A glass dip pen is a writing instrument made of glass. A glass pen has no internal reservoir, but their tips—gently twisted into spiraling grooves—can store enough ink to write for several sentences. Dip one into an ink bottle and write away!

Glass pens are understandably more fragile than most writing instruments. Don’t travel with one rattling around in your pencil case, or tap it forcefully against the edge of a bottle. If kept safe, however, a glass pen will outlive your metal pens, as they will never rust or clog.

When its grooves fill with vivid ink, a glass pen’s tip turns into a colorful jewel. It's easily rinsed clean, which makes switching between inks much easier than with a fountain pen. Together, these traits make glass pens popular for testing inks, but they’re also well suited for letter writing, calligraphy, and drawing.

Use a glass pen if you want the best view of your ink before it’s on the page, or if you want to outfit your desk with the most luxurious accoutrements.

Glass pens are simple to use. No set-up is necessary beyond unpackaging the pen and opening your favorite bottle of ink. Follow these instructions to start writing.

• Dip your pen into the ink bottle. To avoid storing excess ink and causing blots, submerge the tip only partially.
• Glide the tip against the edge of the bottle opening to remove excess ink.
• Write! As you write, turn the pen in your hand so you use the ink stored on all sides.
• Dip again as necessary.

A glass pen will happily handle any ink you throw at it, from the most pigmented dip pen ink to diluted watercolor. Your only limits are your imagination and ink budget.

We’ve tested glass dip pens with different types of ink. Please note that your results may vary, as characteristics like viscosity won’t be perfectly consistent between different brands of the same type of ink.

Glass dip pens are wet writers, especially right after they’re dipped. Pick a less-absorbent paper that doesn’t feather. Good options are fountain pen-friendly paper and heavyweight art paper made for ink and other wet media.

If you’re writing a letter, try Midori MD stationery. Midori MD paper has a pleasant weight and holds ink beautifully. Matching envelopes are available, too. It’s a glamorous choice to send to a friend. Why not commit to luxury and pick up a wax seal?

If you’re using glass pens for calligraphy or another artistic pursuit, we recommend sturdy mixed media or watercolor paper. We like Global Art Fluid Watercolor Paper, which is great for wet lines or ink washes with a water brush.

Monoline lettering is fantastic in a supporting role or as an unpretentious centerpiece. Glass dip pens produce bold lines that are sure to pop. Try neat cursive or all-caps print.

With faux calligraphy, instead of varying your line width with a flexible brush or metal nib, you do so by hand. How? Draw lines parallel to your downstrokes, then fill them in.

Glass pens write with a fixed-width line, so incorporating different textures will enliven your drawing.

Crosshatching, a fishscale pattern, short irregular lines, and curved hatching are shown to the left.

If you’ve picked a sturdy paper, a water brush on water-soluble inks can create beautiful ink washes.

For intense color mobility, use a water brush on wet ink. For a more moderate, but still notable, bloom of color, wait for your ink to dry and then paint with water over it. This technique will bring out undertones in the ink and can contrast beautifully against the sheen of a darkly-inked line. As your wash of water dries, lines may continue to bleed. You won’t immediately know what the final effect will be when you first brush water over your drawing.

Learn more about these handy brushes in our guide.

Glass pens are so easy to clean, combining multiple colors of ink in one drawing takes almost no extra effort.

Almost all fountain pen inks are water-soluble, so they will blend slightly when overlapped, even if one has dried. If you draw with complementary colors, this can look muddy. Test combinations of similar colors like orange and purple or blue and yellow first.

To clean a glass dip pen, swish it in water and then dry it with a cloth rag or a paper towel. If you used India ink or an ink with metallic particulates, a toothbrush or a small paintbrush will be necessary to get into the grooves and remove residue.

The first time you clean your pen, take a second and watch how the ink blooms and swirls in water. We won’t say it’s a necessary part of the process, but if you’re enjoying the meditative experience of a dip pen, it’s the perfect end to a session.