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I've been using Mat Magic inks for my ruling pen. I now understand they are no longer being produced. What are other sources for ink for a ruling pen?
Thanks........
If you will check the Grumble archives, there's a contact for Mat Magic inks in Europe (Kris in Belgium I think). Not all colors are available. I have the contact info at work, but won't be back on line there until Tuesday.
I have tried some of the recommended replacements such as Speedball and gouache but have not been entirely satisfied with the results. The emulsified metalic inks tend to coagulate in the nib before the line is done.
For colored pen lines, thinned acrylic artists paint works well.
As my Mat Magic colors have run out I have resorted to:
Acrylics which I can mix for color work well.
Water color (Win Newt) great for very pastel look.
Metallics were hard. but I have come to like the fabric paints from a local stamping store.
For "hard lines", I have blocks of Chinese Ink that I mix up as needed and for density. Blk, Red, Green only.
I do tons on french mats and I use an no-rhyme-nor-reason combination of thinned acrylics, an old stash of Dr. Ph. Martin's 'transparent water color' and 'concentrated water color' (can we still get these anywhere?) but most of all I use water colors from the tube. If I want it to be a bit thicker, I will add a drop of acrylic matte medium. I think I have a few Winsor Newton inks in my paintbox as well.
edie the ilovealltheprettycolorsasronwouldsay goddess
Watercolors are my staple. But to avoid running lines I thicken them up with a bit of plain old tempera, usually white or black, to get the consistency of cream. It also softens the color a bit. Acrylics work and they're color fast.
W&N metallics are a favorite, sometimes mixing with acrylics to get a variety of golds, coppers and pewters.
I've found that virtually anything that's waterbased can be mixed with interesting results. (Like the Framing Goddess no rhyme or reason approach.) Experiment to find your favorite recipe.
Is Gauch thinned with vodka too much?
Or should I just stick with Acrylic and beer?
Watercolor wash using tonic or seltzer creates a very interesting result.
I use any artist's grade tube watercolor with water and a dash of extra powdered gum arabic to get nice outlined lines (something MM doesn't do).
If you wash all that coagulated goo out of your old MM ink bottles, they can be put to better use with your own colors.
Another vote for some specific Win Newt metallics. Not all are created equal. The fine-grained metallic ink flows better.
B.
I was in Canada a Few days ago and stopped into a drafting supply store. I bought a few bottles of metallic inks made by Tri Art They flow real nice and can be scraped off the surface like the old MM inks. The company claims that the inks don't settle like the MM inks did. We will see about that in a few months.