Soap In Ink?

[Needhelp]

I dont know which topic covered it but it said to make any dry ink we we have to put some dish soap in it and if we put too much,is there a way to reduce it?

Thank you for any help.

[jar]

First, detergent not soap. Never put soap in ink.

 

If you find that a given ink is too dry in a particular pen but still want to use that ink, then you can add some surfactant like detergent. How you do so depends on the filling system.

 

I strongly discourage the idea of adding anything to the ink in the bottle since what seems dry in one pen may be perfect in a different pen.

 

If you are using a converter I suggest first flushing the converter. Fill a glass full of water and add one drop of dish detergent. Don't stir it up. Fill and empty the converter several times letting the water and detergent solution sit in the converter for about thirty seconds.

 

Then try your ink again.

[dogpoet]

Is this the thread you're thinking of?

(If not, a search for "soap" might turn it up, but I'd imagine most references to dishwasher soap will be to using the stuff to clear dried ink out of pens that have been sitting for a while.)

[Chrissy]

I've never found a way to reduce it. I don't even know if adding distilled water to it then dehydrating it off again would work.

[Chrissy]

deleted double post

[Needhelp]

First, detergent not soap. Never put soap in ink.

 

If you find that a given ink is too dry in a particular pen but still want to use that ink, then you can add some surfactant like detergent. How you do so depends on the filling system.

 

I strongly discourage the idea of adding anything to the ink in the bottle since what seems dry in one pen may be perfect in a different pen.

 

If you are using a converter I suggest first flushing the converter. Fill a glass full of water and add one drop of dish detergent. Don't stir it up. Fill and empty the converter several times letting the water and detergent solution sit in the converter for about thirty seconds.

 

Oh, well anyway the ink was low in the bottle. But thanks for the advice.

 

Then try your ink again.

[virgilio]

There are many threads on this, but I will summarize, just to be helpful.

 

I normally add 3 or 4 drops of Ivory Dish Detergent to 40 ml my Black Quink to make it a wetter ink. I also add 10 ml of distilled water, since it is a very thick ink. I do not add the detergent to the full bottle, but to an empty bottle, so there is plenty of room left for the extra water.

 

Jar is correct that every pen (and pen/paper combination) is different; some need extra detergent, some don't. And of course some people like dry pens, so they tend to like dry-writing ink.

 

It is all a matter of taste.

 

If you have added too much detergent, and the pen feathers or even bleeds/burps, just add some extra pure ink, or water.

 

Some extremely dry inks like Quink Blue will require even more detergent in some pens. I have added as many as 9 drops of detergent to Quink Blue.

 

By the way, you drip in the detergent from a small veterinary syringe, which can be found in any farm supply store. I got mine from the local horse store.

 

As a general rule, more surfactant (Ivory Dish Detergent) will make an ink wetter, while more distilled water will make it drier.

 

I like Ivory because it is free of perfume and other stuff that sometimes will react with the ink...

[virgilio]

Perhaps I should add that ALL ink has surfactant (detergent) in it, or it would not flow at all. I once tried some of the stuff that was suggested as an surfactant, but it didn't work as well as good old Ivory.

 

Soap should never be put in ink, it will clog the pen pretty quick, I would imagine.

[virgilio]

The stuff I tried years ago was Kodak Photoflo, which wsa all the rage for awhile. It just made my Quink Black unpleasantly greasy and finallly even seemed to REDUCE ink flow. Of coure, maybe in other inks it would work ok, I don't know.