This is an introductory guide to setting up your fountain pen with bottled ink. If you're wondering what bottled ink is or why you should be using it check out our blog here!
Now you're caught up, let's get started...
What you are going to need:
1. Fountain Pen
- The first thing that you’re going to need is your fountain pen. Most fountain pens can be made to work with bottled ink.
2. Converter
- You will need something called a converter, a plunger/piston device that goes into your pen where the ink cartridge usually sits. It is used to draw up and store ink. All of the fountain pens we stock are compatible with a converter, so if you purchase your pen from us you can also pick up the appropriate converter!
3. Bottle of Ink
- Finally you will need your bottle of ink. At Honest Paper we have the basic colours (Blue and Black), in both the Lamy and Pilot ranges, as well as some more adventurous colours from Lamy and Robert Oster.
Now that you've got what you need, here's how to fill your fountain pens with your favourite bottle of ink.
1. Make sure your pen is clean and dry
- This means disassembling it and removing the cartridge that was in the pen. Running water through the pen until it is clear is a good way to make sure there is no residual ink left in the feed section (Make sure to let it dry!)
- Insert the empty converter into your pen where the cartridge would sit. It attaches in exactly the same way the cartridge does. Wind the plunger down towards the nib as far as it will go.
- On a stable surface, open your bottle of ink. You will need to submerge the nib of your pen into the ink, until the surface of the ink is over the breather hole (The small hole near the top of the nib).
- While holding the pen steady, twist the converter raising the plunger. This will draw the ink up through the nib into the pen. Don’t worry if it doesn’t completely fill the converter!
- While keeping the nib in the ink, repeat the full up and down motion of the converter a few times. This allows the ink to saturate and fill the feed section of the pen. After a few cycles you should see the converter fill most of the way.
- Take the pen out of the ink and wipe the excess ink from the nib using a towel. Then reassemble the body of the pen.
- And you’re done! Your pen is now filled with bottled ink and is ready to write just like it was before with a cartridge. And next time you run out of ink, just repeat the process listed here to refill your pen. (If you are using the same ink you may not need to clean out your pen, however if you change to a different colour you will want to clean out your pen again to prevent the inks mixing)
Congratulations on filling your fountain pen with bottled ink! Now a whole new world of inky goodness has just opened up to you. So go! Explore, write or draw with your new found fountain pen ink.
