A squat glass bottle with a black rubber pipette cap, from the Daler-Rowney FW range. Three colours are stocked and all three are photographed here with their own swatch: White, Gold (Imit) and Silver (Imit). The word Imit is printed on the label by the manufacturer and means imitation — these are metallic-looking pigments, not powdered precious metal, and the page says so rather than leaving you to find out.

FW Acrylic Ink is a pigmented acrylic, which puts it in a different class from writing ink or dye-based colour. Once dry it is a thin acrylic film, so a second layer can be worked straight over the first without lifting it, and the colour underneath stays where it was put. That is what makes it the ink for layered work: a wash, then line over the top, then a highlight over that.

The pipette is a working part rather than packaging. It lifts a measured few drops out without a brush ever going into the bottle, which is how a bottle of ink stays clean for years instead of picking up colour from the last thing you dipped. Drops go into a palette well, into water for a wash, or into an airbrush cup.

White and the two metallics are chosen deliberately in this range, because they do the job that transparent colour cannot: they cover. White FW over a dark wash gives a highlight that actually reads, which no watercolour white manages, and the metallics sit on top of black or deep colour with a genuine sheen. Card makers, calligraphers and illustrators buy these three long before they buy the transparent shades.

They go on with a brush, a dip nib, a ruling pen or an airbrush. Keep the metallics stirred, since metallic pigment is heavier than the medium and settles towards the bottom between sessions, and rinse the nib or brush immediately — this is acrylic, and once it dries in a ferrule or a nib slit it is there for good.

The Safencia price is Rs. 2,500 for a 29.5 ml bottle in any of the three colours. Cash on Delivery is available across Pakistan, and stock, your city and delivery charges are confirmed on WhatsApp before dispatch.

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