Looking for a water resistant "Summer" ink

[Yojimbo]

Hello all, I'm currently on a small mission to find a perfect ink for each season of the year starting with Summer.

 

In my journal, I tend to use inks that have at least enough water resistance to withstand an accidental spill or exposure to rain (I carry my journal around everywhere). For me, golden yellows and warm yellow-oranges remind me most of summer. Especially here in California, the dry summers turn all the surrounding hillsides into shades of amber.

 

Problem is, those colors also tend to have minimal water resistance and often are difficult to read.

 

Is there an ink in these shades that are:

- On the subtler, more legible end of the spectrum.

- Not super fussy to clean out and put on paper

- Water resistant, though not necessarily waterproof (words are legible/recoverable after a spill/brief soak)

- Bonus points for any neat properties

Does this ink exist, or is it a legendary unicorn? 😆 Or perhaps you all have your favorite "summer" journaling ink that's not in the previously named color ranges?

 

Thanks in advance!

[inkstainedruth]

Not a yellow/orange ink (I haven't found an orange ink I like other than Diamine Terracotta -- which I don't think is overly water resistant -- and maybe KWZ IG Mandarin -- which oxidizes to more of a brown, but is, as an iron gall ink, fairly water resistant IIRC), but Noodler's Baltimore Canyon is a nice summery-blue that is fairly water resistant (and less eye-searing than Bay State Blue).  

I have very little experience with yellow inks -- most of them I've found to be too light to be really legible on the page.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ErrantSmudge]

You could look at Platinum Citrus Black.  It's an iron-gall ink (therefore water-resistant), but the main hue is a lemon yellow, not a golden tone.

[Carrau]

I affirm Ruth’s recommendation for Baltimore Canyon, if a medium blue has appeal..  Here’s a link to Birmingham’s Everlasting inks, which are “ permanent and highly water resistant,” and offer a few other choices.

https://www.birminghampens.com/collections/everlasting-ink

 

Their Seaweed is a sort of green-gold.

[A Smug Dill]

@Yojimbo Welcome to FPN.

 

Platinum Classic Ink Citrus Black, as has already been suggested. Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-ho is also quite water-resistant, in a different way; but, being a discontinued colour, it may be getting different to acquire. They are my two (almost mutually substitutable) favourite ‘gold’ inks.

 

My latest discovery is that Sailor Ink Studio 970 is very water-resistant.

 

For water-resistant orange inks, maybe try one of the De Atramentis Documenten-tinten inks, or a pigment ink from Rohrer & Klingner sketchINK and Sailor STORiA series if something suits colour-wise? (I think Sailor STORIA Lion Light Brown has sadly been discontinued.) 

[yazeh]

I would say get a few samples and see which one suits your needs. If you go for pigment/ bullet proof inks, you need to have a well sealed pen. Otherwise, the ink dries up.  

Kakimori  Torori is a pigment ink. Haven't tired this one. These are wet inks. 

Noodler's Polar Brown. Though I'm not sure how it will operate in hot California. It also has a tendency to stain and needs a sealed pen.  It dries very fast. It works best with Ef to Medium nibs. It's everything proof. I have a preppy filled with it, all the time. 

Noodler's Rome Burning - This is a favorite but some love to hate it. As the purple dye lurking underneath can stain transparent sections etc. But can be easily removed if you have Sailor Doyou / or Noodler's Eel Red. If you have water spill it'll turn into purple. 

Noodler's Golden Brown. Beautiful ink with shading. Partially waterproof. Long dry times on Fp papers. Though in California heat maybe not

Noodler's Burma Road Brown, this is more like a Khaki brown. I haven't tried it, so I can't say. 

De Atramentis Document Ink Urban Sienna, I've never tried so I can't say. 
Faber-Castell Hazelnut Brown - Not tried that one either. 

Citrus Black is a lovely ink but needs a wet pen/wide nib.. Otherwise you can opt for Forrest Black. 

 

Happy hunting

 

 

 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

This recently released orange ink looks to be impressively water-resistant:

https://www.stiloestile.it/en/inks/bottled-inks/guitar-taisho-roman-orchestra-tangerine-ink-bottle-40-ml

[OCArt]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

This recently released orange ink looks to be impressively water-resistant:

https://www.stiloestile.it/en/inks/bottled-inks/guitar-taisho-roman-orchestra-tangerine-ink-bottle-40-ml

The data sheet that's revealed when you click "Read more+" on the link above unfortunately says it is not water resistant. Too bad as it's a nice color.

[A Smug Dill]

30 minutes ago, OCArt said:

The data sheet that's revealed when you click "Read more+" on the link above unfortunately says it is not water resistant.

 

Thanks for that. However, the same retailer also lists, in a similar manner, that Opera Rose, Modern Red, and Gentle Green in the same product line as not being water-resistant, but @namrehsnoom and I both concluded in our respective ink reviews that those inks are water-resistant, insofar as being able to retain/retrieve the handwritten information content on the page.

• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/370478-teranishi-guitar-gentle-green/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/368175-teranishi-chemical-industry-‘guitar’-modern-red/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/367858-teranishi-chemical-industry-‘guitar’-opera-rose/

Looking at that retailer's writing sample pages, including where water resistance was tested, for the inks suggest to me that Orchestra Tangerine's water resistance surpasses that of Opera Rose and Gentle Green.

 

[XYZZY]

It's hard enough getting people to agree on what a "permanent" ink is. For something inherently more subjective like "water resistant" I think the sample in the picture says it much better than a yes/no.  Then we can each decide if it's what we think of as water resistant.

 

For my money, the sample in the picture looks to be water resistant.

[amper]

That's because "permanence" has a very different meaning in the art conservation context than it does to the layperson. For the art conservator, the main considerations are deterioration of the ink itself, or the substrate to which it is applied. The art conservator is concerned with lightfastness, pH. To the layperson, it generally means water resistance or washability or eradicability. That's why watercolor paints are still considered "permanent" to the archivist or conservator, even though they are water-soluble and can be readily dissolved hundreds of years later.

 

[Runnin_Ute]

KWZI El Dorado is in the desired color range. But even though I have finished over a full bottle of it, I am not sure if/how water resistant it is.

 

Just water swabbed something written in early August. It is not at all water resistant.

[DrDebG]

I just did a bunch of water tests about a week ago on some of my inks (page in water for 1 minute).   All of the R&K Sketch inks and DeAtramentis Document inks are definately water resistant, as is Noodler's Doestoevsky and Noodlers Kuprin.  The inks was fully readable.  

 

Others that are semi-resistant (i.e. enough ink remains to be readable) included GvFC India Red, GvFC Burned Orange, GvFC Gulf Blue (a personal favorite), GvFC Cobalt Blue and especially GvFC Deep Sea Green.  GvFC Yozakura also had some water resistance as did Turquoise.  But Hazelnut Brown seemed to wash right out.  

 

Others that are semi-resistant include Platinum Aurora Blue (not a pigment ink but left a fair amount of ink behind), Birmingham Hemlock Cone, Birmingham Pincushion Moss.  One that surprised me was Jacques Herbin Gris de Houle.  I love the color and was pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up under water.  Of the Montblanc inks, I found Swan Illusion Plume to have some resistance, Antoine D' Expery du Desert, JFK, Burgundy Red, Lavender Purple and Irish Green to have reasonable water resistance.  I was disappointed that Glacier has is only slightly resistant.  

 

[Eclipse157]

Consider Rohrer & Klingner Sketchink Carmen. It's pigmented and completely waterproof when dry. It's an orang-y yellow that's perfectly legible, similar to Noodler's Apache Sunset.

[Yojimbo]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Fortunately for me, almost all my pens have decent seals (TWSBI Eco, Opus 88 Halo, Platinum Plaisir, Sailor Procolor), so I have a lot of options in terms of inks.

 

I think the annoying part about water resistance in reviews (if they include water tests at all), is that not everyone seems to adhere to standardized water testing methods or terminology. I wish vendors would define resistance in terms of "text illegible", "legible", "mostly intact (minimal change in color/properties)" and "waterproof (no changes at all)." Those are the break points I'm mostly interested in, anyhow.

 

I've seen multiple vendors/reviewers give conflicting water resistance ratings to the same ink, which makes me second guess even the screenshot of the test. (How was the test conducted? How much water was used? Was the water dried off with a towel, or was the lifted ink allowed to dry over the text?)

[yazeh]

@YojimboThat's good to know about your pens. Why don't you make a list of your inks and ask about them in a new thread? Or just buy a bunch of samples and do the test yourself and let us know

[amberleadavis]

If you find a color and performance you like from an ink, then consider buying Noodler's Ghost Blue and mixing in sample vials.  NGB is colorless and will make your other color water resistant.

[A Smug Dill]

On 3/1/2023 at 5:55 AM, Yojimbo said:

I think the annoying part about water resistance in reviews (if they include water tests at all), is that not everyone seems to adhere to standardized water testing methods or terminology.

 

It's not incumbent on anyone — including ink manufacturers who have commercial interest in how their products are received and/or perceived in the market, much less ink reviewers who are just producing and sharing reviews of their own initiative as members of the fountain pen hobbyist community — to either come up with or adopt some standardised testing procedures and parameters, for consistency that arguably only benefits the (information) consumer and not the producer.

 

There are ISO standards (such as 12757-2, 14145-2, and 11798) — which, by the way, are not documents in the public domain — pertaining to that kind of thing, but do you really expect volunteer ink reviewers to spend over $100 on a copy of even just one of those standards documents, just to read its contents, before even considering how doable the prescribed testing is in one's home ‘lab’, and how much it would cost to run such tests with any sort of consistency? If you find the lack of standardisation annoying, would you volunteer to acquire at your cost and effort, a legitimate copy of ISO 11798 and send it to every ink reviewer you trust will publish (however many, but let's say two or more) ink reviews going forward, so that they can all be consistent thanks to your initiative and contribution?

[HalloweenHJB]

I would like to be helpful and offer some other option, but I have to confess that I have never been concerned about permanence of water resistance, so take my comments as you will....

 

I love the deep yellows and golds for Summer and Fall.  The yellow that totally melts my butter is de Atramentis Gandhi / Apricot.  There's a wicked vibrancy from a dayglow ingredient that you'll see if you put a drop of the ink in a glass of water.  

 

For a warm Andean pottery earthy tone, L'Artisan Pastellier INTI is a beautiful ceramic brown that is perfectly elegant and stylish.  Gentle, easy to clean, and warm as a walk on Newport beach...  😉

 

Best,

HalloweenHJB

 

 

[dragondazd]

Taccia koiame has some water resistance as it has many dyes in it and some stay put. it is my favorite orange but more fall I think.

 

monarca Tierra Colorada has some resistance but maybe not enough/as much.

 

I categorize my inks as "waterproof" and "not waterproof" because I can't trust anything in between to be good enough when I don't know what water accident will befall my writing. I do note when some inks become illegible on contact with the barest moisture in a lightly sweaty or washed and poorly dried hand.