What Is the Best Gold Fountain Pen Ink?
gold fountain pen ink

Even though most fountain pen users are into more traditional ink colors, we have noticed that more and more users have been looking for other colors of ink. Gold has been a popular color for fountain pens because of its luxury elements and its aesthetics.

Top 5 Gold Fountain Pen Ink Options

With so many options on the market, it can feel a bit overwhelming trying to find the right gold fountain pen ink. Luckily, we’re here to help you. We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 gold fountain pens inks to make your decision-making process easier. Keep on reading if you want to find out what our top 5 picks are.

1. Rohrer & Klingner Bottled Fountain Pen Ink – Old Golden Green

Rohrer & Klingner is a German company that has been making high-quality inks since 1892. Today, we’re recommending one of their top fountain pen inks – the Old Golden Green ink. The ink is a brighter green with a golden undertone, which gives the ink an antique look that is pleasant to look at. The shading is easy on the eye, even though the gold is pronounced.

The Old Golden Green ink is a wetter ink with nice lubrication. You’ll get a good glide and flow on the paper without any skipping. If you’re using cheaper paper, you might experience bleeding on a second pass due to the wetness of the ink. The drying time of this ink is excellent for a wet ink. A drying time of 5 seconds is more than amazing for an ink like this one.

The bottle of ink has a straightforward appearance, but it is practical. You can easily fill your pen with this bottle thanks to its wide opening. The wide bottom also helps prevent the bottle from tipping. 

You’ll also get an accurate representation of the color from the bottle label. Because the bottle is made out of colored glass, you won’t be able to see the color of the ink. So you will need to rely on the label.

If you’re left-handed and worry about smudging, we’re here to reassure you that the ink dries impressively fast for a wet ink and there are no stains once it’s dry. Overall, Old Golden Green is a wet ink that’s nice to work with. It’s not especially prone to feathering on decent-quality paper. 

Besides the fact that it’s quite affordable, one of the things that make this ink popular among writers is its unique color and excellent shading. We suggest that you try out this ink and see for yourself why it’s a favorite of so many people.

Pros:
  • Fairly accurate label color
  • Complex color with golden undertone
  • Sturdy bottle
  • Quick dry
  • Spectacular shading
Cons:
  • Isn’t water-resistant

2. Herbin 1670 Anniversary Inks – Gold Sheen

Even though brown is a color that we all avoided as children when we were looking through the crayon box, we’re sure that you aren’t going to avoid this golden brown ink by Herbin. The J. Herbin Caroube de Chypre is a rich and deep brown with lovely shading. What makes this ink even more stunning is the gold sheen.

When it comes to the drying time of this ink, it dries in about 20 seconds, which is pretty good. If you’re looking even for more of that golden shimmer, we suggest you put on another layer of the  ink. Keep in mind, this will extend the drying time a bit. The ink is also somewhat water-resistant. While you can’t soak your papers, you can still get some water on them and the ink would be readable.

The ink has a smooth flow, without being overly runny. It isn’t too wet, so you won’t have to worry about smearing the ink all over your page.

The ink comes in a luxurious-looking glass bottle that has a hand-dipped wax seal cap on it. It also includes a J. Herbin history pamphlet, and a gift box with silver or gold hot stamping, which makes this ink ideal for gifting. The only disadvantage to this ink is that the opening of the bottle is small, which can make it a bit hard to get to the very bottom when you’re trying to fill your fountain pen.

Pros:
  • Square bottle with a wax seal
  • Gorgeous box that matches the ink
  • Amazing golden-brown shimmering color
  • Somewhat water-resistant
Cons:
  • The opening is small making it difficult to fill a fountain pen

3. Diamine Shimmering Golden Sands Ink

Diamine nailed it with the Golden Sands Ink. When it comes to inks, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The tone of the ink is amazing, and it has lovely shading to it. Sparkly and bright, this ink can do wonders for fun projects and holiday cards.

The base color of this ink is an amber-yellow depending on the amount of ink you use. The golden particles are what make this ink look especially good. The saturation of the gold is amazing. As usual, it’s pretty easy to clean your pen after you’re done using this ink, but it can take a little bit of effort to get rid of the golden particles.

The ink provides a steady writing experience with minimal issues and the ink flows very well. Just as with any other inks from Diamine, you won’t experience any issues with clogging, bleeding, or feathering when you’re using decent paper. Even though the ink has a yellow tone, it still manages to look great on warm-toned paper, so you don’t have to worry about the color of paper you’re using.

It comes in a glass bottle with a special festive label and box. The opening of the bottle is similar to other Diamine inks, and you can easily get the ink even if there isn’t much left in the bottle.

The only drawback is that inks from Diamine are a bit on the wetter side, and this ink in particular dries very slowly. If you want your writing to have extra shimmer, you will need to use more layers of the ink, which means the dry time will be extended even further. It’s also not water-resistant. So the ink completely disappears if it gets in contact with water.

Pros:
  • High saturation of golden particles
  • Festive packaging
  • Ideal for artistic and fun projects
  • No bleeding or feathering
Cons:
  • Isn’t water-resistant
  • Long drying time

4. Diamine – Shimmering Fountain Pen Ink, Golden Ivy

Even though there are plenty of companies that produce gold ink, no one does it like Diamine. As you can see, they have created several colors with golden shimmer, including the Golden Ivy. The Golden Ivy color from Diamine is a medium green color with gold shimmer.

Besides the amazing shade of clover green, the ink has excellent shading from dark green to a lighter shade. You can also get the golden shimmer with regular use of the ink; you don’t have to use multiple layers of it. In addition, you won’t experience any bleeding or feathering with the Golden Ivy ink if you’re using it as directed.

The ink is pH neutral, non-toxic, and made out of natural dyes. The bottle the ink comes in makes it easy to mix and shake the golden shimmer in the ink. Overall, with Diamine you can be sure that you’re getting high-quality ink that will look beautiful with all your writing.

If you’re worried that this amazing color will be too expensive, we’re here to tell you that the price of this ink is budget-friendly, and it’s even cheaper than other gold inks on the market. The only downside to this ink is that it isn’t waterproof, so if you accidentally spill some water on the paper the color will definitely smear.

Pros:
  • The color really stands out
  • Doesn’t bleed through
  • The packaging is convenient
  • Provides a smooth writing experience
Cons:
  • Non-waterproof

5. Private Reserve Ink Shoreline Gold

The Shoreline Gold color by Private Reserve is a warm orange color that becomes a bit darker once it dries. Private Reserve is known for its saturated and nice colors and has overall amazing quality, and the Shoreline Gold ink isn’t an exception.

Even though the color is a bit watery, it makes up for the fact that it has beautiful shading. This is a color we would definitely use again. The ink flow is very nice and this ink is generally well-suited for better-quality paper. Unfortunately, you might experience some bleeding when you’re using thinner paper.

One of the best features about this ink is the fact that it dries pretty fast, between 10 and 15 seconds. Due to the fact it dries quickly, it’s a good option for left-handed people, as they’re more likely to get ink smudges on their writing hand.

The ink also has slight water resistance, which we weren’t expecting for ink with such a light color. 

You will be able to easily refill all of your fountain pens thanks to the wide opening of the bottle. This product is ideal if you want something to use for your creative lettering. Even though there are plenty of gold, orange, and yellow-colored inks on the market, we would definitely recommend that you check Shoreline Gold.

Pros:
  • Gorgeous color
  • The flow of the ink is nice
  • Fast drying time
  • Has a bit of water resistance
Cons:
  • The color might be a bit pale for some

How Do You Use Gold Ink?

Even though the formula of gold ink is a bit different compared to traditional ink, the basic concept of using these inks is the same. Using gold ink with your fountain pen doesn’t differ from how you would use traditional ink. You just add the ink to the convertor or piston filler and let the ink path and feed fill with the ink.

Once the ink is flowing, it isn’t likely that you will have any problems with the inconsistent flow, unless your pen has dried and old ink has built up and is causing the issue.

One thing you should keep in mind if you’re using a fine or extra-fine nib size on your fountain pen and writing on thin paper, some people have reported that the ink has more of a yellow tone than a gold one. You can resolve this problem by making sure that you get a pen with a double-broad, broad, or medium nib size since this type of nib will transfer more ink to the paper and accomplish that gold look you’re going for.

Does Gold Ink Bleed?

There will always be people worried about the ink ghosting, bleeding, or feathering – no matter what type of ink you’re using. To define:

  • Ghosting occurs when you can see the writing on one side of the paper from the other side of the paper.
  • Bleeding occurs when the ink soaks through to the other side of the paper.
  • Feathering occurs when the ink spreads beyond where it’s applied, usually along the paper’s fibers.

Whether the ink will ghost, bleed, or feather depends on a couple of factors. The two main reasons why this might happen are because the nib of the pen is too wet and it transfers a lot of ink to the paper, or because you’re using low GSM and thin paper. The ink itself is one of the less important factors when it comes to ink bleeding, feathering, or ghosting.

Final Thoughts

There you have it. Those were our top five picks for gold fountain pen ink. In this post, we wanted to take some of the most popular gold inks, look through their features, and make a list of which ones might help take your writing and fountain pen to another level. We hope that our guide was helpful and that you’ll have no issues finding the best gold ink for your needs.

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