#troublemaker ink abalone

[3liza]

I love the Troublemaker inks, this one is Abalone. my friend Barbara sent it to me and I've got it in one of my calligraphy pens. I don't think I can capture the absolutely sublime shading in this ink until I get a picture in sunlight so I've tried to edit these in the photo app to get them looking closer to real life but it's hopeless, you can't photograph real pigments accurately

[ancient-trees]

Soundtrack: Wild River Child by @sjtuckermusic. Painted during one of her and Leslie Hudson's recent Online Concert Thing concerts.

Troublemaker Abalone fountain pen ink on Arches paper, with Beam Paints Shell mica watercolor for the shiny bits

[olameni]

Todays notes.

Printed instead of my usual cursive. Working on a rough annotated bibliography for queerness and Ifa.

Pen: Lamy Safari with a 1.1 mm stub

Ink: Troublemaker Ink Abalone

[4th-make-quail]

First round of new ink swatches from this afternoon!! I'm so grateful to my secret skeleton for all these beautiful inks, oh my god!!

Vinta Inks: Kislap and Julio, and Colorverse #51 Arabella

Ferris Wheel Press: Madam Mulberry, Morningside Mint and April Showers

More Ferris Wheel Press! Down the Don Valley, Midway the Magnificent and Pink Sugar Beach!

Sailor Yurameku: Seki, Kangyou and Itezora (Kangyou is the perfect grey for Neroe's skin, I'm so excited!!)

Birmingham Pen Co.: Antique Sepia, Cast Iron, Molten Tin and Muskrat

Vinta Inks: Apex Silver, Elusive Blue, Liquid Sepia and Sailfin Green, the most me green to ever green holy shit

Troublemaker Inks: Polar Lights, Abalone, Moon River and Foxglove! These ones were swatches my gifter included, which is why the handwriting is so much nicer than mine ahahah

I got a very beautiful glass dip pen as well, which is what I did the swatches with! So useful oh my goddd, and so beautifulllll

[jamesphillimoresumbrella]

February 29th and March 1st - yesterday and today's start of writing. Not much progress made, as you can see.

(Troublemaker's Abalone ink in a Kakuno pen - quite a delight to write with, if any writing should be done.)

[pillarofink]

Review: Troublemaker Milky Ocean and Abalone

Troublemaker is a boutique ink maker which is, iirc, based in the Philippines. Their prices are very affordable and they have free international shipping(!). They have some “normal” inks, some shimmer inks (inks with added glitter), and four “ultra-shaders.” I bought two of them, Milky Ocean and Abalone.

I feel like I couldn’t even photograph how much shading there really is. Milky Ocean is a soft blue that shades through light purple to pink. Abalone is a more work-appropriate blue gray that shades to dark purple. I’ve never seen inks with this much inherent color variation before.

Photos are on Tomoe River paper and written with a Pilot Parallel 2.4mm. The ink feels a little cloggier than average; it’s probably pretty saturated with diffferent pigments.

I’m planning to use Milky Ocean extensively in a special calligraphy project I’ve had in mind for a long time. I had been wondering to myself what my main ink color should be, and when I saw Milky Ocean, all doubt was dispelled.

[doodlewash]

My name is Nick Stewart and I’m from Rochester, Kent, England. Much of my working life has been spent in service to London’s advertising agencies and design studios as well as a part time tutor at the University for the Creative Arts. I am currently the creative lead at Stewart2, a branding and design team.

Robert Oster Inks

Sheaffer Black And Bleach

My art journey began early. As the offspring of a father in the armed services it was the norm ‘back in the day’ to be sent away to school to offset the disruption of relocation every 2 years. In the boarding communities I found myself, it was important to play to your strengths in order to survive. Art happened to be something I excelled at and since the age of eight have developed it as a skill for both career and personal practice.

Robert Oster Inks

Parker Quink And Bleach

J. Herbin Inks

Four years ago, I was in an extremely frustrating and anxious place. The creative driven analogue industry that I love and cherish finally morphed into the digital behemoth it was destined to become. Now led by programmers and account managers utilising keywords, templates and digital visual content. I desperately needed to find something analogue to satisfy my inner creative cravings and that’s where the fountain pen ink art project began.

Mild bleach on Parker Quink black background

I had already been introduced to an abstract use for Parker Quink Ink and bleach mainly for lettering and design while at Brighton University, where I was tutored by the renowned calligrapher Miriam Stribley. So, this seemed like an opportunity to revisit those investigations from thirty years ago and take them further into uncharted territories.

Mild bleach on Waterman ink backgrounds

For the uninitiated, fountain pen inks are made up of dyes that when introduced to a wetted paper surface, the colours that make up those dyes are released from solution, so although you are dealing with one colour it appears that you could be using several. This chromatic process is totally unique to fountain pen inks with the stunning visual outcomes very much serendipity led. Add to that a touch of alchemy (bleach), and the art goes to a whole new level with stunning neon gold effects, textures and new colours created!

So, first off, I got hold of ink samples from all over the world to swatch test. And the potential for fountain pen ink use, aside from handwriting, was jaw dropping. I uploaded my swatch cards, ink reviews and fountain pen ink art to a dedicated website and shared them to social media and discussion forums that I thought may gain some attention. And what quickly became apparent, is that there is a big international audience out there who are eager to know more and to learn how to use their fountain inks in their own art.

Nick Stewart Randall ink

I found that each fountain pen ink is unique. Some inks are just one trick ponies while others reveal a whole range of unexpected behaviours, colours, reactions and creative possibilities. To-date I have swatch tested over 1,800 individual inks and discovered some real delights, all of which, once recognised, will be of great value to creatives in all fields of art practice.

Troublemaker Abalone and Petrichor inks

Left: Noodler’s Rome Burning and Walnut Brown inks. Right: Krishna Graphite ink

For readers of this forum who are into sketching and watercolour painting, you can achieve some easy and stunning watercolour effects by simply letting the chromatography just do its thing. In the illustrations shown above, the ‘chromo’ skies and foregrounds created themselves with the details added afterwards with a dip pen. For enthusiasts of art journaling and sketching, this simple and natural process allows for a seamless visual and medium continuity between image and handwritten word.

For the travelling artist, illustrator and journal keeper, using a limited palette of four fountain pen inks similar to cyan, magenta, yellow and black, will easily mix and blend together to give all the colours needed to create great art with the addition of those unique chromatic effects and reactions to bleach included – all from the one medium.

Nick Stewart Berber Blue, Desert Rose, Dune Yellow and Twilight Black inks (4 colour mix)

Nick Stewart Berber Blue, Desert Rose, Dune Yellow and Twilight Black inks (4 colour mix)

What is also of interest is that all ink ranges are made differently. Each ink maker has their own and recipes and processes. So, one range of inks may suit a particular subject matter better than another.

Various standard, sheening and shimmer inks

But it doesn’t stop there. Fountain pen sheening and shimmer inks can also be used for art and to stunning effects when used for painting, calligraphy and illustration. And for creatives who like working light into dark, using bleach into an ink background is not only unique to this medium but visually impactive too.

Cult Pens Robert and Maureen inks with mild bleach

I hope that this ‘snapshot’ of my investigations shows that a lot of unique, exciting and diverse art can be created using fountain pen ink. However, as with anything that ‘looks good’, there is scrutiny and rightly so. There are 2 main areas of negative discussion – the effect of bleach on paper and the history of ink dyes being prone to fading. These are real issues but are certainly not terminal. Some inks are fugitive. Not all!

I create my art on good quality paper and protect it with a matte UV resistant spray. This works very well, and the good news is that ink creators are starting to add UV inhibitors into their products. Thick bleach will destroy paper. I don’t use concentrated bleach I use a very mild solution with water and as I’m using heavy paper the damage is invisible.

Mild bleach on Parker Quink ink black background

And the future? Well, the last four years has been a real pleasure. Not only has fountain pen ink art satisfied my analogue creative needs, but I think I’ve actually found a unique niche where my art is developing into a recognisable style of its own and that’s fundamental for any artist. I have also made hundreds of new friends: painters, illustrators, calligraphers, writers, ink makers, pen makers, paper manufacturers and others who are just curious, all wanting to find out what’s going on.

Diamine Teal ink

I have delivered numerous fountain pen ink art workshops, sharing the processes and techniques and for the many who can’t attend a workshop I have produced an online tutorial course – details on my website.

My real hopes are that I can help share and promote this unique medium as a bonafide art material and genre. As technology slowly erodes the use for handwriting, this reimagined purpose will hopefully see fountain pen ink appreciated for new creative alternatives. Why not give it a try?

If you’d like to find out more, there are links below. Thank you.

Nick Stewart Website Instagram Twitter Facebook YouTube

GUEST ARTIST: "The Magic of Fountain Pen Ink Art" by Nick Stewart - #doodlewash #ink #fountainpens #sketchingstuff #painting My name is Nick Stewart and I’m from Rochester, Kent, England. Much of my working life has been spent in service to London’s advertising agencies and design studios as well as a part time tutor at the University for the Creative Arts.

[3liza]

i cleaned all my fountain pens today i deserve a bottle of troublemaker brand ink in petrichor or kelp tea or seaglass or abalone please

[ancient-trees]

Painting for my grandfather for father’s day, of one of his pond lilies. Watercolors and fountain pen ink (Troublemaker Abalone) on cotton paper.

[inkantadora]

@Inktober day 4: Freeze . “Freeze!”, thought the penguins when they found the cave. . I drew this @the.ritoires and there is a lot of tea used to make the water drip down. A lot of the inspiration came from @Leighpod and @Dandon375 amazing class “Mad Scientist Hat On” at the @sfpenshow . . Inks used are: • @Vinta Julio • @Troublemaker Abalone • @sailor.pen Ink Studio 150 • @platinum.pen Carbon Black . Drawing on @curnowbooknleather Backpocket Journal with Tomoe River (thank you @franzdimson!). . #Inktober #Intober2019 #Inktober2019Freeze #frozenCave #TroublemakerInk #TroublemakerAbalone #VintaJulio #SailorInkStudio150 #Theritoires #LeighReyes #TeaWashInkArt #CurnowBackpocketJournal #MadScientistHatOn #FountainPenInk #EncrePourStyloPlume #InkyArt #penaddict #Inkaddict #fountainpengeeks #encre #tinta #atramentis #잉크 #定常 #インク #墨水儿 #墨水 #墨 #inchiosto #Inkantadora (at Paris, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3MB8j_iYik/?igshid=5xkhvahgy318

[inkantadora]

Many asked for a comparison between Troublemaker Ink Abalone and Sailor 123 (both on Col-o-Ring cards). I added Kyo-no-oto Keshimurasaki (on Maruman card) because it felt relevant. The ink in this swab looks less saturated but I’m almost positive it’s linked to the F nib pen I chose to ink up... more samples with other pens should follow soon! . @troublemaker.ink @sailor.1911 @kyonooto @wellapptdesk @e.maruman . . . #troublemakerinks #TroublemakerInkAbalone #Sailor123 #SailorInkStudio123 #KeshiMurasaki #kyonootokeshimurasaki #doubleshadingink #TealInk #VioletInk #InkOfTheDay #EncreDuJour #FountainPenInk #EncrePourStyloPlume #penaddict #Inkaddict #fountainpengeeks #Stationery #inkswab #nuancier #encre #tinta #atramentis #잉크 #定常 #インク #墨水儿 #墨水 #墨 #inchiosto #Inkantadora (at Paris, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz8HIFKCML2/?igshid=1oxbc2gk5hblg

[inkantadora]

🇫🇷 Troublemaker inks • Abalone : @Danimad et moi avons craqué pour les nouvelles encres Troublemaker dont Abalone... et je ne regrette pas du tout! Pour en savoir plus, je vous invite à voir le dernier post du blog (link in bio). 😉💜🐚 . 🇵🇭 Troublemaker inks • Abalone: @Danimad and I broke down and ordered all the new Troublemaker releases... and I’m not regretting it for a second! To know more, check out my latest blog post (link in bio). 😉💜🐚 . @tmkrinks . . . #TroublemakerInk #TroublemakerAbalone #AbaloneInk #Abalone #Ormeaux #ShadingForDays #DoubleShadingInk #InkOfTheDay #EncreDuJour #FountainPenInk #EncrePourStyloPlume #styloplume #fountainpen #penaddict #Inkaddict #fountainpengeeks #Stationery #inkswab #nuancier #encre #tinta #atramentis #잉크 #定常 #インク #墨水儿 #墨水 #墨 #inchiosto #Inkantadora https://www.instagram.com/p/BzwNbzaiT-Z/?igshid=g58kqqw8a8hj

[3liza]

wow!

I love the Troublemaker inks, this one is Abalone. my friend Barbara sent it to me and I've got it in one of my calligraphy pens. I don't think I can capture the absolutely sublime shading in this ink until I get a picture in sunlight so I've tried to edit these in the photo app to get them looking closer to real life but it's hopeless, you can't photograph real pigments accurately