Ran into a retired chemist at the library who gave me a great ink mixing tip

We were both looking at the same old book on dyes, and he said, 'Always add the surfactant drop by drop, never more than 0.5% of the total volume, or you'll just make soapy water.' I tried it with my last batch of blue-black and the flow is perfect now. Anyone have a favorite surfactant brand that works well with iron gall mixes?

2 comments

2 Comments

camerona793d ago

Sounds like overthinking it to me.

jessicaw113d ago

That 0.5% rule seems so strict. I just wing it with a drop of dish soap sometimes and my inks work fine.