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Lesson 1: Different Calligraphy Inks
As an intermediate calligrapher, it's important to know the tools that are available to you in order to achieve a certain effect. In this lesson, we'll examine several different calligraphy inks. We'll also talk about topics related to inks, like waterproofing and dilution.
1. Gouache (as Ink)
Gouache (rhymes with “squash”) is basically super opaque watercolor. You can use it to mix custom colors. Use light tones of gouache to write on dark papers for a stunning effect! If you want to make a large batch of gouache for future use, simply mix up gouache and water in a jar, then you can dip your pen directly into it. Be sure to tightly seal the jar after every use! (I just made a small batch of gouache for this video.)
Gouache inspiration:
2. India Ink
India inks are vibrant and lightfast. I love to use colored India inks for projects where I need my colors to “pop”!
India ink inspiration:
3. Iron Gall Ink
Iron gall ink is delightfully thin, allowing you to achieve incredible stroke contrast!
Iron gall ink inspiration:
4. Metallic Watercolor (as Ink)
I prefer to use metallic watercolors in lieu of metallic inks. That way, no pesky ink separation occurs (it’s the worst when pieces of glitter sink to the bottom of your ink jar, never to incorporate back in), and you can control the opacity.
Metallic watercolor inspiration:
5. Sumi Ink
Sumi ink is my go-to if I’m making something to scan … or if I just want to make a project with a nice, velvety black ink. Note that if water evaporates out of sumi ink, it can be tough to write with! Please feel free to dilute your sumi ink per this article.
Sumi ink inspiration:
6. Walnut Ink
If you’re looking for a beautiful antique-like effect, walnut ink is the way to go!
Walnut ink inspiration:
7. White Ink
Out of all the white inks I’ve tried, Bleed Proof White is my favorite!
White ink inspiration:
8. Watercolor (as Ink)
Using a watercolor palette as ink gives you the ability to take your calligraphy practice anywhere (because dry watercolor palettes are mess-free). Furthermore, you can use or mix practically any color you want, eliminating the need to invest in lots of different colors of calligraphy inks!
Watercolor (as ink) inspiration:
8A. Waterproofing Your Calligraphy
If you’re concerned about moisture damage to your calligraphy, consider applying a fixative!
(You can click here for a link to Jodean Cooper’s Fabulous Floral Flourishes tutorial!)
9. Ziller Ink
Ziller ink is the most waterproof ink that I’ve ever come across! If I’m combining watercolors with my calligraphy or sending an envelope to a wet climate, I always use Ziller inks.
Ziller ink inspiration:
9A. A Quick Tip About Combining Watercolors and Calligraphy
This video is less than a minute long, so definitely worth a watch, but here’s the gist: always write with your Ziller ink first, then apply watercolor.
10. How (and When) to Dilute Ink
A simple concept, ink dilution simply involves adding water to ink. Stirring water into your ink whenever your ink flow starts to feel “off” will help to make your writing experience more pleasant (and your ink will last longer)! If you’re unsure of the water quality where you live, use distilled water, which you can find in most supermarkets.
11. When (+ How) to Use Gum Arabic to Thicken Ink
Here’s a video that lends some clarification on when you might need gum arabic, and how to use it at that point. I’m using powdered gum arabic in the video, but the liquid gum arabic works the exact same way! Just add, stir, and test; add, stir, and test.
I hope that this lesson introduces you to some new inks! As you add to your collection, be sure to fill out the My Ink Collection sheet on page 2 of your course worksheet.
When you’re ready, take the lesson quiz to make sure you understand some core concepts, then move on to Lesson 2. If you have questions, ask in the Lesson Discussion below! I’ll answer within 24 hours.
*Links in this course lead to American merchants. For a list of international merchants, click here. This lesson contains affiliate links to Paper & Ink Arts and Scribblers.
118 responses
Hi Lindsey,
Just completed lesson 1. So full of information.
Does the Gouache paints have to say Calligraphy on the tube?
I would like to get some colors. Can you suggest a few please.
So looking forward to learning from you again.Thanks,
NaleneeI was excited to try gouache and needed a rich blue for a gift project ASAP, so I just experimented with what I had on hand – Reeves tubes of watercolor, just student grade. It mixed to a nice consistency I could dip my pen into. The final result was more mate and flat (not raised) than I was hoping for, but the color is beautiful as you can see!
This looks fabulous! I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of downloading the image from the Dropbox link and uploading it here. So awesome!
Hi Nalenee! They don’t have to say calligraphy on the tube. As long as you go with a high-quality gouache, you should be fine! You can see what happened when I went with a cheapie brand in this article … I was astounded at the difference in results.
Question for you as I am now excited to try gouache inks…is it best to only blend the colors with white or can you also combine a red and blue to get a purple hue? Also, and apologies if I missed it, is there a set of watercolors that you recommend? Thank you for all the inspiration!
Regarding the gouache, follow your heart with mixing! You can mix anything you want. My only disclaimer would be to make sure it’s a high-quality gouache. 🙂 There’s not a specific set of watercolors that I recommend, really. I’d do artist grade if possible. See toward the bottom of this article for some recommendations (and to learn more about watercolors; it’s a great article!): https://thepostmansknock.com/all-about-watercolor-paints-guest-post-by-greenleaf-and-blueberry/
Can you provide more information on when you need to add gum arabic? How much should you add to an ink and can you add it to any ink or only specific ones?
As far as I know, you can add it to any ink! Prompted by your question, I made a new video (Video 11) that explains when and how to use it. 🙂
HI Lindsey!
I’m so excited to take your class. You are the first calligraphy I started following, – your free worksheets were so fun and easy to use, and they gave me a lot of confidence and love for ink and lettering. I am super thrilled to be taking a class from you now!
I have a question about the Iron Gall – why would a calligrapher choose this over, say, Sumi or Ziller? Is it just for the grayish tone? Or is it just that it is traditional? Just wondered…
Thank you for making this course so organized and accessible, and I can’t wait to learn even more from you!!!
~ AnnAn excellent question! So, the reason you would choose iron gall over sumi or Ziller would be for the incredibly fine upstrokes and the ease of writing. Beginners might find the naturally watery iron gall ink to be a bit unruly, but for intermediates, you actually may find that it’s easier to write with because the ink descends so easily from the nib! Sumi, Ziller, and really all the inks in this lesson (save for walnut) are all thicker than iron gall, which means that the upstrokes are thicker.
My disclaimer would be that I’d only use iron gall for “real life” projects that people will mostly look at up-close, like envelope calligraphy or a sketchbook page. Because of its whisper-thin upstrokes, iron gall ink doesn’t scan nicely, and you can’t see it very well from far away — for example, if you’re doing a project like calligraphy wall art. (Sumi and Ziller — or India ink — would be a great choice for scanning or wall art.) BUT … it’s definitely an ink to try! Give it a shot and see what you think. 🙂
Haola, Lindsey
Looking forward to all your lovely content.
Ran into a roadblock that led to falling down the rabbit hole in attempting to locate Schmincke Calligraphy Gouache.
Your link to Dick Blick does carry Schmincke gouache, just not the calligraphy version.
Only source I could find in US seems to be Amazon with full 12 tube set in a wooden box for $210, no individual tubes
Maybe i am missing something and you know right where to get it.
I did find individual tubes sold in Canada & UK, so that is a possibility.
Can you recommend another place in US to find Calligraphy gouache sold in individual tubes?
Or would you recommend the regular Schmincke gouache color line, or some other brand?
Thank you for whatever help you can give…Hi Georgia!
Thanks for pointing that out — I’ll update the link. 🙂 I bought mine at Paper & Ink Arts several years ago (it lasts forever), and it looks like they still carry it! Here’s a link … you’ll need to scroll a little bit to get to the Schminckes!
Hi Lindsey
I Called Paper & Ink Arts. They had only a few odd tubes left on their site. Said they quite carrying it a while ago.
I met with success at John Neal Bookseller. They carry Schmincke Calligraphy Goauche single tubes for $14.85
and the full set of 12 in wooden box for $182.33. Hope this is helpful.
Now back to your wonderful videos….your attention to detail and the care & time you put into them, shines through.
Thank you !!!! georgiaOh shoot! I wonder why they stopped carrying it? I mean, I guess it just wasn’t selling like it needed to. I love the stuff! I’m glad that John Neal is still on the Schmincke gouache train, and it looks like they recently updated their site so I can link straight to the gouache (before, they had a weird item #/catalog set up). I’ll update that link now. Thank you A TON for your detective work!
Thanks for all the info!
I have been using black sumi ink Yasutomo KF2 and I had a few problems with it. It thickens very fast on the nib and it makes blobs on top of the nib. It is also difficult to remove from the nib (literally I have to scratch to clean it).
It was now, after seeing these videos, that I though I might be using an acid ink and that would maybe explain what is happening? Googling, I found out that this ink is waterproof! Do you know anything about this KF2 and how can I solve the problems I am having?Hi Agnès! I’ve never used the KF2, but I imagine it’s similar to Ziller since it is waterproof. 🙂 Don’t worry if you can’t get all of it off your nib. Just do your best (no scratching necessary); it shouldn’t affect inkflow with future inks and that same nib! I’d say your biggest problem, from my experience with Ziller, is that waterproof inks tend to thicken faster than their more liquid counterparts. Dilute it with water, and that will almost definitely do the trick. Watch the Video 10 in the lesson (Ink Dilution) if you haven’t already!
Hi Lindsey,
I am learning a lot already! And I haven’t even gotten through the entire lesson! 🙂 This course is going to be so much fun! Thank you so so much for providing it. I never knew about India ink and that it doesn’t fare well after a year. That’s going to be a problem for me as I don’t go through ink that fast. Can I just add distilled water after a year or so to bring back the ink back to life? Thank you again for your great lessons!!
SusanI’m so glad to hear that! You know, with the India ink, I’d just check on it every couple of months and make sure it’s still doing okay. How quickly it congeals depends on a number of factors, like how well it’s sealed. My Bombay inks, when sealed in their native little jars, always keep longer than they do once I’ve transferred them to a dip-pen-friendly jar. I’d try to remember to add some distilled water every six months or so and mix it in with a chopstick (or the back of your dip pen, as shown in Video 10) to prolong the life of the ink! Just some stirring movement can be really helpful when it comes to keeping the ink nice and smooth. 🙂
Hello Lindsey,
I really enjoyed the lesson on inks today. I have a bottle of Higgins Eternal Black ink. What can you tell me about that, please?Hi Trudy! So, Higgins Eternal is one that a lot of calligraphers love, but I’ve just never gotten it to work super well for me. :-/ I wrote a review on it a few years back, which you can find by clicking here. My conclusion was that it’s nice as long as you’re working on a high-quality paper, and its advantage over iron gall ink is that it’s non-acidic, which means that it won’t eat away at paper over time (we’re talking decades if not centuries). Still, I, personally, am more likely to use iron gall or sumi ink!
Hei Lindsey,
Thanks for all the info.
I might have missed it but I wanted to ask for the link you mentioned in video 8A about the drawn flowers.
Thanks,I’m sorry about that — I spaced on adding the link! I have added it now, but you can also find it by clicking here. 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Derek! Check out this article — I think it should clear up additional dilution questions you might have. 🙂 Let me know if you have further questions after reading! However, you have a good point: I should probably make a dilution-specific video.
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