Saturated Inks Why ?

[dcwaites]

Hi Everyone,

 

I would like to offer my apologies for not posting earlier, i am actually away on family buisness and it is not easy to reply, as soon as i return i will post some of my thoughts.

 

Just in brief though !! the orginal topic i posted was simply a curiosity question asking for the personel views of experianced writers, this was not a sales ploy and in no way was intended as an attack on any other brand of ink, i have a great deal of respect and admiration for anyone who makes ink believe me it is not always easy.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Phil (The Troll)

Bugger. There goes another conspiracy destroyed by calm reason and rational arguments!!! :headsmack:

[wpblaw]

This is a great discussion - I'm learning a lot. Nice to have input from Phil(Diamine) & Nathan(Noodler's).

I love Polar Black and Apache Sunset.

Now I've got to try some Diamine inks!

 

 

I agree. It would be interesting to see semi-moderated discussions between certain manufacturers/reps...if they're willing and Tupperware (or whoever the parent corp du jour is) allows them to do so. It'd be great to have these types of discussions heard re: chemistry, pencraft, papermaking, etc.

[Melnicki]

I get the feeling that people complain about saturated inks without ever trying to water them down. I was originally put off by mixing because it didn't seem easy to do, but now I fill/mix in the cartrdige directly with an insulin syringe, and it's as routine as filling a pen by any other method.

 

I've only got one ink that I think is way too saturated, and that's Noodler's Sequoia, and I water it down at least 3X in order to get it to show its nice grey-green color (otherwise it looks black). I am never going to finish the ink at this rate!!

 

One misconception about watering ink is that it will be more runny. Actually, it tends to make the flow more dry, because the water lacks surfactants. And if it's too dry, one can always use the toothpick trick.

[simonrob]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just a quick question 'Perhaps you shed some light on'

 

Why are saturated inks so in demand ?, i read time and time again how problematic they can be, can you share your views on this puzzle i would like to understand.

 

Thanks

 

Phil

 

I don't know why others like them, but I have two main reasons. First is that I like the rich, strong and often subtle colours made by Noodlers and Private Reserve. Second, I don't like ink to look thin/watery, especially when using a not especially wet pen; I don't want to see the paper though the ink. (I also like their being less likely to feather - though there are some exceptions, like Baystate Blue....) As for whether they're "problematic", for me the main problem with saturated inks has been slow drying and/or residual stickiness hours (or even longer) later, but this can usually be avoided by not letting the ink sit around evaporating unused in a pen and/or diluting the ink with water.

 

Some have remarked that saturated inks don't shade as well (if at all). That's not been my experience -- I have saturated inks that shade marvelously and unsaturated inks that don't shade at all....

 

Simon

[xena]

I personally just like the darker colors and more jeweltone feel (and posting in the same thread as Nathan)