Review on 🖤 Review: Pelikan Drawing Ink 518 Black Fount India - 1oz Bottle (221143) by Heather Shaw

Based on other reviews there has been some confusion with this ink. I'll try to clear things up! Firstly, unlike some other reviews, Pelikan Fount India is an Indian ink, meaning that its color comes from a carbon pigment (like carbon black or lampblack) and not a dye. Traditional inks for technical pencils and brushes often contain shellac as a binder. When you use this type of ink, you literally paint the paper with ink. Fount India is designed for use in fountain pens and is therefore *shellac-free*. The ink channels of the fountain pen are very narrow; Filling them with glue isn't the best plan. Second, Fount India* is waterproof. It doesn't have the glossy, sealed finish that shellac gives to traditional Indian inks, but once the carbon particles are stuck to your artboard, they can't be removed without damaging it. Third, the behavior noted by one reviewer, that of ink smearing after drying, is common to many highly saturated inks (particularly the popular Noodlers ink). This behavior is determined by the ink flow of the pen - the more ink on the paper, the more free carbon remains on top as the ink dries - and how absorbent the drawing surface is - the more ink is absorbed by the paper, leaving less free carbon on top when the ink dries. If you are trying to apply watercolor paint to loose pigment, you must first apply a sealer to the surface of the painting, otherwise the charcoal will mix with the paint. This applies to *all* highly saturated and/or pigmented inks. Alternatively, you can also dilute the ink with distilled water. As above, the ratio depends on the moisture content of your pen and the absorbency of the drawing surface. When you need ink for fountain pens, you don't have many options. Apart from Pelikan Fount India there is Platinum Carbon Black which I find tends to bleed and smudge when drying on less absorbent papers. There is also Sailor Kiwa Guro which I would like to try but didn't because it's very expensive! Based on online reviews I think Kiwa Guro might be the best of the three in terms of quality, but Pelikan Fount India is by far the best option in terms of value for money!