10. Diamine

Diamine is a tried-and-true brand with a huge range of colors and multiple lines: the standard line, the 150th anniversary collection and the new Inkvent collections. The prices for each of the collections are so reasonable that I think the inks are often overlooked — and sometimes overwhelming. Diamine has often worked with fans like FPN and Reddit to create custom limited edition inks too. The most recent Celadon Cat was a Reddit fans collab.

The standard line of inks are available in 30ml (about $8 each) and epic 80ml bottles (about $17 each). The 150th anniversary line come in 40ml pie-wedge shaped bottles and sells for about $18 per bottle. Many colors can even be purchased in standard international cartridges (18 cartridges for approx.$9) .

If you’re just looking into Diamine inks and haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole of the Inkvent inks yet, one of the most popular colors is Red Dragon, a deep red with a bit of gold sheen. Ancient Copper is also a popular choice.

9. Pen BBS

Pen BBS is a Chinese online fountain pen community much like FPN in the West. They started creating their own inks and pens pre-2016 (thats the earliest date I have on a bottle of ink) and has continued to produce new colors ever since then. Originally, Pen BBS inks came in massive 60ml faceted bottles with engraved logo caps. As new series have been released the bottles have changed size and shape but the quality and wide range of color options have continued. When the shimmer inks trend first took off, Pen BBS lead the way with the finest shimmer particles and remains one of my favorite options for shimmer inks. June Pearl No. 226 is a delightful pale purple with silver shimmer. If you can find a bottle, I highly recommend it.

Lily of the Valley No. 507 is a great option as well, its a watery green with just a hint of blue. Its another one to keep a look out for. Vanness is clearing out the Pen BBS inks so what’s left is marked down considerably. Get a bottle while you can!

8. Pelikan Edelstein

Pelikan 4001 is a classic ink but when Pelikan introduced the jewel-inspired Edelstein line, they really helped to launch a new era of fountain pen ink fans. As a result of being one of the earliest to create new inks in a wider range of colors, Pelikan Edelstein is often overlooked until they announce their “ink of the year”. The 2023 color is Rose Quartz. Each bottle is 50ml for about $28 per bottle. It’s not the most affordable ink in this list but its a good ink in a beautiful, desk-worthy bottle.

One of my favorite Edelstein colors is Jade, a bluish green. It’s a very pretty, unusual shade. But if you are purchasing your first Edelstein ink, Smoky Quartz is also a great option.

7. Callifolio

Callifolio is an ink made by a French art supplies company.  Each of their ink colors come in a 40ml pie-shaped bottle (just like the Diamine 150th Annivesary inks for about $13 per bottle) or a 50ml refill pouch for about $10.25USD. The palette of colors (or should  say “colouers”) is truly sophisticated and refined.  Inti and Heure Doree (Golden Hour) were early alternatives to the coveted but hard to get KWZ Honey for a short time but now I think that the Callifolio options are a better option for those golden-y yellows without the controversial fragrance of the KWZ inks. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the way KWZ Honey smells but I think I might be in the minority.

If you’re looking for a gateway color from Callifolio, I recommend Gris de Payne (Payne’s Grey), a smoky steely blue-grey color. The previously mentioned Inti and Heure Doree are also solid first-time Callifolio options.

6. Papier Plume

Papier Plume is a small New Orleans pen shop that makes their own inks. They have made many standard colors as well as New Orleans-themed colors and many, many special editions. Their standard 30ml bottles sell for $8 to $10 per bottle.

Get in touch with your inner Nawlins with one of the New Orleans collection colors like one of my favorites, Sazerac, a deep orange that makes me thirsty just looking at the swatch.

5. De Atramentis

DeAtramentis offers over 475 (actually 492 inks according to Vanness Pen Shop) different ink colors including the most insane array of scented inks. If you’ve ever participated in one of the Vanness open house events during the Arkansas Pen Show, you might have been forced to endure one of our “guess the ink stink” games and been forced to sniff Leather, Motorbike, Cannabis, or help us all, Horse. No joke.

They have lovely floral scents as well. And document inks, artists inks, shimmer inks, . But the array of colors is why I stick with DeAtramentis (40ml bottles for about $14) after all these years. My favorite ink from my earliest days of fountain pens in Pigeon Blue but the Deepwater Obsession Black Edition series is a great collection of dark colors. I especially like Black-Red.

4. Kaweco

While the Kaweco ink line is a little smaller than most with just 10 colors, it’s a classic assortment. Previously, the inks came in the 30ml bottles shown above but now the inks ship is square shaped jam jars. These 50ml bottles sell for $11 per bottle.

The Summer Purple, Smokey Grey and Paradise Blue are my favorite shades in the line so if you’re trying to decide where to start with Kaweco inks, I recommend one of these three.

3. Lamy

Lamy’s stock ink line (AKA T52, approx. $12.50 per bottle) comes in the most unique 50ml bottle. The exterior of the bottle includes a channel with an absorbent tape to wipe off your nibs after filling your pen. While there are not a ton of colors in the line, if you need a staple ink, having one of the colors available from Lamy is a great addition to your collection.

Lamy has their posher T53 “Crystal Ink” line but these come in smaller 30ml bottles for approx. $16 each. The colors are more sophisticated but the bottles don’t have the tissue tape.

Both the Crystal Inks and the standard line offered the Vibrant Pink color which is one of my favorites. It’s not super vibrant but provides a stunning pink color. The Vibrant Pink was a limited edition color for 2018 and can still be found if you look around for it. The Vibrant Pink contains some gold flecks which gives off a fabulous gold sheen. Rhodonite from the Crystal Ink line is the same color if you can’t find it in the T52 bottle.

2. Waterman

Waterman inks are the inks I most recommend to people looking for inks that are “safe for vintage pens”. But Waterman inks aren’t just for vintage pens. The line of 10 classic colors have some hidden features at a price that won’t shock your wallet. Several of the 10 colors have some sheening properties including Serenity Blue Audacious Red and Tender Purple. Each 50ml bottle costs about $12. If you’re looking to have a couple tried-and-true inks that can be used in any pen, you can’t go wrong with Waterman.

…and finally…  1. Monteverde

Monteverde is by far one of my favorite inks. It’s well-behaved and some of my favorite ink colors are from Monteverde. Its not an ink that people talk about in rhapsodic tones but I do. It’s inexpensive, there are some amazing colors. The box sets of 10 colors in 30ml bottles ($100 pr set)  are great gateways for new ink collectors too.

Monteverde inks are available in 30ml (MSRP $10)  and 90ml bottles (MSRP$20) so ints relatively inexpensive to purchase a small bottle and, if you really love an ink, 90ml for $20 (or less) is a deal. A couple years ago, Monteverde had a brief issue with a couple colors of ink having mold or scumming issue but those have been resolved. Unfortunately, it has given a lot of folks pause before purchasing. I spoke with a representative from the company earlier this year and he assured me the problems have been resolved and any bottles with issues were replaced with no questions — even when people insisted they had issues with bottles that were not actually from the affected batches. That said, there’s no reason to hesitate in purchasing ink from Monteverde.

Monteverde inks are also available in standard international packs of 12 for approx. $6 each, not all colors are available in cartridges but this gives some great color options for on-the-go needs.

If you’ve not tried a Monteverde ink before, I recommend either California Teal, a great green-teal with sheen or, my favorite ink, Birthday Cake.

California Teal was a favorite sheening ink a couple years back but as more ink makers have created sheening inks, people have forgotten about California Teal. I still think its one of the best sheeners. Its a deep green that has a hint of blue and a red sheen. It looks good, even in fine nibbed pens.

Birthday Cake is a deep, muted purple ink is the perfect balance between a unique, unusual color and a good everyday writer, even subdued enough for the office. Birthday Cake has been my go-to ink all year and I may have to invest in one of the 90ml bottles.

There are lots of other ink brands I could have mentioned here. Which under-appreciated inks would you include in a list like this?

The post Top 10 Under-Appreciated Ink Brands appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

It may seem like fountain pen inks come in a bazillion colors, and they do – but the vast majority are water-soluble. Finding a range of ink colors that are also solidly waterproof isn’t as easy. Some may say they are waterproof and may be sufficiently water-resistant for addressing an envelope, but if watercolors or other wet media were applied over them, they could smear. Of the ones I’ve tried, DeAtramentis offers the widest range of hues that are also sufficiently waterproof for use as an art medium.

I suppose that’s why the German ink maker’s latest line of waterproof inks is called DeAtramentis Artist. I’m not sure how different its formula is from the DeAtramentis Document line, which is also waterproof, but at least on Vanness Pen Shop’s website, the Artist inks are described as being lightfast as well as waterproof. Available in eight colors, “All inks of this group are mixable with each other. The inks can be painted and written with fountain pen, brush and quill pen.” (Awhile back, I reviewed DeAtramentis Document inks in Fog Grey, Dark Red and White.)

For this review, I tried the Artist inks in Green, Brown and Black. Green is on the slightly cool side tending toward emerald. Brown is a rich chocolate that is neither orangey nor grayish. Black is neutral, although in the brush swatch, it’s a bit on the warm side. (I had a chance to sample the inks on some Col-o-Ring Dippers!)

These inks do not show fancy features like sheening or shading, but they would be excellent for addressing envelopes or writing in a journal when you might be apt to spill a beverage on it. They are also ideal for sketching with wet media, which is my primary interest with these inks.

After making my usual swatches on Col-o-Ring cards with various fountain pens and a brush, I gave them a good hour or two of drying time. Then I swiped them with a waterbrush. Even the thick brush swatches barely show traces of bleeding (right side of cards).

My long-time favorite black waterproof ink for sketching is Platinum Carbon Black, which I have used for years because it dries very quickly and then becomes as waterproof as I need it to be with wet media. I decided to put it head-to-head with Black DeAtramentis Artist. Since I had sampled the DeAtramentis with my juicy Franklin-Christoph fude nib, I used an equally juicy Sailor Naginata fude nib for the Platinum ink.

I typically draw with ink and then apply wet media immediately afterwards, and I don’t like to be kept waiting. For this test, I waited only one minute before putting my waterbrush through the lines (right side of scribbles). As you can see, whether I wait a minute or an hour (on the left), the very minor solubility is negligible. DeAtramentis Artist is just as waterproof as Platinum Carbon and dries just as quickly. The bonus is that DeAtramentis is available in a much wider range of colors.

Convinced that the ink wouldn’t bleed all over my sketch, I stood on our upstairs deck to sketch the fully blossomed cherry tree across the street. As soon as I made the ink lines, I colored the blossoms with water-soluble Caran d’Ache Supracolor pencils. Then I spritzed it generously with water to activate the color. I see no trace of bleeding from the ink.

I know that waterproof DeAtramentis inks are popular with many sketchers, and I can see why. The collection offers fast-drying, fully waterproof inks in more colors than I’ve seen elsewhere.

TOOLS

• Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Beta ($17.99)
• Pens: Pilot Prera (M nib) ($32.50), Pilot Metropolitan (M nib) ($19.50), Franklin-Christoph 20 Marietta (fude nib) ($165 + $55 for nib), Sailor 1911 full size (Naginata Fude de Mannen nib) ($450)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Ring “Dipper” ($5)
• Brush: Winsor & Newton pointed round 4 ($13.04)
• Inks: DeAtramentis Artist Brown, Green, Black ($19.95 each)

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

The post Ink Review: DeAtramentis Artist Green, Brown, Black appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

There’s only one way to truly show off shimmer/sparkle/pearlescent inks and that’s with video. I apologize for the 25-minute long video but its not my fault that deAtramentis decided to release 40 colors in their new line of Pearlescent inks. There’s ten different colors of ink on four different sparkle/pearlescent bases. The ten colors are whisky brown, amber yellow, camellia, magenta red, heliogreen, brilliant violet, cyan blue, indian blue, columbia blue, and velvet black. Each color has been released with a gold pearlescent, silver pearlescent, copper pearlescent and bronze pearlescent base. So far.

I didn’t have all 40 of the deAtramentis samples, only about 26 of them but that’s still a serious sampling that will give you a good idea of what these inks colors look like across the bases. I was missing a lot of the copper and bronze versions unfortunately which are the most unique aspects of the deAtramentis line.

The best way to compare these colors is to show them side-by-side with Diamine Shimmer and J. Herbin 1670 colors.  I was missing a few of the Diamine Shimmer ink samples as well but again, I feel like I was able to get a pretty close comparison to the inks I had from deAtramentis.  I’m amazed at how many sparkle inks are on the market now.

From the blue range, you can see that Diamine Blue Lightning and deAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver are very similar. Both are a similar blue ink base with silver metallic flake. The deAtramentis has more of a reddish/magenta sheen. The Cyan Blue Gold loses the sheen because the gold flecks overpower the ink. I didn’t have the copper or bronze flecked versions of this color so I’m not sure if you’d lose the sheen on this color with those inks but its one of the more interesting ink colors because of the noticeable sheen.

J. Herbin’s Bleu Ocean stands apart in the blues for being noticeably more rich but I have a bottle from an early release of the color and it’s one of the runniest of the J. Herbin inks.

Diamine Shimmering Seas and deAtramentis Indian Blue Gold are very similar both being a blue-black with gold flecks. deAtramentis appears to have a bit more concentration of gold though. Diamine Blue Pearl and deAtramentis Columbia Blue Silver are also quite similar but I think Diamine’s version has a bit more visual interest. It got a deep burgundy sheen in the swatch and lots of sparkle in the writing sample.

In the magenta and purple range, deAtramentis Brilliant Violet with the silver and gold fleck I did not have a direct comparison though I suspect that Diamine Lilac Satin would be a close match for the Brilliant Violet Silver.  The deAtramentis Magenta Red Silver and Diamine Magenta Flash are similar magenta inks with a silver fleck but the ink colors are slightly different. The Diamine ink base is a  warmer pink, the deAtramentis a bit cooler purple/magenta. The Magenta Red Gold looks interesting in the swab swatch but the flecks had already started to settle in the vial when I started to do the lettering so some of the sparkle was already lost. I think the Magenta Red would be most interesting with the copper or bronze fleck.

Diamine Night Sky and deAtramentis Velvet Black Silver are both black ink bases with silver sparkle. Diamine Sparkling Shadow, deAtramentis Velvet Black Gold and J. Herbin Stormy Grey are all basically black/dark grey with gold flecks. Stormy Grey says its grey but always looks darker to me and Sparkling Shadow looks more grey. Diamine Purple Pazzaz is supposed to be purple but is very dark to me. Diamine has a brown in its shimmer line called Caramel Sparkle but I didn’t have a sample. I still think it wouldn’t hold a candle to J. Herbin’s Caroube de Chypre which has a green sheen as well as the gold sparkle on a warm brown ink.

Diamine Firestorm and deAtramentis Camellia (which is mislabelled on all the swatches) Red Silver are pretty close colors. Both are red ink bases with a silver fleck. To the right is the Camellia base ink with the copper fleck, I mislabelled the sample swatch. The copper adds more of an orangey tone to the color which makes it more unusual. The bronze fleck on the Camellia  reflects a ton of light and looks like a light gold and pretty much drowns out the color. Actually, with the Camellia Red on the swatches, the sparkle really overpowered the ink color. In the writing its a little less noticeable except in the bronze. On close inspection, I think Diamine Firestorm Red and Pink Glitz are the same ink base but Firestorm uses the silver fleck and Pink Glitz uses the gold fleck. Red Lustre is a deeper red with gold fleck best suited for Valentine’s, love letters and Christmas cards.

Diamine Brandy Dazzle is still an outstanding color. Since I’ve been watching Westworld lately (which is a bit of a mind-bending, horrific, albeit beautiful-in-its-own-way tv series) I envision some sort of parchment correspondence written in this color with the gold dust sparkle.  Red Lustre also reminds me of the landscape with the sunset dappling the mesas. Sorry for the tangent.

The Amber Yellows were the most disappointing. In general yellows are some of the hardest inks colors to do in the first place and, as you can see, these came out as badly as you might have expected. The four on the far left are the only ones worth talking about. The Whisky Browns from daAtramentis are not brown as much as they are actually amber. I think the Whisky Brown Copper is the most successful and probably of all the deAtramentis Pearlescent inks the one that will probably sell the best. The Whisky Brown Gold or Bronze bringing in a close second. Though next to Diamine Golden Sands, I think the Whisky Brown Bronze in the more interesting after the Copper.

I saved the best for last. I only had samples of the deAtramentis Heliogreen in Silver and Gold. I’d be curious if the copper or bronze base would be a curse or a blessing to the kelly green ink base. The green is very “Christmasy” in my opinion so if you have plans to address your holiday cards or packages, this might be a good candidate. Diamine’s Magical Forest has a deeper pine green cast with a silver fleck and definitely has a more woodland vibe. Diamine also offers a Golden Oasis which is a lime green ink with a gold fleck but I did not have a sample of that, hard as that might be to believe.

I know it might seem odd to include J. Herbin Rouge Hematite in the green category but my version (an earlier bottling) has a very distinct green beetle-shell sheen. It is the most unusual of all the “sparkle” inks although my version does not really sparkle (YMMV). I know that Rouge Hematite has been reformulated a couple times and I’m not sure where the formulation has landed or if there’s any way to tell depending on who you purchase from what version you might be getting. But I think from perusing a few web sites it looks like the results are pretty consistent to what I am showing. It is the first of the “shimmer” inks and it still remains the most interesting.

J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor is probably the most popular of all the shimmer inks and with good reason. It sheens like nobody’s business from a gorgeous dark turquoise teal blue to a magenta red then it pools gold fleck. Combine all of these factors and it creates a wonderful patina effect that almost makes a rainbow. Diamine Enchanted Ocean is a dark blue ink with silver shimmer which I did not have a swatch might come close to Emerald of Chivor but I’ve never heard anyone suggest it was much of a rival.

I still find Diamine inks to be consistently more dense. Other people might describe this as “drier” but I think of it as more viscous. It stays up on the page better. deAtramentis inks always seem more watery. And J. Herbin even more watery still. I would not use the term “wetter” because I feel that implies slicker. Like the case with my bottle (YMMV) of Bleu Ocean, it’s just watery. It tends to feather and bloop and behave as if I left water in my pen, nib or feed after cleaning my pen rather than an ink that was slick, lubricated or oily in consistency. If that makes sense? When I think of an ink being “dry” I think of it being chalky or being able to feel the micro-particles of pigment that make up the ink color. I would not say that about any of these inks, especially not Diamine. It has a smooth feel when writing, even in a dip nib and even with the metallic flakes.

So, after my lengthy explanation, I’m inclined to prefer the Diamine Shimmertastic inks for use over the other two brands. The particles of sparkle blend faster and more readily. Diamine offers a large but manageable range of colors.

I think 40+ metallic inks is way too many for deAtramentis to release at one time. I think that deAtramentis, in general, has a hard time keeping up with their massive ink inventory and have not been very good about releasing, promoting and restocking their existing colors. I also think they are a little late to the metallic ink party. I think the copper and bronze metallics is where they are doing something interesting but they should have focused their attention there. They should have done a few really great colors and done them well rather than flooding the market with tons of colors, some of which are really iffy. They made it really hard for anyone to know which colors to buy on which base and probably equally challenging for shops to figure out which colors to order. I suspect that there will be a few bottles of one or two of the more disappointing colors lingering on shop shelves and at pen shows for years to come.

So, if I were to recommend a few shimmer/pearl/sparkle inks to purchase or sample here’s my short list:

• deAtramentis Pearlescent Whisky Brown Copper
• deAtramentis Pearlescent Cyan Blue Silver
• J. Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor
• J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite
• J. Herbin 1670 Caroube de Chypre
• Diamine Shimmertastic Brandy Dazzle
• Diamine Shimmertastic Blue Pearl
• Diamine Shimmertastic Sparkling Shadow
• Diamine Shimmertastic Red Lustre

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pens, Anderson Pens and Goulet Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: DeAtramentis Pearlescent Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I’d recommend using them with a pen like a Lamy Safari, a Platinum Carbon Desk Pen, a Pilot Metropolitan or maybe refilling a Preppy. You can also use these inks with dip nibs. Just remember to clean out the inks every couple of weeks to make sure that they do not dry out in the pen.

The Platinum Carbon Black is an excellent ink. I find it incredibly well-behaved. I’ve been using it in my Platinum Carbon Desk Pen for almost a year and I have yet to clean it out thoroughly. I occasionally dip the tip in water and wipe it with a rag to clean off a bit of the built up carbon build-up but it is one of my go-to pens. It’s refilled three times with both cartridge and bottled Carbon Black and performs beautifully. I also put some Carbon Black in an old Platinum Preppy and it works fine too.

That said, I was willing to try some of Platinum’s Pigment inks — the Sepia ($16 for 60ml bottle) and Rose Red ($1.25 for a 3ml sample) specifically. I went ahead and purchased a full bottle of the the Sepia knowing that a good permanent sepia brown is something I needed to have in my collection and I’ve been using it in my Lamy Joy. I’ve refilled it several times already and been quite pleased with the performance of the Sepia so I went ahead and got a sample of the Rose Red as well. I wasn’t sure if I’d need want a whole bottle of rose red ink but, upon using it, I really quite like it. It wasn’t as pink as I expected it to be. It’s more of a warm red. I liked using it to draw. Though I’m still on the fence as to whether I’d use a whole bottle of it.

I also purchased samples of an assortment of De Atramentis Document Inks in Yellow, Fuchsia, Dark Blue, Blue, Green, and Turquoise.  Easch sample is 3ml and costs $1.75. Full bottles are $18.50. The most interesting aspect of the Documents inks, beyond the permanence, is their mixability. I purchased what was essentially the building blocks of printer’s inks — cyan, magenta and yellow to mix with my carbon black in an effort to make some of my own colors in the future. I was inspired by some of the ink color experiments that Liz Steel has done for her field sketching.

The one issue I found was that the turquoise color was a bit runnier than the other colors. I imagine mixing it with one of the other colors might help a bit but I was disappointed with the runnyness. The yellow was also too light to use without mixing with another color but is nice and bright so it would be fun to mix to brighten a darker color.

All-in-all the permanent colors are definitely more experimental. I am fairly confident recommending the Platinum Carbon Black and the Platinum Pigment Sepia though as I’ve been a pretty disrespectful pen owner and they have both worked flawlessly in both my Platinum Carbon Desk Pen ($9.60) and in the Lamy Joy ($28) with an EF nib ($13) so you should feel confident using those and Liz Steel praises the performance of De Atramentis Document inks so I think those should work pretty well long term as well. But I’d still proceed with caution and be prepared to tweak as needed for performance and color.

Thanks to Pen Chalet and Anderson Pens. Both are sponsors of this blog but I purchased all the pen, inks and samples shown here with my own money.

The post Ink Review: Waterproof, Permanent Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I did a good deal of research for this piece. My favorite is Liz Steel’s 7-Part Fountain Pen Sketching article. Her Part Two: Why Draw With a Fountain Pen was my favorite! I am also tossing in my own personal experiences to create these recommendations. So if you are hoping to do more drawing and sketching and wanting to either purchase or set aside a pen in your collection specifically for drawing, these are my recommendations. You don’t need all of these, one or two will more than suit. You may want to have one filled with a waterproof ink and one with a water soluble ink or one with black ink and one with brown or blue ink or your favorite color for sketching.

Pens
Platinum Carbon Desk Pen (or Sailor Desk Pen)
The Platinum Carbon Desk Pen ($9.60) is available with a super fine Japanese nib and ships with one cartridge of Platinum Carbon Black ink which is waterproof. I used my PCDP almost daily and it took almost six months to run through the first cartridge. I even used it to fill in areas, write notes, doodle and sketch since the lines are so fine, the cartridges last a long time.

Because of the fineness of the nib, I can use this on just about any paper stock from lightweight sketching paper to heavier weight watercolor paper without a lot of feathering or bleeding issues. I occasionally run into issues on toothy paper of picking up fibers in the tines because the point is so fine. This causes some momentary clogging but a wipe with a tissue will usually remove the fibers. At which point I know to switch to a felt tip pen or a wider nib pen because of the paper stock.

The PCDP was designed to accommodate the waterproof ink and its a budget-priced pen so if it did get clogged beyond repair, it would not be the end of the world. So far, mine’s been a little trooper and it really is the one pen that is almost always in my bag.

The longer length of the pen is a little challenging for portability but I’ve seen that some people have trimmed down the length a bit and filled in the end with epoxy or putty. The cap was not designed to be a long term solution so its an aesthetic mismatch but the functionality of this pen outweighs its looks.

If you prefer to use bottled ink with the PCDP, be sure to purchase a Platinum Converter ($6) or a Platinum Cartridge Adapter ($2) since Platinum uses a proprietary cartridge system.

I also have a Sailor Desk Pen which is similar in design with a weird, peachy cap that doesn’t match as well but was also designed to be used with Sailor’s Nano permanent inks. The Sailor Desk Pen is harder to find these days but if you already have one and were wondering what to use it for, it would make a great sketching pen. Sailor Nano cartridges are available packs of 12 ($10) in UltraBlack and Blue-Black which could potentially last you six years if you draw as often as I do, maybe only three years if you’re more prolific. Or you could buy a whole 50 ml bottle of the Nano Ink for $33 just be sure to grab a converter too ($8.25) because Sailor also uses a proprietary cartridge and converter system.

Rotring ArtPen
The Rotring ArtPen ($21+) was one of the first modern fountain pens I ever bought. I found it in an art supply store and used it for years before I knew that there were other options available. I just kept going back and buying the Rotring black cartridges and using the pen to draw and write with until it ran dry. I still have it and I still fill it regularly since it takes standard European cartridges and converters. I’ve filled it with both water soluble and permanent inks, I’ve let it sit for months so inks dried in it and then soaked it for days to try to resuscitate it. It has continued to survive for decades now. It has proven much heartier and durable than all the Rapidographs and Isographs I’ve had put together.

It has the same long tapered shape as the PCDP so it has that arty “paint brush” feeling. Mine has the EF nib making it great for sketching and probably is responsible for starting me on my love affair with fine nib pens but its available with a variety of nib sizes including calligraphy nibs.

The cap has a firm click to close it and was actually designed to be capped unlike the PCDP and the Sailor Desk Pen so while its a bit more expensive, its a fully thought-out pen. The Rotring is probably the most universally usable option since it take standard European cartridges and/or converters and the nib sizes are based on the European measurements with the widest range of nib sizes available of all the options I’ve listed.

Lamy Joy
The last option on my list of traditional fountain pens is the Lamy Joy ($28) available in white and black. It too has the long tapered shape of a paint brush but can only be purchased with a calligraphy nib (1.1mm, 1.5mm or 1.9mm) initially so it you like the look and feel of a classic Lamy Safari but would like to have a long, tapered shape for sketching, you’ll have to purchase a separate nib (approx $11) making the Lamy Joy the most expensive option.

Lamy also requires either proprietary ink cartridges (none of Lamy’s inks are waterproof) or a Lamy LZ24 converter ($4.70) in order to use bottled inks. If you’re like me, you have a stash of Lamy Safari fountain pens and can probably liberate a converter but if you’re planning to use waterproof inks in your Joy, you may want to be sure not to mix the converter you use with the Joy with the one you use with your Lamy 2000 with the 14K gold nib… just in case.

I recently purchased a Joy and replaced the calligraphy nib with an EF steel nib and filled it with Platinum Sepia Pigment ink. I purchased the still-available, limited edition white model from last year but its also available in black with a red clip or a slightly higher priced black with aluminum cap.

I had not been a great lover of the Safari in the past. Its a good solid pen but not one that made my heart palpitate. The Joy, however, touches me on another level. I think the longer length gives it better balance and weight in the hand making it feel a bit more substantial and using it more like a drawing tool than a writing pen made me less bothered by the grooved grip. I find the Joy more comfortable to draw with than I’ve ever found the Safari to write with. I may go back to the Safaris and consider them as drawing pens at this point.

Inks
Platinum Inks
Platinum Carbon Ink has become my go-to ink for permanent black ink I’ve been using my PCDP almost every day for six months and found the Carbon ink to be a well-behaved, dark black. I had little issues with it drying in the pen, even with the fine nib and it being tossed around in my bag, used on all sorts of paper stocks from copier paper to toothy cold press watercolor paper. I had more issues with the pen getting jammed with paper fibers on toothy papers over waxy pencil or other materials than I did with the ink drying in the pen. I’ve gone ahead and purchased a bottle of Platinum Pigmented Sepia ink which is also permanent and I think will make a lovely alternative to black for drawing. As mentioned earlier, Sailor’s Nano Inks are an excellent alternative as well if you are looking for cartridges to match a Sailor pen or find a good deal on the Nano black bottled ink.

DeAtramentis Document Inks
Liz Steel is very fond of DeAtramentis Document Inks for the range of colors available and she has had great success with flow in some of the less expensive pens using the DeAtramentis Document inks so they are definitely worth a look. Jane Blundell has some amazing mixing charts using DeAtramentis Documents Inks that make me want ALL THE COLORS. I’m hoping to try some of them out and pick up a few bottles when I’m in Atlanta.

Several other brands make permanent inks worth experimenting with if you have some around. Diamine has their Registrars ink and Noodlers has several Bulletproof inks. Though I’ve read through some blogs that have found the Noodler’s inks to be troublesome in some instances for drawing. But if you’ve got some, why not give them a whirl?

Any water soluble fountain pen inks
For everyday sketching, any standard (water soluble) fountain pen ink will work on just about any drawing paper. Most sketchbook paper starts at about 60lb and should handle a F or XF fountain pen nib loaded with just about any fountain pen ink just fine. On slightly heavier mixed media papers like Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media, Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook or similar paper that is labelled for ink, light washes or mixed media, you can add a little water to your drawing and move some of the water soluble ink around to create some wonderful watercolor-like effects without a lot of tools. Citizen Sketcher has some amazing examples of this in action and totally makes me want to try this myself.

Other resources:

• Jane Blundell compiled her favorite drawing pens and they are remarkably similar to this list.
• Fountain Pen Tips and Favorites from Sketchbook Skool
• Nina Johhansson has a nice little post about her experiences with some permanent inks.
• Mostly Drawing did a post about his favorite fountain pens and inks as well as a few disposable pen recommendations.
• ParkaBlogs did a guest post for On Fountain Pens on how to choose a fountain pen for sketching

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