Diluting Inks

[heath]

Ok, I've now heard about people diluting inks enough (usually as off hand comments in ink reviews) to know that it's not a totally obscure activity. That being said I haven't seen a clearly laid out plan for doing so. I've seen %s a few times that seem to be common sense recipes, like 65% ink / 35% water.

So, those of you that have done this can you lay it out for us uninformed. Do you just take an empty bottle fill it halfway with water, fill it the rest of the way with a random ink and shake?

One application I am quite interested in would be ink samples. I get the ink drop samples and if I could simply add water to the vials and shake to double my usable ink that would be amazing.

[yipe]

I'm interested in diluting inks too but mostly as a way to change the colors. For example if I take 25% Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, and 75% water, do I get gray ink?

[KrazyIvan]

For me it is experimentation until you find what works.

[kaisnowbird]

I mix and dilute my inks to go with my mood. For example, I like brown inks but they are sometimes not dark, intensive or interesting enough. So I add a little black, or a little orange, or a little forest green, just for fun.

Do you just take an empty bottle fill it halfway with water, fill it the rest of the way with a random ink and shake?

I mix inks sometimes on the fly directly in my converter/cartridge with a syringe, sometimes from a small ink bottle "pre-made". I only ever do very small batches, no more than 5-10 ml in total at a time. I hate wasting inks and don't want to create a full bottle that will take forever to finish.

For example if I take 25% Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, and 75% water, do I get gray ink?

I would suggest you go easy on diluting inks, a little bit at a time and only with fairly concentrated inks. Pelikan 4001 Black is reasonably concentrated and I can see myself mixing it with water at the ratio of 2:1. At 1:1, you may get some serious feathering going on.

Here is a writing sample of my purple ink dilution and mix:

P1000781.JPG

PR Ebony Purple is very concentrated. I used cheap photocopy paper to show feathering.

As you can see from closeup below
- The undiluted Ebony Purple is pretty much black from afar.
P1000782-001.JPG

- The 50% diluted ink shows more purple, shades better, but starts to feather (not much more than your average ink).
P1000782 - Copy-001.JPG

- Eclat de Saphir is not concentrated and tends to feather on cheap paper. When added to the mixture, it further dilutes the ink, adds brightness and a blue tint, but the feathering gets worse too.
P1000782 - Copy (2)-001.JPG

- The last sample is from a pen currently in my EDC. Parker Quink Blue reduces the feather, MB Lavender Purple adds intensity to the colour. The result is totally office/legal document friendly.
P1000782 - Copy (3)-001.JPG

By the way, I never mix two highly concentrated ink together and never mix iron gall ink, just to be safe. I might dilute iron gall ink though.

I hope the above helps.

[AndyT]

I only ever do very small batches, no more than 5-10 ml in total at a time. I hate wasting inks and don't want to create a full bottle that will take forever to finish.

Same here, and I'm quite organised about taking notes just in case I hit on something really good. 35mm film canisters are very handy for this.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Or those ink sample vials. I only dilute the very saturated inks like Noodler's or PR when I feel the need to improve dry time and/or flow.


Orrr... Out of curiosity. I once diluted Noodlers Bad Green Gator with 90 percent water (yes, you read that right) and was pleasantly surprised by the soft sage green that resulted.

[reprieve]

I experiment a lot, quite like kaisnowbird. I tend to mix in small batches, using a syringe and empty ink sample vials from Goulet Pens.

I dilute inks using only distilled water (which lessens the chance of growing mold). Dilution can increase shading, decrease drying times, make an especially dark or concentrated color more vibrant, and make hard-to-clean inks quicker to rinse out of your pens. But it can also cause feathering, mitigate that often sought after sheen, and make certain inks look flat and dull. In other words, there are tradeoffs, and experimenting with different ratios of dilution with different inks is the only way to figure out what your own preferences are.

When you have a counter full of ink bottles and vials and pipettes and syringes, you'll probably feel a bit like a mad scientist.

[tannie]

I dilute a lot of my inkdrop-samples. Usually I'll try it first, undiluted (in a Lamy Safari/Al-star) and when I find the colour too dark I'll add up to 3ml of water to the sample (2ml). It depends on the ink if I notice any massive changes apart from colour (feathering, bleedthrough, drying-time) but mostly, just the colour. I have absolutely no problem doing this with (most) Noodler's inks, they can take it. With already light colours I wouldn't do it unless I want to make my sample last longer.
So far, I've only mixed some Diamine inks together (I consider those the 'safest' inks I have, also, the cheapest )

When I mix, I do this in a small jar or a sample vial. When I dilute, I use distilled water, just in case. How the colour comes out also depends, partially, on paper and pen, so I never mix in the actual ink-bottle. I would, if I've nearly run out, but I have yet to run out of a bottle. Ahem.

I have not yet mixed inks of different brands, but after accidentally putting an uncleaned nib from a Diamine Syrah filled pen on a Noodler's Walnut pen (uncleaned by accident, not switched by accident ) and going 'OH MY GOD YES!' I consider it, very strongly. Working up the courage as we speak

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

To me, dilution was a last resort to make an ink that I really like work in my two most expensive pens. I love Noodler's Black, but it was very uncooperative in my Edison Collier and my Pilot Custom 823. I tried diluting the ink to make it work, but it made no difference except that the ink started to look washed out.

Instead, I tried some other inks, but they lacked the properties of the black that I liked. Now I'm back to the black in these pens, and finding ways to make it work in these two pens. The ink is so awesome, that it's worth it.

It's a viscous ink that doesn't easily let bubbles rise from the feed in these two pens. It actually works fine in my piston fillers. But, dilution didn't fix its problems.