Creating Non-Botanical FP Ink from Scratch???

[MacMorrighan]

Hey guys, I am an artist, and I know how to blend my own ceramics glaze and my own paints from scratch, but for the life of me I have always wanted to blend my own non-botanical FP ink from scratch, but I have been unable to locate a single book on the subject! Granted, I know how to blend botanical inks, but they require the addition of shellac, which would clog the ink-feed. So, I was wondering if anyone in the FP community might know of any resources that I could consult in my artistic quest to blend a professional FP ink that works? Thanks!

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

26 minutes ago, MacMorrighan said:

So, I was wondering if anyone in the FP community might know of any resources that I could consult in my artistic quest to blend a professional FP ink that works?

 

This may be stating the bloody obvious, but if you're looking to produce something professional, — especially inks with particular performance characteristics — beyond the quality and consistency of hobbyist home-brews with lots of trial and error, then the logical starting point would be to consult professionals. Try Leighton Davies-Smith (who has his own Scribe Technical Consulting business), who developed the Parker Penman inks. You could try contacting Nathan Tardif (of Noodler's Ink) and Konrad Żurawski (of KWZ Ink), who have made the transition from hobbyist to professional, and now have global recognition for the inks they produce; but I don't imagine they'd be offering mentoring or sharing trade secrets freely upon request.

 

As far as I'm aware, there are no ‘professional’ courses in ink-making in which one could enrol, and no professional society for one to join (as a practitioner, associate member, or otherwise) to gain access to a reference library of information (to which the average fountain pen enthusiast has no business subscribing).

 

 

Disclosure: I have no personal acquaintance of, and no direct dealings with, the aforementioned professional ink makers, other than having bought bottles of KWZ Ink and Noodler's Ink now and then through retailers.

[amberleadavis]

Also, we have two forums of both ink recipes and tests of production inks.  We had an ink maker test out powdered inks and ink concentrates with testers here on FPN.  KIWZI also got his start here.