Fading Ink In Bottle

[virtuoso]

Hi,

Is it possible for ink to get lighter as it sits in the bottle over the years? I am referring specifically to a ten to fifteen year old bottle of Montblanc Royal Blue which seems washed out to me. Thanks

 

Steve

[amberleadavis]

Perhaps, but not likely. I had my MB Burgundy, Lavender and Black since the late 1980s and they are still vibrant. I also have tested inks in direct sunlight and they have not lightened. HOWEVER, some of my inks specifically the Pelikan inks did disintegrate in the same time period. The Pelikans were still dark, but they were not useable.

[inkstainedruth]

Hi,

Is it possible for ink to get lighter as it sits in the bottle over the years? I am referring specifically to a ten to fifteen year old bottle of Montblanc Royal Blue which seems washed out to me. Thanks

 

Steve

 

Have you owned the bottle the whole time? Or acquire it recently? I have some vintage bottles of ink that could possibly have been reconstituted before I got them. I've been told that vintage Skrip inks do better when reconstituted than vintage Quink does -- but I don't have MB Royal Blue, so I couldn't say one way or the other there.

Another possibility is how the bottle had been stored (i.e., not kept out of sunlight and heat).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pcn]

Bumping this topic up again...    I have recently found a bottle of MB Blue, maybe 15-20 years old, filled 80%, which has faded.    Any others out there who have experienced the same?  I hate to throw out good ink, but I need the bottle to get out the remaining 25% of MB Jonathan Swift ink, that is still in its original round bottle, and is hopelessly designed to pump up the remaining ink into a large pen,,,

[USG]

Sure, I have a lot of old inks that have faded. Off the top of my head I have Omas blue that faded into a grey, Omas Roma that faded, Vespucci Red that faded, Visconti Blue that lost it's vibrant color and an almost full bottle of Noodler's black, sold at the time by Chuck Swisher, that separated.  I have a bunch of old J Herbin inks that faded as well.

[pcn]

@USG,  thanks,  and these inks you mention are faded in the bottle, not "only" on paper?

[USG]

8 minutes ago, pcn said:

@USG,  thanks,  and these inks you mention are faded in the bottle, not "only" on paper?

 

Faded in the bottle... 😀

[pcn]

@USG:   Thanks for your fast reply!

[OCArt]

10 hours ago, pcn said:

Bumping this topic up again...    I have recently found a bottle of MB Blue, maybe 15-20 years old, filled 80%, which has faded.    Any others out there who have experienced the same?  I hate to throw out good ink, but I need the bottle to get out the remaining 25% of MB Jonathan Swift ink, that is still in its original round bottle, and is hopelessly designed to pump up the remaining ink into a large pen,,,

Yup, iron gall inks do this over time, at least both my Pelikan 4001 and MB also faded away.

[Karmachanic]

I'm fading away.

[inkstainedruth]

@virtuoso -- How are you storing your bottles?  I try as much as possible to keep them in the original boxes, and also out of direct light -- I try to keep the bottles inside storage boxes that aren't clear (I haven't done such a good job with the sample vial trays, admittedly).  But if it's an iron gall ink, you may also have issues with the iron particles precipitating out (I had that happen with a bottle of Ackerman Ijzer-Galnoten because I didn't go through it fast enough -- and that was a 60 ml. bottle...).  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[InesF]

10 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

I'm fading away.

Hmm. Fading away or fading out?

However, I hope you stay and continue entertaining us!  👍

 

Back to the topic:

My oldest ink bottle, content partly consumed, is approx. 19-20 years old. It is Herbin Rouge Grenat and still fully OK. My two (same day bought) second oldest are two Waterman Inks (Blue and Green) which are only 7-8 years old, the inks are also partly consumed and fully OK as well.

[USG]

On 6/2/2025 at 3:01 AM, InesF said:

Hmm. Fading away or fading out?

However, I hope you stay and continue entertaining us!  👍

 

Back to the topic:

My oldest ink bottle, content partly consumed, is approx. 19-20 years old. It is Herbin Rouge Grenat and still fully OK. My two (same day bought) second oldest are two Waterman Inks (Blue and Green) which are only 7-8 years old, the inks are also partly consumed and fully OK as well.

 

 

+1 on the Waterman inks. My vintage Waterman inks just got darker.

 

Purchased 1/20/00

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[Chris1]

Ink fading in the bottle: invisible ink in the universe of antimatter? 😂