LINKS:

• ​San Jamar 8 oz Squeeze Bottles with caps
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer
• Ink Dropper Bottles
• Tonic Studios Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat
• Art Example of Ink color on transparency
• TerraCyle Zero Waste Box
• Brea Reese 3 Pack Refillable Dropper Bottles

Support a fellow artist! Donate used pens and markers to the Pen Guy! 
https://penguyart.com

India Ink: pictured here is Higgins Waterproof Black India Ink but Speedball Super Black India Ink is cheaper per volume and a little bit thinner formula- which is better for refilling pens.

I tend to go through a lot of black ink pens and markers. My favorite writing pens to date are the Sharpie Fine Point Pen- they're rick black, archival and have a wonderful bold nib.

They're also pretty pricy for as much as I use them for.

I refill my pens as much as possible until they absolutely quit on me. Sharpie Fine Point Pens can be refilled with Speedball Super Black India Ink (I put a drop of alcohol in there too to help thin out the ink).

You can also refill your other pens as long as you refill it with the same type of ink in there. If you don't know, Google it. I refill my regular permanent Sharpies with black dye ink and alcohol and haven't had to replace near as many as I used to.

To refill, simply pull the nib off the pen gently with a pair of pliers. Some pens you may have to pull the bottom off to refill and some pens you just can't pull anything off. Sorry.

Once you've exposed the barrel, place a few (2-5 drops depending on how dry your pen is) into the barrel and then replace the nib. Store the pen upright so the ink can fully drain into the barrel. 

*There may be a splurge of ink coming out the nib the first few times you use it afterwards, so be careful!

These two-toned gel pen beauties pictured here I've had for 20+ YEARS. Do they write? Ha, no. Let's not kid ourselves. BUT the ink in the barrels is still good. For these, I took the metal nib off the top to expose the top of the plastic barrel and with a very tiny paint brush I was able to paint this part of a seashell with the ink. It was a little bit of work but why waste pigment?

​I only had one pen that didn't cooperate as well with a paint brush because the ink was so thick but I was able to scrape out the ink (or you could keep cutting the ends off with scissors) and onto a page for a two-tone background.

Since the ink in gel pens is a solvent based ink, I would recommend cleaning your brush thoroughly after use other it will get very, very sticky.