Push/Pull | Magpie Fountain Pen Ink | 20ml Vial

Deep phthalo green, named for the teal in a magpie's feathers.

Magpie takes its color from the iridescent teal on a magpie's wings and tail. It's a deep, saturated phthalo green that leans toward blue: dark enough to write in all day, with more character than a black.

Push/Pull is an artist co-operative in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood: an art supply shop, gallery, and small press that started in a basement studio in 2013. They mix their own watercolors, gouache, and fountain pen inks in the store, a batch at a time. That's the appeal and the caveat in one: these are small-batch, hand-made inks, so the color can drift slightly from one batch to the next.

Push/Pull formulates it to dry fast, which is a real help for left-handed writers whose hand follows the line across the page, and it's waterproof once it has fully dried.

20 ml vial. Works in fountain pens, dip pens, and with a brush. Hand-mixed in Seattle.

• Color — Deep phthalo green, named for the teal in a magpie's feathers
• Fast drying — formulated by the maker to dry quickly, which helps left-handed writers
• Waterproof once fully dry — once it has fully cured on the page
• Fountain pen, dip pen, or brush — one vial covers writing, lettering, and illustration
• 20 ml vial — roughly twenty converter fills
• Small-batch and hand-mixed — made in Push/Pull's shop in Ballard, Seattle; color can vary slightly between batches

How to fill a pen from the vial

1. Fit a converter to your pen and twist or press it all the way down to push the air out.
2. Dip the nib into the vial until the whole nib and a little of the section are under the ink. The vial is slim, so tilt it slightly as it gets low, or use a blunt-tip syringe to draw ink straight into the converter.
3. Draw the ink up slowly, then hold the pen nib-up and turn the converter back a touch to push out any air bubble.
4. Wipe the nib and section with a paper towel, cap the vial tightly, and write.

How to clean your pen

1. Flush whenever you change colors, and always before a pen goes in a drawer.
2. Empty the converter back into the vial or the sink, then draw up cool water and expel it until it runs clear.
3. Let the pen dry nib-down on a paper towel before refilling. Cool water only: no hot water, alcohol, or solvents.