Shake or wipe excess ink from your pen, quill or brush when you are ready to use it. The less ink on the instrument, the lighter the strokes will be.
Dilute your India ink strokes with distilled water once it's dry by dipping your pen, quill or brush directly into the water and tracing over the ink on the paper.
Add distilled water directly into a bottle of India ink if it's been sitting around for some time and has begun to dry out.