Seeking A Waterproof Sepia Ink

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Now that I've discovered there's more than one maker of ink in the world, I'm on a quest to find the perfect ink.

 

I thought I had with Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-ho (Rice Ear) as it flows beautiful from every pen, looks lively on the page, but is a warm and comforting colour. It's 'normal' enough I would feel comfortable with it at work or at home. I also like the size of the bottle.

 

But it's not waterproof.

 

More and more I feel that I want a waterproof or water resistant ink.

 

I'm still learning all the words for the qualities inks have so I don't yet know how to search for my perfect ink. I've tried several samples and the closest I've come to is Heart of Darkness by Noodler's but it's a very strong black. Good for some things, but I want something a more gentle colour that is easier to read.

 

I like writing with a fine or extra-fine, but some of my pens are medium. One of my pens was fine but it seems to be a medium now - maybe a symptom of daily writing for nearly 20 years?

 

Do you know what words describe Ina-ho ink so I can plug them into a search somewhere to find similar ink?

 

Or better still, do you have any thoughts on an ink that might meet my needs? I was thinking of putting in an order for a bunch of samples.

[Carrau]

A number that might be candidates:

Birmingham Pen Co. Inks-Steel Bldg Smoked Iron-mod water resistance reported, Grey with some brown-available at Birmingham Pen Co-no samples but 30ml bottles often $5.99-8.99

-Honus Wagner Infield Brown-mod water resistance

-Winky's Hamburgers Root Beer-mod water resistance, another Grey with brown

Noodler's-Manjiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia-water resistant, samples available at Goulet's (no affiliation)

-Walnut-water resistant

-#41 Brown-water resistant

-Kiowa Pecan-partial water resistance

Pilot Irosh-Yama guru-some water resisitance

Sailor Jentle-Doyou-some water resistance

Edited March 17, 2019 by Herrjaeger

[eharriett]

Platinum Classic Sepia Black

 

Is sepia

 

Is waterproof

 

But is IRON GALL based (that's what gives it its waterproofness). Because iron gall, make sure you flush pen regularly. If you can put it in a pen with a gold nib, all the better. But will do fine regardless.

[Intensity]

Platinum Classic IG "Sepia Black" or "Khaki Black". Noodler's Walnut. J. Herbin Lie de The. All have great water resistance. Not completely waterproof, but the first two are nearly waterproof. https://i.imgur.com/HKiRXY8.jpg

[Tweel]

Platinum Pigment Sepia -- light-fast and waterproof, made with nanoparticles of mineral pigment rather than iron gall. I've been running it for months in a Cross Townsend, with periodic refills and no flushing, without a clog.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Tweel

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

These are great ideas. Thank you.

I'm very excited to try new samples!

 

One of the things I would like in an ink is for it to last many decades on the paper. I know iron gall inks degrade paper over the years, or at least they used to. How many years? 10? 100? 400?

 

I'm off to google a primer on iron gall ink. I use mostly converters and seldom let ink sit in a pen for more than a week. But I only clean a pen once every month or three.

[Intensity]

The modern IG inks suggested here have very low IG content and are quite innocuous to paper compared to the traditional inks of old—especially good paper.

[FLZapped]

Sounds like you're looking for Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia, which is bulletproof. Goulet Pens is probably the only source for it at the moment.

 

-Bruce

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Sounds like you're looking for Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia, which is bulletproof. Goulet Pens is probably the only source for it at the moment.

 

-Bruce

 

That's great news. I ordered a sample last week. It should be here any day now!

[eharriett]

That's great news. I ordered a sample last week. It should be here any day now!

 

Careful with the pen you put that in. Whaleman’s is the only ink I ever used that destroyed a pen.

 

And I am a Noodler’s ink supporter. That one ink is the exception to everything.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Careful with the pen you put that in. Whaleman’s is the only ink I ever used that destroyed a pen.

 

And I am a Noodler’s ink supporter. That one ink is the exception to everything.

 

Was there anything specific about the pen that it damaged? I have a couple of different pens, but most of them fill with a converter.

[eharriett]

Was there anything specific about the pen that it damaged? I have a couple of different pens, but most of them fill with a converter.

 

Was an inexpensive demonstrator. Walls became yellow after clear, and feed never completely cleared out.

 

Line was no longer as wide as it had been, and the ink from the pen after it had the Whaleman’s in it wasn’t the same color.

[Mongoosey]

Noodler's Walnut's worked great for me.

[by_a_Lady]

Rohrer & Klingner Sepia is a great, inexpensive ink, and reportedly the closest FP ink to the colour of actual, real sepia ink! It seems to be a kind of hidden gem in the Schreibtinte line, overshadowed by Alt-Goldgrün, Alt-Bordeaux and the IGs. I have it at home and can say that it looks great! Quite different from what some other manufacturers interpret to be sepia, but very elegantly so. It resembles J. Herbin Lié de The and Cacao du Brésil in the way that they look vintage, very easy to imagine them in an old diary or love letter, but still quite business-appropriate.

 

 

Dominique

[7is]

Maybe GvFC Hazelnut brown, not sepia exactly but a certified document ink. Good lubrication, medium to wet flow, relatively good on copy paper.

 

https://inksnibs.com/2018/01/30/hazelnut-brown-graf-von-faber-castell/

 

 

On cream Tomoe River

 

On Clairmail 60

Edited March 20, 2019 by 7is

[Intensity]

GvFC Hazelnut Brown has very poor water resistance.

[inkstainedruth]

Was an inexpensive demonstrator. Walls became yellow after clear, and feed never completely cleared out.

 

Line was no longer as wide as it had been, and the ink from the pen after it had the Whaleman’s in it wasn’t the same color.

 

I didn't have that problem with Whaleman's Sepia. What I *did* have is ink that wouldn't flow. At all. Just clung to the ink chamber for dear life, going "Nope, nope nope! Don't wanna, and you can't make me.... Which was too bad because it was a really interesting color....

Nooodler's Walnut is definitely pretty waterproof, in my experience. But it does need to be in a fairly wet pen, because it is dry dry dry.

Iroshizuku Yama-guri has some water resistance (more than I would have expected). Another possibility might be De Atramentis Van Dyke Brown.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I'm wondering more about the iron gall inks mentioned above.

Reading reviews, several people mention that the ink shouldn't be in the pen for more than two weeks. Is that two weeks for one fill or does that mean I have to do a huge clean of the pen every two weeks if I plan to keep on using this ink?

 

I usually stick with the same colour for long periods of time and only clean the pen if I'm changing colour or if the pen is misbehaving. But I write often and usually only have a couple of pens inked at a time so the ink won't be sitting unused in the pen.

[by_a_Lady]

I'm wondering more about the iron gall inks mentioned above.

Reading reviews, several people mention that the ink shouldn't be in the pen for more than two weeks. Is that two weeks for one fill or does that mean I have to do a huge clean of the pen every two weeks if I plan to keep on using this ink?

 

I usually stick with the same colour for long periods of time and only clean the pen if I'm changing colour or if the pen is misbehaving. But I write often and usually only have a couple of pens inked at a time so the ink won't be sitting unused in the pen.

 

The IG formulas from the olden days were very aggressive, modern variants are much, much safer for both pen and paper. I think the most "aggressive" (by today's standards) is Diamine or ESSRI, and the least is the KWZ IGL series.

However, I still think they're too much maintenance for me. Unlike you, I change inks after every fill, and IGs need to be cleaned out really thoroughly to prevent adverse reactions with the other colour. If you tend to use the same ink for several fills back-to-back then I don't think that it's such a big factor. Nevertheless, you'd be well-advised to clean the pen fully every four to eight weeks.

 

 

Dominique

Edited March 22, 2019 by by_a_Lady

[JakobS]

Cleaning every two weeks for modern IG inks is a bit overkill, and honestly with most quality made pens refilling the pen with the same IG ink after writing a pen empty can be done for a good many months if the ink has not dried out, or left to do so in the pen for any great period of time. Maintenance really isn't as different as conventional inks if you are using the pens regularly. If left to dry out, than a little bit more effort will need to go into cleaning if the ink has had iron precipitate out of it. But, as is recommended with any ink, try not to have this happen. I agree with Dominique that Diamine and ESSRI are considered the most iron gall concentrated of fountain pen friendly IG inks, and are drier than the KWZ inks, Diamine being the most. A wet writing pen will have these inks at their best. KWZ inks flow beautifully from every pen I tried, they also can feather or spread a bit more on lesser quality paper than Diamine, ESSRI, or other standard variety IG's, but are also not as bad as more conventional inks.

 

Worth a few samples if anything I think....

Edited March 23, 2019 by JakobS