India Inks For Writing With Dip Pens

[Lunoxmos]

I am currently keeping a journal that I write in dip pen with, and I am looking for permanent, waterproof options. I am currently using iron gall ink (ESSRI) and while it is fantastic and very fun to use, it eats my nibs quite quickly, and wears down the tips prematurely so they become scratchy a bit too fast.

I wish to turn to an India ink alternative, as I have seen vintage ads, books and pamphlets which recommend the use of Indian ink for permanence, art and even penmanship, and Indian ink should be reasonably non-corrosive on my nibs.

However, upon trying Speedball India ink, I was greeted with a feathery, bleed-y, spread-y mess, even on high quality clairefontaine and cartridge paper. Following advice to dilute the ink, I tried doing that, but upon reaching a decent behaviour the ink had become so pale it was basically unreadable. Other attempts to then thicken the ink via evaporation and add gum arabic did not prove fruitful either.

Rohrer & Klingner Zeichentusche calligraphy ink presented the same problem for me as well.

Are there any India inks out there that can be used with dip pens that do not present this problem of bleeding, feathering and spreading, and are also waterproof?

[Eclipse157]

Goulet B fountain pen nib dipped it in a few inks to see what happens:

 

 

R&K and x-feather did not bleed through at all. Paper used is 80gsm supermarket cheap printer (bleep).

 

But pointed pens are not like fountain pen nibs cause these have rounded, smooth nibs, so I grabbed a Leonardt G nib and tried it with the R&K Auszietusche. The amount of ink it put down on the paper was ludicrous, you might be able to see the raised bumps in the first pic. The nib also dug well into the paper and the bleedthrough was so much i had to scrub ink from the table under the sheet. However feathering was wonderfully limited relative to the amount of ink deposited. It took a few minutes to fully dry.

 

 

 

 

Are you using pointed nibs? If so I recommend the auszietusche and/or x-feather as they performed admirably on my paper.

 

Also: what kind of paper are you using? Maybe changing paper would be easier?

 

Apologies for foggy pics, phone camera has been scratched badly.

 

[Lunoxmos]

I am using Clairefontaine 90gsm paper, and I am using pointed pen nibs.

Maybe the inks that I got were part of a bad batch, I'm not sure.

I like the look of that Rohrer & Klingner Ausziehtusche, and if that's the performance on cheap 80gsm printer paper, then it should do much better on Clairefontaine. I think I might get that, as I have a sample of Noodler's X Feather, and while it did well behaviour wise, it dried a bit too slow for my liking, and also smudged due to the inky mountains it left behind. Hopefully the Ausziethusche shouldn't have that problem, as it's (according to the website) carbon and shellac based.

[Eclipse157]

Clairefontaine that bleeds and feathers? Hmmm... maybe the problem is that pointed nibs dig into the coating and create holes in it that the inks can soak into? I'd recommend you a more substantial, uncoated paper, something mass-sized and not only surface coated. Watercolor paper is what I'd suggest but that thing is THICC (and can be very rough) and your journal will be quite unwieldy I suspect. I found a very cheap A4 size notebook in an art store, meant for drawing and sketching mostly, and it's awesome with fountain pen inks. The paper is listed as 120gsm, less smooth than clairefontaine or inkjet paper, sized in bulk and not surface-only. I hope you find what works for you