Ever Tried Food Coloring With Honey?

[QuillPen77]

I was just wondering if anybody else has ever tried food coloring mixed with a little honey as refill ink for their fountain pens? I usually write with quill, and homemade iron tannin ink, but an uncle left me a fountain pen with no refills, and that's what I came up with.

[corniche]

Hello QuillPen77,

 

Welcome to FPN! I'm honored to be the first responder to your first post.

 

Do yourself and your pen a big favor- put the dyed honey on buttered toast and eat it; feed your pens genuine fountain ink ONLY. You'll both perform much better.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

Edited October 5, 2011 by S. P. Colfer

[kernando]

Your uncle made a mistake.

[eds]

Nope, don't even try it! Too viscous and possible microbial growth supporter.

 

 

I'm intrigued though, how and why did you think of honey?

[Scribblescrub]

I imagine all the pages of your notebooks will stick together if you continue with this practice.

[Reene]

Some watercolor manufacturers use honey in making their paints...it's keeps the paints moist, much like glycerin does:

 

" humectant, traditionally simple syrup or honey but now often inexpensive corn syrup, to help the paint retain mosture (especially in pan paints)

-Handprint.com)

 

But ever see honey when it crystalizes?! It will definitely clog up your fountain pen's thin flow system! Don't use it in a fountain pen!

Edited October 5, 2011 by Reene

[LuckyDog10]

Nope, don't even try it! Too viscous and possible microbial growth supporter.

 

 

I'm intrigued though, how and why did you think of honey?

 

Forget microbes...how about ants?

[Giordana]

At least you won't have to get up for the fridge when you're hungry....Fingerpainting anyone??

Edited October 5, 2011 by Giordana

[wallylynn]

So that's why some people lick their pen nibs...

[WanderingAuthor]

I guess honey might be somewhat easier to clean out than, say... concrete.

 

Sorry, but no. This is a bad idea. I just read the title and started having terrible visions of the times I've tried getting old honey out of a jar. In the feed and nib of a fountain pen...

 

I hope you haven't had this mixture in there very long. If so, you might still be able to flush it all out. But I'd soak that poor pen for a good long time, and flush it a few hundred times to boot. Honey just will not come out that easily, not from a fountain pen.

 

Edited to add: And, then, yes: fountain pen ink. Not India ink, not calligraphy ink, not paint... The design of a fountain pen is such that many "obvious" liquids will, quickly or slowly, clog up your pen and ruin it completely. Others will destroy it; I just got a Pelikan 120 back from Richard Binder (which I had never used; it belonged to a friend now dead) and he told me the inside of the barrel was damaged, probably from some corrosive "ink" that didn't belong in there. He did what he could, and the pen 'sort of' works, but the piston won't seal well enough to draw up much ink - because the barrel is not smooth enough to create a good seal. There are all kinds of ways you can ruin a fountain pen, and only one way to keep it safe: fountain pen ink.

Edited October 5, 2011 by WanderingAuthor

[gentlewarrior6]

Nope, don't even try it! Too viscous and possible microbial growth supporter.

 

 

I'm intrigued though, how and why did you think of honey?

 

Forget microbes...how about ants?

 

 

Interesting thought. Although the high concentration of sugars in honey can actually inhibit microbial growth. It has been used as a dressing for burns for example.

[raging.dragon]

There are some here who make a hobby of making their own ink; however, very few of the available recipes are fountain pen appropriate.

[encephalartos]

Nope, don't even try it! Too viscous and possible microbial growth supporter.

 

 

I'm intrigued though, how and why did you think of honey?

 

Forget microbes...how about ants?

 

 

Interesting thought. Although the high concentration of sugars in honey can actually inhibit microbial growth. It has been used as a dressing for burns for example.

 

Doesn't the microbe thing only work BEFORE it's diluted?

 

Except, I thought that the high concentration that inhibited microbes, such as botulism spores, was because of the

viscosity. One purpose fill by the hydrochloric acid in the human stomach is to destroy bugs that attempt to

come alive once the honey is dissolved into a thinner liquid. (The infant botulism caused by feeding honey

to babies is because the children's stomachs aren't producing as much acid.) If it's thin enough to flow like

ink, the anti-microbial value is probably gone.

[Gobblecup]

:yikes: :blink: :sick:

 

 

The title of this thread alone nearly threw me into convulsions!

 

 

The scariest part is that it wasn't intended as a joke!

 

 

As others have said, please, use fountain pen ink in your fountain pen, not food stuffs...

 

 

By the way, welcome to the FPN! Out of curiosity, what kind of fountain pen did your uncle give you?

[mark e]

:yikes: :blink: :sick:

 

 

The title of this thread alone nearly threw me into convulsions!

 

 

The scariest part is that it wasn't intended as a joke!

 

 

As others have said, please, use fountain pen ink in your fountain pen, not food stuffs...

 

 

By the way, welcome to the FPN! Out of curiosity, what kind of fountain pen did your uncle give you?

 

caterpillar?----john deere?

[LuckyDog10]

As others have said, please, use fountain pen ink in your fountain pen, not food stuffs...

 

There was this thread about using straight food dye. Never was seized with the urge to try it, but it made for an interesting discussion.

 

And now I am hungry for some toast and that wonderful Tennessee sourwood honey sitting at home in my cabinet...

[Biber]

Concerns aside, I wonder if there is anything to this combination, historically that is? After all, food/consumable type things and pigment/dyes are nothing new - tempura paints for example which historically used egg yolks as a binder.

[eds]

Nope, don't even try it! Too viscous and possible microbial growth supporter.

 

 

I'm intrigued though, how and why did you think of honey?

 

Forget microbes...how about ants?

 

 

Interesting thought. Although the high concentration of sugars in honey can actually inhibit microbial growth. It has been used as a dressing for burns for example.

 

Doesn't the microbe thing only work BEFORE it's diluted?

 

Except, I thought that the high concentration that inhibited microbes, such as botulism spores, was because of the

viscosity. One purpose fill by the hydrochloric acid in the human stomach is to destroy bugs that attempt to

come alive once the honey is dissolved into a thinner liquid. (The infant botulism caused by feeding honey

to babies is because the children's stomachs aren't producing as much acid.) If it's thin enough to flow like

ink, the anti-microbial value is probably gone.

 

 

Precisely what I was thinking. Honey is too viscous to use on its own, and so you must dilute it to even start using it. Although, if the water activity in the final mix is still low enough, microbial growth will still be inhibited.

 

However, what I'm concerned about isn't the microbes itself. But what it produces as a byproduct from the honey sugars. It may end up producing funny substances for all we know. Imagine funny substances in a pen. Not a very pleasant thought.

[redshifteffect]

This thread reminds me of the "Halloween episode" of CSI Miami where someone put blood in what appeared to be a very expensive looking fountain pen to write a letter.

 

I sure hope that pen survived the experience

[mark e]

every time i see this thread pop back up, i immediately think 2 things in response to the question...

 

1) yes, on my peanut butter sammiches when i was about 12 yrs old......and>>>>>>

 

2) there are approximately 37,492 different kinds of f-p ink on the market---what the...