Recently I’ve been testing out some new ink sample colours and also decided to replace the old bottle of ink with a light brown storia sailor ink which is great for sketching and is waterproof. After my initial tests with a glass pen I decided to try out the diamine polar glow ink in my Temu fude pen because it has some sheen but not as much shimmer (ie glitter) and if it clogs the pen it’s ok as it is cheap to replace.
I had been using this in my journal to see how it flows and when it ran out I decided to refill this with the light brown storia sailor ink to use as a second fude pen with a different colour but decided not to wash it out as it seemed a shame to waste the small sample of the diamine polar glow ink I had left in the pen.
I had a inkling (get it) that it might mix with rest of the ink and was curious to see what colour it might turn out to be. I poured some of the storia ink into another travel bottle and refilled from there. Being water soluble the polar glow immediately mixed into the bottle but managed to draw it up without too much cross contamination.
I had thought since it was a dark blue mixing with a brown colour that perhaps it might turn out to be a shade or brown or grey which is fine for journalling.
To my delight as soon as I started writing it started with more light brown then started to become darker, Olivia, light green, bright green some aspects with a beautiful sheen. Of course it would be green the diamine polar glow was a brilliant blue with a slight purple sheen. But the light brown storia is closer to yellow on the spectrum.
I did a few tests and was able to draw a beautiful palm tree so quickly.
Then decided to see what would happen if I added water. This is where it became interesting!
The blue diamine polar glow is water soluble so as soon as it touched the water it dissolved and a beautiful light blue shade spread. Then what’s more interesting is that the light brown storia is waterproof remained behind. From one colour green using water I was able to separate and create not one but two colours! Here’s what it looked like below in the boat and the left vine you can see the colour separation.
I like the light brown colour that comes through you could use the water strategically to create the effect of light shining on the object and also shadows with the blue.
I feel like I’ve discovered a secret for the next level urbane sketching using clever combinations of water soluble ink and waterproof ink it’s like having a limited pallette in one pen and add a water brush and sketch book that’s all you need to sketch on the go.
Rachel Fong Art 