Speedball super-pigmented colored inks are archival, waterproof, non-toxic, and flow and mix well. Good for hot-press watercolor paper and work on any printer paper.
I often draw in lines and dots, in style of zoological drawings, with black ink and fine-point dip pen. Black India inks are bright and opaque. I wanted same saturation and control over the line in color, for a children's book.
Calligraphy inks are made by Speedball, Higgins, and Winsor and Newton. Higgins I knew already: Higgins Black Magic is the default black ink: carbon-pigmented, archival, waterproof, and lightfast. However, I wasn't satisfied with Higgins colored inks. The yellow was slightly orange-ish, the red slightly too warm, and there were no green or blue at all. I don't know what pigments they use and decided against them because this colors didn't suit my project.
Speedball acrylic inks are solvent-based, archival, waterproof and light-fast. This inks claim to be non-toxic and safe around children, too -- which I was willing to trust but fortunately never tested. They contain mineral pigment, not dye. Insoluble color particles stay on the surface of paper and don't bleed through or sideways, even on inferior scratch paper I used for sketching. Speedball calligraphy inks are very opaque with superb saturation. They allow drawing white and yellow over black background. These inks flow through fine-tip pen perfectly. Speedball comes in two-ounce and half-ounce plastic jars. Two-ounce jars have wider bottom and are pretty stable for dipping pen or brush. Pen cleaner really works: I used it to open the jars when the lids glued on. I use a small plastic pipette to drop the pen cleaner under the lids or on the pens, instead of dipping the pens into the cleaner.
Available colors are: Super Black, Scarlet Red, Indigo Blue, Primrose Yellow, Deep Purple, Emerald Green, Teal Green, Burnt Umber, Metallic Silver, Metallic Gold, and Super White. They cost $3-4.5 for two ounces at art supplies stores. They keep well in storage. The colors are bright, glossy, and remind me of medieval illumination, which suited my idea perfectly. I diluted color Speedball ink with water for watercolor-style brush coloring, and it worked well, too. I'm not sure this use is intended by manufacturer.
Winsor & Newton are more expensive ($3 for 30 ml) and not safe nor non-toxic. This brand has more different colors then Speedball. Winsor & Newton doesn't sell pen cleaner.
See also: India ink.