Ink Comparison: Daler-Rowney Calli vs Pelikan Fount India

Other important questions:
- How thick is the ink? Usually waterproof inks are thicker and do not flow as well with brush and can be sludge to a fountain pen.
- How dark? Typically waterproof inks are darker, but that may not matter to an artist who darkens lineart digitally.
- How fade resistant? You don't normally have to worry about this so long as the ink is a true India, but as with sites falsely saying the Pelikan ink is waterproof, so is there confusion about what is really India ink. I always test new inks and pens on a paper strip and leave it out in the sun to see what the effects are. I once had an ink that turned sepia in less than a month!

Thanks so much for showing the ink-comparison vid.

Time's moved on a bit since I last drew with pen-and-ink, and these days I find they're putting all sorts of silly 'improvers' into the basic ink you buy from the shops, that make it waterproof / go funny colours when you try to shade it by getting it wet.

So I've been having some trouble finding a drawing india-type ink that can be used in a fountain ('art'-type) pen - and what you've shown is exactly what I wanted to know about the Pelikan Fount India ink - ie. that it'll smudge instantly once you wet it - actually what I want it to do, so that's a huge help.

Many thanks!

Thanks so much for all the reviews and comparison. Recently got into the addiction of fountain pens and all "thanks" to you :D I now need to source for some ink.

I went to Art Friend and all they got was the Pelikan 4001 series, though after using it with my Hero 501-1 I am quite pleased with the results but I still want to know is there any places in Singapore where I can get ink?

I ran across this review on the Amazon website where they sell Daler-Rowney Calli ink. I'm just passing this along to anyone thinking about using this ink in a fountain pen:

"While I think this is a really nice dip pen ink, it shouldn't be used with calligraphy pens such the Lamy Joy, or anything with a reservoir. I contacted the manufacturer who said that while it will work in a fountain pen, Calli ink may cause the reservoir to rot. So it certainly isn't safe to be using in fountain pen. It would of been nice if this information was included on the bottle, or at least a little warning like 'not safe for fountain pens,' since I have been using these calli inks in my pens for over a year now. Samwell (TX)"

So many years later after this review, as I only need the permanence, I can say that pretty satisfied. Im using this "burgundy" one actually, with dilution, 1:1. Dunno how long will rot my Jinhao :D

12 years later after this review, I decided to use this ink as a daily writer with some dilution. As the fountain pens, of course, affordable jinhao come to rescue, the commend about said "reservoir rot", like the converter will rot? I can't really think plastic will easily rot.