Clumpy Ink Build Up On Feed

[Oranges and Apples]

Has anyone tried dropping the crystals into a vial and rehydrating them for actual use?

 

I have dehydrated Diamine Orange and Pumpkin for watercolor use and it still works perfectly fine. It is like a sugar solution. When the water evaporates it crystallizes. I have not tried to use it in a pen though.

 

You say watercolor use, so I'm guessing they arent as intense a color as the actual ink? Is there a % dilution of the original ink that would match it?

 

I don't dilute but I let it sit on there for around six months. And with Diamine Orange and Pumpkin and now also MontBlanc Joy of Ink, I allow them to evaporate or dehydrate so they become solids as if acting like actual watercolor paints from a tube.

[JimB]

Not the 1st time I've posted this photo, but it is apropos

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6721127831_e6d11916ba_z.jpg

 

R&K Helianthus in this case. The odd thing is that if you put a few drops of water on the crystals with an eyedropper, they do not look like they're dissolving. Put them on a wet paper towel and rub them around and they do fully dissolve, eventually.

I didn't see this happen a second time.

Wow. If only that was a bit more brown and less orange, I'd try rubbing it onto my bald spot(s)! :roflmho:

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Diamine 'Ancient Copper' also exhibited similar misbehaviour for at least one Member: LINK

 

Bye,

S1

Edited May 18, 2012 by Sandy1

[radellaf]

How many of you with this orange gunk are using it in pens with safety breather holes in the caps rather than completely sealed caps?

 

The one in the photo is a Pilot Prera, which has a pretty well sealed cap. I keep them inked for months and every two months or so, if I haven't used it much, I would have to add a bit of distilled to bring the ink in the converter back up to full volume.

 

However, before that photo was taken, the pen was being used for an hours-long situation of making tally marks. There was a little on there when I uncapped, and then I just got to watch it grow and grow. Eventually (after the photo) enough was forming that, near the tip, it would drop little solid bits on the paper.

[JonSzanto]

Well, I wish I could figure how to take a decent photo (and if I do, I'll post it), but I had my own first ink weirdness last night. A couple weeks ago I filled the convertor in a small but nice XF writer from China with a sample of De Atramentis Oriental Red. Wrote well, looked ok, etc.

 

Last night I pulled the pen out to write something, pulled the cap off and blinked. I thought somehow a bunch of cat hairs had bunched up around the tip, but when I took my loupe to look at it, I saw that the ink had crystallized like crazy, ending up looking like a tiny magnet picking up iron filings. They sprouted out from the tip of the nib, and on closer inspection the entire feed was encrusted in a web of thin, fine crystals.

 

Good thing it was just a sample, as I won't be getting an entire bottle of *that* ink!

[Nic13]

The pen I was using that started this is a sailor reglus, well sealed so no evaporation.

 

I like the crystal growing effect, but just not in my pen!

 

I have not had any other ink that does this and I am out of my sample of pumpkin so I can not contribute to much any more, maybe ill get some and give it another go.

[dragos.mocanu]

Hi,

 

Diamine 'Ancient Copper' also exhibited similar misbehaviour for at least one Member: LINK

 

Bye,

S1

 

I've learned (through painful personal experience) that the Diamine Ochre also does this...but the buildup is pink...I really love the color, suppose I'll use a dip nib for it from now on.

Edited July 12, 2013 by dragos.mocanu

[Bigeddie]

How many of you with this orange gunk are using it in pens with safety breather holes in the caps rather than completely sealed caps?

 

In my sealed Onoto Magna 261 I get absolutely no gunk at all with Pumpkin because there is no way for the ink to evaporate. If the cap has a breather hole then the ink can evaporate leaving this crud.

 

I have used Montblanc Ink of Joy extensively, just coming to the end of my third and final bottle . In a well sealed screw cap (TWSBI 540 or mini) it has no problems at all, in a Lamy Vista (push cap) it quite quickly generates this sort of build up.

 

I had seen the photos on the forum before mine happened and thought 'that looks a bit weird'. When you uncap your pen and find it, right there, infront of you, it's different! It made me feel a little panicky. It all came out in the wash.

[BMG]

Yuk! I've never experienced anything like that with any of the inks I've ever used. Did a quick image search on "fountain pen crud on nib" and found some interesting pics. Here are two from this very forum:

 

 

 

Having explored the issue a bit on this forum, I found that most complaints of ink crud are related to orange inks, though they are not limited to that color. Richard Binder's "Inks: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly" is a worthwhile read regarding ink-related problems.

 

FWIW, and speaking strictly for myself, I would avoid such inks in the future. There are just too many great choices in ink colors and brands today to be using any that might potentially mess up my pens.

[mhosea]

 

FWIW, and speaking strictly for myself, I would avoid such inks in the future. There are just too many great choices in ink colors and brands today to be using any that might potentially mess up my pens.

 

There are a lot of choices but it's hard to know what to choose in the orange-leaning colors. Just because nobody has yet reported crud buildup with one doesn't mean much. By all accounts this phenomenon is harmless, so if one wishes to avoid it, avoid it because it is annoying.

[BMG]

@mhosea -- By the same logic, just because nobody has yet reported their pen was harmed by crud buildup doesn't mean much, and whatever the case may be, that kind of buildup is definitely not normal. And of course folks can avoid such inks or not, depending on a number of things: how much they like the colors, whether or not the buildup bothers them, whether or not they're concerned it may ultimately damage their pen, etc. As I wrote in my note, "speaking strictly for myself," I would avoid them.

Edited July 12, 2013 by BMG

[mhosea]

@mhosea -- By the same logic, just because nobody has yet reported their pen was harmed by crud buildup doesn't mean much, and whatever the case may be, that kind of buildup is definitely not normal. And of course folks can avoid such inks or not, depending on a number of things: how much they like the colors, whether or not the buildup bothers them, whether or not they're concerned it may ultimately damage their pen, etc. As I wrote in my note, "speaking strictly for myself, I would avoid such inks."

 

I do not think the inferences are equally valid, since one thing has been observed to occur ever and the other has not. I certainly do not care which inks you avoid or why, but you seem to be trying to promote the idea that this phenomenon is associated with risk of damage. There is no evidence of that.

Edited July 12, 2013 by mhosea

[BMG]

I'm not trying to promote anything, just saying that the crud buildup is not normal and that I personally would avoid it on the off chance it could clog the pen, damage the feed, whatever. No, there is no evidence of that happening, but still I wouldn't take the chance.

[amberleadavis]

So, how long did it take to clean the nib after the crud caked the nib? Since one report was that it dissolved in water and another report was that the crystals had to be mashed on the paper, it sounds as though cleaning could be time consuming.

Any reports?

[FLZapped]

 

This is a sort of crystallizing of the dye compounds in all likelihood.

Parker red grows crystals on the nib and feed. So it must be something to do with red.

[Bigeddie]

So, how long did it take to clean the nib after the crud caked the nib? Since one report was that it dissolved in water and another report was that the crystals had to be mashed on the paper, it sounds as though cleaning could be time consuming.

Any reports?

 

My Ink of Joy crud just rinsed off under a tap, no manual motivation required.

[amberleadavis]

Glad to hear it.

[Bonny]

If you're not too worried about scratching the feed, use a needle to scrape it out. Thats what I did with my lamy when I decided to experiment with some glitter ink (never do that)