"Pen and Ink | Sketch" brand "No-Shellac India Black"

[nimrod]

I bought a bottle of this no-name brank ink at the local art store because I didn't have any ink at the time and this was about the only decent ink they had for fountain pens. The bottle looks like the one shown in this picture:

 

 

The ink is waterproof, but it really isn't very dark compared to other blacks. Despite "india" in the name this isn't india ink; I think they're just trying to say that it has some properties of india ink or something.

 

The bottle has a a pen filling cup built into the middle of the opening to make filling possible once the level in the bottle is low.

 

While this ink isn't bad, I'd probably advise buying Noodler's Polar Black instead of this because the Noodler's is darker black and is also waterproof, lubricating, and freezeproof. It is cheaper by volume as well (I think I paid $5.50 for 30ml of this).

 

The bottle this comes in makes a decent little inkwell though since it's relatively heavy molded glass and has the fill cup in the center.

[Tricia]

My local art supply store had the matching notebooks for this ink. They are very much like Moleskines, and right on the label it says to use either their fountain pen or their ... (other) kind of pen. (Sorry, I can't remember what 'other' kind of pen it was. Shows you what I was paying attention to!)

 

Thanks for posting this. The store didn't have the ink or the pens, just the notebooks.

 

 

[sam]

nimrod,

where did you purchase this?

is there any manufacturer, or place of manufacture listed on the label?

or maybe any hints to them?

[nimrod]

I purchsed this at a local art supply store (Michigan Book and Supply).

 

The bottle has a company name and address on the label:

 

Art Supply Enterprises

1351 Ocean Avenue

Emeryville, CA 94608

 

A web search reveals:

 

Art Supply Enterprises, Inc (Macpherson's)

1351 Ocean Ave, Emeryville, CA 94608-1128, United States (Map) (Add Company Info)

Phone: (510) 428-9011

Also Does Business As:Macpherson's

URL:www.macphersonart.com

 

Taking a quick look through http://www.macphersonart.com/maclive/ it looks like they're a wholesaler and I don't even see this ink (or the pen I bought) in the catalog.

 

(For more on the pen that I bought with the ink, see this thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...howtopic=41190)

 

 

[patv]

The complete line of Pen & Ink supplies are listed and sold at the URL below:

 

http://www.artsuppliesonline.com/catalog.cfm?cata_id=11427

 

I've used the ink for a lining drawing with a watercolor wash and the ink is very waterproof. It works fine in the little pen sold with it, but I'm not sure whether it would clog other pens. Am hoping others will post how the ink has worked in their pens.

 

Pat

[snakeankle]

i bought the pen that goes with it. if you like a flexible line, the medium is wonderful. it is as flexible, maybe a little more so, than my namiki falcon...when you write with it, it looks very vintage. i put noodler's black in mine though.

[bluemagister]

My Pen & Ink brand fountain pen leaked out of the nib into the cap, making a nice puddle on my shirt, so I can say that this ink is very good at staining clothing and might be used to make tie-dyed shirts.

 

The pens might be OK, but QC is abysmal. I've had 5 or 6 of these and they've always leaked through the nib or airhole under the nib, even with cartridges and proper storage.

 

Update: Contacted customer service and another pen is on the way. I'll give this pen and this ink another shot.

Edited November 25, 2009 by bluemagister

[Chrontius]

My Pen & Ink brand fountain pen leaked out of the nib into the cap, making a nice puddle on my shirt, so I can say that this ink is very good at staining clothing and might be used to make tie-dyed shirts.

 

The pens might be OK, but QC is abysmal. I've had 5 or 6 of these and they've always leaked through the nib or airhole under the nib, even with cartridges and proper storage.

 

Update: Contacted customer service and another pen is on the way. I'll give this pen and this ink another shot.

 

 

Blue Mage, did you ever have another look at this stuff?

[InkDog]

This ink is NOT waterproof and not suitable for illustrators or artists. I bought two bottles hoping to find something close to the old FW ink that no one has even come close to yet. This ink is really way too "wet" and feathers on paper meant for ink rederings. 15 minutes after it dries you can put it under running water and it bleeds surface ink, not something you want if you're being paid to do an illustration and put a yellow wash over this stuff. I recently scored 2 bottles of vintage FW ink, these inks are 30 years old, possibly even 40 yet they outperform any ink ever made, are useable in fountain pens, dry quickly TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY WATERPROOF, and DENSE BLACK. I started a thread on this here on the forum hoping to attract someone in the industry who could reverse engineer these miraculous Steig Products, but there seems little interest despite many who seem to be looking for an ink like these were. I used those inks in my professional career for 30 years and even back then there was nothing that compared to them. I think my last attempt is going to be try contacting some Japanese ink companies to see if they can analyze and reproduce these inks. These inks disappeared in 1995 and the formulas were lost to time. Daler Rowney bought the rights to the name but never reproduced them, maybe they coudn't.

 

This ink reviewed here is made in China, not very black, is not truly waterproof, its not a bad ink but not suitable for artists, and I suspect will probably fade over time. I've read that Platinum Carbon is a very good ink but is no match for the old FW ink, and eventually clogs your pens, something FW never did.....