The LAMY AL-star is made from lightweight, durable aluminium, matt black anodised. Characteristic Lamy front section in transparent plastic. Flexible clip of black chrome.There are few - if any - pens that are quite as black as this. The barrel is black, the cap is black, the nib is black. If it were any blacker it would start to pull everything else in the surrounding area towards it. If you find it to be a little too black, maybe you could use a nice colourful ink? It won't change the way the pen looks one iota, but you'll feel more colourful, and that's kind of the point. Fountain pen with cartridge filling system with blue ink cartridge supplied. Polished black steel nib. Use Lamy T10 cartridges, or the optional Lamy Z28 converter available separately, for bottled ink.