Best ink for dip pens/calligraphy?

January 20, 2016 5:36 PM

Artists/Calligraphers, help me find the perfect ink for art and writing with a traditional dip pen. Tell me your favorites!

So I've been working with pen and ink for several years now, and still haven't found an ink that's truly perfect for me. I mostly work with thin and flexible nibs, and very smooth,heavy paper.

So far I have used speedball(problems with bleeding even on good paper), higgins black magic(gunks up my nibs like nothing else) , and sennellier shellac(great colours, but it will not flow down the nib nicely,and it can be a little sheer when used with wider nibs).

If any of you have a favorite ink, please tell! I'd love to try it.

posted by InkDrinker to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Winsor & Newton drawing inks are great, and Dr Ph Martin's Bombay Inks are wonderful too.

For the bleeding problem, that sounds like a paper sizing problem. More heavily sized papers should reduce bleeding.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 6:03 PM on January 20, 2016

I love Parker Quink.
posted by WesterbergHigh at 7:27 PM on January 20, 2016

I haven't been calligraphizing, but I did just learn the history of iron gall ink. If you are feeling maker-y, you can mix it up yourself!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:18 PM on January 20, 2016

Depends what you're looking for. I get crisp, shiny blacks from Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink. Higgins Eternal gives a warm, matte, very dark grey (but is a bit stinky; hint of ammonia). Although a fountain pen ink, Noodler's Black is very smooth — as long as you remember to shake the bottle now and again, or it settles and fades.
posted by scruss at 6:06 AM on January 21, 2016

It depends a lot on the paper you are using.

The Postman's Knock has some amazingly detailed blog posts on both types of ink and types of paper
posted by magnetsphere at 8:29 AM on January 21, 2016

I am a huge fan of Noodler's in all the various fancy colours, including the 'bulletproof' style that's water resistant.
posted by VioletU at 9:55 AM on January 21, 2016

Favorite gloss black- moon palace sumi ink

Great smooth ink- vermillion sumi ink

Both from paper and ink arts.
posted by banjonaut at 10:42 AM on January 21, 2016

Seconding Noodler's. Heart of Darkness is my go-to ink for a waterfast black.
posted by culfinglin at 1:23 PM on January 21, 2016

Lots of experience on many surfaces, and I love Pelikan. So black, black, black and zero fade 30 yrs later.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:25 PM on January 21, 2016

I'll second the recommendation for Moon Palace. I used it at a Copperplate workshop recently and it's good stuff.

I also like Herbin.
posted by MrBadExample at 5:16 PM on January 21, 2016

Try Deleter. I suspect Manga artists are pretty demanding about the performance of their inks.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:34 PM on January 21, 2016