Bister Ink Powder

I became familiar with Bisters in a workshop with Amity Parks. I learned what lovely lettering can be made with these wonderful colors. Since then, I have been studying with Brody Neuenschwander, and Amity gave us a tutorial on using these inks for dying rice papers. The colors are rich and divine. I was especially impressed by the density that the black gave in coverage. You get a lot of product from the powders in these sets, and I highly recommend them for all sorts of projects.

I love my walnut ink and wondered if the the Black Bister Ink would act like walnut ink so I purchased a bottle to sample & I love the Black Bister Ink and have already purchased my second container of the ink! I will also be trying the colored Bister inks because I love the effect of the subtle colors! Thank you John Neal Bookseller for your great service and wonderful products!

I simply can't get enough of these inks. I play with them constantly. They have the warmest, earthiest tones, and they all play so well together. I use them a lot with triangle brushes and blend two colors quite often. (The red and the yellow are so lovely together.) And I learned a really neat trick: if you want a lovely turquoise blue, take a damp brush and wipe up the stuff that sticks to the inside of the bag. This is the most brilliant color! A similar thing can be done with the green--get the fine stuff on the inside of the bag, and it's much greener than what you'd otherwise get. I love these inks. And they'll last you forever. Very good value.

These inks come in powered form. They can be mixed with water to get the palest of tints to strong (transparent) colors to dark shades that look like dark walnut ink with a hit of color.

I love the warm earthy tones you get with this ink. And if you dilute them more, you get pastel shades!