Fountain pens are usually chosen for their elegance and the smooth flow of ink that makes writing such a joy. It may just keep you writing until its reservoir of ink is all gone. Care in selecting inks should be observed in order to prevent pigment particles from blocking the flow of ink. One must make sure that ink bought are clog-free inks are suitable for their fountain pens.

Whether a person wants a more economical method of refilling ink or prefer a more convenient means, he may choose between the bottled variety and cartridge variety.

Bottled or Cartridge

Both bottled inks and cartridges are available depending on the writer’s preference. Lanier Pens offers a wide range of both bottled ink and cartridges. Bottled inks and cartridges come in a wide variety of colors such as Velvet Black, Midnight Blue, Sherwood Green, Naples Blue, Fiesta Red, Tanzanite and Chocolat.

Bottled Inks cost less than cartridges and cause fewer plastic wastes on the environment.

Cartridges, on the other hand are mess-free and more convenient to bring wherever you go.

Left-handers will find advantages from fast-drying inks that provide mess-free writing.

A History of Fountain Pen Inks

Early fountain pens had reservoirs that were filled with an eyedropper. Its burdensome and messy procedure led to development of other methods. However, the eyedropper method is still used today for its simple mechanism and larger volume of ink transfer, which compensates for its inconvenience. Afterwards, self-fillers were mass-produced, wherein a sac made of rubber was used to contain the ink and released by certain mechanisms. Other mechanisms like the method of crescent-filler, coin-filler, match-filler, blow-filler, lever filler, and button filler were introduced.

Later on, cartridges replaced most of these mechanisms for their convenience although the ink capacity is reduced. A very popular filling mechanism employed today in fountain pens is the piston-fillers wherein a knob is simply turned and a screw apparatus draws the piston to suck ink in. Most pen, currently use the piston filler or cartridge. Most European fountain pen brands such as Caran d’Ache, Faber-Castell, DuPont, Montblanc, Waterman, Rotring, etc. use "international cartridges" (38mm in length and about 0.75ml capacity). A converter is also used which is a device that has filling mechanism and reservoir attached but is the same size as the pen’s cartridge.

Selecting Ink

Care should be taken while selecting an ink for fountain pens in order to prevent any clogging and if one prefers a fast-drying one especially for left-handers. With the developments of the mechanisms for refilling fountain pen inks, one can whether he prefers economy in the case of bottled inks or convenience in favour of cartridges.