Just use Diamine Oxblood instead. Looks like dried animal blood after it hits the page! Want a red that's less horrifying to whoever opens the mail? Sheaffer red ink. It looks like deep, rich, red blood before it has dried.
I was just joking, of course. I do have Diamine Oxblood in my Pilot E95s. I love that ink. My daughter gave me a bottle for Christmas. I was using De Atramentis Elderberry (which I like as well).
@@ronshaw80 Gave a bottle of the Oxblood along with other inks and a current Gen. Parker Sonnet to a performance artist acquaintance for her upcoming Birthday later this month. She has about 50 different characters she portrays in her artistic performances. Most of them, vampires. I think she's going to love the bottle of oxblood. She did promise to do an unboxing video on TH-cam after those, and other gifts arrive. Can't wait to see the look on her face when she reads the letter and realizes what it is. In case she wants something truly redder, I included a bottle of Diamine Scarlett too.
I've used food coloring in my dippers and in my cheap Chinese pens for more than a year with great success. I've even concocted a beautiful aqua shade and a bronze that mimics Diamine's Ancient Copper.
i found with my little bit of experimentation that i use yellow liquid food color and noodler's blue ghost to give it a 1:1 ratio of ink to food color to make up for the lubrication and it works out rather well at least with yellow food color i used monteverde valentine red and yellow food color to make a apachi sunset replacement and monteverde caribbean blue and yellow food color to make a cool green for easter and ratios may very you have to do a fair bit of experimentation with syringes and a twisted unraveled paper clip and paper to get your desired color but once you do wow there are a plethora of colors out there that you can use
One of my favorite brand of inks is one of the cheapest too. Their red is a rich, blood-red. Their black is solid black. Never had a single issue with Sheaffer. Want another great value? Head on over to Goulet Pens. Monteverde 90ml bottles. Numerous colors. $15.oo each. Most folks don't realize just how much writing you need to do to empty a 90ml bottle of ink. That's almost an insane amount of ink. There's just no need to go ultra cheap. Especially on a particularly valuable pen. Why risk it? P.S. - Hope you get well soon, Brian.
I wouldn't risk it beyond like a Jinhao Shark. Monteverde, Noodler's, Diamine, Pilot (not Iroshizuku) offer a whole lot of ink for not a lot of money. Committing to just one bottle of ink is the hard part... - Colin
It is a pain to get even cheap fountain pen ink if you live in a country where even a basic 30ml bottle of Pilot costs a minimum of 10 bucks. So far, I have to get ink by mail, as most stationery stores only have caligraphy ink
Considering that many fountain pen inks are also not lightfast, I see no issue with the food coloring. My favorite fountain pen is a cheap one anyway so I've got nothing to lose. My Preppy has been working perfectly fine with food coloring. I also use food coloring as a substitute for watercolor. Is it the same as professional watercolors? No, of course not. Professional watercolors have lightfastness and effects you can only achieve with them, but if you compare student grade watercolors with food coloring... Food coloring usually performs better.
Liquid food color, gum arabic powder (prevent bleeding), glycerine (improve flow) are materials I use as fountain pen ink. Works well on any paper as I do not buy expensive fountain pen ready paper. The only fountain pen ink I bought is Noodler's black if I need black ink that is water resistant when dried on paper and easy to clean when it touches our skin. The food color as ink usually require a lot of soap when it touches your skin and also bleed on paper when wet with water. For art work on paper using fountain pen ink or food color as ink and you do not want them to bleed when wet with water, I seal it with clear acrylic paint. Regular writing that that not require permanent ink, food color as ink works well for those who wish to make their own the cheaper way and you have a lot of options in terms of color or color combinations. For the sheen, the glitter and other features found in regular fountain pen inks, you cannot get that straight from food color but you can formulate your own using materials available for regular fountain pen inks. Food color, gum arabic and glycerine do not damage fountain pen parts. No gum arabic? No glycerine? That's fine as straight food color can work just fine on a good paper. One can even make it cheaper when you make your own food color mix from raw materials for food color.
I left food coloring in a clear fountain pen for about 2 years it didn't even have a problem starting. (stored with nib up) It didn't even stain the pen. I had some cheap Chinese fountain pen ink destroy some cheap pens (I think it has alcohol in it). Go for the food coloring. The ink will not be waterproof though.
Using food colouring in fountain pens as is is not the best experience. But you can make you own ink with food grade water soluble dyes. You will need synthetic or natural polymer resins, biocides, surfactants, humectants, stabilizers, pH modifiers and anti-foaming agents. The good thing is - you can get all the components in stores, it only requires basic chemistry knowledge, can be done in your kitchen and is fun. The downside: it's a bit time consuming, gets hands funny coloured, individual results may vary, getting stable results is a process of trial and error (unless you use a proven industrial ink recipe).
The only time I use food colouring with a pen is when I am decorating food. I use one of my glass dip pens and do calligraphy on fondant, cake icing, cookies or other foods. As for my writing pens - umm, use writing ink. 😉
where I live it's really hard to find some products (noodler's inks are my greatest passion). So the idea of creating my own ink has crossed my mind more times than I can count. i've been searching to create my own recipies.
I have a question. Is it advisable to use a fountain pen with a cracked barrel? I found a place that can fix my pen but they want $35 just to look at it.
Is it a classic pen form the 40s or 50s? If it is a modern pen, I would certainly NOT pay anyone just to look at it! If it is a current pen, can you not simply use a wee bit of superglue to fill the crack and Scotch-tape or masking tape it until the glue has set?
@@laurieharnach8785 Well, aurora's are a bit on the higher end side, so I think it would ocme down to whether you wanted the crack to totally disappear, in which case you may pay a good bit to have it done professionally; or if you just want it to be solid and safe for daily use, and don't mind if you held it in just the right light, seeing a thin line where the crack was before. So the final decision would be - imho - a cosmetic one. Best of luck though, whichever way you go.
@@laurieharnach8785 don't do it!! I would never try risking something as basic as even my Lamy Safari, and an AURORA is out of the question. Give them the $35 and get it done
Food... not for my fountain pens but dip pens... I have put honey, sweetened (condensed) milk, perfume (great fragrance). I intend to try egg yolk, beer later. Good ink though.
I used to make purple ink using Malabar spinach seeds.. it was fun lol.. the writings used to last for around a year or so.. not at all waterproof nor was any pleasant experience to write with.. but yeah it was a fun childhood experiment .. eco friendly as well.. plus .. you get to eat the spinach which was tasty.. 😋😋😋
I have tried to make the ink for a while Ingredients I have been tried: Food color Water Diluted soap Glyceryn Each properties: Water is to dilute the color Diluted soap helps with flow if the ink won't come out from the pen. Only use one drop per mililiter of ink Vegetable Glyceryn doubles as thickening agent and lubricant I had trial and error, and now looking for a thickening agent aside from glycerin.
*YES - that ws my question - WHY????? For Heaven's sake, if a person is really strapped for cash, order samples, but why even bother using a food coloring which will feather, fade, and smear if it encounters a drop of moisture?*
It is a great solution to a problem that doesn't really exist for most. Maybe if you are traveling..or an artist who uses an absurd amount of ink. Beyond that, i'm pretty comfortable claiming a 80-90ml bottle of good ink (Diamine/Noodlers') with a F or EF nib is very likely enough to last through 4 years of college and will only set you back
All4Grogg could be I guess. When I travel I just take my Fisher Space pen. It’s a ballpoint, but it’s been to several countries. It’s basically always in my pocket when I’m not dressed for work. It’s compact, durable, and yes it’s a ballpoint but that means It’s hassle free. It’s had the same broad blue refill in it for 3 years. I don’t need to worry about ink levels on planes or tossing it in a scanner tray with my iPad and belt at the airport. I use my fountain pens at home and at work. I used to buy ink when I felt like it, but recently sold neatly 60 bottles. I’ve settled on a core 10 and will just replace those bottles as I run through them. Which, as you said takes years. The most expensive I’ve got is Sailor Shikiori. More than $20 for only 20 ml. Even though a bottle of Iro costs more it’s got more juice in it.
jane doe True. And Canada is an expensive country to ship anything into and around in. But even so: Take for example the bottle of Diamine Skull and Roses that I got absolutely fleeced on from an over seas store. It’s still going to last me years and years. I think looking for “ink” from other sources is one thing if you’re just being curious or experimenting. But for the sake of additional argument, my current favorite is Shikiori Yonaga. It retails for $20, for 20 ml. That’s close to $30 after tax and shipping. Even if you pay similar prices for ink, and even if you kill a bottle every two months you’re still not looking at a considerable expense.
Food coloring is great, if you never have used quality ink. The food coloring is just bad in every possible way. It does put down words you can read, but so does a ten cent ballpoint. Much of it isn't even cost effective. Trying buying eighty milliliters of just one color. Honestly, to me, food coloring is never going to be mistaken for ink, and with most paper, I'd never believe the writing came from a fountain pen. It just looks bad, like one of the extremely cheap felt tip markers, only not as crisp. And to me, one of the main reasons to use a fountain pen is the ink. Being a cheapskate is for people who use ballpoint pens you get by the bag. I don't like shimmer, I don't care about sheen, and I think shading looks cheap, but I love high quality ink. It writes a thousand times better than food coloring. Any the majority of fountain pens users do li9ke shimmer, sheen, and shading. I'm far from rich, but I have several bottles of Montblanc SE inks that cost eighty dollars each, and one that cost ninety. But even cheaper inks make food coloring look like something a child did, and what's the point? Just so you can say you use a fountain pen? I'd get rid of my fountain pens, and possibly my left foot, before I would use food coloring again, even in a cheap Chinese piece of junk made.
I loan my middle-high school age students fountain pens in class (think cheap jinhao or at best preppy- they are kids and kids drop / break stuff, and I spend a lot on my classroom). I have been using 1pt bottles of red & blue McCormick food colors for several years for these pens, and think they may last me to retirement (12 years). Sure they aren't writing calligraphy style gorgeous work- have you SEEN teen handwriting lately? but many have been intrigued enough to get their own. Now if I could convince that one little fella not to shake them like a thermometer...
I think that "someone" you should know is JPL, on TH-cam 😉
Bingo! Great channel, especially his 3d printed stuff. - Colin
Definitely JPL!
Just use blood. Nice color, and plentiful!
Corrodes metal bits like nibs though. Also, once it dries in a pen it's a nightmare to clean.
Just use Diamine Oxblood instead. Looks like dried animal blood after it hits the page! Want a red that's less horrifying to whoever opens the mail? Sheaffer red ink. It looks like deep, rich, red blood before it has dried.
I was just joking, of course. I do have Diamine Oxblood in my Pilot E95s. I love that ink. My daughter gave me a bottle for Christmas. I was using De Atramentis Elderberry (which I like as well).
@@ronshaw80
Gave a bottle of the Oxblood along with other inks and a current Gen. Parker Sonnet to a performance artist acquaintance for her upcoming Birthday later this month. She has about 50 different characters she portrays in her artistic performances. Most of them, vampires.
I think she's going to love the bottle of oxblood. She did promise to do an unboxing video on TH-cam after those, and other gifts arrive. Can't wait to see the look on her face when she reads the letter and realizes what it is. In case she wants something truly redder, I included a bottle of Diamine Scarlett too.
You need a red quill from professor umbrige
*JPL intensifies*
Maybe we need a JPL/Goulet collaboration! I'd be more than willing to fly out to Australia... - Colin
I've used food coloring in my dippers and in my cheap Chinese pens for more than a year with great success. I've even concocted a beautiful aqua shade and a bronze that mimics Diamine's Ancient Copper.
Given the bottles of inks I have, the more useful question would be “can I use ink as food coloring?”
I tasted Lamy black ink. Tastes like metal, made me upset for like 2 hours.
Coffee Jaytee I love the smell of inks, but yeah I bet they don’t taste so great.
lol.....
My Noodler's Apache Sunset has a lot of variation in taste, while Noodler's Black tastes sort of flat...
Don't eat ink guys!
🤣🤣
I've used it for months and it works great, feathers a bit more, but its not so bad. still totally legible.
And completely not water fast. It's also completely flat.
A few minutes ago i watched a video someone food coloring as ink for one year and no damage happened to the fountain pen he used...
Just fyi the certain someone probably is young and handsome 😉 JPL, Australian pen/ink You Tuber.
For sure. Good content on his channel, especially when looking for affordable fountain pen options. Thorough reviews. - Colin
i found with my little bit of experimentation that i use yellow liquid food color and noodler's blue ghost to give it a 1:1 ratio of ink to food color to make up for the lubrication and it works out rather well at least with yellow food color i used monteverde valentine red and yellow food color to make a apachi sunset replacement and monteverde caribbean blue and yellow food color to make a cool green for easter and ratios may very you have to do a fair bit of experimentation with syringes and a twisted unraveled paper clip and paper to get your desired color but once you do wow there are a plethora of colors out there that you can use
One of my favorite brand of inks is one of the cheapest too. Their red is a rich, blood-red. Their black is solid black. Never had a single issue with Sheaffer. Want another great value? Head on over to Goulet Pens. Monteverde 90ml bottles. Numerous colors. $15.oo each. Most folks don't realize just how much writing you need to do to empty a 90ml bottle of ink. That's almost an insane amount of ink. There's just no need to go ultra cheap. Especially on a particularly valuable pen. Why risk it?
P.S. - Hope you get well soon, Brian.
NGMonocrom Pilot Black FP ink is $30 CAD for 350ml. Blue black and red also available. Even 50 ml will last most people years.
I wouldn't risk it beyond like a Jinhao Shark. Monteverde, Noodler's, Diamine, Pilot (not Iroshizuku) offer a whole lot of ink for not a lot of money. Committing to just one bottle of ink is the hard part... - Colin
@@Gouletpens
Very true, Colin. But at those prices, folks can afford to get a handful of bottles in different colors.
lol i burned through about 10 ml in a month
It is a pain to get even cheap fountain pen ink if you live in a country where even a basic 30ml bottle of Pilot costs a minimum of 10 bucks. So far, I have to get ink by mail, as most stationery stores only have caligraphy ink
JPL rocks!
Your desk hasn’t changed in five years.
Considering that many fountain pen inks are also not lightfast, I see no issue with the food coloring. My favorite fountain pen is a cheap one anyway so I've got nothing to lose. My Preppy has been working perfectly fine with food coloring.
I also use food coloring as a substitute for watercolor. Is it the same as professional watercolors? No, of course not. Professional watercolors have lightfastness and effects you can only achieve with them, but if you compare student grade watercolors with food coloring... Food coloring usually performs better.
I tried black food coloring in a cheap pen. It takes a long time to dry and doesn’t really look good.
Liquid food color, gum arabic powder (prevent bleeding), glycerine (improve flow) are materials I use as fountain pen ink. Works well on any paper as I do not buy expensive fountain pen ready paper. The only fountain pen ink I bought is Noodler's black if I need black ink that is water resistant when dried on paper and easy to clean when it touches our skin. The food color as ink usually require a lot of soap when it touches your skin and also bleed on paper when wet with water. For art work on paper using fountain pen ink or food color as ink and you do not want them to bleed when wet with water, I seal it with clear acrylic paint. Regular writing that that not require permanent ink, food color as ink works well for those who wish to make their own the cheaper way and you have a lot of options in terms of color or color combinations. For the sheen, the glitter and other features found in regular fountain pen inks, you cannot get that straight from food color but you can formulate your own using materials available for regular fountain pen inks. Food color, gum arabic and glycerine do not damage fountain pen parts. No gum arabic? No glycerine? That's fine as straight food color can work just fine on a good paper. One can even make it cheaper when you make your own food color mix from raw materials for food color.
I left food coloring in a clear fountain pen for about 2 years it didn't even have a problem starting. (stored with nib up) It didn't even stain the pen. I had some cheap Chinese fountain pen ink destroy some cheap pens (I think it has alcohol in it). Go for the food coloring. The ink will not be waterproof though.
I would like to ask if it is waterproof on paper when dried?
Using food colouring in fountain pens as is is not the best experience. But you can make you own ink with food grade water soluble dyes. You will need synthetic or natural polymer resins, biocides, surfactants, humectants, stabilizers, pH modifiers and anti-foaming agents. The good thing is - you can get all the components in stores, it only requires basic chemistry knowledge, can be done in your kitchen and is fun. The downside: it's a bit time consuming, gets hands funny coloured, individual results may vary, getting stable results is a process of trial and error (unless you use a proven industrial ink recipe).
I think I’ll just pay $8 for a bottle of ink.
I've used food coloring a lot in a kaweco sport with a gold nib never gave me any issues
The only time I use food colouring with a pen is when I am decorating food. I use one of my glass dip pens and do calligraphy on fondant, cake icing, cookies or other foods. As for my writing pens - umm, use writing ink. 😉
Awh clicked on your name to see if you had any food calligraphy videos. I'd love to see your work!
where I live it's really hard to find some products (noodler's inks are my greatest passion). So the idea of creating my own ink has crossed my mind more times than I can count. i've been searching to create my own recipies.
I have a question. Is it advisable to use a fountain pen with a cracked barrel? I found a place that can fix my pen but they want $35 just to look at it.
Is it a classic pen form the 40s or 50s? If it is a modern pen, I would certainly NOT pay anyone just to look at it! If it is a current pen, can you not simply use a wee bit of superglue to fill the crack and Scotch-tape or masking tape it until the glue has set?
It is an older model Aurora Satin Ipsilon fountain pen
@@laurieharnach8785 Well, aurora's are a bit on the higher end side, so I think it would ocme down to whether you wanted the crack to totally disappear, in which case you may pay a good bit to have it done professionally; or if you just want it to be solid and safe for daily use, and don't mind if you held it in just the right light, seeing a thin line where the crack was before. So the final decision would be - imho - a cosmetic one. Best of luck though, whichever way you go.
@@Julian-bq9qv thank you for your advice. I might try some gorilla glue. I've used it on a pen before and it works really well
@@laurieharnach8785 don't do it!! I would never try risking something as basic as even my Lamy Safari, and an AURORA is out of the question. Give them the $35 and get it done
I have seen "SOMEONE" is using "LAUNDRY BLUE" as fountain pen ink !! what u can say about it??
Nice Saturn V rocket back there in the corner behind you.
It’s the Easter bunny. I can feel it.
Food... not for my fountain pens but dip pens... I have put honey, sweetened (condensed) milk, perfume (great fragrance). I intend to try egg yolk, beer later. Good ink though.
It's JPL he used food coloring as ink
I used to make purple ink using Malabar spinach seeds.. it was fun lol.. the writings used to last for around a year or so.. not at all waterproof nor was any pleasant experience to write with.. but yeah
it was a fun childhood experiment .. eco friendly as well.. plus .. you get to eat the spinach which was tasty.. 😋😋😋
I'm thinking of trying to make my own ink just for fun. Does anyone have any recommendations on recipes?
I have tried to make the ink for a while
Ingredients I have been tried:
Food color
Water
Diluted soap
Glyceryn
Each properties:
Water is to dilute the color
Diluted soap helps with flow if the ink won't come out from the pen. Only use one drop per mililiter of ink
Vegetable Glyceryn doubles as thickening agent and lubricant
I had trial and error, and now looking for a thickening agent aside from glycerin.
Bicarbonate of soda could act as a thickening agent. It also makes it much less acidic.
..I mean fountain pen ink is already fairly cheap considering how long a bottle lasts..
*YES - that ws my question - WHY????? For Heaven's sake, if a person is really strapped for cash, order samples, but why even bother using a food coloring which will feather, fade, and smear if it encounters a drop of moisture?*
It is a great solution to a problem that doesn't really exist for most. Maybe if you are traveling..or an artist who uses an absurd amount of ink. Beyond that, i'm pretty comfortable claiming a 80-90ml bottle of good ink (Diamine/Noodlers') with a F or EF nib is very likely enough to last through 4 years of college and will only set you back
All4Grogg could be I guess. When I travel I just take my Fisher Space pen. It’s a ballpoint, but it’s been to several countries. It’s basically always in my pocket when I’m not dressed for work.
It’s compact, durable, and yes it’s a ballpoint but that means It’s hassle free. It’s had the same broad blue refill in it for 3 years. I don’t need to worry about ink levels on planes or tossing it in a scanner tray with my iPad and belt at the airport.
I use my fountain pens at home and at work. I used to buy ink when I felt like it, but recently sold neatly 60 bottles. I’ve settled on a core 10 and will just replace those bottles as I run through them. Which, as you said takes years.
The most expensive I’ve got is Sailor Shikiori. More than $20 for only 20 ml. Even though a bottle of Iro costs more it’s got more juice in it.
Brent Emon you forget about the import taxes for inks for a non fountain pen countries
jane doe True. And Canada is an expensive country to ship anything into and around in. But even so: Take for example the bottle of Diamine Skull and Roses that I got absolutely fleeced on from an over seas store. It’s still going to last me years and years.
I think looking for “ink” from other sources is one thing if you’re just being curious or experimenting. But for the sake of additional argument, my current favorite is Shikiori Yonaga. It retails for $20, for 20 ml. That’s close to $30 after tax and shipping. Even if you pay similar prices for ink, and even if you kill a bottle every two months you’re still not looking at a considerable expense.
Rewatching this and I finally realized who you sound like here - Lyle Waggoner. LOL!
Welp i just buy cheap sketch pens and then squeeze the colourful inks out of their (foam?) refills. Work great. Dries fast.
I do use them..😂😂
Food coloring is great, if you never have used quality ink. The food coloring is just bad in every possible way. It does put down words you can read, but so does a ten cent ballpoint. Much of it isn't even cost effective. Trying buying eighty milliliters of just one color. Honestly, to me, food coloring is never going to be mistaken for ink, and with most paper, I'd never believe the writing came from a fountain pen. It just looks bad, like one of the extremely cheap felt tip markers, only not as crisp.
And to me, one of the main reasons to use a fountain pen is the ink. Being a cheapskate is for people who use ballpoint pens you get by the bag. I don't like shimmer, I don't care about sheen, and I think shading looks cheap, but I love high quality ink. It writes a thousand times better than food coloring. Any the majority of fountain pens users do li9ke shimmer, sheen, and shading. I'm far from rich, but I have several bottles of Montblanc SE inks that cost eighty dollars each, and one that cost ninety. But even cheaper inks make food coloring look like something a child did, and what's the point? Just so you can say you use a fountain pen?
I'd get rid of my fountain pens, and possibly my left foot, before I would use food coloring again, even in a cheap Chinese piece of junk made.
I loan my middle-high school age students fountain pens in class (think cheap jinhao or at best preppy- they are kids and kids drop / break stuff, and I spend a lot on my classroom). I have been using 1pt bottles of red & blue McCormick food colors for several years for these pens, and think they may last me to retirement (12 years). Sure they aren't writing calligraphy style gorgeous work- have you SEEN teen handwriting lately? but many have been intrigued enough to get their own. Now if I could convince that one little fella not to shake them like a thermometer...
I rather not use food colouring
Is it just me or do you sound awful? You ok man?
Nah, that's is the best kind of illness, when your voice sounds extra badass for a few days.
@@TheNathanMChannel Reminds me of this video, th-cam.com/video/hs_fjkfDT_w/w-d-xo.html
The voice is badass but also hope he feels better!
Brian was sick when this was filmed for Q&A back in January! I can confirm he is perfectly healthy present day. :) - Colin