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Gray
Hongdian is one of the 713 brands in Inktend's built-in ink catalog.
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Paper & pairing
As a near-neutral tone, it reads as professional and safe for anything from journaling to signatures. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.
About Hongdian
Hongdian is the pen brand of Zhejiang Lishui Lantian Pen Co., Ltd., a manufacturer registered in Lishui, Zhejiang in October 1997. The brand became widely known outside China during the 2010s through budget models such as the 1850 Black Forest, 517 and 6013, most of which use machined metal bodies with textured or nature-inspired finishes. Pens sit firmly in the entry-level price bracket and are usually sold with a converter and a metal gift tin.
Storing and using the bottle
Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.
Frequently asked questions
Similar shades By colour distance
Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.