Homemade Ink!

[kwpalzang]

I've seriously thought about doing this before... but I haven't yet, but only because we don't have any food colouring in the house. I'm actually really glad there's someone else that thought of doing this before I attempted it. But seriously, I can't possibly think of anything going horribly wrong. Regardless of people saying that fountain pen inks are a really complicated mixture of blah blah blah, when it comes down to the essentials of what you need in an ink, this really probably isn't so bad.. Food colouring is the dye, what gives the ink the colour, and the water is the vehicle. The issue of the lack of things like mould inhibitor, preservative, surfactant, etc, are probably easily remedied. For surfactant to make the ink flow better, add tiny drops of dish soap (a trick you probably remember from your BSB problem, even though it didn't work well for that situation). I don't think you'll need surfactant though, as you said the flow is good. For preservatives and basically, germ-killing substances, I don't know, but someone can probably add their suggestions to this. Would an oil be okay in a fountain pen?

[handwriter]

It looks so good that I wouldn't add anything, and to avoid problems with mould or fungi I would just prepare fresh amounts of it every couple of months or so. If it ain't broken...

[watch_art]

good idea about the soap, i think i'll try that. also good point about not bein broke. it's so cheap to make, and i'm so not picky about color, that i might just chuck it if it gets nasty and make a new batch every so often. but this color. i love it so much i've already gone through two fills in two days. that's unheard of for me! i usually swap pens out, but this funky shady green is so NICE.

[kwpalzang]

I can sense your thrill, and this gives me the urge to suddenly have tonnes of food colouring directly shipped to my house so I can live in ink nirvana eternally. As a side note, use the soap very sparingly, unless you want whatever you write to look like it was written on toilet paper.

[Bluecloud]

But....

 

There's sugar added to some brands of food colouring. Wouldn't want that in my pens...

[watch_art]

this one doesn't list sugars...

that is, i don't recognize any of these names as having sugars...

i don't see any -oses...

 

http://www.ehow.com/about_5341387_ingredients-food-coloring.html

[handwriter]

Note that in the General ingredients it lists...

 

"Propylparaben is utilized in both the cosmetics and food industry. It is composed of white powder crystals that act as a preserving agent in a liquid. Propylparaben prevents the growth of mold and fungus and has no taste or smell"

 

so I guess there is no need to add extra anti-mould ingredients

[mhwombat]

You might experiment with making a strong "tea" with lavender or some other fragrant herb, and using that in place of the tap water. The lavender might give off a subtle scent as you write, and the oils would add a tiny bit of lubrication. Lavender also inhibits mould and germs.

 

You could come up with a whole line of "organic, all-natural ink"!

[watch_art]

ooooh. that ones interesting. will have to do that.

[USMCMom]

You might experiment with making a strong "tea" with lavender or some other fragrant herb, and using that in place of the tap water. The lavender might give off a subtle scent as you write, and the oils would add a tiny bit of lubrication. Lavender also inhibits mould and germs.

 

You could come up with a whole line of "organic, all-natural ink"!

 

I used strong tea and strong coffee just days ago when I didn't have any ink. Since I was just playing, I used a glass pen, rather than one of my FPs. Worked pretty well.

 

Years ago, I used to do tea and coffee art work with a brush.

[Pentangeli]

Just keep it clean in all stages of the ink making process. Dirt, bacteria, and fungi are the number one causes of mold (SITB) in inks. As mentioned by LedZepGirl, distilled water is much better than tap water. Good luck, Shawn!

[kathleen]

Watch-art ,

I love your enthusiasm and joy. You display a passion for discovery, experimentation and self expression; necessary traits found in the best educators. I would love to be in one of your art classes. I am sure your creativity is inspiring!

 

You have me thinking about homemade inks. What do you think a dilute Welch's Concord Grape Juice would do in a pen? Perhaps just a bit diluted, or Catalina Salad Dressing; both grape juice and salad dressing make heavy duty stains when it comes to laundry.

 

And Chocolate, what a lovely brown is Hershey's Syrup, way too sticky and too thick, I know, but I bet you could think of something to dilute it, maybe milk. If it doesn't write nicely just drink it. I remember a trick, mixing tempura powder paint with milk, instead of water to get a nice glossy paint. Whatever you mix up just put it in an Esterbrook, I think an ol' Estie could handle it.

Edited July 9, 2010 by kathleen

[kathleen]

Thought of something else. There is something called Jet Dry. It comes in a small bottle and you add it to a small reservoir in an automatic dishwasher, it is suppose to "promote sheeting action and prevent spotting on glassware. if you added a drop to your homemade inks it might have properties that would enhance their flow. Experimentation is fun! You might come up with the most perfectly beautiful, flowing, exclusive and reserved, by special order only, ink any one has ever known. When you learn to make it in large batches you may sell it to everyone here, $15 for 3oz.

[watch_art]

if i did that, and made good batches of the stuff, i'd never charge that much. i hate the cost of inks. s'why i tried to make my own.

 

[kathleen]

I like you more and more, young art teacher! You are very kind. I agree with you, inks are pretty pricey at 15+ shipping for 3 ounces. I just thought of this, don't sell inks, why don't you compile a recipe book for inks and sell the book? We can buy the book, we can all mix up our own ink, and benefit from your experimentation and what you learn. Seriously, does anyone know of a recipe book for homemade inks?

[USMCMom]

I like you more and more, young art teacher! You are very kind. I agree with you, inks are pretty pricey at 15+ shipping for 3 ounces. I just thought of this, don't sell inks, why don't you compile a recipe book for inks and sell the book? We can buy the book, we can all mix up our own ink, and benefit from your experimentation and what you learn. Seriously, does anyone know of a recipe book for homemade inks?

 

Seems like I saw one a while back, but I'm not certain. Need to do some searching online.

 

I've used natural veggie juice ... art work again, not in FPs. Used common ones like beet, carrot and such.

[kathleen]

I like you more and more, young art teacher! You are very kind. I agree with you, inks are pretty pricey at 15+ shipping for 3 ounces. I just thought of this, don't sell inks, why don't you compile a recipe book for inks and sell the book? We can buy the book, we can all mix up our own ink, and benefit from your experimentation and what you learn. Seriously, does anyone know of a recipe book for homemade inks?

 

Seems like I saw one a while back, but I'm not certain. Need to do some searching online.

 

I've used natural veggie juice ... art work again, not in FPs. Used common ones like beet, carrot and such.

 

Ooooo, I bet beet juice would be a beautiful red/purple magenta on paper or fade to a brilliant pink. The colors are all there in nature and natural substances.

[mhwombat]

There's loads of information online about natural dyes from herbs and the like. To get the colour to bind to fabric, you need to use a mordant, but I don't think you'd need that for ink. So you might experiment with:

 

Blackberries (or any berries)

Sage

Woad

Broom

Heather

Ragweed (if you're not allergic)

Red cabbage

any strongly-coloured flowers that stain your hands a bit when you crush them

Try various weeds -- if they haven't been doused with chemicals

 

Of course, don't try this stuff in a favourite or expensive pen. But I would think that anything that's edible, or that has historically been used as a fabric dye, would probably be fairly safe. I would think that the biggest danger would be clogging your pen if you don't strain out all the plant material.

Edited July 10, 2010 by mhwombat

[Yoda4561]

It's my experience that clove oil has a very strong tendency to attack many kinds of plastic, so i'd hesitate to try that as a diy sitb-cide. A drop of iodine/betadine would probably work alot better, but it would change the color of the ink, as well as having that iodine smell.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Yoda4561

[mhwombat]

Googling for "homemade ink recipe" turns up lots of interesting stuff... but a lot of them contain things I wouldn't be too keen to try even in a cheap pen. But here's one that looked promising:

 

http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1337.html