Mrs. Stewarts Concentrated Liquid Bluing

[amper]

7 hours ago, SLinkster said:

How do we feel about Bluette? It's a little more than half the cost of Mrs. Stewart's and appears to be the same recipe.

I've never seen Bluette for sale, so I haven't tried it. Bluing is not a complicated thing: water, pigment, oxalic acid (which apparently helps the pigment stay in suspension), and a biocide. If Bluette uses more or less the same formula, it should work similarly.

[JonSzanto]

10 minutes ago, amper said:

 So, personally, I get a kick out of it.

Thank you, @amper - that is everything I had hoped for in an answer (your entire response, not only my quoted excerpt). My question was sincere and I’m grateful to you for such a detailed and honest reply. ❤️

[amper]

1 minute ago, JonSzanto said:

Thank you, @amper - that is everything I had hoped for in an answer (your entire response, not only my quoted excerpt). My question was sincere and I’m grateful to you for such a detailed and honest reply. ❤️

I just love spreading the word about this, even after 10 years.

[JonSzanto]

16 minutes ago, amper said:

I just love spreading the word about this, even after 10 years.

 

Hehe... Nothing like evangelical zeal.  You'll love your Leonardos - I have a number of them, and both the steel and gold nibs are splendid writing experiences. 

[knarflj]

Forgive me if this info was in an earlier post, but is it quick-drying?  You all have me so curious that I am very tempted to drag my bottle upstairs from the laundry area and put some in one of the Chinese pens I take to work.  It would be an ideal colour, but most of what I write at work must be tucked inside a book immediately after writing, so whatever ink I use must have a quick dry time.

[USG]

16 minutes ago, knarflj said:

Forgive me if this info was in an earlier post, but is it quick-drying?  You all have me so curious that I am very tempted to drag my bottle upstairs from the laundry area and put some in one of the Chinese pens I take to work.  It would be an ideal colour, but most of what I write at work must be tucked inside a book immediately after writing, so whatever ink I use must have a quick dry time.

 

Drying time will be relative to the pen you put it in.  If you put it in a wet nib pen it will dry slower.  Why not Give it a try?  🙂

 

I have it in a Jinhao X-159 (M) and it's pretty dry.

[amper]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:21 PM, knarflj said:

Forgive me if this info was in an earlier post, but is it quick-drying?  You all have me so curious that I am very tempted to drag my bottle upstairs from the laundry area and put some in one of the Chinese pens I take to work.  It would be an ideal colour, but most of what I write at work must be tucked inside a book immediately after writing, so whatever ink I use must have a quick dry time.

It doesn't contain anything other than water, pigment, oxalic acid, and biocide, so there's nothing to retard or accelerate evaporation or absorption. I'd say it dries about as quickly as most inks that aren't specifically designed to dry fast or slow, but of course, drying time will also depend on a number of other factors, not least of which is the substrate upon which you are writing. I rarely if ever smudge my writing, and I don't take especial care not to do so.

[knarflj]

Thanks, @USG and @amper!  I think I will have to give this a try soon.

[amper]

Just to note that I finally re-found the old article about corrosion of 14K gold nibs by Prussian Blue inks. It was “Prussian Blue Writing Inks”, published in the journal, “Industrial Engineering Chemistry” in December 1940, by Robert S. Casey, of the Sheaffer Pen Company.

 

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ie50372a014

https://gcvrsa.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/prussianbluewritinginks.pdf

[JonSzanto]

55 minutes ago, amper said:

Just to note that I finally re-found the old article ...

 

Gemma, thank you very much for this. I will look forward to reading it, maybe while writing with a 1940s-era Sheaffer fountain pen...

[USG]

5 hours ago, amper said:

Just to note that I finally re-found the old article about corrosion of 14K gold nibs by Prussian Blue inks. It was “Prussian Blue Writing Inks”, published in the journal, “Industrial Engineering Chemistry” in December 1940, by Robert S. Casey, of the Sheaffer Pen Company.

 

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ie50372a014

https://gcvrsa.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/prussianbluewritinginks.pdf

 

+ 1   🙂👍

[Graywolf503]

Recently placed about 1 ounce of bluing into a newly purchased glass bottle. After about two weeks I noted a gray fuzz spot on the top of the liquid. I think this demonstrates that fungus will grow on just about anything! I mechanically removed the fuzz and placed two drops of 90% phenol into the bottle. We'll see if any more fungus grows or if there is any sediment or other reaction with the bluing.

[amberleadavis]

1 hour ago, Graywolf503 said:

Recently placed about 1 ounce of bluing into a newly purchased glass bottle. After about two weeks I noted a gray fuzz spot on the top of the liquid. I think this demonstrates that fungus will grow on just about anything! I mechanically removed the fuzz and placed two drops of 90% phenol into the bottle. We'll see if any more fungus grows or if there is any sediment or other reaction with the bluing.

 

 

OOOO yuck.  Thank for sharing this information with us.