The Best Inks for Calligraphy – (All Types & Styles)

Last Updated on March 13, 2025

Ink is the lifeblood of calligraphy, it flows within every stroke and into every letterform. But with so many types of calligraphy inks, what is the best for you? Well, the answer to this question and pretty much all really good questions is…..

“That depends.”

It depends on 3 things:

  1. The calligraphy you want to write – If you don’t know where to start, check out my Beginner’s Guide and Calligraphy Roadmap.
  2. The Calligraphy tool you plan to use – If you need to identify your tool: Check out this Guide
  3. Black ink or colour ink – Dealer’s choice on this one.

This sounds like a lot to consider for a simple question, but I will do my best to make this as painless as possible and help you get right on track to what you will need. I also have a blogpost with a full list of recommended tools for all calligraphy types here: My Recommended Calligraphy Tools

First, A Little About Ink

person dipping quill pen in an ink
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

A Little History of Ink

Ink itself was initially made from natural ingredients like soot, plant dyes, and animal byproducts. Ink was essential for writing, documenting history, and creating art. In calligraphy, the choice of ink can protect your tools from damage, to affecting the texture, flow, and vibrancy of your work. We will explore the best inks for calligraphy, tailored to different calligraphy styles and preferences, ensuring that every stroke is as beautiful as the intention behind it.

Critical Knowledge About Ink:

Full Post on Difference between Calligraphy Ink and Fountain Pen Ink. But here are the main points:

  • The paper you use for calligraphy is equally important to ink choice. If you use less dense paper (think normal printer paper) your correctly chosen ink will “bleed” making the letters you write look bad and in most cases, unreadable. Make sure to select a higher paper density of 90g/m² or 24 lb. You can learn more on paper for calligraphy on my full blogpost here: Best Calligraphy Paper
  • Calligraphy ink is pigment-based ink that contains a compound called “gum arabic” and is made for dip pens only. “Gum arabic” can make your fountain pens and pilot parallels unusable if put into them.
  • Fountain pen ink is a dye-based ink and is made for fountain pens, cartridge pens, and pilot parallels.
  • Lightfastness is a property of a colourant such as dye or pigment that describes its resistance to fading when exposed to light. Dye based inks are not very lightfast, while pigmented based inks hold their colour better. So for projects that you want to stay a certain colour should be pigmented inks.

So without further ado let’s get into it:

Best Inks for Blackletter Calligraphy:

Blackletter Featured Image
Learn Blackletter Calligraphy Blogpost

Best Blackletter Ink for Dip Pens:

Dip pens can use any kind of ink, but calligraphy ink is thicker and therefore has better surface tension, allowing a better flow for a dip pen.

Best Colour Ink Recommendations for Blackletter Dip Pens:

Best Black Ink Recommendations For Blackletter Dip Pens:

Best Blackletter Ink when Using a Pilot Parallel:

Pilot Parallel Pen and Blackletter Calligraphy writing Example
Best Tool for Blackletter

Since the pilot parallel is a very specific tool (that I recommend a lot), I would like to give me best recommendations for what to use with it! A Pilot Parallel is a cartridge pen, which operates the same as a fountain pen, and can gum up if the wrong ink (calligraphy ink) is used. The ink it comes with seems to be a bit on the “bleed-y” side (aka feathering), so I recommend filling the ink reservoir with the following fountain pen inks:

ALSO, anecdotally, I have put Ecoline Liquid Watercolour into my pilot parallels and have yet have one clog up (9 years as of 2020). However, your mileage may vary, as there is gum arabic in Ecoline ink. Gum arabic is an ink thickener and has been known to clog pens.  I wouldn’t put it in an expensive pen (just to be safe) but if you have multiple pilot parallel pens you can try my favourite and most used ink below:

Blogposts to Get You Started with Blackletter Calligraphy:

Now that you have the right ink for your selected style of calligraphy, check out some helpful links:

Best Inks for Pointed Pen & Ruling Pen Calligraphy

Well what do those look like? See below:

Pointed pen Modern Calligraphy Example
Pointed Pen Calligraphy
Ruling Pen Featured Image
Ruling Pen Calligraphy

Both Pointed pen calligraphy and ruling pen calligraphy, are completed with different kinds of dip pens. As we learned in the last section, dip pens are best used with calligraphy ink, NOT fountain pen ink. Therefore, the I recommend the following calligraphy inks below.

Best Pointed Pen Ink & Ruling Pen Ink for Dip Pens:

Best Colour Ink Recommendations for Pointed Pens and Ruling Pens:

Best Black Ink Recommendations for Pointed Pens and Ruling Pens:

Blogposts to Get You Started with Pointed Pen and Ruling Pen Calligraphy:

Now that you have the right ink for your selected style of calligraphy, check out some helpful links:

Conclusion

Well that is the list of recommended inks for now. If you have a good one I missed, or a local recommendation from where you are from, let me know in the comments.

P.S If you have any further questions, please let me know in the comments and I will be sure to reply with a (hopefully) helpful answer.

-Rich

Leave a Comment