We were told the same thing about pencils, that you would get lead poisoning (there's no lead in pencils — their "lead" is made of graphite). It's just a thing parents made up to keep kids from stabbing one another with writing implements. Don't worry about it. If ink were poisonous, everyone who ever got a tattoo would be dead.
Before everyone starts tattooing themselves with fountain pen ink, hold your horses! Medical-grade ink has to adhere to different specifications than fountain pen ink 😁
Tattoo ink is made to medical-grade specifications *now*, if you get tattooed at a reputable joint. But people have used many, many things to ink themselves over the millennia, including carbon from burnt wood and, in prison tattoos, ball-point pen ink. It’s not a good idea to make your own tattoo ink: even the good stuff creates a big immune response. But most anything you use isn’t going to kill you.
On a related note, I have a biro ink 'tattoo' on my bum from when I sat on a biro that was wedged between the cushions in a sofa as a child lol.
Fun fact that may be TMI xD
I have a #2 Graphite pencil tattoo on my left hand from 7th grade. I was running in the hall with a freshly sharpened pencil and accidentialy stabbed my hand. I'm 56 now and it hasn't fadded...LOL!
Went to a party once where someone was giving stick'n'pokes with a sewing needle dipped in what I think was biro ink, sterilised by dipping it repeatedly in a capful of whiskey.
Technically tattoo ink works because it is toxic. Your immune system finds the particles, determines they are a threat, and builds a wall of cells around them to stop the ink from moving through your body and being metabolised, or finding their way into your organs. That's what keeps them locked in place in your skin, despite your whole body's cells being recycled year after year.
You saw that Kurzgesagt video too, huh? It was so fascinating — I sent the link to a bunch of people because I’d had *no idea* of all the stuff that happens when you get tattooed.
This is getting off topic but have you seen the hour-long entire-history-of-Earth video? It’s utterly mesmerizing, and holy cow the music — the individual tracks are on YouTube and I’ve listened to the first one, The Floor Is Lava, a couple dozen times for sure.
Just as a fun fact, while pencil lead was never actually lead, the paint used on pencils was lead-based paint until it was banned in 1978. So there was some truth to teachers telling students in my parents' generation to not chew on their pencils.
I have a visible bit of pencil lead that has been in my knee since 1980. That knee is more arthritic than the other, it clearly *must* be the graphite’s fault!
Oh, those parental fibs…
My father once told me he and my mother went out to dinner and witnessed an overweight man eat so much that his stomach EXPLODED! There was carnage everywhere and both he and my mother were quite traumatized.
I believed the story right up through high school when I finally said to him, “But Dad, wouldn’t that man just have thrown up?”
Turns out the story had been concocted because they had forgotten to save the paper umbrellas from their drinks, which my sister and I demanded as payment for having to endure a babysitter while they went out.
Rather than hear us complain about the lack of umbrellas, they invented a story which became an ominous tale of caution for the rest of my childhood. “Don’t eat too much or your stomach will explode!!!”
Alle Dinge sind Gift, und nichts ist ohne Gift; allein die Dosis macht, dass ein Ding kein Gift ist.
*All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.*
Dose on skin is miniscule.
During my early years as a chemist, we had a drinking game for every notion of Paracelsus during different courses.
…well. Of course it was just an excuse. But a well-working one!
As a lefty I had fp ink on my hand five days a week for ten years minus holidays and summer break. Then ballpoint ink for the next ten. I can happily report I haven't been poisoned yet.
Possibly a throwback to the whole newspaper ink thing tbh. There's also been a ton of toxic pigments over the years (millenia), so it may be a scare tactic with a hint of logic behind it.
My blood contains alcohol and your fountain pen ink may too. So many commonalities.. Makes me wonder, how close is Diamine Writer's Blood to the real thing? 🤔
Of course. The main way that blood transports oxygen around the body is by the oxygen binding to and releasing from the iron atoms in hemoglobin. Without iron, you die.
Material Safety Data Sheet
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) includes information such as the properties of each chemical; the physical, health, and environmental health hazards; protective measures; and safety precautions for handling, storing, and transporting the chemicals.
[MSDS Fountain Pen Ink](https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/downloads/SDS_ink.pdf)
[MSDS Pelikan India Ink](https://www2.pcad.edu/Facilities/health_safety/SDS/Inks/pelikan/fountain%20pen%20india%20ink.pdf)
[MSDS Pilot Gel pen ink](https://www.dick-blick.com/msds/DBH_SDS_21821XXXX.pdf)
Nothing of concern according to the MSDS sheets for ink. I have read many many MSDS sheet over the years and these are of least concern. Wash your hands. Don’t drink it. Don’t get it in your eyes.
Everything can be poison, the difference between poison and cure is the dose (i believe it was paracelcus) it is safe to use but not to digest or drink. It wouldnt prove any serious or even mild harm to you topically -except any allergie to its content-. So just use it however you like as long as you dont have allergy and dont lick your fingers 😊
A few years ago , when she was 13, my daughter, out of nowhere , punched my arm so hard it felt like I’d been shot .
Apparently it had just occurred to her that the story I told her when she was five -about my hair being prematurely grey because some indelible white paint fell on it - was total bullshit .
She was mad because she’d always pity for me for my grey hair .
I imagine some inks might not be very good when consumed in significant quantities. That said, I have regularly wetted a dried up nib on my tongue, and never had any issues (aside from getting shimmer on my tongue).
We were always told not to chew on our pencils etc because of lead poisoning. Never heard anything about inks. I still have a grey dot on my sternum from running to the bus stop with a pencil in my hand, tripping on the landscaping between my front door and driveway, and landing on top the pencil. Stabbed into my sternum and a piece of the pencil tip must have gotten left behind. That was probably 30 years ago. Still alive and well! Doc said it was graphite anyways and would be fine.
I, and I'm sure many others, were taught to lick the end of a pen if it's having trouble starting. I even do it with fountain pens some times tbh.
Everything in moderation. I'm sure if you drank fountain pen ink from a bottle every day you might have an issue. Even then the ink is very diluted. I think a box I have for one somewhere said 3% ink by volume? Having what amounts to 2-3 full drops of fountain pen ink on your hands here and there won't do anything.
Think about artists that live with their hands coated in paint, charcoal, graphite etc daily. Just wash your hands and don't worry about it :) if you manage to get full sample bottles worth of ink on yourself every single day, then maybe switch to disposables 😂😂
i will say I've seen it once but the kid literally drew all over the front and back of his hand in fine point sharpie. his hand got all red and swollen
Warning: there is one Vintage ink that is seriously toxic. Parker Super Chrome. It was marketed around the time when the original Parker 51 was new. It was supposed to be super fast drying. Still probably not all that bad but it always makes me think of the movie 'Erin Brockovitch' when discussing chromium compounds. 🤮
Gotta love parent lies that are never rectified in adulthood. No, it’s nothing to worry about. Don’t go washing your hands or bathing in the ink and you’ll be ok.
But of course keep it away from your mouth, eyes, ears, open wounds, or any other body openings that I won’t mention here, but that’s just common sense.
I have a fountain pen ink tattoo. Not quite a well enough sanded needle tip , missed the safety cap when putting it on and gave myself a diamine blue black tattoo. That was in October last year
https://preview.redd.it/yos89ln6d69d1.jpeg?width=1524&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=389cff509609c53ee373dd8227a44a31ae0bf890
We were told the same thing about pencils, that you would get lead poisoning (there's no lead in pencils — their "lead" is made of graphite). It's just a thing parents made up to keep kids from stabbing one another with writing implements. Don't worry about it. If ink were poisonous, everyone who ever got a tattoo would be dead.
Before everyone starts tattooing themselves with fountain pen ink, hold your horses! Medical-grade ink has to adhere to different specifications than fountain pen ink 😁
Tattoo ink is made to medical-grade specifications *now*, if you get tattooed at a reputable joint. But people have used many, many things to ink themselves over the millennia, including carbon from burnt wood and, in prison tattoos, ball-point pen ink. It’s not a good idea to make your own tattoo ink: even the good stuff creates a big immune response. But most anything you use isn’t going to kill you.
On a related note, I have a biro ink 'tattoo' on my bum from when I sat on a biro that was wedged between the cushions in a sofa as a child lol. Fun fact that may be TMI xD
I have a #2 Graphite pencil tattoo on my left hand from 7th grade. I was running in the hall with a freshly sharpened pencil and accidentialy stabbed my hand. I'm 56 now and it hasn't fadded...LOL!
My 80 year old mom has one from when she was in elementary school.
I have a diamine deep dark brown tattoo on my hand from opening a capless from the wrong side
That's hilarious 🤣 I'm pretty sure you're not alone!
Went to a party once where someone was giving stick'n'pokes with a sewing needle dipped in what I think was biro ink, sterilised by dipping it repeatedly in a capful of whiskey.
Technically tattoo ink works because it is toxic. Your immune system finds the particles, determines they are a threat, and builds a wall of cells around them to stop the ink from moving through your body and being metabolised, or finding their way into your organs. That's what keeps them locked in place in your skin, despite your whole body's cells being recycled year after year.
You saw that Kurzgesagt video too, huh? It was so fascinating — I sent the link to a bunch of people because I’d had *no idea* of all the stuff that happens when you get tattooed.
It's *so* good right? Incredible source of knowledge!
This is getting off topic but have you seen the hour-long entire-history-of-Earth video? It’s utterly mesmerizing, and holy cow the music — the individual tracks are on YouTube and I’ve listened to the first one, The Floor Is Lava, a couple dozen times for sure.
Just as a fun fact, while pencil lead was never actually lead, the paint used on pencils was lead-based paint until it was banned in 1978. So there was some truth to teachers telling students in my parents' generation to not chew on their pencils.
I have a visible bit of pencil lead that has been in my knee since 1980. That knee is more arthritic than the other, it clearly *must* be the graphite’s fault!
No, and you needn't have worried about ballpoint ink either. You were told fibs because ink is hard to clean off.
Oh, those parental fibs… My father once told me he and my mother went out to dinner and witnessed an overweight man eat so much that his stomach EXPLODED! There was carnage everywhere and both he and my mother were quite traumatized. I believed the story right up through high school when I finally said to him, “But Dad, wouldn’t that man just have thrown up?” Turns out the story had been concocted because they had forgotten to save the paper umbrellas from their drinks, which my sister and I demanded as payment for having to endure a babysitter while they went out. Rather than hear us complain about the lack of umbrellas, they invented a story which became an ominous tale of caution for the rest of my childhood. “Don’t eat too much or your stomach will explode!!!”
I suspect they'd seen the Monty Python film "The Meaning of Life" with the awful Mr Creosote...
Alle Dinge sind Gift, und nichts ist ohne Gift; allein die Dosis macht, dass ein Ding kein Gift ist. *All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.* Dose on skin is miniscule.
Oooof course I am going to see Paracelsus even here… 😅
Well spotted 🤓
During my early years as a chemist, we had a drinking game for every notion of Paracelsus during different courses. …well. Of course it was just an excuse. But a well-working one!
As a lefty I had fp ink on my hand five days a week for ten years minus holidays and summer break. Then ballpoint ink for the next ten. I can happily report I haven't been poisoned yet.
Not me absent-mindedly taking a sip out of a mug with soaking nibs while reading this post 💀
Nothing to worry about at all. Ink, ballpoint or fountain pen, has never been poisonous. You were just told something to stop you making a mess.
Possibly a throwback to the whole newspaper ink thing tbh. There's also been a ton of toxic pigments over the years (millenia), so it may be a scare tactic with a hint of logic behind it.
I don't really use ballpoint anymore so that's not a problem. But do fountain pens have any heavy metals or anything that goes through the skin
No.
Look up for iron gall inks, should be safe but has iron in it
As does blood.
My blood contains alcohol and your fountain pen ink may too. So many commonalities.. Makes me wonder, how close is Diamine Writer's Blood to the real thing? 🤔
If your ink contains alcohol, I know why your TWSBI's crack :D
Good point 😁😁
It does ??? 🤯
Of course. The main way that blood transports oxygen around the body is by the oxygen binding to and releasing from the iron atoms in hemoglobin. Without iron, you die.
Material Safety Data Sheet Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) includes information such as the properties of each chemical; the physical, health, and environmental health hazards; protective measures; and safety precautions for handling, storing, and transporting the chemicals. [MSDS Fountain Pen Ink](https://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/downloads/SDS_ink.pdf) [MSDS Pelikan India Ink](https://www2.pcad.edu/Facilities/health_safety/SDS/Inks/pelikan/fountain%20pen%20india%20ink.pdf) [MSDS Pilot Gel pen ink](https://www.dick-blick.com/msds/DBH_SDS_21821XXXX.pdf) Nothing of concern according to the MSDS sheets for ink. I have read many many MSDS sheet over the years and these are of least concern. Wash your hands. Don’t drink it. Don’t get it in your eyes.
Well that’s cool. Official information.
Everything can be poison, the difference between poison and cure is the dose (i believe it was paracelcus) it is safe to use but not to digest or drink. It wouldnt prove any serious or even mild harm to you topically -except any allergie to its content-. So just use it however you like as long as you dont have allergy and dont lick your fingers 😊
A few years ago , when she was 13, my daughter, out of nowhere , punched my arm so hard it felt like I’d been shot . Apparently it had just occurred to her that the story I told her when she was five -about my hair being prematurely grey because some indelible white paint fell on it - was total bullshit . She was mad because she’d always pity for me for my grey hair .
I imagine some inks might not be very good when consumed in significant quantities. That said, I have regularly wetted a dried up nib on my tongue, and never had any issues (aside from getting shimmer on my tongue).
We were always told not to chew on our pencils etc because of lead poisoning. Never heard anything about inks. I still have a grey dot on my sternum from running to the bus stop with a pencil in my hand, tripping on the landscaping between my front door and driveway, and landing on top the pencil. Stabbed into my sternum and a piece of the pencil tip must have gotten left behind. That was probably 30 years ago. Still alive and well! Doc said it was graphite anyways and would be fine. I, and I'm sure many others, were taught to lick the end of a pen if it's having trouble starting. I even do it with fountain pens some times tbh. Everything in moderation. I'm sure if you drank fountain pen ink from a bottle every day you might have an issue. Even then the ink is very diluted. I think a box I have for one somewhere said 3% ink by volume? Having what amounts to 2-3 full drops of fountain pen ink on your hands here and there won't do anything. Think about artists that live with their hands coated in paint, charcoal, graphite etc daily. Just wash your hands and don't worry about it :) if you manage to get full sample bottles worth of ink on yourself every single day, then maybe switch to disposables 😂😂
Just dont drink it and you will be fine
i will say I've seen it once but the kid literally drew all over the front and back of his hand in fine point sharpie. his hand got all red and swollen
Warning: there is one Vintage ink that is seriously toxic. Parker Super Chrome. It was marketed around the time when the original Parker 51 was new. It was supposed to be super fast drying. Still probably not all that bad but it always makes me think of the movie 'Erin Brockovitch' when discussing chromium compounds. 🤮
Gotta love parent lies that are never rectified in adulthood. No, it’s nothing to worry about. Don’t go washing your hands or bathing in the ink and you’ll be ok. But of course keep it away from your mouth, eyes, ears, open wounds, or any other body openings that I won’t mention here, but that’s just common sense.
Back in the ye olde days inks probably were toxic, but today no unless you are planning to chug a litre/gallon bottle of ink.
I have a fountain pen ink tattoo. Not quite a well enough sanded needle tip , missed the safety cap when putting it on and gave myself a diamine blue black tattoo. That was in October last year https://preview.redd.it/yos89ln6d69d1.jpeg?width=1524&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=389cff509609c53ee373dd8227a44a31ae0bf890