Recommendations for Ink Mixing Newbie' Next Purchase

[Christine]

Hope the title makes sense. If not, heres the long version. Go to the bottom for the punch line.

 

So... I was looking to replace my lost VP and came across a plethora of FP beauties. I couldn't decide on a friend for the new VP so I asked the hubby. He said "Get whatever you want." :blink: I said "What's a reasonable price limit?" :hmm1: He said "Get whatever you want." I swear to you that I did not drug him, replay a recording, or use my feminine wiles. :meow: Then, while making fun of my indecisiveness, my 2 oldest progeny called me "greedy" and wanted to know why they didn't have FPs . So I said to myself, "Self...why don't your nerdy, mostly well-behaved bookworm children have FPs? They aren't smoking crack, are pretty responsible, and help their soon-to-be-3 and soon-to-be-5 year old monsters sister and brother." My rightie son will be 9 in a week and my leftie daughter will be 7 in 4 weeks. Hmmm, birthday gifts... so I ordered some pens. I am ordering them Pelikano Jr.'s from Pam at Oscar Braun, so my new VP will have friends to travel through the mail with. (I also ordered a few cheapies and a bottle of Noodlers from Todd at isellpens, and 2 of my favorite BP from Colorado Pens to replace another lost pen (actually, I lost it, found it, lost it, bought a replacement, and lost it again, but that is a different story...I still think of that pen so I'm buying 2, just in case.))

 

So I have set the stage for my question. Pam is enabling my compulsion (yes, I know there are medications to treat this...I'm... actually... a physician... :embarrassed_smile: ). She got me thinking about inks... yeeessssss....you neeeeed inkssssss. I was trying to decide on a purple, green, and/or brown shade which is daunting given the color variations, brands, and characteristics of the different inks. Then I thought...hmmmm...what if I mixed 'em to make the purrrrfect shade. :hmm1: Yeeesssss.

 

So my question to you is:

 

What foundation stock would you recommend I purchase to begin mixing inks?

 

(I have Noodlers Polar Blue and Black, Noodlers regular Red, Sheaffer Skrip, and Waterman Blue-Black.)

 

Edit: oooooohhhhh! I just saw the FPN Noodlers inks....

Edited January 22, 2009 by Christine

[Miranda]

Very amusing post!

 

Know next to nothing about mixing inks.

 

Why don't you buy more fountain pens and use three [or more] colours?

miranda

[Strang]

I do a lot of mixing. I would not, however, suggest using your Noodlers stock for mixing purposes (maybe between colours in that brand - but not with other brands.) I find that J. Herbin inks are fun to play with. They play well with other brands and come in a number of great colours. I would get their Eclat de Saphir (a bright sapphire blue) and Perle Noire (black) and Rose Cyclamen (magenta). You could make a lot of great shades using those three inks in different proportions. And, in my experience (YMMV) J. Herbin inks can be mixed with several other brands and seem to behave themselves very well (no smoking, exploding, things like that.) Good luck...and don't forget to wear your goggles!!

[girlieg33k]

So my question to you is:

What foundation stock would you recommend I purchase to begin mixing inks?

Waterman inks -- Florida Blue, Havana Brown, Red, Black, Blue-Black, and so forth -- are all relatively safe to mix. You can get a bevy of colors out of them, and they shade quite nicely as well.

 

When I mix inks, I always let the mixture sit at least overnight, to make sure the brew does not produce sludge or some other weird reaction.

 

Have fun...

[scribbler77]

Using the following three Noodler's inks, plus bulletproof black to darken, you can get just about any color you want: Shah's Rose, Navajo Turquoise, Yellow.

 

There is a thread elsewhere showing a color wheel with various combinations of these inks. If you add Whiteness of the Whale, you can get pastels.

[krz]

Using the following three Noodler's inks, plus bulletproof black to darken, you can get just about any color you want: Shah's Rose, Navajo Turquoise, Yellow.

 

There is a thread elsewhere showing a color wheel with various combinations of these inks. If you add Whiteness of the Whale, you can get pastels.

I have to agree with scribbler77. These C (Navajo), M(Shah's Rose), Y(Yellow) colors with the added K(Noodler's Black) make for pretty happy mixing.

 

Strang, that Herbin Cylamen Rose is a wild bright color that I love but like many Magenta's it's a fast fader.

[jmkeuning]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=40629

[Goodwhiskers]

The choices for CMYK mixing seem to be Noodler's, Private Reserve, J Herbin, Diamine, and Rohrer & Klingner because those brands sell bottles of all four colors each (but only Noodler's recipes have been posted here so far).

 

I've seen no complaints around here from anyone who mixes with Noodler's inks (except that Noodler's warns against putting the Baystate series and Borealis Black into mixes), whether within the brand or with inks from other brands.

 

I'd hate to make your choices greater, but, . . .

most colors of fountain pen ink that are produced today by (or for) most ink brands can be mixed freely without producing sludge. The main exception is Sailor Jentle ink, which can safely be mixed Sailor Jentle only (and there doesn't seem to be a Sailor Jentle magenta).

 

Private Reserve even sells a mixing kit (which can take ink from any source) with recipe suggestions within the Private Reserve brand.

 

If you aren't sure whether sludge will happen from a mix, just mix a small amount, keep it in a sealed container for a few days, and then check it for sludge.

 

If you mix with Noodler's Black (or any other waterproof Noodler's), though, remember that it is permanent on cotton, linen, and rayon, even in a mix. One FPN member has reported getting a waterproof-Noodler's stain out of a vulnerable fabric, but only after a lot of work (enough to destroy paper many times).

 

Noodler's non-waterproof inks and Private Reserve inks are easy to remove from fabrics.

[DanF]

I have the Noodler's triad mentioned earlier, plus a bunch of Diamine and PR inks. So far I haven't had any problems mixing between brands.

 

Dan

[Christine]

Thank you all so much!

[matje]

i have had really good experiences mixing pelikan inks trouble-free. they don't have all the cmyk-colors in the line-up, but those that they have usually produce nicely shading vintage-flavor mixes.

[Melnicki]

christine, your post is priceless; please participate more in our lovely, wacky community!!

 

your kids need a fun color, forget the mixing. Diamine Orange for the boy. Diamine Cerise for the girl. Kids love blue, DC Supershow Blue -- you won't worry about them staining anything because DCSS is washable.

 

Okay, to answer your question, I think mixing is really fun with contrasting colors (add a brown to a blue, or a green to a red). You can get cool shading.

 

Another mixing suggestion is to get less-dark inks, so that you can tint them. If you get a tan-brown like Swisher's Grizzly, you will then be able to have any other brown you desire. But if you get a dark brown like Havana Brown, then forget it -- it will forever remain a dark brown. (You COULD add water, actually, which is also interesting, but it affects the flow).

 

No, go with a bright color, or something with a rad label. Or both: Dragon's Napalm. The boy will be enthralled at using a Dragon's ink. Boys love dragons, don't they?

[mikey]

I have heard that you can mix the Sailor Jentle inks with each other but that they should not be mixed with other brands. I think it has something to do with pH.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[Christine]

Well... I thought I'd offer an update. The package from Todd at isellpens arrived faster than you can say stat. Before I got home, my husband called me at work to tell me that the package had arrived...and the children had opened it (squeeky excited voices in the background squeeling "Mommy! Your pens are here! Your pens are here!). All of the color drained from my face and I became lightheaded. I replied, "oh". He replied, "Don't worry, I put them away." (the kids or the pens?) I have never finished my dictations faster than that day.

When I got home, the kids were in (our) bed and the package on the kitchen counter almost the same way I suspect Todd had packed it. The non-boxed pens were snuggling in their bubble wrap, the dropper bottle of Noodlers Polar Black was in its box in a zip top baggie, and the boxed pens were sleeping in an orderly manner in the bottom. Whew! They had merely made off with the invoice (that I didn't care about because I had already paid) (found it later).

I took the box to the couch... and dipped them all. My less nutty half eventually made his way out from under the pile of small humans and joined me on the couch. He just looked at me and nodded, kinda like the way a friend looked at me when I decided it was a good idea to make plarn from plastic grocery bags and crochet them into a much more sturdy grocery bag (Hey! It's recycling ain't it!). That's what happens to you when you're on you are on your 4th week of lay-on-your-left-side-only bedrest during your 4th pregnancy in 5 years (not to mention 3 of them involved 6 weeks of said bedrest...which is great...for 2 days...there is only so much HGTV a human can watch before they start watching Springer. (yesss...I nursed the miniature future pen addicts for 19 months each to try to alleviate the working mommie guilt.) (I think I was-am vitamin deficient.) Sooo..umm...oh yeah, the new goodies. (Let us return to the new post-bedrest couch and its occupants.) Sitting next to me is an enormous

...bottle of Noodlers. Trying to save money , I thought of ways to stretch it...mixing, yesss that's it! :hmm1: But...I don't have any spare ink bottles. In desperation I scour the house and my craft room, coming up empty. :mad: Hmm...maybe there is an old baby food jar way up high (I'm 5 foot 2) in one of the cabinets. So I climb on the counter and tight-rope walk my way around the kitchen peering into the uppermost recesses of the cabinets. AHHA! Miniature salt and pepper shakers. Rats...there are holes in the lids....voila...plastic wrap. Egg-salent I climb down. Now for my trusty insulin syringe given to me by a friend (who was also shaking her head at me when she gave it to me...huhh...can't remember why...). it's at work...I'm at home...it's 10pm...hubby's awake...he'll never let me drive 20 minutes to get it...Think girl. THINK! Hey! We have small kids...small kids get sick...they take liquid medicine.....from a syringe. I rifle through the drawers to find... an old infant formula Motrin syringe. :meow: Purr-fect dahling. Now I can make purple from my red and blue! Cool. Oh man.....the blue is at work too. Oh...red and black...squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt, twist, twist, shake, shake, untwist. Shoot! Nib doesn't fit into the opening. Pull converter out. Fill. And... my first mix...a red/black. I know. I'm amazing (just kidding).

The kids' pens will be coming shortly. They will NOT be mixing their own ink. :blink:

Edited January 24, 2009 by Christine