The Best Grey Fountain Pen Inks
Pictured here is a swab of Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun in a Hobonichi Techo day planner made using a Lamy 2000 in a fine nib.
Grey is such a versatile colour — it’s muted enough to be acceptable for work, but it’s also different enough to be fun for pleasure. Each shade of grey you can find is slightly different, so how do you sort through all of the differences to find your favourite?
Here are some of our picks for the best grey fountain pen inks to add to your collection.
Just so you know, images have been colour corrected to be as close to the real colour as possible, but please remember that factors like screen brightness can affect your perception of the colour.
Lamy Crystal Agate
The Crystal line of inks from Lamy is relatively new, and it expanded Lamy’s regular edition colours by ten! One of the highlights of this new ink line is Agate, a light-medium grey with warm undertones. The colour of this one looks almost like hard graphite and can have some great shading in the right environment.
Diamine Earl Grey
The darkest grey on this list is Diamine Earl Grey, which was picked by the members of the r/fountainpens community on Reddit. If that doesn’t say “crowd favourite”, we don’t know what does! This is a great option for those who like a black ink but want a bit more personality.
Diamine Anniversary Silver Fox
Diamine Silver Fox is part of the 150th Anniversary ink collection, and it is a wonderful addition to any pen case. It is a light-medium grey with cool undertones, and it is quite neutral, making it a good choice in both dry and wet writing pens. Don’t be fooled by swabs that make it look incredibly light, as it will only preform like this in a dry pen with very fine nibs!
Swabs here were done in a MacLellan Books Tomoe River cahier using a J. Herbin glass dip pen. The writing was done with the spiral nib and the swabs were done with the blunt end.
Graf Von Faber Castell Stone Grey
Graf von Faber Castell inks are known for their deep, saturated colours and well-preforming ink, and Stone Grey is no different. Stone Grey is a deep, true grey that tends to write a bit dark. A bonus of this ink is that it is document quality and is even water resistant!
Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-Same
If you’re looking for a wet-writing ink with a saturated colour that can flow well in virtually any pen, you have to try the Pilot Iroshizuku line! Kiri-Same is a medium grey with cool undertones. It is a true grey next to Fuyu-Syogun, which almost looks like a blue in comparison!
Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun
Like the other grey in the Iroshizuku line, Fuyu-Syogun is a wet-writing lubricated ink that behaves like a dream! It is one of the bestselling inks in the store because of its purple undertones and shading properties.
J. Herbin Gris Nuage
Like we mentioned in a previous blog, J. Herbin Gris Nuage is a great option for a a light, pastel grey. We recommend using this ink in a wet-writing, broader nib so the ink can pool and show it’s shading and colour.
What’s your favourite shade of ink? Are there any colours you can’t say no to, even if you have a few shades already? Let us know in the comments!