I've started to play with the DeAtramentis Document CMYK #inks (or maybe CMYW?).

My aim is to get an ink shade that coordinates with the fabric in one of my dresses (everybody needs that, right?), so I took a couple of pictures of that fabric (in different lights), checked the CMYK values of the pixels with gimp and found results that were always something somewhat close to 50% 30% 0% <various K values>, so my first attempt was 3 parts of Cyan, 2 parts of Fuchsia and 7 parts of white, and this is the result, on various papers (Favini schizza e strappa, printer paper from the coop supermarket, Clairefontaine Dessin Croquis Blanc 55 g/m², Fabriano Layout, Fabriano EcoQua, Fabriano Traccia — most of them are white, the EcoQua has a slight yellow tone).

I've also tried to add one part of Cyan to two parts of White, and then one part of Blue (regular blue, not the one that can be used to make CMYK mixes) to two parts of white to see whether it would control their tendency to feather and generally work horribly, and it does. I also like the shade I got from the Blue, and it's somewhat similar to the one I'm looking for (and easier to make), but I like the CMYK a bit more.

I think that the next time I'll add 8 parts of white instead of 7, to desaturate it just a bit more.

And now¹ I need full bottles of those 3 inks (instead of just samples) to make a decent sized batch, and a new preppy #FountainPen to try and use this somewhere that is easy to clean (I'm not completely sure that the white isn't going to clog pens, even in a mix).

¹ as in: I NEED them RIGHT NOW, so maybe I'll consider buying them next year or so? As soon as I can manage to finish maybe at least one bottle of ink I already have?