Ink Mixing: Putting Unused Colors to Work

We’ve all done it: Gone and splurged on a bottle of ink (or five) from Goulet or Jetpens, only to get it home and think, “mehhh?” Often the color’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not not exactly what you were looking for, so the bottle of ink sits unused and neglected in a drawer somewhere. 

What to do? There’s always eBay, the FPN or FPGeeks classifieds section, or you could work out a trade in the Pen Addict Slack Channel (or at a pen show!), but what if there are no takers? Consider mixing the ink! With a touch of creativity, a syringe, a steady hand, and a slight tolerance for making a mess, you could have a completely new ink in minutes. 

Warning: while you are engaged in ink mixing, avoid carpets, pets with light-colored fur, and your non-pen obsessed significant other. With regard to the latter, it’s probably best that they don’t come home to find you hunched over the sink with a syringe in one hand and an “ink vial” in the other. Trust me. 

I recommend leaving your "kit" at home and not mixing inks at work.  Unless you are really tight with H.R. and have enough credibility to explain this one.  

I recommend leaving your "kit" at home and not mixing inks at work.  Unless you are really tight with H.R. and have enough credibility to explain this one.  

Full disclosure: I’m an ink mixing novice. I present to you the product of my first effort: a mix of 4 parts Sheaffer Skrip Red and one part Aurora Black. I like the result, though next time I might try to go with a bit less black. I was going for a deep maroon (sort of like Diamine Oxblood), but it ended up just a shade too dark. 

I was pleased enough with the result of this mixing effort to use the whole ink vial.  There were no adverse effects from mixing these two inks:  It dried quickly and didn't bleed.  

Tips for mixing ink: 

  • If possible, only mix inks of the same brand. You can break this rule, as I obviously have here, but it involves a certain degree of risk since different ink companies might use different dyes, etc., that could react adversely to one another.

  • If you must break this rule and mix between inks (hey, I didn’t have any black Skrip), stick to “basic” or “safe” inks. (i.e., mix Waterman and Skrip, Aurora and Skrip, etc.) Don’t mix “boutique” inks (such as Noodler’s, Organics, Private Reserve, or Levenger) with anything other than their own brands. Even then, only mix within their “families”. For example, don’t for the love of God mix any of the Noodler’s Baystate inks with anything other than another Baystate Ink. Nathan Tardiff himself has stated that you shouldn’t do this, because it will cause an adverse chemical reaction and clog pens. Also, mixing a Noodler’s bulletproof ink with another non-bulletproof ink may cause the resulting mixture to be “not-bulletproof”. 

  • Most importantly, go slowly, and mix in small batches. I like to mix using an ink syringe and a small ink sample vial. The vials are marked with measurements up to 5ml on the side (enough approximately 5 fills in a cartridge converter pen). The grading helps you to determine the appropriate proportions.  Once you find a mix/color that you like, then you can make a larger batch.   

All you really need to mix inks are a syringe or a pipette (I find the syringe to be easier and more precise), ink, and a container to hold the result of your experiment.  I repurposed an old ink sample vial during the "experimental" phase, but when I go to mix a big batch of my red-black I am probably going to use one of the smaller Nalgene containers for storage.  A lot of people also use the Nalgenes for travel when they don't want to carry a full bottle of ink with them.  A wide variety of sizes are available.   

Disclaimer:  Mix inks at your own risk!  Assume that the result of your concoctions might harm a pen, and test them in less valuable writers before inking up that prized vintage Vac.  

Spring Cleaning!

You may have noticed a pause in new review content (pens, ink, etc.) around here, and it's because I've been doing some Spring cleaning this week.  In short, I have too many pens and inks that I never use, and my general rule is if I don't use something for 6 months to a year, it needs to go to a new home with the proceeds put towards savings or investing in something that I will use.  Here's what I'm cleaning out this week: 

From Left:  Vintage Conklin Endura in Bronze & Black Marble, standard size.  Restored with new sac, good condition, spots of brassing on the clip ($215); Pilot Metropolitan in Black (Medium) ($8); Pilot Metropolitan in Silver (Fine) ($8); Noodler's Konrad in Methuselah's Pinecone Ebonite (Flex Nib) ($20); Karas Customs G2 Bolt ($35); Sheaffer Snorkel (14K Medium Admiral (non tubular) nib, restored) ($55); Vintage Viceroy Pen/Pencil Set (Fine Gold Plated Nib, Restored) ($10). 

Domestic Shipping will be $5-10, depending on how many pens you order.  Prices are relatively firm but I will consider discounts if you take multiple pens off my hands. 

I also have some vintage Parker Quink Permanent Blue-Black (Art Deco bottle, full), and a smaller bottle of Carter's Midnight Blue that I will consider letting go for $12 per bottle.  

Contact me through the blog or tweet at me @vintagegntlmn if interested.  I'm also active in the PenAddict Slack room.  

Where Do I Go From Here?

It’s a question I asked myself often over the past weekend at the Atlanta Pen Show.  One of the great things about pen shows is that you get the opportunity to see, hold, and learn about pens that you never otherwise would have experienced.  And since I spent two days surrounded by friends (both new and old) eager to let anyone write with the invaluable pieces in their collections, I experienced a lot of pens.  My takeaway from this?  I need to break the “pen of the month” habit and focus on acquiring fewer pieces that mean more to me.  

This topic came up in a few different conversations that I had over the weekend.  A general consensus seems to be that you reach a point in your “collecting” that you plateau, and begin to derive less enjoyment from the typical “production line” pens that are easily available.  While there are always exceptions to this rule, finding a unique or different writing experience out of the box becomes difficult, and you end up chasing color variants of the same pen or the full line of stock nib options.  Some time ago I reached the point where I don’t feel the need to have more than one TWSBI, especially where I can purchase a bunch of replacement nibs and obtain variety that way.

Leigh Reyes' Nakayas.  While Nakayas are not "custom" (several retailers carry them as part of their regular stock) some of the limited or rare variants are difficult to obtain and made to order, and certain models are exclusive to individual shops. 

Enter the world of custom pens. 

I’m ready to move on.  But to where?  Of all the pens I was able to try this weekend, the custom pens were the ones that really stood out and spoke to me.  By "custom", I'm referring to pens that are generally made to order by a pen turner (typically by hand) according to the craftsman's original design, and can be adjusted to the user's preferences.  I was fortunate to handle a wide range of pens made by several makers, from Shawn Newton's Shinobi Eyedroppers to Brian Gray's Edison Menlos in Tibaldi Celluloid.  I wanted to keep all of them.       

So, I’ll ask myself again, where do I go from here?  It’s dangerous to put this sort of thing out there, but it’s pretty much the only way I’ll be able to hold myself accountable.  The next two pens I will acquire will come from custom manufacturers, once I can afford them, and until then I plan to thin out the accumulation of pens and ink to reduce the amount of "stuff" that I never use. 

If you’re interested in the world of custom pens, here’s some further reading to get you started.  My next pen will likely come from somewhere on this list:   

There are many, many more custom manufacturers out there.  Keep in mind that in order to enter the world of custom pens, you’ll have to suppress your desire for instant gratification (something that will be difficult for me).  Not only will you have to part with some money up front, but it generally takes at least 6 weeks for a pen to be made, and that's on the quick end of the spectrum.  In the end, however, I think the wait adds to the experience.