Before ink jet and laser printers; before copy machines, the main way to make multiples of anything not provided by printing press was by a mimeograph machine or spirit duplicator. The mimeograph utilized a porous drum which inked the backside of a waxed stencil sheet. Unlike traditional stencils which have cut out areas that are directly inked or painted, a mimeo stencil has the area to be printed scratched away by removing the wax coating with a stylus. The resulting image allows the ink from the drum to seep through the sheet and transfer to the blank paper. Based on a plastic lettering guide once manufactured by the A.B. Dick Company of Chicago, Mimeograph Template JNL is available in regular and oblique versions. Albert Blake Dick, the company’s founder, coined the term ‘mimeography’. The font’s character shapes follow the routed letters of the template, complete with rounded terminals. An earlier font release [designed with flat terminals and some alternate characters] is available as Interoffice Memo JNL.

Valeria Script is an experimental font, calligraphy based, with attractive results. Go for Valeria Script Cola pen for more ink explosion!

NewMarker is a hand-drawn font, made with ink brush. It includes basic latin character set, numerals, currency symbols and basic punctuation.

This face was drawn on paper with a calligraphy pen and way too much ink. It's perfect for that spooky globular look.

Bowler Hand has been created from hand drawn letter forms using a Rotring ink pen which gives the font a great look.

Nouch is a brush font made with ink and soya, inspired by love for street art and asian calligraphy. Recommended for extreme applications.

Inkpad Letters JNL joins a number of fonts that were reproduced by Jeff Levine from inked impressions of various rubber stamp printing sets.

Hand drawn with ink and brush to obtain that unique rhythm and dynamic flow. Great for formal inviraions as well as personal documents.

Okaycat presents "Macchiato". This playful casual font is fashion forward. Elegant simple line serifs pair well with line drawings or simple ink drawings.

With its contours roughened by ink spread on porous cardboard, Shenzhen Industrial evokes packing crates, stamped documents and urban grit with high-impact urgency.

What happens if you take a bamboo stick and break it into two, then use it with ink on cardboard? Junkfool! - That's what happens!

Every exit is an entry somewhere else. It’s a quote by British playwright Tom Stoppard and I really like it! Exit strategy is a rough brush font, which I made using Chinese ink (where would I be without my Chinese ink??) and the new batch of French paper I bought. Use this font to highlight all that is important, stick it on posters, slap it on book covers - it will definitely do the trick!

In May of this year, I went to Japan with my (then 11 year old) son Sam. It was his dream to visit Japan, probably because of my tall tales, stemming from the time I was a tour guide! Sam really wanted to try all kinds of Japanese delicacies and one day, when walking around Tokyo, we came across a little stall selling Taiyaki. Taiyaki are fish-shaped waffle/cakes with a red bean or sweet potato filling. They are really delicious! This nice ‘oriental looking’ font was made with a broken popsicle stick and Chinese ink. You are now wondering why I always use Chinese ink and not Japanese ink. Well, I have a stash of the Chinese stuff and it’ll last me a lifetime!

Tailor was a study of slab serif style with round and comfortable feel. I wanted to merge round shapes with exaggerated ink traps for legibility.

Bessington is a quirky rough uppercase display font, each character hand drawn using rich black ink on a soft paper giving it a beautifully ragged look.

The letterforms are based on Inserat Cursive, a bold script popular in the late nineteenth century; the treatment was suggested by cover artwork for Graphic Styles from Victorian to Post-Modern, written by Stephen Heller and designed by Seymour Chwast. Included in the font are several handy ink blots (section mark and superior numbers positions), a stylish tailpiece (florin position), and a couple of ink bottles patterned after those on the bookcover (bar and broken bar).

Lead Paint is a font designed by Ethan Dunham that is very rough and grungy looking. It was created using ink and a piece of shredded wood.

I was playing around with some brushes and ink, and out came Skulduggery. Use it for any project you can apply the term ‘skulduggery’ to. Or not. Whatever.

Ruby Red is a playful font, made with ink and a brush. Ruby Red would look great in ads and packaging. Comes with a treasure trove of diacritics.

Insigne Splats! is a series of vectorized ink splatters that can be quickly and easily used in your artwork. There are 64 unique and useful ink splatters. These individual splats can be combined, decomposed and organized to accent your designs. Splats! works well in conjunction with some of insigne's grungier faces such as Valfieris Aged, Arendahl, Majidah or Blue Goblet. Please see the printable sample .pdf for a full preview of all the splats available and the keys they map to.

Letraflex is a bold retro-inspired typeface with a slightly futuristic style. The family is based on old computer lettering and Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, with a little contemporary twist including ink traps. Letraflex layered fonts provide users with a wide range of choices for any design project. This family is an excellent pick for eye-catching designs, including Headline, Poster, Branding, Logos, Concert, and any other heavy design! Take a look at this video to see Letraflex in motion!

I made this font using my index finger and Chinese ink. I thought the ink would come off easily, but I can tell you: it doesn’t. I have been walking around with a black stained finger for a week now and I do get strange looks from people every so often… Fingerfood, of course, is hand made. It is a rather playful font - all caps, but lower and upper case differ and like to mingle. Comes with a full diacritics palette.

Bloody Nose, from Mabry Creative, is an original decorative font with embedded OpenType features. Consisting of hand-scrawled characters, the font is set in all caps and features ninety-eight glyphs with six alternate versions of each. The alternates automatically and randomly cycle through for a more authentic handwritten effect. Bloody Nose was created using an eyedropper to apply red ink to Bristol board. The natural running and pooling of the ink as it absorbed into the board inspired the font’s title.

Astroviz is more than just a font it's a design statement. Its deep ink traps are the defining feature that sets it apart, making it an ideal choice for creating captivating and memorable headlines that demand attention and leave a lasting impression. While the ink traps are a prominent feature, Astroviz maintains an elegant and curvaceous design overall. Its letterforms are fluid and harmonious, with a balance of thick and thin strokes that give it a luxurious and sophisticated appearance.

The Inabitavel Typewriter is a unique typewriter font design, great for mimicking the effect of typewriting older machines. Has an erased and much-inked style, good for exquisite designs.

Cul De Sac is a beautiful cartoon-like font. It was hand drawn, using an old fashioned pen and India ink. Use it for your ads, posters and websites.

King15 is a beautiful script font based on signatures dated back from hundreds of years. Its asymmetry and ink imperfections give it a strong and a truly unique character.

In contrast to the traditional process, Zubizarreta was created with the technique of emptying ink out to shape the letterforms. Oddly enough, the result is a type reminiscent of Basque.

Sandy is a handwritten sans serif font, based on shapes made with ink brush. Sandy is a lively and informal typeface with good readability. Most of European languages are supported.

Magwey is a fun and friendly retro groovy font, with experimental ink traps. suit for magazine cover, brochure, logos, Headlines or Quotes, Stand alone displays, and short paragraphs or contents.

Mimeograph Lettering JNL is based on one of the numerous plastic lettering templates once manufactured by the A.B. Dick Company of Chicago and is available in both regular and oblique versions. The mimeograph utilized a porous drum which inked the backside of a waxed stencil sheet. Unlike traditional stencils which have cut out areas that are directly inked or painted, a mimeo stencil has the area to be printed scratched away by removing the wax coating with a stylus. The resulting image allows the ink from the drum to seep through the sheet and transfer to the blank paper. As with a companion font (Mimeograph Template JNL), the character shapes follow the routed letters of the template, complete with rounded terminals. A previous font release [designed with flat terminals and some alternate characters] is available as Interoffice Memo JNL.

Smoke Signals is a calligraphy font handmade using a real dip pen and ink with lots of bonus goodies. Smoke Signals includes: tons of ligatures for a smother text small caps that act as an all caps font a bonus set of ornaments a bonus set of grunge elements, such as splatters, ink blots, scratches Smoke Signals is perfect for any design that needs a vintage calligraphy look. Use it in signatures and logos, notes and quotes, social media posts, and branding and packaging.

Template Basic JNL was inspired by a simple sans serif lettering template used in the days of ink and technical pen renderings, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Twisted System is a nice little China Ink font. It is a bit random, loose, uneven and shaky, but comes with a lot of character and some interesting alternates as well.

Lutfey is a chunky & cute typeface, visually featuring bold, firm and gentle characters. It’s has smooth lines on each side, especially on the outside, with subtle ink-trap details at every corner.

Introducing Jackfire, a captivating handwritten font that embodies the natural ink flow of a skilled hand. Its appearance reflects the genuine essence of ink and evokes a sense of soulful emotion. With its relaxed and casual feel, Jackfire stands out, making it a great choice for those looking to make a bold statement. Whether you're designing a logo or developing a brand, Jackfire brings a distinctive charm that sets your work apart. Allow Jackfire to infuse your designs with its unique character and capture the attention of your audience

Twirrewyn is Frisian for ‘Whirlwind’. I have always liked the Frisian language; it’s like a crossover between English and Dutch. When I studied journalism in Zwolle (a city close to Fryslân) there were a lot of Frisian students and I did pick up a few words! Twirrewyn is a handmade font family: the fat version was made using a brush and ink; the light version was made using that same ink, but with a broken satay skewer instead of a brush. And yes, you have guessed right, we eat a lot of Satay! ;-)

I like playing around with brushes and Chinese ink. I always have some kind of idea of what the final design should look like, but once it’s done, it never ever looks like what I had in mind. Apex Brush is one of those designs: it started off as a few brush strokes, but before I knew it, I had a really nice set of matching brush fonts! Use it for any design that needs a bit of rough, a splash of ink and a pinch of rebel.

The Tang family came to be, when I started studying fonts made for use in very small point sizes, like Bell Gothic. I studied the use of ink traps and went to town with them. Instead of just using them for their purpose: trapping ink to prevent the type getting blotted; I used them as a design feature. With those features Tang works very well in both headline and text use. I use it as a house type, and I've already seen it in a beer and cider labels.