Hi,
@Chessie - I have a little experience with some of these inks; maybe you'll find it helpful. Pedantry ahoy,
@Zivio This might be a bit of an information dump, so apologies if it's not your jam. I'm really into the composition, chemistry, and properties of ink though. Lol,
@Erica McPhee - I'll do all the experimenting for you!
Speedball India Ink - I can't tell exactly what this is for, but 'not for calligraphy' appears to be the short answer. On a Mitchell nib without a reservoir it dribbles and flows unpredictably even with a drafting table at 45 degrees. With a reservoir it fusses and clogs. Add even a drop of water? Sploosh. A bit of gum arabic? Solid mass. Gum Sandarac powder? A messy nib tip and uneven distribution.
"India Ink" is essentially what the western colonizers call sumi ink - "India" because it came from the Far East. It's a soot based colloidal suspension, often with shellac added as a binder. Because it's a colloidal suspension, it doesn't always take well to doctoring. I'm not a fan of any of the formulations sold as "India Ink" for calligraphy, but I like it as a drawing ink, because it's waterproof and opaque (for lines and for fill), and cheap. I spent a lot of time doing India ink illustrations with a crow quill nib, learning the basics of cross-hatch shading and composition. Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star India Ink is my go-to brand for this purpose; I think it out-performs Speedball.
* ps never ever put it in a fountain pen; it will permanently jam up the gills of the feed and ruin it forever.
Pilot Black Refills in a Parallel Pen - Why is this stuff so thin? It feels like using a laser-pointer to write on all but the roughest papers. Pilot Parallel's are great for practice, but the refills I picked up from Michael's feel just plain *weird*. The one that came with the original pen wasn't like this. Maybe I just got a bum batch?
So the better off-the-shelf formulation for Parallel Pens is the "Mixable Color" refills:
https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Parallel-Pen-Refill-12-Colors-12-Cartridges/pd/967. They're different from the regular Pilot ink cartridges.
* I guess I would hesitate to put them in any other sort of fountain pens, since they are specifically formulated for the Parallels. Honestly though, I usually refill the empty cartridges with other fountain pen inks - especially the high shading and/or exceptionally shimmery inks. I love the way they meter out the shimmer.
Maybe here's where I put in a word about paper? That 32lb HP is great practice paper for pointed pen, but it doesn't always stand up to the demands of broad edge calligraphy, because broad edge pens lay down exponentially more ink. It works fine for regular fountain pens that put down regular amounts of ink, but Parallel Pens are just super duper juicy. Clairefontaine or Rhodia will work better with Parallel pens filled w/fountain pen ink. If I'm using fountain pen ink with a dip pen (like a Mitchell) on 32lb HP or something similar, I'll usually add a little gum arabic so that it sits on top of the paper while it's drying. If I really want to be sure nothing bleeds, I spray the paper or card-stock with matte fixative beforehand. For broad edge calligraphy, I like a paper with more tooth than those super smooth ones, even though I use them for practice. When I get to my final drafts, I go for watercolor paper or Bristol board.
Walnut Ink - I have stained every surface near me and cannot figure out what to clean them with. My family thinks I have been part of a strange genetic experience to cross-breed a person with a dalmatian.
Huh. I don't find walnut ink particularly staining as long as I get to it before it dries - maybe hit it with a little ammonia-based cleaner?
@Erica McPhee - I think the crystals are amazing for travel I don't worry about them in my luggage, and they're so cheap. Have dinky dip + walnut crystals; will travel!. It helps to have a very small implement to transfer the crystals neatly into a dinky dip - a vintage snuff spoon is just the thing.
And as for the ink sticks....
Etsy Chinese grinding inkhttps://www.etsy.com/listing/621898646/chinese-painting-ink-stick-oriental-ink?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=japanese+ink+stick&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&frs=1&organic_search_click=1 - I genuinely thought I'd been delivered a sexual aid by mistake when I opened the box. It's *enormous*. My ink stone was barely big enough to make this worth using and it is rooough ink. When I say rough, grinding it looks like there's dandruff floating on top.
Kuretake Saiboku colored inks - I adore this set of inks, but goodness they're expensive for some very, very small ink-sticks. That said - the sumi-inks included with this set are super, super smooth. No notes, just wish it was bigger and cheaper...kinda like my ex boyfriend.
Hukaiwen off Amazon - This has become my 'go-to' ink. It's not expensive. It's not super smooth. It's not perfectly easy to grind. It just works very consistently and I never get a stick that's cracked half-way up or flaking when it arrives.
Ranjyatai - From John Neal Books. This is, far and away, the best ink I've used so far. It's bizarre how good this stuff is. It flows smoothly, grinds easily, smells great, and if memory serves it's *painfully* expensive. Like 'Ow, my wallet, ow' type expensive.
Shanghai 101 - You ever get a tool and realize suddenly that you are way under-qualified to use it? That was my immediate sensation from Shanghai 101. This stuff feels like some kind of high precision instrument and I'm going to carefully put it back in its box and put it somewhere I can't touch it until I'm a much, much better calligrapher.
Okay - so the quality of sumi ink (and the price) stems from the size, uniformity, and source of the soot particles. The smaller and more uniform the particulates, the better quality and more expensive the ink is. And the better the ink performs for painting - on rice paper and on silk. Remember, ultimately, all these sumi inks were developed for brush calligraphy and painting - not for metal nibs; so when we use them for western calligraphy (broad edge or pointed pen), we're getting an extremely limited sense of their qualities. I think there must be a break-even point for the size of the soot particles where they don't perform any better for what western calligraphy demands of them. Hmmm. this might make a good lab experiment.
Some antique/ancient Chinese ink, made from pine soot, has never been matched for the incredible fineness and uniformity of the particulates. That's why Donald Jackson insisted on sourcing vintage ink sticks for the Saint John's Bible.
That "Shanghai 101" is a descendent of that tradition. Extra-finely milled, creamy, dense color payoff, with a warm/brownish undertone and beautiful shading.
The Ranjyatai ink is made out of the same rare, fragrant wood used for incense - which is why it smells great, grinds great, and costs so much. It has a cool/bluish undertone and beautiful shading.
I haven't used the other ink sticks you mention (my father never thought I was good enough to merit using the colored inks, and then I left home and went to college and got corrupted by the decadent Western influences).
But hey, that is a very BIG STICK. But now you see it is not the size of the stick, but the size of the particulates or the soot balls that matters most. I'm searching for a Carbon60/Fullerene/Bucky-Ball joke in there somewhere. [why yes, my teenage sons find me utterly mortifying. why do you ask?]