Make ink dryer and less feathering

[osteotom]

Adding several percent of polyvinyl alcohol to ink makes it less wet, the line is thinner, feathering is much less prominent on poor quality paper.
I was prompted to experiment by my medium nib making too broad line.
I used lamy 2000 and blue-blacks by Lamy, Hero, Pelikan. Also I tested liquid watercolors by Talens. Often I write on copy paper, and wet pen tends to leave a thick amount of ink which then soaks into the paper widening the line.
I added 4 percent by volume of PVA water based paper glue to Lamy blue-black obtaining above mentioned effect.
Greetings!

Wysłane z mojego moto x4 przy użyciu Tapatalka

[Chrissy]

I added 4 percent by volume of PVA water based paper glue to Lamy blue-black obtaining above mentioned effect.
Greetings!


PVA water based paper glue :nono: Not for fountain pens.

[osteotom]

Why?

[Chrissy]

Why?
It's an adhesive. Even though it's water based, it will gunk up the feed and other internal parts of your pen. Feed channels are extremely fine and can get blocked easily enough without adding PVA glue to them.
Why would anyone want to put PVA glue inside a fountain pen?

[KrazyIvan]

:crazy_pilot: Same reason you do not use calligraphy ink in a fountain pen. After a while, your pen will not work and it will be a pain to fix it if you are lucky enough to have a fixable pen.

[osteotom]

None of these horrible things seem to happen. BTW I meant drier and not dryer ink. Sorry for mistake.
There is one pitfall with PVA. It is subject to cross-linking with metal ions. It may turn insoluble in ferro-gallic inks. I will do more tests and let You know.

[Chrissy]

None of these horrible things may have happened....yet. If you soon find that your pens don't write, then you may be unable to get them back to how they were if you've added any PVA glue to your ink to "make it drier."

I bet that Lamy might tell you that they know how to make ink. :)

Warning to FPG members: Please don't try adding PVA adhesive to your inks at home. :blink:

[Scooby921]

Not that I'm going to run out and do it, but wouldn't this still work with an appropriate solvent? Thinner / reducers for water based paints might work with inks. I suppose I could try it with a dip nib just to see the effects. I do have MB Seasons Greeting Brown which I feel is way too wet and feathers like crazy. I also have Createx W500 reducer for my airbrush paints. Hmmmmm...

[Chrissy]

Adding a little water works quite well to make an ink write slightly drier on the page. :) It probably replaces that which has already evaporated, and makes the ink how it was originally. :)

Adding chemicals may just mess it up altogether and make it too foamy, too feathery, too wet, or too dry etc. :(

[Jon Szanto]

Adding a little water works quite well to make an ink write slightly drier on the page. :) It probably replaces that which has already evaporated, and makes the ink how it was originally. :)

Adding chemicals may just mess it up altogether and make it too foamy, too feathery, too wet, or too dry etc. :(

Not to mention interactions with internal parts, gaskets and the feed that may take not only weeks but maybe months to show up but create permanent damage. There are many inks out there and a wide variety of nib sizes. Lots of less dicey ways to improve one's writing experience.

[osteotom]

Not that I'm going to run out and do it, but wouldn't this still work with an appropriate solvent? Thinner / reducers for water based paints might work with inks. I suppose I could try it with a dip nib just to see the effects. I do have MB Seasons Greeting Brown which I feel is way too wet and feathers like crazy. I also have Createx W500 reducer for my airbrush paints. Hmmmmm...I tried many additives. Some were decreasing surface tension, some were precipitating. Finally I found polyvinyl alcohol. So far works fine. It is polar, water soluble, non toxic. Available. Alas, it cross-links with metal ions, so adding it to iron gall ink will yield precipitate. I encourage experimenting! And with a dip pen You risk only a blot :)

[calamus]

I've used polyvinyl adhesive for bookbinding, and it seems insane to me to put even a small amount into a fountain pen. BUT -- is polyvinyl alcohol the same as polyvinyl adhesive?

[calamus]

I just Googled my own question, and found a couple of articles claiming that they're not the same thing at all. Both of the articles said that PVA glue is Polyvinyl Acetate, a completely different beast from Polyvinyl Alcohol. Same initials, making the acronyms homonyms.

[Paddler]

When testing a new ink, I use it with a dip nib for about an hour. Then I swish it around in a container of distilled water. If the ink leaves anything behind on the nib, it gets no chance at one of my fountain pens.

[aquafox]

The problem with making an ink drier is that while adding water works, it also reduces the content of dye, thus making it lighter.

IME the only way to make an ink drier is to use it with dry writer pens: no margins of error that way!