant colors are safe for fountain pens as well as for dip pens and brush. This color range is a double primary palette, excellent for mixing clean colors. The crimson makes a particularly nice Christmas red. Colors: Lemon Yellow, Winsor Yellow, Scarlet, Crimson, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Violet, Leaf Green, Green, Indian Red, Sepia, Blue-Black, Black. Although W&N rates all but Blue-Black & Black as transparent, we found colors to be quite opaque. 30 ml. each." Paper & Ink Arts sells it for $5.50 per bottle, or $37.55 for all 6 colors. They have a free color sheet available as well. They are not labeled as being waterproof, but my own waterproof test shows that the one I tested (Sepia) held up very well with little blurring and the writing was still very legible after a good dunking. The Sepia ink had a permanence rating of A by Winsor & Newton (AA is the most permanent and C is fugitive).

 

By the way, I am not affiliated with any of these companies. I have been ordering and using these inks from Paper & Ink Arts since the early '90's, however, and am very happy with them. Below are my ink color comparisons. I apologize in advance for doing most of the samples with a glass dip pen... I'm not terribly adept and get inconsistent flow with it at times, but it was a convenient way to make these samplers (which were done on Strathmore paper).

 

The Browns

 

Continued on the next post...

Edited June 12, 2010 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

The Purples

[fiberdrunk]

I'm trying to post all the other colors I have, but I'm getting an error message:

 

"Used 5.55MB of your 4.88MB global upload quota "

 

So I might have to post them another time.

[tonybelding]

The ink I use most often is Magic Color, a "pigmented liquid acrylic color. Highly lightfast, waterproof, mixable with water for watercolor effects, non-toxic and acid-free (archival).

 

That set off alarm bells with me. Pigmented liquid acrylic? I don't think I'd want that even in the same room with my fountain pens.

[txinsk]

If the acrylic medium ever solidifies in your feed the pen is toast. It may be more difficult to get it to dry than shellac, but if it does it will be painful. That being said, these do work for dip pens.

 

Rick

[watch_art]

that's awesome.

as for the error your getting, i think you're only allowed to upload so much to FPN. after that you need to use flickr or photobucket or some other photo hosting site, and then link your images here.

[fiberdrunk]

The ink I use most often is Magic Color, a "pigmented liquid acrylic color. Highly lightfast, waterproof, mixable with water for watercolor effects, non-toxic and acid-free (archival).

 

That set off alarm bells with me. Pigmented liquid acrylic? I don't think I'd want that even in the same room with my fountain pens.

 

I've been using this ink since the mid-90's or so and haven't fried a fountain pen yet (I mostly use Rotring ArtPens). The transparent Magic Colors are labeled as being safe for fountain pens. Just don't use the opaque ones.

Edited June 13, 2010 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

Here's testing out Image Shack for the rest of the colors.

 

Blues/Greens/Blacks

 

http://yfrog.com/0ninkcomparisonchartbluegj

 

Browns/Purples/Reds/Oranges/Yellows

 

http://yfrog.com/g4inkcomparisonchartbrownj

 

I'm not sure which of the urls Image Shack provides is the right one to show up on this forum, so I'm testing out a few of them. So this will be edited until I figure it out!

Edited June 13, 2010 by fiberdrunk

[Yoda4561]

Could you try letting a few drops of it dry on a sheet of saran wrap or a plastic ziplock bag? Does it wash off after it's fully dried?? If it does then it may be safe for a fountain pen, if not then I'd really hesitate to call it "fountain pen safe" regardless of manufacturer claims.

[drifting]

My experience with Windsor and Newton Sepia in a Rotring Art Pen wasn't so positive. Accustomed to the forgiving nature of water based fountain pen ink, I left it sit for a week or two, and it dried solid in the feed and ruined the pen. My bad, and I won't be repeating the experiment. I would caution anyone using these inks in a fountain pen to practice exacting pen hygiene and thoroughly flush your pens after use. Lots of pretty colours, though.

 

Thanks for the scans, fiberdrunk!

 

Ryan.

[fiberdrunk]

Could you try letting a few drops of it dry on a sheet of saran wrap or a plastic ziplock bag? Does it wash off after it's fully dried?? If it does then it may be safe for a fountain pen, if not then I'd really hesitate to call it "fountain pen safe" regardless of manufacturer claims.

 

Will do. I put some drops on saran wrap last night, but found it was still wet this morning. I'll let you know what happens after it's dry and I wash it.

 

It could be I've never had a pen ruined by these Rotring ArtistColors & Magic Color inks because I'm using a pen that was perhaps designed for them (Rotring ArtPen). It makes sense that Rotring would make a fountain pen that could be used with their own inks (at least their transparent inks). I've never put the inks into an expensive fountain pen, only lower-end calligraphy fountain pens such as Rotring and Platignum (when I bought my Rotring ArtPens in the mid-90's or so, they were around $19. I think they're closer to $30 now. So not expensive ones.) They still work as well as they did when I first got them, even after years of using this ink. (Like I said before, I do believe Magic Color is the same ink as Rotring ArtistColors.)

Edited June 14, 2010 by fiberdrunk

[Yoda4561]

The slow drying time is a good sign, feel free to use ammonia or bleach when doing the washing too. Noodler's Kung Te Cheng is pretty darned waterproof when dried on plastic, but a bit of ammonia and it runs right off.

[fiberdrunk]

The slow drying time is a good sign, feel free to use ammonia or bleach when doing the washing too. Noodler's Kung Te Cheng is pretty darned waterproof when dried on plastic, but a bit of ammonia and it runs right off.

 

Results of the experiment: it washed right off with water.

[GreenVelvet]

The Magic Color inks look fascinating.

 

Calli inks killed two of my cheap pens, though. I will never put them in a fountain pen again.

[fiberdrunk]

I'm just adding the previous color scans that I had trouble uploading here before.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6863017738_1daeed7a5c_b.jpg

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/6863017734_f2a1d62c2a_b.jpg