All you should know about dyes, pigment and making your own ink

You will hear the words color, dye, and pigment used interchangeably. A dye is what maintains its color even when broken down to individual molecules. A pigment refers to those coloring products made up from uncolored molecules; the color of these is caused by refraction on the crystals inside the pigment.

Some tattoo artists prefer to make their own ink and there are advantages to this. For one thing you will know exactly what is in it and you will be able to make a carrier solution that suits your own needs; for example if you are dealing with a customer who is vegan you would be able to create a solution to reflect this. One way of making a carrier solution is to mix some propylene glycol with a little glycerin and a bottle of Listerine or vodka; you can then add the pigments to make slurry.

Purchasing ready-made tattoo colors in the beginning; you can now buy these online. Inside these packs you will be able to find all the colors you are likely to need. These colors will come either dry or in liquid; if they are in the form of a powder you will be expected to mix them with the carrier fluid provided.

Fluid colors come in two types; predispersed colors will have powdered pigment suspended in the carrier fluid while others will have no pigment powder because the liquid has already dissolved it. You may be wondering here which one is better. Many tattoo artists prefer the predispersed because it is believed to pose fewer health risks.  It is also felt that predispersed makes tattoos look better because it is only the pigment left behind as the body absorbs the carrier fluid.

The common ingredients you will find in carrier fluids

• Witch hazel
• Propylene glycol
• Listerine
• Ethyl alcohol
• Glycerin
• Water that has been purified

The composition of some common tattoo pigments

Black

Materials;  iron oxide, logwood, carbon

Comments; the natural black pigment is made from powdered jet, soot, magnetite crystals, bone black, and wustite. India ink is most commonly made from black pigment. Logwood is extracted from the haematoxylon campechisnum; a tree found in the West Indies and Central America.

Red

Materials; cadmium red, cinnabar, iron oxide, napthol-AS pigment

Comments; all the reds carry some risk of causing people to have an allergic reaction. You might now iron oxide by its more common name which is rust.  The red napathol comes from naptha; it is claimed that fewer reactions occur with this pigment. The Cadmium and cinnabar pigments are very toxic.

Brown

Material; ochre
Comments; you get ochre from clay mixed with iron oxides. It is a yellow color when raw. When it is heated and consequently dehydrated it goes a reddish color.

Orange

Material; cadmium seleno-sulfride, disazodiarylide, and disazopryazolone

Comments; these are formed through the condensation of 2 monoazo pigment molecules. These large molecules have good colorfastness and thermal stability.

Yellow

Material; curcuma yellow, cadmium yellow, ochres, chrome yellow, disazodiarylide

Comments; plants, of the same family as ginger, is used to provide us with curcuma. Yellow has been associated with many reactions because so much of it is needed to produce a yellow color.

Flesh

Material; ochres

Green

Materials; lead chromate, chromium oxide, malachite, monoazo pigment, Cu/Al phthalocyannine, chromium oxide, ferrocyanides, and Cu phthaocyannine.

Comments; you will often find admixtures used in the greens; these can include ferric ferrocyanide and potassium ferrocyanide.

Blue

Materials; cobalt blue, Cu phthalocyannine, and azure blue

Comments; inside the blue pigments you will find sodium aluminum silicate, copper, carbonate, cobalt aluminum oxides, calcium copper silicate. The copper pthlocyanine have been approved by the FDA for use in contact lenses, children’s toys, and furniture. The safest blue is believed to be the copper salts.

White

Materials; titanium dioxide, lead white, zinc oxide, and barium sulfate

Comments; you can use white pigment by itself or to mix with other pigments to dilute them. Some of the white pigments come from rutile or anatase. The least reactive white pigment comes from titanium oxides.

Violet

Materials; various aluminum salts, manganese violet, dioxazine, and quinacridone.

Comments; you will find that some of the purples lose their color when exposed to the sun; this is because they are photoactive. If you want the most stable purple pigments then you should choose the carbazole or the dioxazine.