Ink, the color of life.

[Firefyter-emt]

Ok, let's talk ink for a moment.

So you have a fountain pen and have found that not only are the refills boring, but they are, well all black & blue... Why it makes me feel sore just thinking about it.

Now you think that it's time to dump the fountain pen "baby bottles" and start to use real ink, Huh? Well, you now need to find yourself a bottle of ink. This is a journey all on itself, not only do you need to find a color, but an ink maker! To make life easy, allow me to help you down this road. There are many companies that make ink still and some have been around since the mid 1800’s! Many of these inks serve much the same purpose, but you will find that some pens like brands better than some. With out pens, I have found that I like the Visconti and Diamine brand inks the best.

To keep things simple I want to show you sites to view inks and suggest places to buy them. The best resource for all brands of ink has to be Pendmonium. You can find that simply at: www.pendemonium.com Here you can choose what color you think you will like and what brand. Ink bottles are a bit of an art form with some such as the Visconti and the Caran d’ Ache brand with their crystal inkwell. Once you have an idea of what color and brand you may like to try out, visit James at The Pear Tree Pen Co. to try out these inks using his “Ink Sampler†program. While he does not have al of the inks in this program, you will find many of them there. For the cost of $4.00 you can get a sample of up to four inks mailed to you. These will arrive safe and sound in small glass ink wells and vacuum sealed. You can find there here: http://shop.peartreepens.com/product.sc?categoryId=5&productId=77

There are many here at IAP who also sell ink, so please do check around with our members when it comes time to buy full bottles.

So there you have it, just enough to get started on your own. Good Luck!

 

[RussFairfield]

Buying ink is easy for me. I use the Parker "Quink" and buy it in black or blue-black at Office Depot. It may not be as good as the inks mentioned in the previous message, but it a fairly good quality ink at a reasonable price. It works for me.

 

[wdcav1952]

Not to mention, Russ, that Quink is the largest selling fountain pen ink if I recall correctly. I certainly find it to be one of the most forgiving inks with respect to drying in the nib.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

True, the Quink ink is very much a good one. One thing that I did not touch upon is that ink itself is really not all too expensive. Most bottles run about $15.00 and under.

I tend to find that the more exotic the ink, the more I personaly like to use it. Let's face it, fountian pen users are in a realm all their own to start with, and if I just happen to have a pen that is inked with a product that had been sold since, say 1670 as in the case with J. Herbin, then I find it all the more enjoyable to write with.

 

[holmqer]

The folks over at Pendemonium are great. I have been shopping there for years. When I want just the right shade of some color, or some odd bit of pen ephemera I head over there to find it.

 

[ashaw]

I have about 5 bottles of ink in various colors. One thing to remember once open inks do have a shelf life. Everyone says after 6 - 12 months though out. Because of mold and once you get mold in the pen it is hard to get rid of it.

 

[txbatons]

The wife and I were watching the Ken Burns "The War" the other night and there was a photo of a young wife writing to her husband-soldier in 1944. There on the desk was a bottle of Quink. Nobody in the room appreciated my excitement.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Alan, one thing I do have to disagree with you on is the recomendation to toss it after a 6-12 months. There are many people who use vintage inks that are decades old. Ink itself does not really go bad per say. It can grow mold and it something you want to look for eveerytime you ink a pen, but that is really the only reason you toss it out, not based on a time frame.

You can look into this more with the "experts" over at FPN and you will see that they support what I have just said: www.fountainpennetwork.com

 

[ashaw]

No disagreeing with you Lee this is just information I have found over the years. I have bottles that I have opened that are 3 years old. The vintage inks held up a lot better than they do now. Is it because of chemical make up. They were also a lot harder on pen components and hardware. Glad you posted a link to FPN because there is a lot of good information over there.

 

[Texatdurango]

Thanks for the ink links. Yesterday I was out and about so decided to pop into Staples and pick up a bottle of ink... WRONG! I ended up visiting two Staples and one Office Max and none had bottled ink. One had Calligraphers ink but I was already warned against that.

Geeze, this is Fort Worth, Texas, population...uh, well a lot! I might as well had been in Whitefish, Montanna looking for ink! Back in the good ole days, every TG&Y, Five and Dime, and corner drug store carried ink. Luckily though, we now have the internet so I have me some sample bottles on the way!

 

[RussFairfield]

You went to the wrong stores. Office Depot has ink in the form of Parker "Quink", and they also have fountain pens. Staples and Office Max do not.

 

[Texatdurango]

Russ, Thanks, Good to know, there is an Office Depot two doors down from my local Woodcraft store and my vehicle's "autopilot" knows exactly how to get there.

 

[edstreet]

this deserves to be a sticky

 

[Scott]

When it comes to ink, I am not like Russ!

Oh, I do have a bottle of Quink, but I just went and counted and I have 23 bottles of ink! I have Noodlers, Private Reserve, Aurora, Visconti, Lamy, Diamine, J. Herbin and Watermans, as well as that bottle of Quink! To paraphrase Lee in starting this topic, when your refills all seem black-and-blue, it's time to get some new ink!

The nice thing about using bottled ink is choice. I like to try different things, to have lots of choice. Other people aren't so flighty and know what they like! [8D] But a few bottles of ink won't kill anybody, and having them available when you are selling pens conveys to the customer first, that you know your way around ink, and second, that they in turn have some choice as to what ink they may use.

There are members of the IAP who can sell you ink, and I highly recommend them. I enjoy having an excuse to exchange E-Mails with Lou and Anthony! Mostly I buy inks from James at Peartree Pens because I like his sample program, he has a good selection, and most of all, he likes ink. But there are lots of places to buy ink over the internet - just take your pick and give them a try!

Oh, my favorite inks? PR (Private Reserve) Tanzanite is my most favorite. Noodlers Navajo Turquoise is another. Watermans blue-black, Aurora black, and Visconti blue are all right up there. The rest are pretty much there for fun! I recently bought an orange pen, so I took the excuse to get some orange ink (Noodlers Apache Sunset) for it. This is supposed to be fun!

Scott.

 

[edstreet]

OK I bought 3 bottles of ink, Diamine old english, noodlers lapis legal and visconti. The one I like the best is this one. It seems to flow super smooth in the statesman pen I have plus the packaging is just plain sexy.

Ed

 

[Johnathan]

I love the great color choices of Private Reserve, I also use Visconti and Mont Blanc

 

[Narwhale]

Got two partial bottle of Watermans blue/black ink about 20 years ago that I'm still trying to finish. The ink is still good, and writes well.
Rich S.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Ed, you hit the nail on the head with the Visconti. That is my most used ink and I have just about used the bottle up. Smooth, not too wet but just right and that bottle and the box is sweet!