When Does Tattoo Ink Go Bad?ĭoes ink even expire? Yes, to both meanings of the question. Of course, if you have any real concerns about the ink used, you should talk to the tattoo artist who will be etching your design permanently into your skin. This guide explains it all, including when exactly tattoo ink expires and why it’s important to never let expired tattoo ink touch your skin! Does it go bad? Should you request brand new ink? And what is the industry standard for tattoo ink? Platinum and Sailor also make pigmented inks which are specifically designed for fountain pens and safe to use in them, they do not contain shellac or gums and have an extremely fine and regular pigment load.Īs to the original question: I would NOT use the Higgins ink, especially not a 35 year old bottle, in any fountain pen or even in a stylographic pen like a Rapidograph, old india ink can often become concentrated and get clumpy and cause flow issues in a Rapidograph type pen especially the very fine gauge ones, it's best stick to dip pens and brushes with old india ink.Whether you’re a newbie tattoo artist or just worried about getting your first ever tattoo, you might be wondering about the ink. Rohrer & Klingner's Salix and Scabiosa, and Platinum Blue-Black are all ferro-gallic inks which are safe for use in fountain pens, they have a low concentration of iron gall, but enough for added water resistance and lightfastness, and are very nearly neutral pH. There are modern day iron gall inks and pigmented inks that are perfectly safe for use with modern fountain pens. Shellac and iron-gall inks were really intended for use in dip pens. Obviously, with CAD having displaced conventional drafting, today they are mainly used by artists for sketching. Technical pens were designed for use in drafting or art - they can be used for writing (I used one exclusivelly for note taking when I was in college), but the pen has to be held in a vertical position which is not really a comfortable writing position. These pens were designed specifically for use with India inks. There is a fine wire attached to a small metal weight that can slide a few mm as the pen is tipped from nib up to nib down to dislodge any particles that might be aggregating inside the pen and nib. They also contain a wire agitator that is designed to prevent ink pigment from clogging the pen. The difference in these pens is that instead of conventional flat or curved nibs, these pens use a special tubular nib. That kind of fountain pen should NEVER be used with a pigment or iron-gall ink, or inks containing shellac.īut there is a special catetory of 'fountain pen' that might better be described as 'technical pen' - this includes the famous Kooh-in-Noor Rapidograph line as well as a few other brands (knockoffs). In this forum, 'fountain pen' usually refers to pens that are meant for ordinary day-to-day writing - checks, letters, notes, etc. Part of the confusion here is with semantics - the term 'fountain pen' can mean several things. Many of us use very old inks without any problems and as long as something is not floating in it or glopping up in the bottle, then it's probably safe from a contamination point of view. I'm going to alter your topic header, okay? Because the impression from the subject line is just that the ink is old and age is really not the only issue here. But since I don't know what's in it and I was hoping for input from the folks from the penmanship group to chime in. THat may be why Higgins is acceptable to some. If it has no shellac but just pigments, then you're probably just going to deal with clogging issues which just means more cleaning and greater pen hygiene. Some people do use Higgins inks in certain FPs but they clean the ink out after each use and with special cleaners designed for just such a purpose. Most calligraphy inks have pigments rather than dyes and many contain shellac. But "calligraphy" doth not equal "fountain" which is why I caution against using it. If it says it's for a fountain pen, then it should be safe.
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