Best Black Ink to Refill Brush Pens

Hi Teoh,

Great blog and thanks for giving such useful advice! Just one question: in relation to Rotring's Ink, sometimes it seems you are suggesting it might be used for fountain pens as well (maybe I am not remembering correctly...) but you also wrote "Since it's pigmented, it is not advised to use it inside fountain pens". As it is widely available here in Europe (more than the Carbon Ink,Noodler's and the expensive De Atramentis), I just wanted to understand if I might use it for this as well!

Thanks for the info!

And by the way, happy new year!

Luigi

You do not want to put technical pen ink into a fountain pen. I use it frequently in my technical pen, and anywhere that the ink has a chance to dry out, it dries into a solid crust. It does not reconstitute with water. This means that if it dries out inside your pen, it will leave solid chunks behind, and you won't be able to wash it out with water.

Do you know where I can find any of these options in the shops in Singapore?

What a great article, thank you so much for putting this together. What is the name of the brush pen that is pictured here? Are used to have that pan and I want to get it back!

Thank you for this really great article. It is concise and to the point, it really is perfect. Can you please tell me the name of the brush pan you have pictured here? It was my favorite and I am sorry I threw it out.

Diluted inkjet ink works incredibly well! Better and cheaper than anything else i tried, and resistant to water and even alcohol based markers once dry.
a concentration of 5-10% is still very high, and as uniformly pitch black as permanent marker, down to fractions of a percent, to get tones of grey and a more shadable, wash-like ink. it's thin as water, so it runs pretty dry. (good for dry brush effects) but that can be adjusted by "lubricating" it with a little gum arabic, to make it run thicker and smoother. just test it with a brush, and add more if needed. (write down how much you added! ideally use syringes for full controll over the mixing ratios)
You absolutely have to dilute it sufficiently, or it will over-saturate the paper like oil and keep smearing and bleeding. Pigmented ink, ment for HP950 cartridges gave me the cleanest and deepest black so far.
PS: It's perfectly safe for fountain pens too, because the ink contains hardly any dissolved solids, and only becomes permanent when bonding to cellulose.

For a much cheaper alternative, search for "Bonkote flux Pen"s on ebay or aliexpress. They are almost identical to pentels, including the regulator tube, and can be found for 1-2$. The bristols are a bit finer and softer.
Another option are water brushes. Those dont come with a regulator and thus aren't "pocket safe", but on the other hand, you can squeeze them a bit to quickly lay down a lot of ink. the little cylindrical ones, coming in packs of three for around 1.50-1.99$ have surprisingly good brushes. nice firm springyness and very juicy flow, due to the thincker bristols.
PS: Tinker with them a bit, many parts are interchangable.

Thanks for the informative article! I came over from your youtube, and your videos are consistently very helpful. I’m currently using noodler’s ink for my fountain pens, and just purchased my first pentel fude pen. Would you personally recommend refilling with noodler’s ink?

Thanks again.

Hello!. thank you for this valuable information. Have you tried inks for inkjet printers?

hello! what can i do if my brush on the tips separate from each other? when i put some water on them, they stick togheter and they work for a while, but after six or seven strokes this problem returns, i just bought this set, (akashiya sai watercolor brush pen) that is why i am concern, they are brand new!

Hi, thanks for this helpful article. I was wondering if the Pentel fude brush pens could be dipped in water for making Chinese ink paintings. If so, I understand the inks you recommended above are waterproof; do you have any ink recommendations for the brush pen for this purpose?

Great! I noticed you recommended waterproof inks in your article. Are these suitable for Chinese ink painting purposes? Is there a water-soluble ink that you do recommend for the brush pen?

I know people who use Lamy ink to refill the brush pens. Austin Kleon does. You can just search for his "Magic brush pen" video. Thanks for the tips!

Thank you for the tips on brush pens.

I've have several Pentels pocket brush pens, Kaimei KT-3, and Kuretake # 13.
They work well but for one thing... they all begin to flow too much ink while drawing.

I'm no longer able to get fine lines. So, After trying Platinum, and many other inks including Rotring, I'm out of options.
I have not tried the Sailor Kiwa-Guro Pigmented Black.
Not sure if I should spend more money there.
All these pens couldn't be defective. I live in two places. One is in central Texas, and the other high in the mountains of Colorado at 10k feet. The brush pens flood on me in both locations.
Have you got any ideas on that? Thank you.