Speedball India Ink Bleeding Like There's No Tomorrow

[Lunoxmos]

Hi all,

So I recently got myself a 2 oz bottle of Speedball Super Black India ink, and when I started using it in my Rhodia Webbie with a dip pen, I noticed that the ink bled quite a lot, which I was not expecting at all. I had thought that Carbon based ink would be some of the most well behaved ink, and that the Rhodia, Clairfontaine-made paper would easily stand up to it, being able to handle other, less-well behaved inks. When I turned the page, I noticed how the ink had bled through it quite visibly.

Is this a normal thing that happens with India inks, or am I just just unfortunate enough to have received a faulty batch? If so, what can I do to resolve it?

Edited June 9, 2019 by Lunoxmos

[Ted F]

I was curious about your experience so I tried a dip pen with a fine nib on Rhodia (BLOC RHODIA No. 16) except I only had Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay Black India Ink available. There wasn't any bleed through at all.

[MuddyWaters]

My India ink tends to bleed through more than my fountain pen inks even on good paper also

[Noihvo]

[Lunoxmos]

Hmmm...well that's quite interesting. I think I'll keep that in mind when/if I get more carbon or pigment based inks. I recently read up somewhere how Rohrer & Klingner Document Inks were very wet writing, and that the Sailor nano-pigment inks tended to make the nib write a size larger...

[Tweel]

I haven't experienced any spreading with Sailor Sei-Boku. It's been very well-behaved on all sorts of paper.

 

Traditional carbon fountain pen inks do seem to have a lot of surfactant, though. I don't think that used to be true of Pelikan Fount India (e.g. in the 1980s, when I used it a lot), but it sure is now.

 

Regarding india ink, I used to go through lots of it, but haven't used it much in the last few years. However, since you started this thread I've tested a couple that I have on hand, Ph. Martin's Black Star and Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Ultradraw, and they do both bleed significantly through cheap paper, at least.

[Bibliophage]

I have to ask. What's "cheap paper" in this context? I mean, I mostly write on basic blank books (inexpensive) and copy paper. Some bleed more than others, but all will bleed if you don't pay attention and leave the tip down. Price doesn't appear to have ANYTHING to do with how it bleeds. Whether it bleeds through, or the feathering people discuss.

 

I have an old journal I picked back up to finish using up (work notes), and the pages are showing acidic yellowing - it wasn't that cheap when I bought it. It bleeds like crazy with some inks, but other inks it's perfectly well behaved. Does that mean it's "cheap paper"?

[Tweel]

In this case "cheap paper" is a page from a CVS Caliber 4" x 6" Scratch Pad, plain white, item # 897447. It's not touted as anything special, and was very inexpensive.

 

Edit: I used because it was what was on hand, and not as a specific test of india ink in relation to its particular properties.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Tweel