As a calligraphy beginner, what features should I look for in an ink? I want to use a variety of pens, nibs and papers and want a general all-round ink I can use for all (or most) of these cases. From a beginners perspective—which calligraphy inks would be easiest to work with in this situation?

Ideally I am looking for:


Minimal or no preparation of the ink (no need to dilute the ink, for example).
Ink doesn't clot or dry too quickly (mid-use or in the bottle).
An even spread of ink on paper.
No excessive running or bleeding of ink on paper.
Easy to clean pens, nibs, spills etc.


What I want is to be able to focus on the calligraphy, not if my ink is clogging up my pen, wether I need to dilute my bottle some more or if the ink is going to soak through my paper.

I know there are dye-based inks and pigment-based inks, apart from differences in specific brands what features should I look for?
All the liquid calligraphy inks I know of are ready to use, no dilution required.
Pigmented ink must be well mixed before use for the pigment to be uniformly dispersed.
I find acrylic ink sometimes hard to remove from the nibs if not immediately cleaned
Iron Gall ink flows well and is a pleasure to use but requires an acid free paper. The ink will look very clear at first but will darken when drying.
India Ink (what's called 'encre de chine' in French) is probably the easiest to find and to use. A good one size fits all.
Chinese calligraphy sometimes uses solid ink stock which is diluted in water on an ink stone. It's OK for brush painting but not easily usable in pens and nibs.
For pens the main factor is what can you put in them. If it's a cartridge system you're more or less limited to what is available in those. (I have seen refillable cartridges before, but they looked like a mess to fill.)