Filling Your Fountain Pen With Something Other Than Fountain Pen Ink !

[PandaPen]

What have you filled your fountain pens(other than fountain pen ink) with, and what were the results? Good? Bad? Disastrous?

I've tried in the past:

Printer ink, diluted with some water, and it worked excellent. Dries quickly and is quite water resistant.
Calligraphy ink, started out okay then failed. Clogged up the pen after a while.
Ink from re-hydrating the core of a washable marker, works just like FP ink. Made it a bit too light though.
FP Ink mixed with methanol, works sort of. Line width increased by 3-4x, some fuzziness and dries absolutely instantly.
FP ink mixed with isopropanol, works similar to methanol.
Juice, yes fruit juice. Very light, works kinda but to light to be usable. Didn't keep it in the pen long enough for it to become sticky.
Blood, just dipped, seems to write okay for a couple words. Didn't put enough in to really know.
Plain water, plain methanol, plain household ammonia, absolutely useless as expected

PS: Don't worry, I have plenty of fountain pen ink. Variety, you know?

[Cryptos]

Blood might work well for a dip pen, but it would need an anticoagulant I suspect.

[dcwaites]

Blood might work well for a dip pen, but it would need an anticoagulant I suspect.

 

Use a leech for collection. A decent size one will fill a single cartridge, and it injects anticoagulant automatically. It will also apply an anaesthetic at the collection site, so you won't feel a thing.

You will need some Stypwool after removal of the leech, though, to stop bleeding.

[Cryptos]

You're taking all the fun out this: no pain, no blood dripping from wounds. I dunno what's the matter with people these days. Sheesh!

 

I was actually thinking of a different anticoagulant, one that would lend itself well to a poisoned pen letter, but probably best not to go there.

[PandaPen]

Blood is a pretty cool alternative, especially if you can get some interesting species. Human blood is a bit of a biohazard. "Written in panda blood" or "Written in lizard blood", would definitely impress. Reptillian blood looks very different than mammalian blood under a microscope. I'd imagine it would be difficult to process into a viable ink though. Anticoagulation is easy enough but it being composed of many different organic and quickly degrading compounds would be challenging. Being biological, I'ld worry about the extremely short shelf life. A compatible surfactant would also be needed due to the general thickness of blood for a fountain pen.

 

On a more positive note, dried blood is known for hard to wash stains so I'ld imagine it would give good water fastness, so there's that.

If anyone wants to test it out, please post results !

[PandaPen]

I forgot to add, Colors !

Standard hemoglobin blood would give red ink
Hemocyanin based blood would give blue ink
Hemoerythrin based blood would give pink/purple ink
Chlorocruorin is dichromatic, green in dilute solution and red in concentrated. Sheening ink anyone?

[Ron Z]

I don't want to spoil your fun, but if you're going to do this, do it on a pen you don't care about and is really cheap. I've had to clean weird stuff out of pens quite a few times, and it can be nasty if not impossible to do.

 

Alcohols and solvents can melt some plastics, so can ruin a feed or pen, or both. I've seen the results more than once. I've seen pens fused together as the result of experimentation with stuff other than fountain pen ink.

 

Just a thought....

[Gofixmix]

No no, LET the blood coagulate, then take the separated blood serum and dilute with water 1:10. You'll get invisible spy ink that you can use if you're captured... by the ballpoint pen people. They'll never suspect.

 

I only used FP ink diluted with water and dishwashing detergent in my Jinhao/Zebra G combo. Works wonders.

[dcwaites]

I don't want to spoil your fun, but if you're going to do this, do it on a pen you don't care about and is really cheap. I've had to clean weird stuff out of pens quite a few times, and it can be nasty if not impossible to do.

 

Alcohols and solvents can melt some plastics, so can ruin a feed or pen, or both. I've seen the results more than once. I've seen pens fused together as the result of experimentation with stuff other than fountain pen ink.

 

Just a thought....

 

Isn't that what Platinum Preppys were invented for?

[Cryptos]

Is it disturbing that I am actually considering dipping a nib in blood?

 

If I do, the only dumb animal harmed by the experiment will be me.

 

Warning: do not try this at home kiddies.

 

Disclaimer: as a diabetic I am quite used to sticking needles in myself.

[amberleadavis]

So, why bother with just blood, when you can have your loved one preserved in ink.

 

Think about it, my son can say, "I'm writing with mom," and instead of it being that he and I are practicing our penmanship, he can be using my remains in a lovely, supersaturated ink. It's already being done for tattoos.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382041/Ashes-ashes-dust--tattoos-Memorial-body-ink-using-cremated-remains-loved-ones-grows-popularity.html

[dcwaites]

Thank you for that. I was just about to head off for lunch.

[Bookman]

I usually fill with a 1:1 mix of honesty and verbosity.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Bookman

[PandaPen]

I don't want to spoil your fun, but if you're going to do this, do it on a pen you don't care about and is really cheap. I've had to clean weird stuff out of pens quite a few times, and it can be nasty if not impossible to do.

 

Alcohols and solvents can melt some plastics, so can ruin a feed or pen, or both. I've seen the results more than once. I've seen pens fused together as the result of experimentation with stuff other than fountain pen ink.

 

Just a thought....

 

It's okay, I only do this to a couple Jinhao's that didn't "make the cut". None of them have been damaged at all by alcohols. I've seen many warning about using alcohols but modern plastics shouldn't really be affected by them. That said, I wouldn't try using acetone, toluene, turpentine or any known plastic dissolving solvents.

 

No no, LET the blood coagulate, then take the separated blood serum and dilute with water 1:10. You'll get invisible spy ink that you can use if you're captured... by the ballpoint pen people. They'll never suspect.

 

I only used FP ink diluted with water and dishwashing detergent in my Jinhao/Zebra G combo. Works wonders.

 

Blood doesn't separate by coagulation, nor does blood plasma fluoresce. Adding luminol to blood does make it illuminate because, it reacts with the iron in hemoglobin to chemilumines. In human blood, hemoglobin is only found in the red blood cells so if you separated it would be useless. And, the iron in hemoglobin makes it red so it won't be invisible anyways. Hopes, dreams, shattered.

 

Is it disturbing that I am actually considering dipping a nib in blood?

 

If I do, the only dumb animal harmed by the experiment will be me.

 

Warning: do not try this at home kiddies.

 

Disclaimer: as a diabetic I am quite used to sticking needles in myself.

 

Not at all, quite the opposite really. It's science, sort of.

Post your results !

 

So, why bother with just blood, when you can have your loved one preserved in ink.

 

Think about it, my son can say, "I'm writing with mom," and instead of it being that he and I are practicing our penmanship, he can be using my remains in a lovely, supersaturated ink. It's already being done for tattoos.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382041/Ashes-ashes-dust--tattoos-Memorial-body-ink-using-cremated-remains-loved-ones-grows-popularity.html

 

Reminds me of synthetic diamonds created by cremated remains

[Sasha Royale]

I'm not writing letters to Canada anymore.

[sciumbasci]

WD-40 in a Lamy converter, because it was completely bubbly and stiff. Works like a charm.

[amberleadavis]

DCWaites, didn't you fill some with food coloring?

[dcwaites]

DCWaites, didn't you fill some with food coloring?

 

Yes - here

Hmm, it appears I only used dip pens for this sample.

I may have to volunteer a Preppy to sacrifice itself for the good of the community

 

[Gofixmix]

 

Blood doesn't separate by coagulation, nor does blood plasma fluoresce. Adding luminol to blood does make it illuminate because, it reacts with the iron in hemoglobin to chemilumines. In human blood, hemoglobin is only found in the red blood cells so if you separated it would be useless. And, the iron in hemoglobin makes it red so it won't be invisible anyways. Hopes, dreams, shattered.

 

 

Ouch!

I thought my source was bulletproof: "Internet spy manual randomly stumbled upon by googling for something else, 2016"

 

Anyhow, it was concerned with really INVISIBLE ink only readable when developed by heat...

 

I can still dream

Edited April 22, 2016 by Gofixmix

[amberleadavis]

Do the De Atramentis Wine inks count? They are made of wines.