Make Baystate Ink Wetter

April 21, 2015

Hello all,

I'm a new poster to FPN, longtime reader. I'm looking for suggestions on how to make my Baystate Cape Cod Cranberry wetter. I know it doesn't play nice with other inks, and I just ruined a preppy by adding a drop of dish detergent to the Baystate ink already in the barrel (it's an ED).

I've successfully added a drop of dish detergent to other bottles with desirable results. I've even done it to my bottle of BSB and it's working well - though in hindsight it was a huge risk, and it was likely liquid hand soap, not dish detergent, if that makes a difference.

Anyways, does anyone know how to make Baystate Cape Cod Cranberry wetter without junking it up?

Thanks in advance!

April 23, 2015

Next time, of course, do this with smaller batches.

Anyway, check out Kodak Photo Flo and Organics Studio Flo+.

April 23, 2015

I use a dilution of Triton x-100. It is a surfactant. I haven't tried it with Baystate inks, but it hasn't failed me yet.

A drop per 3 ml is way too much. For reference, I start with a 1:40 dilution solution, and then add tiny amounts - less than 1:100 of the diluted surfactant.

April 25, 2015

I have so far successfully "lubricated" my bottle of Bay State Blue with 100% organic vegetable glycerin. I don't know which "vegetables" it's derived from. I also know it is not recommended to mess with the whole bottle, but I didn't want to fuss so I just added one big drop to my whole bottle.

I have only noticed a slight increase in drying time. I did not do a before and after dry time test. I know the recommended or more prudent way would be to do such tests. The slightly extra dry time has not been a problem for me.

So far, I've had no other issues, and the ink is working fine; that was about 2 months ago and I've not yet had any adverse effects such as precipitates or other nasty events.