Blackest Ink & Basic?

January 4, 2019

Hi everyone,

I'm completely new, and know nothing about all of this. My introduction is in that sub-forum.

Started all this just a few weeks ago....and just reading/practicing when not working, etc

So far, I love it....cool stuff.

The Pilot parallel pens 1.8/2.4 is what am using now.

I had some Speedball India Ink from my woodshop, and got out some nibs, etc from Amazon; I was so disappointed w how grey the black ink was...

So, I have some Sumi ink, and one other and Nikko G nibs coming from Amazon

What ink do you all use that is darkest? For a dip pen....I have no fountain pen.

Is there a relatively cheap copy paper that will not bleed (I bought some 28lb copy paper from WM just now)?

I'm trying to get my co-worker to get into action w her calligraphy gift set so we can critique each other's work.

Thank you in advance,

David

January 4, 2019

32 lb HP inkjet printer paper doesn't bleed, but FYI the Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen is a fountain pen and you shouldn't be using dip pen ink with it.

January 5, 2019

I'm a lover of black black black inks. No shading, no residual tints of other colours (for example: deep brown, dark dark charcoal, or blue, or green... just straight up black).

The best one I've come across so far is "Aurora Black". Google it. You'll see it oftened described as "the blackest ink".

You'll also see it compared to a few other very dark blacks ("J herbin Perle Noire" and "Sailor Kiwa-Guro Nano Black" are often named in the same breath). Of these three I'm partial to Aurora. Other people say the other two may be darker, but all three are very very black, so it may be a matter of you're having to take a look at all three (actually, I don't think the Sailor is dark at all, and its satin finish makes it look grey to me, but it does get mentioned by ink bloggers).

If you enter a store and ask for the darkest, non-shading black you can find, nine times out of ten they'll hand you either Aurora or Perle Noire.

Noodlers has a few dark blacks (dark matter, x-feather), but I don't find them as dark as the others.

If you google "Perle Noire review" or "Aurora Black review" you'll see a few other inks mentioned (usually they're described as "not as black as Perle noire/aurora black", but seeing a list of names will give you a short-list to choose from.

Hope this helps.

Edited January 5, 2019 by dennis_f