Watering Down Inks

[loganrah]

Hi all,

 

I'm just wondering if it is safe to water down inks (Diamine specifically)?

The backstory: I recently got a 30ml bottle of Diamine Ancient Copper and I love it (especially with the flex of a pilot falcon giving great shading). So, I don't want to run through this ink too fast. The ink is very saturated and I imagine it would lay down plenty of colour if watered down a little bit (maybe 25% water). Obviously I'd start with a little test to make sure it still looks as good. But my worry is that this might not be safe for my pens.

 

I know that Diamine inks mix well (and don't seem to cause any problems when mixed) so I assume it would be fine, but just wanted to check.

 

Also, presuming it is safe to water the ink down, is it worth getting distilled water to do so? I use distilled water for a few other things around the house so buying a big 5L bottle is no problem, but I'm just not sure if I need to bother or not (I usually just flush my pens with plain water).

[uceroy]

Ink is a dye in water solution, so adding more water is no problem at all.

I'm not sure whether distilled or plain tap water would make much of a difference, this would depend on whether or not there is chlorine or other components in your tap water.

In the Netherlands, where I live, tap water is very clean, and drinkable without filtering etc. And I feel no worry to put it in my pens or ink.

Edited February 28, 2019 by uceroy

[eharriett]

With Diamine it shouldn't make much difference. If you have a special properties ink, it might change the properties a little. Noodlers, for example, encourages dilution, but it may alter some of the things about the inks you like.

 

As far as water content, it really depends. I live in a rural farm area and get my water from a well. I'll drink it okay, but as I learned from photography development, it may change the chemical reaction slightly. So I use a difference source for chemical mixes, and for ink, I'll go straight to distilled, the very few times I need to do that. Although I'm more likely to add some Cuddles Flo to ink rather than water to make it less dry.

[Bibliophage]

Most tap water in the US has chlorine and fluorine in it. Both are safe to drink, but very reactive. If you're going to use tap water, I'd either let it sit overnight in an open container, or boil it for an hour. Both should remove all of the chlorine (same as you do when you need to add water for a fish tank).

 

Distilled is very inexpensive and can be obtained at any grocery store. It's used for steam irons, for example.

[loganrah]

Great, thanks everyone. The water around here is definitely fluoridated and probably has chlorine in it which I hadn't thought of as being a problem, but more importantly it is very hard water and leaves a lot of mineral deposits so I guess I probably should be careful. And I guess a 5L bottle of distilled water for $3.5 will do a lot of watering down and pen flushing.

[inkstainedruth]

As an addition to what Bibliophage said, some places have "hard" water (i.e., a high mineral content). If you have stuff building up around your faucets, you have hard water, and you DEFINITELY do not want to put that in your pen -- whether for flushing a pen or diluting an ink. So another vote for distilled water here. My local grocery store sells it packed as a 3-pack of gallon jugs, so you may be able to get it that way where you are as well (it keeps just fine if it's not opened, and the corrugated cardboard boxes make the jugs easy to stack if you're buying more than one 3-pack of jugs; of course then the empty jugs can be recycled, and if I save up boxes that have been flattened out, I can take them to be recycled as well.

I often refill pens with distilled water when they run low/dry, if I don't have time to flush them immediately. And then just write with the diluted ink. Sometimes my journal pages end up being somewhat illegible because the ink is *too* diluted, but well, hey. Nobody is going to read them but me until after I'm gone anyway....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Turtlegeuse]

I went to look up "Cuddles Flo". 10 mins later I turned on the safe search option and looked it up again. Fascinating.

Back on topic: I dilute whenever it's too dry, too wet, too dark, too empty. The only thing diluting won't solve is too light so test small amounts first.

Off topic again: "Dilute ! Dilute ! OK !"

[senzen]

I've only used diluted inks when I didn't dry a pen well after cleaning it, my worry is that its properties change, so for instance you'd get a lot more feathering; a finer nib would use less ink, better paper would make it look good, feel smoother and absorb less ink...

 

I am currently using the last remnants of Penman Emerald, which dried and I rehydrated with a little water, it works even if the pen starts really dark and gradually becomes lighter... I have a particular thing for inks that start and end the same colour, but I forgive this one since it unexpectedly works...

[wvbeetlebug]

I would do it in small batches. If you cartridge/syringe fill add the ink to the cart and then add the distilled water. If you use a measured syringe this helps getting the ratio right. I dilute a lot of the PR inks I have. They are so super saturated!

[eharriett]

I went to look up "Cuddles Flo". 10 mins later I turned on the safe search option and looked it up again. Fascinating.

Sorry about that. I think

[Houston]

Before I swore off Noodler's inks altogether -- another story -- I had quite good luck diluting some of them to improve drying time and reduce post-dry smearing. Different inks do different things when you dilute them, and different things depending on how much you dilute them. It's quite a fun thing to experiment with.

 

+1 re distilled water.

[RudraDev]

Hi all,

 

I'm just wondering if it is safe to water down inks (Diamine specifically)?

 

The backstory: I recently got a 30ml bottle of Diamine Ancient Copper and I love it (especially with the flex of a pilot falcon giving great shading). So, I don't want to run through this ink too fast. The ink is very saturated and I imagine it would lay down plenty of colour if watered down a little bit (maybe 25% water). Obviously I'd start with a little test to make sure it still looks as good. But my worry is that this might not be safe for my pens.

 

I know that Diamine inks mix well (and don't seem to cause any problems when mixed) so I assume it would be fine, but just wanted to check.

 

Also, presuming it is safe to water the ink down, is it worth getting distilled water to do so? I use distilled water for a few other things around the house so buying a big 5L bottle is no problem, but I'm just not sure if I need to bother or not (I usually just flush my pens with plain water).

You can certainly water the ink down and it has an amazing effect- the ink will show shading a LOT more if you dilute it a little bit. You can use regular tap water, but there is a chance that something in the water will react to the components of the dye and ruin the ink, so it's best if you use tap water.

If you do it, please share your results!

[Noihvo]

 

[Noihvo]

[GreenMountain]

This may be a redundant question;is there anything one can add to ink to get a lighter color yet retain lubrication?

[Karmachanic]

Glycerine works for me. I dilute with water in a sample vial, and add a drop or two if required.

[Al-Nasser]

Go for distilled water if possible as tap water will always have some "salts" that may collect over time in the pen (just like a kettle with scale, but on a much slower pace), also these "salts" may react to the ink in various ways that may distilled water would be pure and won't cause any potential risks