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I recently acquired a bottle of Diamine's gold Drawing & Calligraphy Ink (acrylic base) and a bottle of Dominant Industry's Hologram (unknown base but smells a lot like Testor's enamel paint). I am hoping to inspire (in myself) more dedicated calligraphy practice and give myself a chance to increase my range of paper color options. I gave both inks a vigorous shake prior to opening the bottles and grabbed some nib holders. Then came the problem: both inks want to dry on the nibs faster than I can get them transferred to paper. I managed to struggle my way through what could loosely be called "writing" but it was a frustrating experience. I realize that most inks won't last very long on the nib (ie, I was expecting to have to dip the nib into ink several times to complete a word, sentence, or sweeping decoration) but I was having difficulty in lining a single 5mm downstroke with a Jinhao medium nib on some grid paper. I don't think there is anything wrong with the inks, per se. I've seen videos where Hologram gives other people (presumably more talented than I) some troubles. The Diamine Gold is cheap and the Hologram is very... experimental...ish? I assume that they aren't high-end options but any ink that isn't water-based is a new beast to me. The Diamine ink would immediately start to separate and needed to be mixed often but in all other respects the inks behaved admirably. Does anybody have experience with these types of inks and can offer tips and tricks? Do certain nib materials or shapes work better than others? Are nib holders the best way to go? or brushes? Can they be thinned and put through an air brush?