When I worked with watercolour I could leave wet paint on the ceramic palette, let it dry, come back to it days later, apply water and pick up where I left off.
Can I do the same with Winsor & Newton drawing inks? If so, what do I use to reactivate?
1 Answer
If you're talking about these inks, then no, you cannot reactivate them: they're bound with shellac.
This type of ink is also known for its water-resistance.
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1Theoretically, you can redissolve the shellac with alcohol like the process described in How to Dilute Dried India Ink (also describes India ink as potentially coming in dried form--sticks or cakes). But even if that works satisfactorily, it sounds like reviving it would take more time & work than watercolors (shellac dissolves slowly & globs need mixing). It probably wouldn't lend itself to reconstituting to the proper consistency a small quantity left on a pallet in what would be considered just picking up where you left off. Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 15:04
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@fixer1234 I had seen the site you link, but it was the only one that mentioned this possibility (among inks), and it looked a little dodgy. Shellac apparently can also be reactivated using spirits (as done in carpentry), but nowhere was I able to find any decent information about using it for inks. I similarly fear the consistency but especially the quality might suffer from either process.– Joachim ♦Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 17:41
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1I was unfamiliar with India ink being supplied as sticks or cakes, so apparently, you can reconstitute it given sufficient time to soak, blend, etc. I found a couple of other links about it, and it doesn't behave like watercolors. It forms gooey globs that need to be blended, the dilution needs to be tweaked, etc. It sounds like the process takes at least hours, maybe soaking overnight for a small bottle's worth as a first step. It might be possible to scrape up a lot of residue on the pallet and turn it back into ink, (cont'd) Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 18:15
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1but it would be nothing close to just wetting it and picking up where you left off. Unlike acrylic paint, it doesn't chemically change when it dries out, so it can be redissolved. But you need enough quantity of it to be able to properly blend it to get to the right and uniform dilution and consistency. That probably wouldn't be practical with a small amount of pallet residue. And it would be iterative since you don't know the exact starting state. Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 18:15
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1Yeah, maybe characterized something along the lines of, "theoretically possible, but impractical with small amounts of pallet residue, and not as a process you could quickly resume where you left off." Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 20:04