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Over the years I've collected several dozen dip pen nibs just because people would almost give them away just to be rid of them. Recently I received a gift of Dr Martin India inks that I could use with dip pens. Today I've been trying them out and I'm hooked. The nibs scratch in a pleasant way (not like a broken fountain pen nib). Forgive my crude penmanship but here's a sample and the reason for my sudden interest: Dr. Martin Bombay Blue in an Esterbrook 442 pen, on Leuchterm 1917 paper. The ink is dried, It does not bleed or even echo. The nibs by their nature are giving me a lot of variety in how the ink flows and presents itself. Sometimes the ink even looks pearlescent when dried. Sometimes less ink is available, as in the word 'tactile'. In any case it is a lot of fun. My questions: 1) Is there a Dip Pen Network? (google failed me here). 2) Is ebay the best place to find these nibs? 3) Dip pen holders all seem pretty basic. Are there differences between them that I would notice? 4) My Esterbrook 442 nibs dropped a pretty wet line. Is that typical? Or do I just need to learn better control? 5) My collection of Fountain Pen ink is surprisingly incapable in dip pens. It as though the formulations for modern ink are such that they "expect" to be flowing through a feed unit. Some of them just could not stick to the dip pens nibs (Kiowa Pecan, I'm talking about YOU). Is this typical behavior and, if so, what inks do work best in dip pens? Tx!

Hi all, So I recently got myself a 2 oz bottle of Speedball Super Black India ink, and when I started using it in my Rhodia Webbie with a dip pen, I noticed that the ink bled quite a lot, which I was not expecting at all. I had thought that Carbon based ink would be some of the most well behaved ink, and that the Rhodia, Clairfontaine-made paper would easily stand up to it, being able to handle other, less-well behaved inks. When I turned the page, I noticed how the ink had bled through it quite visibly. Is this a normal thing that happens with India inks, or am I just just unfortunate enough to have received a faulty batch? If so, what can I do to resolve it?

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows where can I get dip pens and India ink in Mumbai (or Thane and Navi Mumbai) areas? What are they known in the Hindi/Marathi, I am mean I am pretty sure India Ink isn't called as such :-) Thanks! Abhishek

Where can I get dip pens in Mumbai? and what is the local name for India Ink? Anyone?

DAYTONE BLUE BLACK INK REVIEW is simultaneously posted at my blog. Recently I received few Ink bottles from one of my friend from Indore and they are Daytone Fountain Pen Ink. Daytone Inks are manufactured by Daylight industries and they are in to ink manufacturing since 1956. More information can be found about the company here : Daytone Webpage Apart from Inks they manufacture lot of other stationary items. But this review is about one of the fountain pen inks that they manufacture. The inks that they manufacture ( 8 Nos.) are as follows: Blue Black Emerald Green Brilliant Red Crimson Turquoise Blue Deep Black Royal Blue Bright Violet Brown (In Process) My earlier Ink reviews are listed as below: Bril Royal BlueBril Laurel RoseCamlin Scarlet RedChelpark Black Also I would like to add that I got the inks as a gift from one of my friend and fountain pen enthusiast, Ricky Bhasin. This review is about BLUE-BLACK ink from Daytone. Daytone Blue Black Daytone BlueBlack comes in 60 ml plastic bottles and are priced at Rs. 20 Each (Indian Rupees). I found out that the ink is more of dark blue rather than blue black. It certainly is bit darker than Bril Royal Blue. But I was expecting something else from BlueBlack Ink. INK SPLASH Daytone Ink Splash on JK Cedar -100 gsm – Top View There is negligible sheen in this ink even if there is some massive ink pools on paper. DROP ON PAPER NAPKIN Daytone Blue-Black – Ink Drop COLOR MATCH Daytone Blue Black – Color Range WRITING SAMPLES Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Tomoe River Cream Paper Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on JK Cedar 100 gsm White Paper Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Bilt Matrix 70 gsm Off White Paper INK SWABS Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on Tomoe River Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on JK Cedar 100 gsm Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) Daytone Blue Black – Ink Swabs on BILT Matrix 70 gsm Paper (Top – 3 Swabs, Middle – 2 Swabs, Bottom – 1 Swab) PEN SCRIBBLE Daytone Blue Black – Pen Scribble on JK Cedar 100 gsm Paper The ink flow is smooth and the ink looks bit faded for blue black. WATERPROOF TEST The ink was quite water resistant and it was pretty mush clear and visible even after running it under tap water for 5 min and then keeping it in water container for another 5 more minutes. I must say I am pretty impressed with this property of the ink. Daytone Blue Black – Under tap Water Daytone Blue Black – After Waterproof Test CHROMATOGRAPHY Daytone Blue Black – Chromatography INK DRYING TIMES Ink drying times were tested on the Bilt Matrix paper and pen used was Jinhao 165. Daytone Blue Black – Ink Drying Test BLOW-UP WRITING SAMPLES Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Tomoe River – Blown Up Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on JK Cedar – Blown Up Daytone Blue Black – Writing sample on Bilt Matrix – Blown Up Close up Pictures show that there is no shading and also no sheen and also no feathering. CONCLUSION I don’t like this blue black ink too much but it has good water resistance. Manufacturer must take note of the fact that this ink needs to have more black character. My always goto blue black ink is Edelstien Tanzanite or Pilot Blue Black. Following are the summation of ink properties: Feathering : No Sheen : No Shading : No Lubrication : Acceptable Flow : Good Water Resistance : Good Drying Times : Medium

Hi all, I know I'm at fault for not doing too much of my own research on this one, but masters applications leave me with no time. I've been doing pen and ink doodles for years now, but I always used paper that I found in basements and garages, regardless of quality. A friend has asked me to help him design a logo for his company. I was thinking about a dip pen and maybe India ink to do something like copperplate text, but I need paper that won't bleed and feather. Anyone have suggestions for something moderately priced? I'll take loose leaf or pads-- don't care. Would love an ink recommendation too if anyone has one. I've just been using Quink black this whole time, but maybe something else will also help to stop bleeding and feathering. Thanks!

I've found a Parker 51 in a eBay pen lot and seems to be clogged of what it seems to be india ink. It's in really good conditions and i want to restore, it.. some advices on how to proceed?

Hey all, been a while since I posted (been busy drawing cartoons!) Anyhoo... I have a small shallow jar that I use as an inkwell for Speedball Super Black India ink. It's deep enough to dip a nib into, and wide enough not to tip. When ink has been in there for a couple of weeks, snot congeals on the bottom, viscous enough to stick to the tip of the nib & get lifted out of the jar. What is that? Is that the shellac in the ink congealing? Alcohol seems to re-dissolve it. Is there any way to prevent it from forming? Is the air space in the jar to blame? Do I need to worry about the same thing happening inside the big squeeze bottle when it gets airspace in it? TIA, -Jonny

I use Rapidographs a lot in my art, and the old bottle of Koh-i-noor ink that I've been using with them is close to running out. It's not the greatest ink for my purposes--the shellac that makes it waterproof also makes everything shiny, which shows up on scanned images. It's also not as water-resistant as I'd like, mostly due to a layer of ink sitting on top of the surface of the paper and running all over the place if I try to use some watercolors over it. The solution to that, and to a certain extent to the sheen as well, has been to erase over everything really well to rub off any extra ink. I could just buy a new bottle, keep erasing over everything, and deal with the residual shinyness. However, I've also recently bought some very thin-tipped technical pens that I don't want to get clogged (which almost always spells death for the hair-masquerading-as-a-wire inside finer rapidographs,) so I've been thinking about buying a fountain pen ink anyhow. Platinum Carbon Black seems to be the recommended ink for anyone doing watercolor washes over drawings, but I'm also intrigued by the almost-perfect performance of Noodler's Black, which seems to have the same issue as the ink I'm currently using (ink left on the surface of the paper runs with water.) Noodler's is also cheaper, so I have a couple unanswered questions before I go off buying anything. How does Platinum Carbon Black/Noodler's Black perform on watercolor paper? Most of the reviews I can find about water resistance are on printer or notebook paper, which don't have as much sizing as a sheet of hot press watercolor paper. I suspect Noodler's will do worse than normal because it binds to cellulose, but I'm particularly interested in what, if anything, changes with the Platinum Carbon. If you erase over Noodler's, does the residual surface ink just smear around, or does any of it come off with erasing? If you erase over Noodler's, is there any difference in water resistance? Does either ink perform poorly in technical pens? Is there any water-resistant ink I'm completely looking over? Preferably black, but if there's some incredibly waterproof red I'm missing I might as well add it to the list. These are pretty specific to my situation and I might just have to get some samples to test things myself, but I figured I might as well ask around here first.

Got this article for making India Ink safe for fountain pen. Is this workable ? Quote: "We know that India Ink can get stale. It still looks black and liquid, but it clogs our pens. We blame our pens, change the nibs, but the problem remains. I guessed that the shellac was forming particles, too small to see, but still enough to clog a pen. A little bit of methyl hydrate added to the ink revitalized it, and it would flow. In fact, I found that I could even put India Ink in a regular fountain pen if I thinned the ink with methyl hydrate." Link: http://www.hyoomik.com/images/technique1.html

Hi Everyone, I recently purchased some black india ink for dip nibs. I love it, but the dip nibs not so much. Since I really like how it looks I was wondering if I could put it into a fountain pen. I know if I left it there it would likely cause problems, but I was wondering if anyone else has done this and gotten away with it? If so, any tricks anyone can share? such as how to clean it out of the pen? would it dissolve in alcohol ect? If not does anyone know a safe black ink that has that nice shine? Also, I have a pen I would be willing to sacrifice to experimentation. Cheers, Bevan

I went flea market crawling, last Monday. Came home with an artist's kit. I won't try to bore you fountain pen folk with a descripion of the contents, regardless of how they fascinate me. However, the contents did contain a Platignum Silverline pen with a full set of italic nibs, an olive drab P45, and the dreaded bottle of solidified Speedball India ink. The Platignum nib units were all completely plugged with insoluble ink, and the section was badly cracked. That lot went over the side. The P45 section and converter went into an overnight soak with distilled water, ammonia, and dish detergent. I was able to get the section apart after a short blow with a hair dryer. Everything inside was clotted with black goo and crumbly ink bits. I was able to clean the feed channels with various diameters of guitar string wire. The steel nib came clean with a stainless steel brush and some nyon thread for the slit. The converter sac eventually came clean with many flushings. The pen works very well now. I gave it a fill of blue black Quink, just to make it feel at home. The P45 is one tough pen. It is now worth more than the whole artist's kit, handmade brushes and all.