Your first watercolour morning with us
Three hours, eight people and all the materials: what happens at our second-Sunday workshop, even if you have never painted.
Dye or pigment ink: choosing a bottle
Bright colours that wash out, or permanent ink that needs more care. How fountain pen inks differ, and which suits your pen.
Our ink shelf holds more than forty bottles, and choosing one can take longer than choosing the pen. Most of the difference comes down to one question: dye or pigment.
Dye-based inks are colour dissolved in water. They flow easily, come in every shade you can imagine, and clean out of a pen with plain water. Our blue-black at ₹290 for 50 ml is a dye ink, and so are most of the bright blues, greens and purples. The trade-off is permanence: a drop of water on the page makes dye ink run, and it fades if left in sunlight for months. For daily notes, letters and journals, that rarely matters.
Pigment inks carry tiny solid particles suspended in water. They are waterproof once dry and resist fading, which makes them right for documents, addresses on parcels, and line work under watercolour. They cost more, about ₹450 to ₹650 a bottle, and they need care: a pen left with pigment ink for weeks can clog as the particles settle. Flush the pen every two or three weeks. There are also iron gall inks, an old formula that darkens on the paper and becomes permanent. They suit steel nibs and pens you clean regularly, but are not for vintage or delicate pens.
If you are new to fountain pens, start with a dye ink in a dark colour. It is forgiving, easy to clean and works on most papers. Bring your pen and notebook to the counter, and we will let you try a few inks side by side before you buy.
