Today’s Visconti Black fountain pen ink review is a good read for anyone looking for a classic black ink or for anyone who likes to work with names they know and trust when it comes to the ink they put in their favorite fountain pens. If you’re in it for the long haul…good for you! We can’t wait to share all the details. But if you’re just here to enter to win the bottle of ink used in this week’s fountain pen ink review, you can jump directly to the bottom where you’ll find the link to the giveaway fun.

All About the Ink Maker: Visconti

Visconti is an Italian Pen Company known for the smoothest of smooth fountain pen nibs and their patented double reservoir piston filling system. They also make some very nice ink – although the variety is limited:

• Black
• Blue
• Green
• Purple
• Bordeaux
• Sepia
• Turquoise

This week, we’re reviewing Visconti Black fountain pen ink.

Featured Ink: Visconti Black Fountain Pen Ink

Visconti Black ink is a nice, standard black ink with a very unique and fascinating ink bottle.

*** If you’re sticking around for the review details, buckle up, the next step is to dive right in, but if you don’t have the time or patience to read all the details about this week’s ink right now, you can skip directly to the giveaway posted at the end. We’ll allow it – we get impatient sometimes, too.

It’s Time: Visconti Black Ink Review

This week we put Visconti Black fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. Read on to see what we found out!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

We used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) and Rhodia dot pad paper during this week’s review.

Let’s Talk About the Visconti Ink Bottle:

Visconti black fountain pen ink comes in the standard 40 ml. Visconti ink bottle and packaging, although “standard” in this situation is anything but…well, standard. This pen company’s ink bottle is “V” shaped (that’s how dedicated they are to their branding – they carry it through to the shape of their ink bottle). The V-shaped bottle means a large mouth opening that makes it easy to use when filling your fountain pen with ink. The Visconti bottles also feature an internal slant that ends in a bulbous base. You might say it has the overall look of an elaborate vase. Describing this particular ink bottle makes it sounds like it would be unsteady, and it can be a bit top-heavy, which is why the Visconti ink comes packaged inside a clear plastic dome that can be turned upside down to hold the bottle while filling.

How Much Does Visconti Black Ink Cost?

Visconti Black fountain pen ink comes at a reasonable, mid-range price for a 40 ml. bottle. Check for the latest discounted price at PenChalet.com.

How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?

We conducted a 1-dip test with Visconti black ink using a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen and Rhodia dot pad paper. (For the 1-Dip Test, we dip the pen in ink once for each of three writing samples, “S,” “X,” and scribble lines to see how well the pen performs). This black fountain pen ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with just a small amount of ink to spare.

How Fast Does Visconti Black Ink Dry?

Visconti Black fountain pen ink showed a dry time of 11-12 seconds with light saturation, which is slightly over our standard 10-second dry time limit for good everyday ink choices. Although, many people do still enjoy this ink as an everyday ink, especially with thinner nibs.

Does Visconti Black Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use. And we saw NO bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Visconti Black Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use on Rhodia paper. We saw some slight feathering during the water test (typical for a non-waterproof fountain pen ink).

How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?

For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. Again, Visconti’s Black ink isn’t waterproof, so it’s not surprising that we saw some light color smearing – not too bad for black ink, though. The lines were still very legible, with only very slight distortion and line fading.

Does Visconti Black Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

Visconti Black ink showed some possible shading traits with the right nib and penmanship – dark black to a lighter shade of black-gray tones.

Final Conclusion on Visconti Black Ink:

From one of the most well-regarded Italian Pen companies, Visconti Black ink is a reasonably priced 40 ml. fountain pen ink with a very unique and interesting ink bottle. The nice, everyday, standard black ink arrives in functional packaging you can use as an ink holder while filing to increase stability. The slightly longer dry time (11-12 seconds) does not seem to prevent many fountain pen enthusiasts from choosing this black ink as an everyday ink. Happy writing from Italy!

Enter to Win Visconti Black Ink:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Visconti Black ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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