on salePelikan Brilliant Black 4001 - 2oz Bottled Ink

Deep black, nearly 0 shading, and flows easy, not dry, even though it's pretty thick. Excellent old school ink smell, too!

Deep black, nearly 0 shading, and flows easy, not dry, even though it’s pretty thick. Excellent old school ink smell, too!

I've only bought bottled ink (Pelikan); it's my favorite, and my local art store has closed. :( Very happy with delivery speed and packing. Price is better than the chain art store.

This ink came free when I bought my first fountain pen. I use it with my Platinum Century #3776. It's my go-to everyday ink. Dries quickly on both high and poor quality paper. It's become the only ink that I will buy.

When matched with a pen that it pairs well with, this is an excellent black ink. The color is deep with minimal gray shading, although it is not as saturated as some blacks (e.g., Aurora or Noodler's). It dries quickly even on Rhodia paper. The flow of the ink is somewhat different however and may cause issues. It's hard to call it truly wet or dry, the better word might be sticky. In wetter pens and broader nibs, the flow is excellent and produces a solid black line. In finer nibs the flow becomes quite difficult and it will often skip or stop entirely. I was becoming frustrated with the ink myself until I eventually found a pen it worked well with (cheap Platinum and Faber-Castell pens worked poorly, Diplomat was better suited).