Latest Update: Updated the page, mainly to make it a bit simpler to keep up to date. That big table was a pain to work with, and giving one page to each brand is more likely to work for us than trying to write a whole separate post about every colour we try.
One of the best things about fountain pens is that by either using a pen that takes bottled
Fountain Pen Ink
First of all, you have to make sure that any ink you’re going to put in a fountain pen is actually fountain pen ink. There are other types of ink, and they can clog up a fountain pen quite badly. The dye used in fountain pen is in a solution, so there are no tiny bits of dye floating around in the liquid. Some types of ink are a suspension of dye or pigment, and the particles can badly clog up a fountain pen, and cleaning can be expensive.
It can work, and may work fine for quite some time, but it’s not something you should risk with an expensive pen. Michael Nobbs, for example, uses
Most fountain pen ink isn’t waterproof, which is good if you want to do line and wash (painting through the lines with a wet brush to spread them and ‘paint’ with the ink), but not much good if you’re intending to paint watercolour over the lines. It may not matter to you at all, but if you carry a notebook everywhere, it can easily get splashed, so waterpoof ink might be better. Some people also like waterproof inks, as they’re a bit more difficult to wash out of cheques and legal documents. If you’re worried about this sort of thing, just go straight for the Noodler’s inks.
Specific Inks
Inks by Brand…
- Diamine: Safe ink, with a wonderful range of colours. Prussian Blue is a dark blue, similar in shade to Pelikan’s Blue-Black, and Steel Blue is almost green. Diamine also make Registrar’s Ink, which is a blue-black
iron gall ink – not so safe, but waterproof, as used by registrars for permanent records. - Noodler’s Ink: Most famous for the waterproof, bleach-proof, and everything else proof Eternal inks, Noodler’s make a good range of colours, some waterproof, some not.
- Lamy Ink: Nice bottles, and not bad ink. At least some of the Lamy inks are the same as Mont Blanc ink, but I don’t know who actually makes them. The Blue-Black in bottles is an
iron gall ink , which is acidic and can clog pens – might be best avoided in an expensive pen. - Parker Quink: All are fairly safe, except for problems reported with the black. The Washable Blue is very safe stuff, recommended for capillary fillers, and for cleaning out other ink from pens through usage. The Quink Blue-Black is interesting stuff – goes on relatively dark, but changes as it dries to a pale, almost turquoise-blue. All of the Quinks I’ve tried tend to feather quite a bit on cheap paper.
- Pelikan Ink: The only brand we sell in bottles at Cult Pens, Pelikan inks are generally reliable and safe, but a little uninspiring in colour range. I’ve actually been very impressed by the Blue-Black, though. It’s a bit slow-flowing, tending to make pens drier than usual, but flows ok in my
Lamy 2000 , and the colour is very much to my taste – a slightly unusual dark blue that changes a little as it dries. It’s also fairly water-resistant. One of my favourite inks now. I’ve also tried the green, but found that quite disappointingly pale. - Private Reserve: Highly saturated inks, much like Noodler’s, but without the ‘Eternal’ features. Generally strong colours and good flow. As with any saturated inks, take a little more care to avoid letting PR inks dry up in a pen – they are a little more likely to clog than most. If properly looked after, though, they are perfectly safe, and have a great range.
- Rohrer & Klingner: A relatively obscure brand, which we’d never heard of until The Writing Desk started selling it. The Leipziger Schwarz is a rather grey black, which I’m not keen on, but the Old Bordeaux is very nice. I wouldn’t say they’re anything special, but they are perfectly good inks, with good colour range, and they are very cheap – so you can try more colours.
- Sheaffer Skrip: I’ve only tried the black, and didn’t like it. A bit grey.
- Visconti: No idea about the ink, but the bottles are beautiful, if unstable. Like glass mushrooms filled with ink.
- Waterman Ink: Only the black so far, actually, but I’ll try to get some others. I wasn’t too impressed with the black, but I could see why other people would like it. In a survey on The Fountain Pen Network, for people’s favourite overall brand of ink, Waterman came second, after Noodler’s.
In the UK
At the time most of these reviews were written, my employer, Cult Pens, had a limited range of inks, so most of the ink we’ve talked about here has come from The Writing Desk – they carry a fantastic range of inks, including everything mentioned above. The range of colours from Diamine and Noodler’s just has to be seen to be believed, and the Rohrer & Klingner is great value.
We’ve improved our range at Cult Pens a lot since then – most notably stocking all Diamine colours – see our bottled inks here. It’s worth checking us both out now, but TWD still have some brands we don’t.
I am left handed so it is difficult for me not to smear fountain pen ink. I need an ink that dries quickly. Is Parker the best for that purpose?
I am a reunited fountain user, after being bought a new Waterman pen for my last birthday (well I hope that it will not be my last birthday) by my daughter, I am beginning to enjoy writing again with a pen, I was wondering if anyone knows what the shelf life is of a bottle of ink once opened, as I intend to experiment with a number of colours untill I hit the right one for my taste. BUt do not want to risk cloging my new pens, yes I caught the bug and have bought quite a number since my daughter tempted me on that day, I am interested in finding the best turquoise & purple inks a deep purple, any sugestions. Thanks
You shouldn’t have a problem. Plenty of people use ink from many years ago. The only ‘shelf-life’ problem with fountain pen ink is if enough of the water evaporates to make it too concentrated, but that shouldn’t be a risk if the lid is on the bottle. It might be worth giving it a gentle shake if it’s been standing a while, and if half the bottle seems to have vanished, be careful.
Some people also go with swirling a toothpick through any bottle that’s been unused for some time – if anything unpleasant has grown in there, that would help spot it. It’s a fairly small risk, though.
Cartridges do need a little more care, as the plastics used don’t stop evaporation. Old cartridges will often have noticeably less ink in them than new ones, which would make them likely to clog a pen.
As for colours, have a look at Diamine’s range. 50 colours, with five more coming soon.
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Useful tip – thanks. I got a tiny bottle of lavendar oil free when we upgraded our mobile phones some time ago, which I washed out and have filled with ink – they’re quite handy. Would probably only do a couple of fills, but since one fill usually lasts me a week or two, that’s not really a problem – I’ve never needed to use it yet.
If you go to Boots (the Chemist) in just about any UK High St you can pick up small plastic bottles in 50ml and 100ml sizes. The 50s make a good bottle for carrying around spare ink with you. At under £2 each I think that they work out well. Be careful tough as the neck is narrow. You may have difficulty dipping a chunky pen in the ink. They have been absolutely waterproof in use. Perhaps that should be ink-proof! Vitally important when you are using Noodlers eternal colours. Of course I would prefer a Visconti travelling inkwell, but they are beyond a reasonable budget!
Andy
http://lerwegian.wordpress.com
There’s a type of Mont Blanc fountain pen blue-black ink that’s “permanent on paper”. It’s sort of waterproof but not nearly as much as Noodler’s Ink. Overall, I still use Noodler’s for all of my writing. The only problem is the dry time but thats a problem with all fountain pen ink.
Thanks, Mike. I don’t suppose you’ve tried the Private Reserve quick drying ink, have you? We might have to give that one a go soon.
Interesting. When I was at school, nobody was allowed to use green ink, because the only person in the school that used green ink was the headmaster.
I wonder if that actually matches up with your theory.
When I was a teenager (long, long, time ago) and was trying desperately hard to be different (I was a proto-hippy at the time – still am in fact!), my friend Buzz and I somehow got hold of the information that anybody who used green ink probably was suffering from a mental disorder, and was, in fact a “nutter”. Great, we said, let’s get some green ink. So we did – we bought biros (Bic, actually) from our local pen shop (Frank Wright’s, York Road, Hartlepool) and managed to get a bottle of Quink Green fountain pen ink. We used green ink for a long time after that, I have pages of journal entries written in green ink and I still refer to it (in my head at least) as Nutter Green Ink. Maybe I should try a bottle of Diamine Green. From the PigPog shop, maybe?
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I’ve mainly been using Noodler’s Zhivago recently. We’re a bit of a bunch of nutters here, aren’t we?
I just got a bottle of Forest Green from Noodler’s Ink. It has a very nice and rich color and writes very well. You may want to give it a try.
Great post and info, well done. I love Noodler’s inks.
Chris http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
Can anyone tell me when Parker stopped using Iron-Gall ink, and what types of ink they used in their “Quink” inks in the 1940s?
I have some Parker Quink “V-Mail” Black; also some Quink “Permanent Royal Blue”; some “Blue-Black”; and some “Washable Blue” … these all date to the 1940s. Who can tell me if this old ink is Iron Gall or when Parker changed thier formulas and what type of ink they made when? Is there a referecne work or good authority on this subject?
Thanks!
I don’t think the 40s ink would be iron gall, but I could well be wrong. Best place to ask would be The Fountain Pen Network – someone there is almost certain to know.
I urge you to try more of the Waterman inks. I am up to over twenty inks in my collection now, and the only ones that I consistently like are all 8 of the Waterman colours. They flow well in every pen I own (I like ink to flow fast) and the colours come out well.
The black is nice and black from a wet writer and leaves legible dark blue writing when soaked.
SSB is, IMHO, the best Turquoise that is readily available and I have bought and tried a good number of Turquoises in the past. In fact, it might be the best including those that aren’t readily available.
You can leave them in a pen, pick it up much later and then write with it…
…Gosh, I sound like an evangelist! I don’t work for the company, I just have always (since I was at school) liked their inks. FPN encouraged me to experiment, but it is these ones I come back to.
My current set-up is all Lamy Safaris; Vista with fine nib and SSB for everyday writing, Red Broad nib with Blue Black for writing to grown ups, Yellow 1.1I for forms & envelopes and Italic missives and a Blue Medium with Violet to contrast with the SSB or for an alternative in everyday writing. These are complemented by a White Safari MP.
I am also quite a fan of the new Sheaffer colours. I recently bought one of their new style No-nonsense calligraphy sets. The Gold, Purple and Turquoise ink cartridges that came with the pens were excellent for writing projects, as were the pens themselves.
Highly recommended.
…Mac…
Thanks, Mac. I’ll certainly try to get hold of some Waterman ink soon. We do stock it at Cult Pens, but unfortunately, only in cartridges, and my main pen these days is a Lamy 2000 – bottle only. The Writing Desk stock the full range in bottles, though, so I’ll probably order some from there.
There’s no question that Visconti ink looks the part – the bottles are wonderful – but the ink doesn’t hold up. I found the black ink to be pretty watery, and not particularly black. They’re seriously expensive too – almost three times what a bottle of Noodler’s costs, and the bottle holds only half as much.
For me, Noodler’s is the only ink worth spending money on. Fantastic stuff.
Hi Joseph,
I haven’t tried any J Herbin ink, but this is the second recommendation I’ve seen in a few days, so I’ll have to give some a go sooner or later. Maybe next time I’m ordering from The Writing Desk…
Very nice to stumble across your page on inks. May I suggest that you try J. Herbin inks (which as of 9 April 2007 were not listed on your page)? After some thirty years of changing inks, I’ve settled on the fantastic range of lightfast and relatively waterfast colors from this old French company. The bottles are like Pelikan’s old “D” bottles, so they’re not the greatest for long nibs, but in every other way I think they are the ink to beat.
Blues can be nice when you find one a bit different. I’ve been enjoying the Pelikan Blue-Black recently, and I think J. Herbin are next on the list to try, but we may well pick up some more R&K soon too. They are great value.
The Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare or Sea-bluish is really worth trying as a variation from the usual royal blue or blue-black inks. Rohrer & Klingner is my current favourite inks ( I like the OldBordeaux too. I use it for grading papers)- especially after using twice the amount on buying Mont Blanc permanent blue. Possibly the most boring colour ever.