what is the most memorable black fp ink today?

[nweissma]

what is the most memorable black fp ink available today? the blackest of the black; the one that you can't draw your eyes from.

[Karmachanic]

Being a subjective thing, it depends upon who you ask.

 

 

[Ron Z]

I suggest Aurora.  It is a dense black, and an excellent, safe ink.

[alexwi]

Another vote for Aurora (Hi Ron!). It's dark, it dries fast (for my taste), it's cheap (surprisingly so).

 

Last year, due to coronapocalypse I wasn't able to get it, so I went for a bottle of Platinum Black, which I find comparable.

 

Alex

[inkandseeds]

Subjective.  Personally, Noodlers Heart of Darkness Works for me.  It is relatively inexpensive and behaves well enough for me.  Haven’t tried all the black inks out there and have no interest in doing so.  

[nweissma]

i will try Aurora - which frankly i did not know about.

 

Thanks Greatly!

[chromantic]

I find Bookbinder's Red Belly Black memorable in that it's not only very, very black, it looks thick, almost oleaginous and it also dries super fast on the nib.

[eciton]

Kuretake Ryuno Black does it for me. Strong Sumi smell, sheen, very thick and oily.

[Karmachanic]

59 minutes ago, eciton said:

Kuretake Ryuno Black does it for me. Strong Sumi smell, sheen, very thick and oily.

 

Where might one find this ink?

[nweissma]

Kuretake Ryuno Black is a dip pen ink - it is designed for cartoonists and will likely destroy fp's.

 

[Karmachanic]

42 minutes ago, nweissma said:

Kuretake Ryuno Black is a dip pen ink - it is designed for cartoonists and will likely destroy fp's.

 

 

My understanding is that Kuretake Black is a dip ink, but difficult to obtain Kuretake Ryuno Black, which comes in a faceted glass bottle, is a fountain pen ink.

[mizgeorge]

10 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

My understanding is that Kuretake Black is a dip ink, but difficult to obtain Kuretake Ryuno Black, which comes in a faceted glass bottle, is a fountain pen ink.

I think your answer may be here:

 

https://ukfountainpens.com/2020/02/19/finding-joy-in-black-ink/

[Karmachanic]

My answer? Link is a longer rendition of my post, no?

[inkstainedruth]

@ the OP -- what is your definition of "memorable"?  If it's the "blackest black" I'd say Noodler's Old Manhattan (which is I think only sold at Fountain Pen Hospital in NYC).  But I can't recommend it, because part of the reason it IS so black is that it spreads on the page.  So if that's your criterion, I'm with inkandseeds, because it also dries faster than the regular Noodler's Black (which can be smudgy; the problem with the "bulletproof" inks is that they bond with the cellulose in paper -- but ONLY where actually touching the paper).

If you want something that is a little more, um, interesting -- and don't care about water resistance or "super-black" I'm really fond of Iroshizuku Take-sumi.  And then Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black is somewhere in between (somewhat water resistant, but not super black, and also -- at least in the US and I presume Europe -- pretty inexpensive, although I haven't done the math to see how the price per ml between it and Heart of Darkness compares).  But truthfully, my go-to black is generally Heart of Darkness.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mizgeorge]

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

My answer? Link is a longer rendition of my post, no?

It should be a link to ukfountainpens blog post of 19 feb last year about the ink he's referred to above, and how he came to have it.

[eciton]

3 hours ago, nweissma said:

Kuretake Ryuno Black is a dip pen ink - it is designed for cartoonists and will likely destroy fp's.

 

No, it certainly is a fountain pen ink. It says so on the box.

[eciton]

This might help clear things up: https://www.mitaclub.co.jp/en/product/ryuno-black/

[mouse2cat]

All my favorite blacks are waterproof (as I want to combine them with watercolor) 

Hands down the very best black is the Platinum Carbon Black. It's the closest in look to Sumi ink in that it has a little sheen to it once dry and once it dries it is budge proof. 

 

Because it is a pigmented ink, make sure you clean your pen out regularly but I know a bunch of sloppy artists who don't take very good care of their pens and they still have a good time with this ink. 

 

This is one of the favorite blacks in the watercolor sketching community because it is so black and so waterproof. 

 

Other contenders are Rohrer & Klingner Lotte and Noodlers Black. And whatever the heck ink black they put in that Pentel Pocket Brush pen cartridge. 

 

For Technical Pens I am partial to the Rotring black. Again, it's also almost as black as sumi ink and it's 100% opaque. It is so opaque that I use it to shoot silk screen separations 

[BayesianPrior]

Sailor Kiwa Guro.  It is well behaved and waterproof.  It has a matte appearance and a silvery sheen so it looks a little like the marks from a very soft graphite pencil.  Very hard to mistake it for any other ink when on the paper.

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, eciton said:

: https://www.mitaclub.co.jp/en/product/ryuno-black/

 

Ah yes! Bought a bottle of Shooting Star of Jonuma from Mitaclub. Thank you!