ParkerQuink Fountain Pen Ink Bottle, Blue-Black, 57 ml

After several years in 'mothballs', I have just begun to use my Parker cartridge pen again. Knowing what I do know about the long life of plastic I did not want to use individual cartridges. I found the reusable ink reservoir that I had never used before, order a bottle of my favourite coloured ink and am very happy to be helping the environment and enjoying the pleasure of 'proper' handwriting.

I've used this in a variety of pens and it worked well in all of them. Curiously, the blue/black balance varied in each pen. In the parker pen it was blue with a hint of black, in my Jinhao it was a much darker. It seems to depend on how generous the pen is with the ink. I didn't mind, it looked fine to me whether lighter or darker, but something to bear in mind. Watch out if you spill it on your fingers. It took a few goes to wash off. And avoid spilling it on the furniture!The only slight disappointment was the smell. I had a pot of this in school and remember it had a very particular scholarly smell to it. The bottle I had had only the faintest of aromas. Maybe my sense of smell has deteriorated since then. It was a few decades ago now!

I asked for the blue/black ink (which would normally give an ombre effect), but I recieved full on blue. Tried writing with it to see if it would come out in the blue/black ombre effect, but no, just pure blue... I'm not a fan of writing in pure blue, but I do have e to say that it does write really well, dries quickly enough, and it is a decent sized bottle so the value for money is really good. I will still use it for cards and things.

Used this brand for years. Good ink. Value for money. It is washable though, good for spills but not for any permanent documents.

Buy this if you have a fountain pen , it’s great quality and this bottle will go a very long way , plus it’s more environmentally sound as you don’t use lots of disposable plastic refill cartridges . You will of course require a refillable convertor for your fountain pen .