Using Colored Calligraphy Ink

Every week, I call my mom, and we have a long conversation on varied topics such as Desperate Housewives and midcentury modern couches from West Elm. {Superficial? Us? No way.} In the midst of our conversation today, Mom wanted to know the lowdown on using colored calligraphy ink. I think she’s graduating from the school of black and white inks, and she’s ready to take the plunge.

If you’re like my mom and are curious about using colored calligraphy ink, this is the blog post for you. First, let’s talk about pre-mixed inks. In my lineup above, you’ll see that I have several from Winsor & Newton. I got this particular set from Michael’s, and I love the opaque, crisp strokes that these colors make.

There is a reason that I prefer black or what ink to color ink, though. Colored calligraphy inks are generally extremely thin, and they don’t thicken {unlike the Winsor & Newton white ink, which does thicken a bit over time}. Because of this, sometimes getting the ink to flow consistently while making large letters can be exasperating. I generally try to encourage my wedding clients to have me use black or white ink for this reason — using colored calligraphy ink can take twice as long and the results aren’t as smooth. However, if you’ve got a small project, colored ink should suit your purpose just fine.

Colored calligraphy ink can also be great for line drawings; I designed this invitation using my burnt sienna and red inks:

I have noticed that colored calligraphy ink is more fussy than black or white ink when it comes to the surface it’s used on. Because of the high water content, the chance of bleed is pretty high if you have a porous paper surface — say, kraft paper or even low-quality drawing paper. That’s why I generally use watercolor paper when dealing with colored calligraphy ink: it stops ink in its path and everything remains nice and crisp. So, if you are going to use colored calligraphy ink, be sure and test out your surface first — you may be unpleasantly surprised when the ink spreads into “spider webs” along the edges of your paper.

Also note that unlike India ink, colored calligraphy ink is not waterproof; so if you are planning on using the ink in a mixed media piece with watercolor, keep that in mind!

If you don’t have any colored calligraphy ink laying around, you can actually make your own ink from acrylic paint and water. It’s not going to be as vibrant or opaque as ready-made color calligraphy ink, but I like the slightly transparent, watercolor-like results.

Making your own acrylic colored calligraphy ink is easy. First, identify the color of paint you want. I’ve chosen a nice purple:

Then pick out an airtight container and pour a little bit of water in:

And squeeze some of the paint into the water {how cool does this look?}:

Next, just shake it up:

And that’s it! You’re ready to write:

You can find more information about making your own colored calligraphy ink from calligraphy paint at eHow. Reader Susan also pointed out that watercolor paints are very wet and effectively work great for DIY calligraphy ink at a cheap cost. So — there’s another route to creating colored ink that you might consider!

While we’re on the topic of calligraphy,  I have one more thing to show you. I just created a couple of calligraphy-heavy bridal suites that I am drooling over because of the fantastic letterpress work by Boxcar Press in Syracuse, New York. Boxcar used foil stamping to make the client’s design dream a reality, and I couldn’t be happier with the result! The top image is of a save the date for an Atlanta bride whose fiancé has Persian roots. To figuratively “marry” the two, I created an Atlanta skyline with a Persian motif. The bottom two photos showcase a stunning suite with a custom map and shiny gold calligraphy invitations and RSVP cards.

I love creating calligraphy for letterpress — so fun and so rewarding! But for now, I am going to spend the rest of the evening experimenting with my new purple ink, and I hope I have inspired you to shake up a little colored calligraphy ink of your own!

I am wishing you a great rest of the week, and I’d like to thank you, once again, for reading! “See you” on Saturday!