[Scriptoris] Blimey! a bleedin' ink!

[Elaine Crittenden]

Bleeding occurs when one of the following "tweakable" area/events happen:

1. The INK is too thin for the paper's composition.
    A. Fix it by thickening the ink with a very
        few drops of gum arabic, say
        no more than 12 drops per
        1 oz bottle of ink, depending on the ink.
    B. Fix it by leaving the top off the ink bottle
        for a day, two days, whatever, depending on
        how humid your climate is.
    C. Fix it by changing inks!

2. The PAPER needs modifying because the fibers
    lack enough "sizing" (a starchy substance)
    to fill in the holes between the fibers.
    A. Fix it by spraying with the number of
        needed coats of "Workable, Matt Fixative."
    B. Fix it by dusting with facepowder fine
        sandarac (Middle Eastern/Australian tree sap,
        then dusting or tapping off before work.
        Warning: getting it into eyes burns like crazy!
    C. Fix it by changing papers!

3. The TECHNIQUE needs tweaking because the scribe is
    not using effective actions to ward off the
    bleeding.
    A. Fix it by not dragging a stroke through
        another stroke, such as dragging the fresh
        stroke of the crossbar of the "t" through
        the previously written (and soaked in)
        vertical stroke of the "spine" of the "t."
    B. The nib has a burr catching the paper's fibers,
        and the burr needs to be sanded off by stroking
        the nib once or twice on a sheet of 1500
        grit ("wet or dry") sandpaper
        or some "crocus cloth."

BONUS: INK BLOBS occur when:
1. The freshly-dipped-in-ink nib has not been given a
    pre-stroke test on another sheet of sheet of paper.
2. The barometric pressure is low (cloudy or raining),
    so the ink flows faster out of the pen.
3. The work surface is flat, since ink flows more
    slowly from a pen that is writing on a
    tilted board--the higher, the less blobbing.
4. The scribe is mashing too hard on the pen and
    allowing the split of the nib to spread too far.

Hope the above hints help...

In service,
HL Lete Bithespring




----------
>From: lizdenpeters at juno.com
>To: scriptoris at ansteorra.org
>Subject: Re: [Scriptoris] A question of paper
>Date: Tue THSep 6,2005,6:57 PM
>

> Also, be sure to test the ink(s) you hope to use on the paper.  Some
> brands/types will bleed and some will not -- it varies from different
> inks to different papers.  A little pre-testing will save you a world of
> grief.   Also, if you have some issues with bleeding inks, try some
> workable fixative to eliminate/minimize the problem.
> (snip)
> YIS,
>
> Liz or Lady Fionnghuala the Fair or "Nuala" or my evil twin, Cedric
> "It seems the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag."
>                       ~~~~~Kin Hubbard~~~~~~
>>(snip)
>> I prefer a 140lb weight, but
>> will take a 90lb weight. Make
>> sure the paper states it's for 'use with ink', which will indicate
>> it's not specifically for
>> watercolor (often a more textured paper).
>> (snip)
>>
>> Cheers, Hillary
>>