Thread: Fountain Pen Ink

I have come to the conclusion that everything in this world is entirely to complicated.

I recently made a couple fountain pens which brought up the issue of ink. In my younger years I spent some time in various art instruction, part of which was pen and ink drawing, we used dip pens, with various nibs, etc, etc. As such, ink was basically ink, I bought it at the art school where I went and that was that, never had to think about it. Dip pens are not particularly sensitive to the ink used with them, this is part of their beauty and allows for many different pigmented colors to be used to give you quite the working pallet.

Such art school shut down some years ago, so I couldn't go back there. Not having any proper pen shops around, and the closest stationary shop being too far away to bother going to with gas prices the way they are, I was stuck with the usual art and craft supply stores. I chose Hobby Lobby, and went in.

Having grown up with Winsor & Newton inks, they look impressive, have been around for quite the long time, have a good reputation, etc, etc. They are however, primarily a drawing and calligraphy ink. They do however, say they can be used in fountain pens. And thus my introduction to fountain pen ink began.

I promptly found out that W&N ink, although it says it can be used in fountain pens, and in theory can be used in fountain pens, it is not fountain pen ink, and it should not be used in fountain pens. Also many of their colored inks really should not be, particularly their metallics, and some of their more pigmented inks, of which will rapidly clog and possibly permanently damage your fountain pen.

The general conclusion I found though, was don't, and was cemented by a memo I found online from an adviser at W&N in response to a fountain pen users question of whether it was wise to use W&N ink in his pens, the response was regardless of being advertised as usable in fountain pens, the adviser at W&N advised him to not use W&N ink, it is not really a fountain pen ink.

So I returned the bottle that I had bought, and went through their selection some more, and finally settled upon a plain glass bottle with little on it but the brand, "Manuscript" and "Calligraphy Fountain Pen Ink". It didn't even have the color of the ink on the bottle, but by holding it up to the light I determined it is available in three colors, red, blue, and black. The inks had no apparent pigment settling in the bottom, and appeared to be dye based, so although the word, "Calligraphy" made me suspicious, all the other selections there said it too, I decided this was my best bet.

Further research indicates that "Manuscript" ink is ok for use in fountain pens, although it is a newer entry into the market and not as well regarded as the older established brands. However, for us Yanks that have a Hobby Lobby local, or that can find the Manuscript brand locally, it's a quick cheap alternative to tracking down and buying more expensive and harder to find proper fountain pen ink.

So, what I've found is...

Avoid drawing inks,
acrylic inks,
pigmented inks (colored fountain pen inks should be dye based, pigments will clog)
avoid Indian ink, it will shellac up the pen and clog it, possibly permanently,
many inks say fountain pen ink on them, few should actually be used in a fountain pen

Now with our pens being modern, mistakes can be made that cleaners should fix. Proper ink usage seems to be more important with vintage fountain pens, as many modern cleaners will destroy the insides of vintage pens, so a vintage pen clogged with the wrong ink, is pretty much a goner. Most modern pens though, from what I've read, are pretty solvent resistant, and using the wrong ink is more of a annoyance, requiring disassembly and cleaning, than an actual serious and potentially fatal mistake.

It seems though, that using the proper ink will go a long way in insuring proper operation and ease of care of our fountain pens. Nobody likes a grumpy pen.

I just thought this was interesting, and worth mentioning, as even I was confused by the array of inks out there, and their somewhat misleading labeling and marketing.

Feel free to correct any misinformation or mistakes I might have made or said, I'm still learning about all this as well.

Cheers!
Matthew