About Ink

what to look for and what to use

Make your own ink >

There is nothing more soothing than watching the wet flow of ink from the nib of a calligraphy pen. The raised, glistening, mound dulls to the dry, crisp, black mark that makes your letters. The act of loading your pen, testing it out and finally writing with it is a meditative process that requires great care. The more often you practise, the more you will find your own way and your own favoured materials.

There are different types of ink and many different manufacturers. Take a look in different shops and you will see what I mean. Amazon also have a good supply Calligraphy Inks. What you choose to buy is largely down to your sense of adventure and your reason for buying it in the first place.

The bottle will usually say whether the ink is waterproof or not, it matters for the purposes of cleaning your pen (what do you rinse the ink off the nib with?) and for what you are going to write on (will the paper or vellum get damp or wet? If so the ink may bleed over time).

Some inks last longer than others in that they fade much less over time - referred to as their permanence. Ink such as "Higgins Eternal" is a Permanent Black, this means that it will keep its colour much longer than an ink that is semi-permanent. I have pieces of calligraphy over 5 years old that were written with ordinary pen ink and are not as black as the day they were penned.

You can buy inks made to ancient recipes, such as Iron Gall ink, which darkens on exposure to light. As you write the ink is rather pale but dries to a nice, crisp, black, finish.

Many inks will need stirring, such as Indian Ink, as the pigment sinks to the bottom in a kind of sediment. Many bottles will tell you to 'stir well' if needed. Indian Ink is actually Chinese Stick Ink - ground from pigments and pressed into a block, or stick, it is then ground on a stone with water and a binding agent - Gum Arabic for example - to form a liquid. I'm not really sure why it's called Indian Ink.

Rather than dip your nib in the bottle and having to wipe off the excess ink before writing, try loading the ink into the back of the reservoir with a dropper or paint brush. The picture, left, shows the "Automatic Pen" being charged with ink. The brass reservoir at the back of the steel nib is loaded in a similar fashion.

When you have loaded the reservoir, test the nib on a scrap of paper to ensure the ink is flowing well and you have crisp, clean lines. To get the ink flow going, try making small side-to-side movements with the nib, this opens the split in the nib and encourages the ink to flow.

If this fails, put a small dot of ink from your dropper or paint brush onto a scrap of paper and pass the nib through it, this will encourage the capillary action. Try wiggling it again and writing with it. Repeat this until you have some ink flowing.

If this still fails, test the reservoir to see that it's not too tight, or too far up the nib - and that your nib is free of dried ink! Did you clean it properly the last time you used it?