Fountain Pen Ink Collection and Storage (575 Bottles!) | July 2024
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- Опубликовано: 24 ноя 2024
- Hello pen pals! Today I'm showing you my ink collection and how I store all of my bottles and samples. I have enough ink to fill a kiddie pool, but I love and appreciate them all. Please let me know if you would like reviews or swatches of any of these inks!
(I'm not quite done adding subtitles yet, but the rest should be up shortly!)
Thanks for watching! Happy writing!
Brands featured:
Diamine
J. Herbin
Birmingham Pen Company
Pilot Iroshizuku
Troublemaker
Vinta
Colorverse
PenBBS
Dominant Industry
IWI
If an ink evaporates in the bottle, just add water. (FP ink is like 95% water, and only the water evaporates. If you're really worried you can use distilled water, but tap water is usually fine. The other ink properties don't evaporate, so they'll still be there when you rehydrate. Try to estimate how much is missing from your bottle and that's how much water to add. If you don't remember, it's better to add less rather than more.) This probably won't work for the minority of pigmented or permanent inks that are fully fully dried out because that's different chemistry---but for the normal dye inks it will work even if there's only dust on the bottom of the bottle. Remember that FP ink is made to be easily washed out of your pen. ;)
For those inks you said are so dry that you have flow issues, add a needlepoint of dish soap. (Soap is a surfactant which will lower the surface tension of the ink/liquid. Mix it in your cartridge/converter. It's very VERY easy to add too much, so add slowly and incrementally as you test.) Attempt this only if you're prepared to ruin the batch you're modifying!! (This works because FP ink is formulated to have a lower surface tension and higher capillary action than water. A combination of those two properties is what makes ink flow.)
A different, less scary method: As an ink evaporates this makes it more wet (because the surfactant and humectant properties become stronger within the smaller percentage of water), so try leaving the cap off the bottle for a while (hours? days?) until you notice something has changed. If it doesn't work, then just add the water back in, or don't. (Adding too MUCH water makes an ink more dry.) Then put the cap back on and shake so everything is homogeneous once more. Again, attempt at your own risk.
I thought I should leave you a longer comment with instructions since there are few people with a FP ink collection as impressive as yours and I wouldn't want you to think your inks would be wasted due to evaporation. FP ink will last over a hundred years in a glass bottle, probably even longer. The only potential or unfixable problem is mold growth, but nearly all FP inks already have a fungicide/preservative additive. Rest assured your collection should be fine for many years to come, even if you use your inks very slowly. :)
Once I get my verification approved I'll pin this comment because it has so much useful info!
I've heard of adding water to evaporated inks, I've always felt a bit hesitant to do so because I do think that would still change the behavior of the ink, no? Just like you'd add surfactant to decrease surface tension and improve flow, you'd add water to make an ink writer drier. I thought some of the lubing properties still changed with that much evaporation, but I certainly could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time! That said, I could probably add water and then surfactant to my liking. I'm not sure how close it would be to the original ink at that point anymore in terms of performance, lol. :P I'll give it a try with Vinta's Sea and Sky though since I'd like to salvage that one.
I'm a dish soap/White Lightning truther, no worries there! I just added a bunch of Vanness White Lightning to Wearingeul Resurrection to make it workable in my Pilot Custom 823. It's saved countless inks haha.
I appreciate the reminders! When one amasses a collection this large, it can be easy to get lazy and just ignore problematic inks since there are so many high-performing ones, but the problematic inks often have the prettiest colors so they're worth the effort.
Hi! Just to remember: you can test adding water or surfactant in a sample vial to test it.
I had a couple of bottles that evaporated and I did add water. It was fine.
You should pin this comment.
Great video. Congrats!
@@pseudoluxury -- Glad to hear you're familiar and unafraid of inky experiments. :) IMO it's more fun to take a chance and try to change an ink that isn't performing, especially if you already know you're not going to use it as is. (As a TMI aside, I actually only own about a dozen FP inks because I've been mixing, remixing, and making my own ink for years. So your collection is like a treasure trove compared to my paltry lot. hehe)
As for water potentially changing ink behavior.... Think of a good/usable/well performing ink as being in balance. As far as I know, the only thing that changes in evaporation is the water content, the other stuff stays the same. (...Mostly. Some inks may have solvents or other proprietary random ingredients which may also evaporate depending on what they are, and if so, then yes the mixture will change somewhat, but those are secondary/optional/negligible ingredients.) By adding the missing water back to an evaporated ink, theoretically you're just restoring the balance. Of course, don't add too much water otherwise you throw the ink off balance in the other direction. And yes, since we don't know the proprietary formula of each ink, it is indeed a gamble. Some companies might get creative with it (especially when the ink is made to have special properties like sheening/dual-shading/glitter/permanence/fluorescence, etc) but the only truly necessary ingredients in a FP ink are 1. water, 2. dye, 3. surfactant, 4. humectant.
Well, Tara, good luck on your verification, hope it comes soon! I only stumbled on your video randomly and got curious what a collection of "575 bottles" looks like. Now I know. :)
I’d recommend Agfa or Kodak fotoflow or white lightning over dish soap. Dish soap while it will work as a surfactant also will remove greases from pistons, seals and vac mechanisms as it’s well a soap….
@@pseudoluxury I believe Birmingham also sells 'neutral' ink diluter.
You should get the small round stickers & put a drop of ink on it & put it on the top of the lid to make it easier to find the color you are looking for quicker.😊
That light yellow you could put in a Pilot Parallel and use it as a highlighter over top of a permanent ink.
That was amazing! I love that you have so many Birmingham inks. I think a Birmingham swatch video is in order. I'm in the UK and they won't ship here, but I'd love to see them all!
Thank you! Birmingham is my vice! I buy all of their new releases these days. It's a shame they won't ship overseas, but I do understand it from a logistics perspective for a small business. I'll add a swatch video to the list! :)
@@pseudoluxury Woo hoo.. BPC is one of my favorite ink brands and I too would love to see a BPC swatch party video. 😀
I agree, this is my favorite brand and now I wanna see all the ones she has in that drawer
I absolutely loved your personality and the way you talked about the inks.
Thank you so much! I appreciate that! 😊❤️
What an amazing and passionate ink collection! I enjoyed playing this video whilst I was drawing on my iPad, it was almost like an audiobook 💜Thanks for sharing all the stories and ink journeys - I also had to pause and add a couple of new inks to my wishlist 😂
Thanks so much! I'm actually a little self-conscious about my voice so this made my day. 😭 I'm glad I could ink-able you!
Birmingham swatch party!🎉 it's so difficult to see a library of swatches from their line since everyone is hesitant to dive in and buy full bottles, but you're a real one with your current collection!! I'd love to see them all (but I'm selfishly hoping you'll have magnolia mirage, monarch, saltwater taffy, heron, tiger lily, salamander and lichen lol).
stunning ink collection! what a dream to have those bottles at your fingertips whenever you sit down to write. thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much! I have all of those except Heron, I can include them in my Birmingham swatch video when I come back from vacation! Saltwater Taffy is *gorgeous*, an almost neon eye-burning pink that flows so smoothly! I had it in my Jinhao 100 a while ago and it was one of my favorite combos!
I am very grateful for my collection! I've reached a point where I'd like to whittle it down before introducing too many new ones, but who knows how long I'll stick with that, lol. :)
@pseudoluxury oh man, that's so exciting to hear! I can't wait - but I hope you have a great vacation in the meantime :)
Wow! The chargers, I'll go put my FWP into a sample vial, thanks for sharing
Glad I could help! ☺️♥️
WOOOWWW!!!! I think you just gave @inksplat a run for her money! Never ever did I think if I'd ever see the day!!! 😂🤣
According to Fountain Pen Companion she actually has 100 more bottles than me lol! I think it'll take me a while to catch up!! I love how many different inks she tries and swatches.
😂 Omg!!! Well, I bet you've come the closest!!! 🤣
I ordered 15 bottle and i am stressed is it do much now i feel better😂
So impressed by your collection! Also so impressed how well you know your collection.
I just love your ink collection. Have a wonderful day and thank you for sharing. My name is Helen.
Thanks so much Helen! 😊
I do recommend the popular sample storage solution, the Karter Scientific 50-vial racks. If you leave out the bottom insert when you assemble the racks, they're stackable.
You have definitely fallen down the ink rabbithole.
Agere. This is so sad. What a waste.
@oletoft4573 not sad, if using a bunch of different inks makes someone happy then I think it is awesome. A little bit of joy can be a huge thing.
The great thing about fountain pen ink is that, when properly stored and with few exceptions, it basically lasts forever. I've seen posts from people using decades-old bottles of ink with no problem! I fully intend on enjoying my collection for as long as possible before passing it on to the younger generation of fountain pen users. I've also told my partner what to do with my collection in the event of anything happening to me. I don't personally see it as being much different than folks who have amassed hundreds of pens whose collections get sold at estate sales. Of course, no one needs this much ink, but we could surely say that no one needs fountain pens at all.
@@pseudoluxury An I see it in an unrelated way... If you enjoyed video games and had tons of them, there is no harm done and the games give you enjoyment. So perfectly good.
This is a great video. You have a great collection of ink and it is great to see someone enthusiastic and full of knowledge. Keep going with your great work :)
@@markedwardkerman3849 Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed my collection. I can't wait to do more! :)
Lovely collection. I agree. Diamine are some of the most well behaved inks I've tried. I love how you can easily pick out colors without labeling because I could never.
I've used OG Tomoe River Paper and a circle punch and basically glued a swab on top of my bottles otherwise it would be a bear to find what I want when I'm looking for them.
Diamine has a great reputation for good reason! Some of the newer boutique brands have incredibly unique shades, but the performance may not be consistent. Diamine is definitely old reliable. Your method sounds great, I should probably adopt something similar myself. 😂 Even though I can find them pretty easily, I'm sure I'd save some time with a better labeling system!
Whoa! This is so impressive!! Thank you for sharing your storage :) Do you have a favorite brand since you have so many?
Thanks so much! I absolutely love your videos, this is such a moment for me 😂 So difficult to narrow down a favorite brand! Birmingham is my favorite in terms of color selection, but I have to hand it to Pilot for consistency, reliability, and performance. Not to say that Birmingham has issues in those respects, but because of their unique shades, some colors might benefit more from a broad nib, special paper, etc. I can feel confident that no matter what pen I load a Pilot ink into, it'll work wonderfully! On the other hand, I could probably say that about Diamine...this is tough LOL 💀🤣
@@pseudoluxury I can totally understand your struggle haha. But I feel the same!! I discovered BPC this year and holy moly it has taken over my ink stash. But Pilot hands down wins for me too in reliability. So fun!! Diamine would win for total number of colors out there for me though, especially the inkvent colors coming out every year for the past 4 years.
@@mydandeliondiaries BPC just nails everything from packaging to presentation to uniqueness of colors that it's hard not to get sucked into the vortex! I feel it. I've seen some folks say that they're getting burnt out on Diamine's Inkvents, and I can totally see that, but I'm a sucker and will be the first in line for those things every year as long as they keep releasing them. I'm every ink company's dream consumer--you can sell me the same color a hundred times, for better or worse! 😆
beautiful ink collection! i can't believe how many you have!
Your collection is wonderful!! Birmingham is my #1, Pilot #2, Diamine #3, and Noodler's #4. I have a few other brands but they haven't been brought into rotation yet so I don't remember their names.
FWP has been hit or miss with me because some of their inks are too pale.
I already like you and an your channel! Looking fwd to more content! :)
Thanks so much! Can't wait to share more with everyone!
Wow. So great! ❤
@@KWKarn Thanks so much! ❤️
This is great and some good ideas! I have over 300 bottles myself, also without any boxes (which seems to be rare), and struggle to store them in any way...might be off to IKEA! My biggest *problem* is wanting every Diamine Inkvent in full bottles lol
Oh man, I don't think I could deal with any more big Inkvent bottles than I already have!! They take up so much space! But those colors are certainly gorgeous, I can't lie. I hope you find a storage solution that works for you!
Loving the long videos
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy them! ❤️❤️
Wow! Thanks impressive. If I lived down the street from you Id shop at your house.
Thanks! Lol, I've joked about that before. I can be the local ink librarian. 😂
Rouge Grenat is a great color. And Pillars of Creation is a favorite of mine. And Asa-Gao is a favorite of mine. (About to be inked in a Diplomat.) SOme of my favorite Birmingham Ink colors are Emerald Fusion, Heron, Prickly Pear, Butcher's Broom, Amber Adobe, Interstellar Bronze Extra Dimensional Umber, and , of course, others...
You have great taste! 😄 I said it once and I'll say it twice, Asa-Gao is a truly underrated Iroshizuku blue, I wish more people appreciated it! I hope writing with it in that Diplomat sparks joy. Those Birmingham inks you named are all so lovely. Butcher's Broom, Emerald Fusion, and Interstellar Bronze are especially complex and rich. I've only used Emerald Fusion with a dip pen, but I'm excited to put it in one of my pens at some point!
Get small trays that fit into those drawers for the ink sample
@@Art_culture_livin Thank you! I'll give that a try.
This is heaven. I wish my only problem is organizing my inks lol. I know what you mean about Vinta. I moved mine to sample vials since I have some extra of those. I would love to see a swatch of the Birmingham inks, maybe by bottle size so it's not too much for you. Birmingham is not easily accessible in my country and if ever there is a third party that sells them, I would want to buy a bottle of colors that I really like.
I will definitely do that with any future Vinta inks. Too bad it took me this long to learn my lesson, lol. I have a big Birmingham swatch video planned when I return from my travels! ❤️
I feel seen by your hundreds of samples in ziploc bags. 😂 And I'm also unsure of how to organize them better. I want to work through them, but at the same time I like having a little bit of a color for reference, comparisons, whatever I feel like. For color lovers it feels good to have a nice big library! I'd love to see some Birmingham swatches; I have a few and just ordered a few more, but it always just feels like guessing when I pick them out.
That's how I feel too! I always feel a sense of pride whenever I finish up a sample, but also a sense of sadness because I usually can't justify buying a full bottle of whatever it is, given the size of my collection. Birmingham swatches are definitely on the way!
The credit card clear pouch in the video can you please add RFID protection or a sleeve inside it to protect cards you carry around
I'm not really sure what you're referring to, can you elaborate?
The inks you have that are too light or not legible, I'd mix them with another color and make your own color or just add a touch of another color to make it more legible. That's what I do. Mixing inks is a lot of fun.
Your ink collection is incredible!!!
The Taccia name, I was with you on how you pronounce it and I just heard it is actually pronounced Tasha... So I am no help hehe because not sure if that is even correct.
Thank you so much! Mixing might be the key to making those colors usable, you could be right! I don't know why my brain doesn't let me consider that a viable option lol.
I looked on Taccia's Japanese website and they write their name in romaji, not katakana, so there's no way to be certain based on how it's written. I'll try to find marketing videos or videos from vendors to see how they say it! Until then I'm sticking to ta-cha haha.
Don't take this the wrong way but I have to question whether you really are closing the bottles properly. I have 24+ Ferris Wheel Press ink chargers and several bottles of Vinta (close to 500 bottles of ink in my whole collection) and I'm not seeing any evaporation. Are you removing the paper gaskets in the chargers? Have they shifted? I know I've had to adjust one or two that moved out of alignment. You need to leave any gaskets in place that were in the bottles and replace any that disintegrate or rip. I too use Alex drawers and I repurpose nice cardboard gift boxes where there are top and bottom trays (like the ones Moterm planner covers come in) to corral groups of inks. I also designed and printed my own caddies for the Diamine Inkvent and FWP charger bottles to keep them organized. I do recommend reinforcing the Alex drawer bottoms, you can get metal shim "drawer reinforcers" from Amazon.
That's a valid concern. There has been no rhyme or reason as to the evaporation. There have been a few where I did remove the gaskets, but others have hardly been touched. For example, I never got around to swatching or even opening Majestic Maple Syrup and it still evaporated. I find it concerning that they would require any babying when $2 plastic sample vials from Goulet have not evaporated in the several years I've had them. As you could see, the Vinta evaporation was not consistent across bottles. Others on Reddit have also reported evaporation in Vinta bottles. I close them as tightly as I can without putting undue stress on the threads. Given that none of my other bottles have this issue, I'm inclined to believe that the issue isn't really me. That's a good suggestion re: the reinforcers for the Alex drawers. I've noticed some bowing in mine.
Have you tried Juspirit for Tono and Lims inks? They certainly don’t have all of them but they have a fair amount and DO offer international shipping so I was able to get a couple full bottles from them of that brand and some Wearingeul inks I couldn’t get elsewhere. Also why not use stacking acrylic drawer organizers (for like makeup) for your samples? I think they would be just the right size to stack two or three deep in one of your drawers and you can also separate each layer/box by brand. Vial holders would be nice but I think you’ve got too many samples to fit all of them that way 😅
I haven't even heard of that retailer! :O That's dangerous for my wallet lol, but I appreciate you letting me know about them! They have Charge, which I really like! I'll consider that, I would just need a million to hold them all, lol. It would take up a ton of space compared to my current situation. I do have a set of acrylic drawers for my indie perfumes so I can experiment and see if it's something that works for me!
@@pseudoluxury I am totally ink-nabaling you right now haha! I have one of the kaleidoscope inks (Utage) and I'm really impressed with it, especially as a shimmer ink. I wish more people in the west talked about the Tono and Lims brand considering how popular they are in the east.
Why don’t you like RO inks? I have 1 vinta sea kelp. I think now I’ll prioritize using it. No Noodlers? Burma road brown is a sample to try. I match up your herbin choices, diamine, sailor inks and Pilot is just consistent. You’re def down the ink hole, I find I might enjoy the ink more than the pens now. Impressive collection and good order. The samples seem to have to be in a baggie in a box.
As if I haven't written enough to you, haha.... If it wasn't for this video I'd never have found out that Birmingham used to sell 100ml bottles?! Darn it, those bottles are beautiful. Thanks for the info! :)
Write as often as you'd like! Yes, they had a period where they were only offering new inks in 100 ml bottles, but they mysteriously disappeared. They felt so luxurious, but I can't complain about the downsizing--100 ml is A LOT of ink!
@@pseudoluxury --- I understand we have different preferences, but I would have loved any of those 100ml bottles. It's not too much ink for me! :) I searched Birmingham's whole website and indeed they no longer sell them. :( My heart has been won and then broken in a matter of minutes! haha. I'm probably a weirdo for caring too much about the design of the ink bottle, but a good bottle is a work of art IMO. Congrats on having the whole collection of the 100ml bottles...? Do you have all the colors (formerly) offered?? I'm jealoussssss. hehe
PS-- I compared with the Diamine Shimmertastic 50ml gold-top bottle that looks similar, but the Birmingham's have a thicker bottom. Plus the winning label design. Alas, not the same. :(
Thank you for sharing your amazing collection! (Do you have paper preference?) It would be a treat if you would swatch your favorite ink brands, by color and discuss your choices! I would love to see them compared 🎉🙁
Thanks so much! Old Tomoe River is by far my favorite, but I like Cosmo Air Light too. Surprisingly, notebook paper made in Vietnam is also very good for fountain pens. I'm going to try Corona Bright paper soon to see how it compares to Tomoe River's various iterations. I'd love to do a video like that! Definitely going to put it on the list when I get home from vacation. :)
I think all started matching ink and pen color.
Impressive! I only have 267 bottles of ink, mine are stored in a 1960s recorded cabinet.
Thank you! What a lovely storage solution! I envy those who keep their collections in furniture with character. I'm boring and choose easy options. 😂
Wow, I never realized that so many brands have an evaporation problem. If I had a huge investment in an ink collection as you do, I would be very unhappy. I an at the opposite end of the ink collection spectrum...3 bottles only all Pilot Iroshizuku inks-Kon Peki, Yama Budo, and Mirishiku Shikibu, plus about 25 samples to go with about 30 pens. I love my pens, and inks, but could never take on a signuficant ink collection. Keeping track is just too overwhelming. I cant even wrap my head around your magnificent collection. Seems like many will be evaporated before you can use them...which is a real shame.
Sometimes less is more for sure! The three inks you have are all fantastic choices. Thankfully, I've only had evaporation issues with the FWP chargers, Vinta bottles, and my Teranishi bottle. All of the other ones are still in excellent shape. I make sure that they're tightly sealed. I do believe that it was a design flaw in the case of the former brands. I still hope to enjoy my collection for many years to come! :)
For any inks that evaporate in the bottle, just add water and shake until it's all homogeneous again. It's a really easy fix so there's no need to worry. :)
You can rehydrate dye inks, but i think it's ridiculous some brands don't have better sealing on their bottles. Even if you don't have a large collection, evap can be a big problem is one is say just using a color for editing or highlighting and not refilling as much as daily writers.
For sure! Thankfully the vast majority don't have that problem, but it's disappointing nonetheless, especially since I'm clumsy and not very good at decanting.
Lovely! Just wondering, have you ever managed to finish an entire bottle?
Just some smaller 5 ml bottles here and there! Other than that, I've mostly finished 4 ml samples! I'm making good progress on some of my J. Herbin bottles though. ☺️
This is such a awesome collection! I'm so curious, how do you catalog your inks?
Thank you so much! I use the website Fountain Pen Companion. My username over there is the same as it is here, so you can actually browse my whole ink collection there! :)
What are your thoughts on Pilot discontinuing Tsutsuji and Kosumosu?!?
I'm so sad! They're such beautiful pinks and I don't find Hana-ikada to be as well-behaved or as legible as either of them. It's also sad that they're discontinuing Kiri-same in favor of a cool grey blue--it would make more sense to discontinue Fuyu-syogun in my opinion. But I'm assuming that they're discontinuing those three for sales reasons, not because of what color niches they fill.
I thoroughly enjoyed your huge collection 😃Being in Australia I have to second the request for a Birmingham Inks swatch video. I have a 3 page list of inks I have wanted over the past year (99% are no longer on the site 🤨) & it makes me depressed every time I see it. I have a decent amount of ink but nothing on yours 😂 but BPC unique shades call me more than most others except my favourites Diamine, Wearingeul & Vinta.
Thank you, I'm so glad you did! I've heard the people's demands and I will be doing a BPC swatch video as soon as I can. Yeah, I'm not sure why the vast majority of their inks are no longer listed on their site. They don't make announcements regarding changes in their offerings, so it's anyone's guess. Wearingeul shades are so unique and I love the theming, I just find that so many are dry! I remember adding a surfactant to Floating Cloud, and it was still a little fussy for me in a medium Schmidt nib. Vinta inks are better behaved for me, but obviously their bottles aren't the best haha.
Have you ever thought about a de-stash sale?
I might sell off some of my Robert Oster samples if I can't work through them in a timely manner, but I genuinely love my collection and would only consider destashing a few right now. That could certainly change at some point!
Do you have Diamine A Dip in the Pool?! I’ve been wanting to see a swatch of that (the ones on cult pens often don’t seem true to life lol).
I do! I can upload a swatch video short tomorrow and tag you in it! 😊 It's been a while since I used it, but it's a lovely turquoise.
@@pseudoluxury hooray!!! Thanks.
I agree with your opinion of FWP. I, too, no longer buy any FWP products.
I think a lot of people in the community have moved in this direction. Such a shame! I used to defend some of their practices, but once my charger sets started disappearing into the aether, that was the last straw for me.
Bows down in fear. Why don't you like Robert Oster inks? Have you tried trays to give easy access to your back-of-the-draw inks.
That's a great idea! I'll have to give it a try. Most Robert Oster inks I've tried have been unpleasantly dry or finicky, with some exceptions like Motor Oil and Taiwan Blue. There are also so many similar blues, but it's my fault for acquiring so many of them, lmao. My opinion might change as I continue to use more!
I hope you have a few fountain pens , could you mae a collection video please also I couldn't find your Instagram , if you have please mention ❤
I have around 60 pens! I'll definitely do a collection video when I can in a couple of weeks. I don't have an Instagram for this account right now, but I'll be making one very soon. :) Thanks for watching!
i’m the brother
so i stil do NOT have a problem..... nice to know, pheeew!!
🧍♂️