Dr. Ph. Martin`s Hydrus Inks

[josh1990]

Dr. Ph. Martin`s Hydrus inks

 

 

Saw these on a art supply website, www.dickblick.com. And I thought they looked great and wondered if these can be used in technical or fountain pens.

 

On the website it says they are useable with them, but I just wanted to make sure.

 

Thanks for any help.

[BillTheEditor]

I've used Dr. Ph. Martin's watercolor products in technical pens without any problems, as long as I kept the equipment clean and didn't let the stuff sit in them for months on end. Just remember that it's watercolor, not ink, and it will be transparent on your page, not opaque. Ph. Martin's colors are very nice, but they are not substitutes for ink. Different jobs, different products.

 

Other web sites say "calligraphy pens" not "fountain pens" -- they are not the same thing! I wouldn't use anything in a fountain pen that is not specifically labelled as being for "fountain pens". You might get away with using watercolor products in a fountain pen, and on the other hand you might just end up with a terrifically clogged fountain pen. It's your money.

Edited August 20, 2006 by BillTheEditor

[Arkanabar]

While in college I had an Osmiroid with a ball tip that I fearlessly loaded with Dr. P. H. Martin's Brilliant Watercolors. They had more saturation than the transparent watercolors, of course, and were generally legible on cheap notebook and xerographic paper. I cleaned the pen every time I refilled it.

 

But I no longer have that Osmiroid, or any of the other under $5 USD fountain pens I used to have, and I would be very leery of using the watercolors in any of the pens I've gotten since then.

[sharpclaw]

Dr. Ph. Martin`s Hydrus inks

 

 

Saw these on a art supply website, www.dickblick.com. And I thought they looked great and wondered if these can be used in technical or fountain pens.

I ran a search and this is the only thread on the FPN about Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Inks. I am quite surprised.

 

This is responding to josh1990's question a couple years later, but I am trying them in fountain pens now. I have had the first two sets of twelve one-ounce bottles sitting around for four or five years now with too little use and got curious. So far, I have only tried Phthalo Blue in fountain pens for a few days, but the experience has been positive enough that I plan to try them all.

 

They can be used in technical pens. That is why I first got them, but they have received too little use because 1. I had other color inks for my technical pens I wanted to finish using first and 2. most of my technical pen work is in black ink. Now that I have finally used up the other color inks, I plan to use the Hydrus inks more.

 

Shelf Life: Good, these have been sitting around for four or five years, usually in a room-temperature drawer, but sometimes in a box in a colder garage for a few days at a time, and only one in the twenty-four bottles shows age. The Payne's Gray bottle has a layer or stain of teal green and midnight blue on the bottom, but still also has a lot of liquid gray.

 

Flow: I put Phthalo Blue ink only in one Kaweco Sport medium-nib fountain pen and 50% Phthalo Blue ink / 50% water in another Kaweco Sport medium-nib fountain pen, both pens treated as eyedroppers. The ink-water seems to yield a slightly finer line, but both flow well, writing readily on the printer paper I have been using and sketching readily in my Robert Bateman sketchbook. Neither has experienced nib creep or feathering yet and both start well after being left alone for hours at a time.

 

Color: The Phthalo Blue is stunning in a very rich blue with a hint of teal. The ink-water combination looks a little more turquoise with a hint of non-photo blue (though not that light in color).

 

I confess that I have not tried many fountain pen inks, but I see no more transparency with the Hydrus inks than I do in most fountain pen review samples that I see posted here on the FPN. That is not to say that the Hydrus inks to do not have transparency, just that I inferred from my limited experience and from the fountain pen review samples posted here on the FPN that most fountain pen inks are not very opaque.

 

Use Again? As I said, I only started this experiment a few days ago (four, I think), but I have given the pens a pretty good workout, with writing and sketching both. The ink-only pen has been used for a few 8.5"x11" pages of writing and 2.5 8.5"x11" pages of sketching and the ink-water pen has been used for a few 8.5"x11" pages of writing and the remaining 0.5 8.5"x11" page of sketching. I am happy enough with the experience that I plan to continue to use the pens as they are and try the other Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus inks that I have in some of my many other Kaweco Sport fountain pens.

[MinasTirithScribe]

Are Hydrus Inks purely dye-solution-based? I was under the impression that at least some of the Dr. Ph. Martin's line had suspended pigments that might clog FP works.

 

I used the Transparent and Radiant liquid watercolor series for dip-pen calligraphy projects in the 1980s (an application for which they excel, BTW) and haven't kept up with the product line since then.

[sharpclaw]

Are Hydrus Inks purely dye-solution-based? I was under the impression that at least some of the Dr. Ph. Martin's line had suspended pigments that might clog FP works.

 

I used the Transparent and Radiant liquid watercolor series for dip-pen calligraphy projects in the 1980s (an application for which they excel, BTW) and haven't kept up with the product line since then.

I honestly do not know whether Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus inks contain pigments or are purely dyes. I waited to respond because I wanted to get more experience with them first. I have been using them for about three weeks now with mixed results. Mostly I have been very pleased with the inks in my pens, but I am not going to continue using them in fountain pens anymore.

 

Hydrus inks are fantastic inks, but maybe not for fountain pens. They could work for technical pens, dip pens, and (their intended use) watercolor. However, the undiluted ink dries too much on my fountain pen tips, despite well-closed caps. I tried three undiluted inks in eye-dropper Kaweco Sport fountain pens and one undiluted ink in a Kaweco Sport fountain pen with a converter. The three in the eye-droppers are the ones with the problem of ink drying on the nib. The one in the converter seems to be working best, starting flawlessly each time that I use it. Two of the other three do write well, but need to be started if they have been allowed to sit for a while. The third is why I am ending my experiment with the Hydrus inks; it is having a lot of problems writing.

 

The problem could be the pen itself, or it could be the inks. Since the Hydrus inks do dry so much on the nibs of closed eye-dropper pens and the affected pens need to be restarted so often, I am going to err on the side of caution and no longer use Hydrus inks in fountain pens. I did have a lot of fun trying them, drew a few pages of sketches with the vivid colors, and might get a rollerball in which to try them next.