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Does Ink Go Off? Poussiérre De Lune


Nibbler

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Hi all

 

I have a bottle of P de L which is about mmm maybe six years old. I haven't used it for ages, but had a sudden yearning but it's not really behaving very well in my TWSBI Eco 1.1. (The colour is to die for though.) It's not flowing at all well and I remember it being reasonably wet.

 

So, it struck me that it may have gone off - any experience with this? I'd be sad to lose the bottle, but would definitely buy some more.

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When I first joined FPN we had a pinned topic about a batch of JH inks that had gone bad. The problem was a change in the water supply. They promptly corrected the problem, but some bottles just were bad.

 

PdeL is a wonderful ink and I would suggest acquiring a new bottle.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Can you see anything inside the bottle? In the ink? When ink goes off we call it SITB. (Something In The Bottle) You can get strands of substance or mould spores. You should not use it in your pens if you see that in your bottle. Otherwise you will spread it to your other pens and inks.

 

Do a search for SITB and you will find many threads about the problem.

 

There was a time when J.Herbin inks used to go off, but I thought they had fixed the problem.

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If your bottle is six yours old and you buy a new bottle, it might be quite a different color. A few years ago, the ink was reformulated to be much redder than the previous version. Some people prefer the new formulation, while others prefer the old.

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It may have just dried out a bit over the years. Depends on what they put in the ink, some are shelf stable for 50 years, others grow mold a year on the shelf.

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Thanks everyone - very useful. Looking at people's comments and pictures, this bottle does look like the old formula. I can't see SITB (incidentally this is fascinating and probably fungal related) but I'm going to stop using it and either pick up another bottle or... maybe Scabiosa... decisions, decisions.

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IF you can find phenol, you may be able to save the ink, but if it clogging the pen, then stop using it. For the cost of the ink, just buy a new bottle.

 

PS, I like Scabiosa, but is a tad too dry for my tastes.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I had the sad experience yesterday of discovering that a bottle of iron gall ink was not tightly capped. It was a little startling to use the ink, only to discover that it was NOT as I had remembered.... And the weird part was that it didn't really oxidize to what I remember from when I first tried the ink out. It's not a HORRIBLE color. Just, well, not what it had been like when I used the ink before....

A replacement bottle has definitely been added to the shopping list....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Yeah, I had an iron gall ink go from pretty cherry to awful yellow.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IF you can find phenol, you may be able to save the ink,

 

Not here in the UK he can't unless he has a friend who's a chemist and can get him some, or a chiropodist who uses it on feet. :o I've tried already. :(

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Not here in the UK he can't unless he has a friend who's a chemist and can get him some, or a chiropodist who uses it on feet. :o I've tried already. :(

They sell phenol for artists, to preserve wet gesso.
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IF you can find phenol, you may be able to save the ink, but if it clogging the pen, then stop using it. For the cost of the ink, just buy a new bottle.

 

PS, I like Scabiosa, but is a tad too dry for my tastes.

Hi Amber, I share your view on Scabiosa. I personally listed Scabiosa as a 'problematic' ink because not many pens in my collection gave me the look/writing sensation I like with it, and I am unwilling to fill. Pelikan m800 or m1000 with it. After much trial and error, I happen to accept the look and flow in a Lamy safari 1.1mm stub and it has been 'in a relationship' with that pen, married now, if you like :)

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Hi Amber, I share your view on Scabiosa. I personally listed Scabiosa as a 'problematic' ink because not many pens in my collection gave me the look/writing sensation I like with it, and I am unwilling to fill. Pelikan m800 or m1000 with it. After much trial and error, I happen to accept the look and flow in a Lamy safari 1.1mm stub and it has been 'in a relationship' with that pen, married now, if you like :)

 

Scabiosa lives in my Platinum Balance M, which is quite a wet pen.

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I had two bottles of PdL go stringy and goopy on me about six years ago. I learned to love Scabiosa, eventually.

"I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original." - Franz Joseph Haydn 1732 - 1809
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