pens, inks, stores, companies and about the pleasure of owning a fine pen

Visconti

Visconti inks come in a unique ink bottle. When I met Dante de Vecchio, who led Visconti at the time, Dante was very proud of his unique design of the bottle. The design of the bottle reflects a dedicated function -- a contained to hold ink, and to maximize the ease of filling a pen with ink.

The Bottle

The V shaped bottle is designed so ink sits in a narrow vertical section of the bottle. This allows all the ink in the bottle can be drawn up through the nib of the pen. But there is even more. The bottle comes in an acrylic glass case. The base of the holding unit provides a slot for the bottom of the bottle to firmly sit. An acrylic container then sits on the base to hold the bottle. You can use the acrylic case, turn upside down to make a safe holding container for the bottle while it is being filled. Some bottles in the past have been issued in an attractive rectangular cardboard box. The bottles themselves are generally found in plastic. I am lucky to have some older stock and the bottles are in a beautiful glass. Certainly feels better in the hand. The ink is available in 40 ml bottles in the following colours: black, blue, green, red, sepia and turquoise.

Traveling Ink Pot

The Visconti Traveling Ink Pot Here is another great innovation from Visconti. Yes everyone should have one. The price for many prevents that. In 2020 they were going for about $85 CDN. This tube is filled up with ink.

There is a rubber rink to prevent leakage. Basically you fill the tube with ink. Then take it with you with your pen. The pen is then inserted into the tube, and you draw up ink from the tube into the pen. When you buy the Ink Pot it comes with an eyedropper that is used to fill the ink pot with ink. Remove the large cap off the tube. Then fill the tube with ink up to the line that says "maximum do not overfill". Close and be ready to use. To fill a pen, open the tube. Insert the nib section of the pen firmly into the tube. The rubber section in the tube will allow you to put the pen until firmly seated. The turn the tube so that the ink is above the nib section of the pen. Slow turn the filling mechanism to draw the ink from the tube into the pen. When the pen is filled, turn the tube over again. Remove the pen from the tube. Seal the tube with the cap. That's it. Now remember, if the is using a converter, make sure the plunger is all the way down in the converter before inserting into the ink pot. You do not want to twist the converter and insert air into the tube. Ink will spurt out. If you are using a vacuum filler pen, hold the pot and the pen together as you fill and push the filler mechanism into the pen. Try multiple short pumps rather than fulling extended and when you push it is you create a lot of air pressure. The pot may just fly out of your hand. Remember, you can not use smaller narrower pens as you will not be able to get a proper seal of the nib section of the pen into the tube. Are there pens that are too big? Yes. The Montblanc 149 will barely work.

Visconti Blue

A bright blue that has a presence on the paper. There are no colour undertones to the colour. Straight on blue. It is a good performing ink and can be used for business or pleasure use. I like the dry time, about three to five seconds, which means I can be less worried about smearing. I have not found bleeding to be a problem. I have a journal from Amazon that has peper that does bleed with some inks, but the Visconti ink is not of the those inks. Likewise, there is no feathering. Nice clean sharp lines of ink on the paper. A fairly true colour and not one that has marked shading when you write.

Visconti Turquoise

I picked this colour up when I was travelling in Italy a few years ago. It came in a narrow verticle bottle and was perfect to put in my writing case when travelling. I like the colour as it is closer to a teal than a turquoise. I have seen samples of the inked posted on various websites that all appear to be a lighter toned true turquoise so this bottle may not be representative.

Visconti Ink 

 

Visconti Blue

Visconti Blue

 

Visconti Turquoise

Visconti Turquoise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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