“I just talked to one of my customers yesterday and she said she had found the perfect formula for getting the Soot Black to work ideally for her. All she had to do was add 16 drops of distilled water. She’s very happy and the work is going along smoothly.”
Helen Gershen, Owner, Calligraphy West - speaking about pointed pen invitation work
September 17, 1998
“.....I have really enjoyed the new Glossy Black Ink. I think I like better than the old Glossy Black. The new writes smoother and is not as thick and gummy as the old..”
Ronnie Glance, Calligraphy Plus, Hollywood, FL - Calligrapher and Instructor
September 17, 1998 - After trying the new formula
"The only thing that comes to mind tonight is how I mixed the Glossy Black and White to make the charcoal gray ink I needed to do the last-minute IAMPETH auction piece. I had brought Australian machine marbled paper to write on, neither black nor white looked right on the paper, but they mixed together beautifully to make the perfect charcoal gray. I used my Richeson Series 9000 brush to do the writing, and it took to the ink perfectly. I was delighted, I got uniform results, excellent hairlines, and good coverage. The ink performed better than I would have hoped, it was thick enough to cover in one coat, but thin enough to give perfect hairlines with a small brush."
Sheryl Hirsch-Kramer, Calligrapher, Lettering Artist, Instructor
September 8, 1998 -- Using Ziller Ink at the July IAMPETH convention
“I enjoyed talking with you at Discoveries about your inks, and I am enjoying using them now that I’m home and back to work. The Midnight Blue is rich and intense, and I love the mix with North Wind White. I’ve been mixing colors while testing and making the name tags for the All Oregon Calligraphers conference coming up in October, and I have really enjoyed using them. Oh, they work well both below watercolors and on top of watercolors. Acting somewhat like a resist. We’re looking forward to introducing the inks to the conference attendees.”
Jane Gillis, Medford, Oregon, Calligrapher -- August, 1998
“I've been enjoying playing with your new inks. I'm using the soot black on a book project I'm doing right now, for lettering on the paper that wraps the boards. I wanted something waterproof (as it needs to withstand wheat paste getting smeared here and there) and matte, so I figured your ink would be just the thing. Thanks!”
Melissa Dinwiddie, Menlo Park, CA - Lettering Artist/Calligrapher/Bookmaker
August 31, 1998
“I began teaching my calligraphy class (25 registered) last Wednesday. I ordered a set of your inks (all colors) and will have it out for everyone in my class to try, and I’m sure most of them will be ordering some for themselves. I love writing with your ink.”
Marian Gault, Monte Sereno (San Francisco), CA, Calligrapher, Artist, Instructor
August 23, 1998
The new inks are marvelous - wonderful. In fact I’m on my third bottle of glossy black and have been sending the ink info to several people...................A formal testimonial will follow...........My personal gratitude for getting them to me so quickly.
Dixie Rodkey, Houston Texas, Lettering Artist
August 14, 1998
I LOVE the inks, I have just spent the afternoon, combining the Buffalo Brown and the Prairie Orange. Now I'm to the Midnight blue and Orange. So easy to work. I diluted the inks, I find they are easier to work with that way. I worked with Brause 2 and both the ink and nib got along famously. Great work Rich, thanks so much for working on these for us calligraphers.
Lorraine Demers, Quebec, Canada, Calligrapher
August 12, 1998
Halleluiah ! (Trumpet fanfares....drum rolls...the works!!!!!) They're great !
Now, let me explain the specifics. Optimum performance for colors is when a bit of white is mixed in. The colors are so brilliant that, if one doesn't want a pastel, it's not an issue...one can still mix the color with white..................Straight out of the bottle: I had to adjust the reservoir on my pen a bit......................The upshot of all of this is Let's do the Ziller Cheer! Rah! Rah! Rah!
You can only imagine how pleased and happy I am with Ziller ink! You and Vivian have saved me hours and hours of guess-work and frustration and on and on and on. I've been working for months "guestimating" and mixing up my own little recipes. Now, with Ziller, I don't have to do that anymore and the letters look beautiful! What's more--I feel confident of the results every time. No hit and miss. Whew
Thank you so much for all the time and effort you both put into developing these truly superior inks. Also, I want to thank you for all your help on-line and your patience. Wow! You really do have a winner in those inks.
And we exit with the Ziller Cheer. Rah! Rah! Rah!
Patricia Joe, Monmouth, IL, Lettering Artist -- Speaking about applying inks to screen printed overprint binding varnish
August 12, 1998
“I have been a student of Michael Sull here in Kansas City for the past 7 years or so. He was kind enough to let me try your Ziller Inks. I was very impressed with its fluidity, especially with flourishing. The fact that they are lightfast, archivally stable and waterproof is very important to me and also my clients.”
Kathy V. Warren, Calligrapher, Kansas City MO
August 11, 1998
Yes Ziller ink is wonderful!! White over black. Yummy.
Margaret Lammerts, Calligrapher
August 11, 1998
Thinning Ziller inks with water is definitely necessary (in my opinion) for pointed-pen calligraphy - but this is an *advantage*, since it makes the inks less expensive, as well as giving you control over the exact consistency of the ink.
This is the ONLY ink/paint I've ever tried that will REALLY hold hairlines when the writing is layered. This ink is very highly pigmented, which may be the reason that layering is possible. An ink-receptive surface is created, rather than one that causes bleeding, and spreading of the hairlines. (However slight, this spreading can be an irritant, especially for pointed-pen work.)
Ross Green, Owner of Penpoints, A Vintage Pen Company
August 10, 1998
About nine days ago, I wrote the following to Rich, and he has given permission for me to post it to the list (the internet calligraphy discussion list):
There is a new product on the market - a range of pigmented, waterproof inks, made by Ziller of Kansas City. When the inks were being formulated last year, some were sent to me to be tested, and the Aussies gave them a pretty rough assessment, for various reasons. On Monday I received a batch of the new formulations, and in addition to testing them myself, have now taken them to three classes, including one of intermediate to advanced calligraphers. Our verdict?
We like them! Very much! I have a basis for comparison, for there is an Australian brand with the same specifications, and I must say, for vibrancy and density of color, the new Ziller inks are superior. They are not opaque, but this actually acts in their favor, at least from the perspective of us Aussies. To date, we have had excellent results with the following:
Speedball C2s
All manner of Automatic sizes
Coits - the choice of paper is important. On some surfaces, the medium refuses to flow. Belay this - the Coits are strange pens - they work better dirty than sparkling clean for most applications, but not the Ziller inks - I cleaned all the ones I wanted to use with some Nifti (wanted to use Windex, but didn't have any - anything with ammonia in it works), and they have worked *brilliantly! Vivian suggests thinning them down, but I have not found this necessary.
Brauses - Same story as the Coits - gave my Brause number 5 a good clean with toothbrush and Nifti, and wrote out an entire exemplar in green.
Papers tried to date:
Bond layout, fibretip bond layout, bulky newsprint, various no-name textured papers. The paper is just magnificent, and you don't know the name of it, or who gave it to you? That sort.
Stretching the boundaries today in class, Di and I passed a 'piece' (if I may be euphemistic for one moment) back and forth. I washed the paper in purple gouache. Di wrote on it with yellow Ziller using a flat brush. I wrote over the top in Havannah Lake gouache, using a larger flat brush. Then I washed it again with green gouache. Then Di wrote on top of that with yellow gouache, and me with white Ziller ink. Finally, a large red A, and Di and I created lines and dots and cross hatching with an Osmiroid dip (works well in those too) using soot black and glossy black.
Of *particular* interest to us is the effect created by the automatics, especially on fibretip bond (although the effect is not restricted to this paper). For some reason that I have not yet come to understand, when the strokes are being formed, the ink is forced to one side of the automatic pen, leaving a dark line of solid color down the side, while the body of the stroke is more transparent. Gentle pooling also occurs at the top of the strokes, giving a shadowed look, and as the pen is lifted cleanly on serifs, again a pooled line is left. With the brown, for example, on the fibretip bond, the letterforms are not only three dimensional, but due (I suspect) to the odd coating on the surface of the paper, look for all the world like wood laminate letterforms. I think the stuff is wonderful! Oh, and with all that gouache over gouache, and ink over ink, and washes....no bleed, no movement of one layer to the next. Must have been our lucky day.
We also mixed colors, and ran different colors through the pens - all in all, I am delighted with the product.
Rich and Vivian, take a bow!
Kaz, Melbourne, trying to catch herself up!
PS: Flicking back to Rich's instructions in another post, I see he mentioned butterfly pens and the like....well, I found his ink to be magic in those too! No thinning required Rich, but the product needs to be used on reasonably substantial paper - on the Postscript envelopes it buckled them like an unmade bed! Bookpress took care of that, creating an interesting wrinkled effect around the letterforms.
Karen Ter Haar, Melbourne, Australia, Calligrapher & Instructor
August 10, 1998
“Yesterday Sarah Stephenson brought the samples of your ink to the shop for which I thank you on Philip’s behalf. I help Philip in the business. We have been friends and colleagues for 37 years .....it will be my pleasure to tell all our customers about your wonderful inks.”
Sue Hanley, Philip Poole & Co., Ltd., London, England
June 24, 1998
“The skilled artisan must have the best ink available to produce a beautiful piece of work.
Necessary ink in the life of Stephen Ziller.
During my two years at the Zanerian College, 1930-31 and 1931-32, under the instruction of E. A. Lupfer, in the study of Engrossing Art and Handwriting, I first realized the importance of good workable inks. 1933 to Sept. ‘36 I worked for F. W. Tamblyn and learned more about the importance of reliable ink - black and colors. With the creation of Ziller of Kansas City, I brought Ziller’s Engrossing Ink to market along with the Tamblyn series of inks. Customers demand was for engrossed documents. Ziller’s engrossing ink and glossy black ink served the profession well from 1936 to 1992 when Richard and Vivian Mungall took over the company known as Ziller of Kansas City.
With unusual ingenuity, Richard and Vivian brought forth a metamorphosis in the various services offered by Ziller of Kansas City and the way these services were presented. The high point in this metamorphosis is a complete new line of ink - 2 blacks and a variety of beautiful colors - all waterproof. Prior to World War I, I understand there was a waterproof black ink from Germany that was ideal. The source disappeared during the War.
So now - I salute Richard and Vivian who have made a quantum leap forward with the new line of inks. I have tried them and I recommend them to you, they are superb. I only wish I could have had them while I was in business.”
Stephen A. Ziller -- 85 years young on August 7, 1998
written June 24, 1998
“My main area of interest is calligraphy from the Victorian era; more specifically, American calligraphy, circa 1850-1925. I have read all the related writing manuals and other material I could get my hands on; calligraphers from this period strongly recommended Oriental stick ink for serious work. This is especially significant given that there were many brands of high -quality bottled ink available during this time. Today, I believe that only one company is carrying on this tradition of high-quality bottled inks, Ziller of Kansas City.”
Ross Green - Penpoints - pen collector/seller, calligrapher
June 21, 1998
“I just wanted to tell you that I finally got to use one of the inks you sent, and it works real good. I used it on a batch of charters. They turned out real nice. It holds well on the paper. I was using the Flat Black (Soot Black).”
Joe Colon - Engrossing Artist
June 8, 1998
“I like the Ziller colored inks because they can be successfully used in a wide variety of writing tools, everything from suede pens to pointed pens to pointed brushes. The colors are vibrant, the easy flow of ink makes flourishing a pleasure, and hairlines are suitably delicate and down strokes contrast well since the ink has the opacity one expects from gouache or stick ink. Thanks, Rich, for crafting such a fine product!”
Sheryl Hirsch-Kramer - Instructor/Lettering Artist
May 22, 1998
“If I could have just one series of inks to use for every lettering project it would be the new Ziller inks. Their range of rich colors, ease of handling and inter-mixing, color-fastness, and beautiful finishes make them my first choice for all pens. These are inks made by calligraphers, for calligraphers, following the long Ziller tradition of excellence in inks.”
James Miller, Pickerington, OH - Past President of International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting (IAMPETH) -
May 5, 1998
“Just wanted to say that the ink you sent me was great. Thanks a lot. I am waiting for it to become available. I sure could use it.”
Debbie Hole, Lettering Artist - Plantation FL
April, 1998
“I really was pleasantly surprised and delighted with them. I tried them with all kinds of tools ranging from my pointed pens - Esterbrooks and Gillotts, to folded, ruling, chisel, and a lot of other ones I had with me. The suede pen was exceptionally sensuous! ....Some of the papers & envelopes of course took the ink differently but on the whole - the inks are fabulous. Wait till you see the ruling pen and folded pen stuff! Spectacular!”
Gwen Weaver, Instructor & Lettering Artist - Virginia Beach -after spending 8 hours playing
April 1998
“Thanks for the support & wonderful ink!”
Kate McKulla, Lettering Artist - New Jersey - about the Glossy Black
April 27, 1998
“Thanks so much for sending me a sample of your new ink. I think it is excellent!....I think it certainly is as good if not better than the original. It gives a lovely fine line - and is a rich flat black.”
Helen Gershen, Proprietor - Calligraphy West - about the Soot Black Ink
March 16, 1998
“I’ve already been telling everyone how much I enjoyed working with the inks!”
Gwen Weaver - Virginia Beach
May 3, 1998
“ It’s very, very nice. I like the colors and they work well. The white is really nice.”
Mike Kecseg - Instructor, Lettering Artist, Engrosser
Chicago - April 20, 1998
“Just a note to say how much I enjoyed testing your new colored inks last month. .....and imagine my surprise when I remembered that a year ago I called Ziller inks and spoke to you about colored inks!....I was asking about some earth pigments...and what to mix them with. Now I don’t have to worry, I’ll just wait for your new line to come out!!”
Victoria Kibildis - Lettering Artist
April, 1998
“I loved it for pointed pen use and like the red and unique blue. The white is nice and opaque. Beginners will appreciate it's easy to use and is premixed.”
Karen Brooks, Proprietor - Pendragon
February 20, 1998