Fountain Pen Ink

Fountain pens are not so closely paired with their inks as rollerball pens and gel pens are. That is the reason why some more accuracy has to be taken during the selection of a fountain pen ink. All kinds of inks for fountain pens are water-based, but there is always a choice between bottled inks and plastic cartridges. Bottled inks are more popular and common and in spite of the fact that ink cartridges became available much later than the regular bottled inks (in 1960's), the last ones still obtain the leading positions for most connoisseurs of the fountain pens. There are two basic explanations of this fact: firstly bottled inks are cheaper and secondly they offer a broader choice of colors and traits. Comparing a fountain pen ink with an ink used in ballpoints it can be figured out that the first of a pair is almost solely dye-based. It is one of the causes why fountain pens provide better writing experience. The reason why the producers try to avoid using pigmented inks for refill of the fountain pens is that they often clog the cramped space of such pens' passages. In fact fountain pen ink can be a pigmented ink, but this is rather a conformance exception and it is even rarely used in exclusive pens, like special editions of Mont Blanc fountain pen.

Among other inks which cannot be used for a fountain pen is a regular Indian ink. Since it includes shellac, a natural lac, used as a binder, such ink can also rapidly clog the pen, making it useless.

The perfect ink for a fountain pen must consist of water, dyes and chemicals, excluding pigments. People also call such ink a "wet ink" because of its tendency to flow across the sheet of paper. This term also implies viscidity of such ink, which must be free-flowing, noncorroding and without any deposition. Such requirements for a high-quality fountain pen ink sometimes become a real trouble for the ink manufacturers, since it is hard to produce inks of various colors with such characteristics. Due to the aforesaid reasons it is very important to pay attention on the ink formulation. Durability and performance of your pen will strongly depend on your choice of a fountain pen ink.

Capillarity and gravity are two forces which allow a fountain pen to perform. Its ink is pulled through a feed system to the nib before it appears on the surface in the shape of fine and accurate letters. This process is really very simple, which makes a fountain pen both artless device and great invention at the same time. Such pen is really ideal - it writes with little or no pressure, but allows the writer to demonstrate smooth flowing and broader creativity.