I would welcome recommendations for inks for dip pens, either individual inks that are nice or brands that have a wide range of attractive inks. I will be using these with a dip pen or an Ackerman pump pen with a dip nib.

Following the advice given on this forum, I've also filled a couple of Pilot varsity disposable fountain pens with calligraphy inks: Dr. Martin's Bombay blue and Calli blue. Neither of these inks are what I would call beautiful coming out of a varsity, though the Bombay blue is completely waterproof (haven't soak tested the Calli yet). Both inks flow well with no visible feathering on envelope paper.

Stephen

With my Esterbrook dip pens (the "dip less" type) I like to use PR Lake Placid Blue. I've never used any other type of dip pen.

I use Noodler's Tiananmen (Red) most of the time and get lovely shading. Of course the ink in my big desk inkwell has been adulterated by adding water and some other occasional stray red inks. I'm also fond of Noodler's Saguro Wine

For gold and other metallic inks I've used Daler-Rowney brand which are only about $5 per bottle and much better, in my opinion, than Herbin's metallic gold. The metallic inks are acrylic and are fussier than fountain pen inks but they're fun sometimes.

Calli ink. Seems to write very nicely, good flow, and hangs on the pen well so I don't have to dip too often.

Will never go into ANY fountain pen!

Peter

The Bombays top the Calli's, if you ask me--though the Bombays don't come in a really good variety of colors. The blue is really good though. The Bombays are also more water resistant than the Callis.

The Bombay green is not green--it's blue green, and not a pretty one, I don't think. The turquoise and the Teal are both similar to the green. The Tangerine and the Orange are good, and the reds are all decent. Forget the brown--just use Noodler's. Oh, the Grass Green is a good bright green, unduplicated in any ink I know of--Spearmint and Gruen Cactus being the closest to it.

Higgins drawing ink is flatter than the Bombay and smears a little as well.

Putting a very small amount of detergent in the Pilots will make the flow better. What I do is put a few drops of detergent in one of those trading vials and then fill it up with water and put a drop or two of that in a cartridge.

And while I wouldn't put Calli or Bombay in any pen with a Richard Binder nib (of which I don't have any anyway), I have used these inks in $4 Sheaffers with good results, so far anyway, and the ink has been in one of those pens for several months and hasn't clogged yet.

To me, the whole beauty of dippers is that I can use Indian ink, so that is all I ever do...