Permanent ink

[hannya]

Hi!
My name is Sarah, I am an illustrator who mainly works in watercolour and ink. I have worked with black India ink so far, but now I feel I need to explore more variations in the use of inks, especially colored inks. I pretty much like W&N inks, but they are not permanent, so I am looking for permanent inks that help me adding details without resulting in a strong effect like that achievable with black.
Could you suggest me any good material? I have browsed the web and found Dr. PH Martins Bombay India ink. Does anybody know it?
And...what different effect may I achieve with acrilic ink if diluted like watercolour?
Thank you for any suggestions!

[katwalk]

Hi Sarah
I am not sure what you are asking, are you talking about the fact that some ink colors fade particularly in the sun? If so there isn't much that can be done about that, colored inks are usually dyes, and some colors are more likely to fade. UV protection can help with that, either as a coating or glass (but the glass is very expensive). Otherwise it is a fact of life that some colors are going to fade, it is true with colored pencils and watercolors also, and probably some oil colors, though I don't know much about oil paints. I do know that even color tattoos fade.

Acrylic inks may be less prone to fading, but I really don't know a lot about them.

Fading is one reason why artists have tended to stick with India Ink it does not fade over time. There are some pigments that don't fade, but for the most part you have to realize that anything with color (including color photographs) is subject to fading and color shifts when exposed to light.

[cem]

I am learning to use Dr. Ph. Martins colored Bombay India inks. I have experimented a little with them. See my iris in this months challenge. I have mixed some of the colors together and diluted with water for washes. Seems to work okay. I am not sure of the lightfastness though. Another I did is the butterfly and flower in Aprils challenge. I didn't do much diluting on that one and the colors are very bright and bold. Good luck with your quest. Cindy

[urbanspinner]

Inks can be problematic. You didn't say what kind of pen you're using, but I'm assuming it's dip pens, since you mentioned India ink. Dr. Ph. Martin Hydrus Watercolors (http://www.docmartins.com/collection...art-watercolor) look and behave a lot like ink, and are lightfast. The colors are beautiful.

There are also lightfast fountain pen inks, but you'll have to explore the specific brands and inks individually for their lightfast properties. (I am a fountain pen user, so this is a topic near and dear to my heart.) There are threads about lightfastness in fountain pen inks here in this forum, like this one:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=924588

Hope this helps.

[dkk]

I believe the Dr. Ph Martin Bombay inks are fugitive?

[Hoplite]

Originally Posted by hannya

Hi!
My name is Sarah, I am an illustrator who mainly works in watercolour and ink. I have worked with black India ink so far, but now I feel I need to explore more variations in the use of inks, especially colored inks. I pretty much like W&N inks, but they are not permanent, so I am looking for permanent inks that help me adding details without resulting in a strong effect like that achievable with black.
Could you suggest me any good material? I have browsed the web and found Dr. PH Martins Bombay India ink. Does anybody know it?
And...what different effect may I achieve with acrilic ink if diluted like watercolour?
Thank you for any suggestions!

For permanent waterproof black ink, I use Pelikan Drawing Ink (Tusche A). For permanent colored inks, I use acrylic inks - Liquitex Acrylic Ink and FW Ink (Daler-Rowney).

[hannya]

Thank you everybody for your replies.
@katwalk: yes, I mean the tendency of certain colors to fade with light. Yes, I know every color fades to a certain degree if exposed to light, but there are some that are classified as lightfast (for instance, certain paints manufacturers produce a permanent version of some colors that are not lightfast).
@Cindy: thank you. Could you kink me some of your work?
@urbanspinner: I use dip pens but it would be great news if I discovered there are lighfast colors that do not clog mechanical pens! Thank you for your links, they are very useful. The fountain pen inks sound like a very interesting option, too.
@dkk: Bombay inks are classified as lightfast, that is why I was interested in them!

[katwalk]

Hmm, keep in mind that lightfast only means that they will resist fading for the set amount of time that the mfg tests for, doesn't mean that they won't fade over time.

I suggest you do some of your own testing before commiting to an ink for the long haul. Not hard to do if you have a sunny window. Just make squares of color on a piece of paper and tape that paper to the window and leave it for a week, 2 weeks or even a month and see what happens to your colors. There may be some threads here where others have already done that test with some inks/colors, but I haven't been a member long enough to really know for sure. Oh, if you do the test make sure you mark the colors/squares with black ink that won't fade so you will have a some kind of record.

[hannya]

Thank you, Kathy. So, is one month enough to test? I will definitely try it.

[stevemack]

I have used Dr. PH Martins Bombay India inks and they are nice and when dilute with water they also give a great effect. Acrylic inks are also fine and when they are diluted with watercolor they also give an awesome impression also.