Confessions of an Inkaholic
Okay, time to fess up.
Who uses the whole fill of ink, and who swaps ink before the fill is done?
Extra question: those who only use a partial fill, do you put the remains back in the bottle?
For myself I have, on occasion, here and there, once or twice, not used the whole fill. :redface::redface:
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
I always dump the ink before it's out. Thing is, I don't write much, just notes, calculations, and rough design drawings, so eventually I get a clue from how concentrated the ink becomes that I ought to think about doing something. In some cases I just add distilled water, but eventually I just dump out the ink and start over with something else, usually after cleaning out that pen and putting it away. Just this evening, I dumped what turned out to be 3 very concentrated drops of Montblanc Irish Green out of a Forest Green Parker 51. The ink went into the sink, not the bottle. Switched to a Montblanc 146 with Montblanc Lavender Purple. Don't know how long that will last. I like the color, but in the past I haven't lasted a whole fill of a 146 before wanting something else. And the 146 holds a lot of ink. Probably I shouldn't have filled it so full.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Both use up, & also empty leftovers, depending on circumstances.
Never empty back into bottle.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Both here.....but mostly dump it before it runs dry and never back in the bottle since sometimes I forget what ink is in it!!
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Im guilty of all of the above. I probably write pens dry about 50% of the time. When I decide to clear one out early, I usually dump them down the sink, but I have dumped back in the bottle a couple of times. If memory serves, those times involved cases where I just didn't like a pen / ink combo and had only recently filled the pen. It just felt too wasteful dumping out a full pen... Probably not a great idea in retrospect. Like pouring a partial glass of milk back in the jug :)
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
My own pens, the ones I use to write with, I use all the ink. I also write-test the pens I sell. I use only part of a fill for that and the remainder goes back in the bottle.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Usually I write my pens dry. If a pen and ink don't get along, I'll dump the ink into a sample vial. If I want a different colour, I'll ink up another pen — I have (more than) enough without having to empty one that's already filled with something else.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mhosea
I always dump the ink before it's out. Thing is, I don't write much, just notes, calculations, and rough design drawings, so eventually I get a clue from how concentrated the ink becomes that I ought to think about doing something. In some cases I just add distilled water, but eventually I just dump out the ink and start over with something else, usually after cleaning out that pen and putting it away. Just this evening, I dumped what turned out to be 3 very concentrated drops of Montblanc Irish Green out of a Forest Green Parker 51. The ink went into the sink, not the bottle. Switched to a Montblanc 146 with Montblanc Lavender Purple. Don't know how long that will last. I like the color, but in the past I haven't lasted a whole fill of a 146 before wanting something else. And the 146 holds a lot of ink. Probably I shouldn't have filled it so full.
I don't fill any of my pens completely full. It saves me wasting so much ink. :)
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
If the cart. is mostly full (cos I've changed my mind within a day), then I have been known to syringe it out and return it to the bottle, but these days, I tape up the cart. and label what ink it is. Saves me time when whimsy suggests I try that ink again.
Otherwise, I tend to top off the cartridges before they run dry. I fill a few of my pens with the same inks fairly consistently, but there are a few that I haven't quite matched the ink to (thus the "cheapies" for the non-"EDC" colors).
I haven't quite figured out what my "EDC" blue/blue-black is. The candidates are: Pilot Blue, Pilot Blue-Black, KWŻ Niebiesky galusowy #1 (Blue IG), KWŻ Azure #2, and... probably some other blue. Or gray. (Noodler's Lexington Gray is such a beautiful match for the Pilot Falcon (SEF) that recently when I tried to change the ink, I had to change it back within the day.) (The other gray vying for an "EDC" spot is Faber-Castell Stone Grey.)
Most-used ink (currently in four pens) is Noodler's Black. This is the ink that gets topped off the most.
P.S. If I don't save the ink in the cartridge (seal it, however clumsily), then I wash it down the drain. If I don't save it in the cartridge, it's cos there isn't much left.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
This is why I seldom fill the converter beyond halfway; I have a kind of "Ink Attention Deficit Disorder" and always want to switch pens and inks quickly.
I write them dry, but it doesn't take as long to do so.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
The only time I dump/refill is when I’m trying a new pen/ink combo and immediately determine it’s not a match made in heaven. In that case I’ll dump it back into the bottle.
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Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Not quite sure why an aura of guilt and confession has to be ascribed to this, but anyway...
I am an unashamed ink butterfly. There are a lot of inks, a lot of pens, I like to favour as many of them as I can so none of them feel left out. So I usually only partial fill, for a start, because while I will throw ink away I don't see the need to be wasteful with it for no reason. Then I write. If it's a poor pen/ink match, I empty it again. Life's too short for unhappy pen and ink marriages. If it's a good match, I'll probably write it out. If I'm in the middle of something, I may even refill it. If I get bored before the end, I'll empty it out. Never back in the bottle, usually down the drain, recently in an old bottle just to see what colour I might get (mainly on a theme of green, funnily enough). At some point that'll go down the drain too, because I don't hate any pen* enough to inflict such a mish-mash of inks on it.
To sum up: ink is cheap; my time available to use it is short. Would rather waste ink than time.
*Except maybe the Jinhao 922. But that cracked up ages ago and is in the great pen pot in the sky. Or maybe, if there's any justice, somewhere lower down...
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Not quite sure why an aura of guilt and confession has to be ascribed to this, but anyway...
Let's just assume it was a tongue-in-cheek way to start a conversation.
Hadn't thought about saving dribs and drabs and mixing them. Might give it a go. :jester:
Generally though I do use the whole fill, and usually make myself do it if using one of the pricier inks (Sailor for example, because these inks are not cheap to me!)
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
This thread is absolutely fascinating to me and has made me feel better.
I thought I was strange because I don't write that much, like to change pens and inks frequently, and therefore took to only filling the converters part way. Now I find out there are many others who do the same.
I am most certainly still strange, but apparently not because of my ink usage habit!
Thank you all for providing a morning smile!
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Empty_of_Clouds
Okay, time to fess up.
Who uses the whole fill of ink, and who swaps ink before the fill is done?
Extra question: those who only use a partial fill, do you put the remains back in the bottle?
For myself I have, on occasion, here and there, once or twice, not used the whole fill. :redface::redface:
Almost always, I will grind through a fill with gritted teeth, even disliking the ink. I have to absolutely despise the ink/pen combo before jettisoning the fluid.
That said, I rarely do complete fills, unless it's a tried-and-true combination.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Right now, I am writing with a Sheaffer Statesman with a Touchdown filling system. The pen sports an ink window, but the ink doesn't go there; I can't tell how full the pen is before I go on a real writing toot. So whenever I push the plunger, whatever ink is left in the pen goes into the bottle before the pen inhales a new fill. I haven't seen any biological activity in my ink bottles for many years. Snorkels and TipDip pens have the same "problem".
Lever, piston, VacFill, and cartridge pens easily show their fill levels. I can check them before I "take 'em to the woods".
I always rinse a pen before changing inks. You have to take chemistry into account.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Empty_of_Clouds
Generally though I do use the whole fill, and usually make myself do it if using one of the pricier inks (Sailor for example, because these inks are not cheap to me!)
Ah, cloudless-sky-but-the-sun's-getting-in-my-eyes-and-the-shades-you've-given-me-don't-fit-exactly-right, you fail to value both your money and your time. Save the former and let Sailor and their ridiculous prices go for a long walk off a short pier, and value the latter by using it well to seek the perfect balance of pen and ink in order to embrace true fountain pen nirvana.
You're welcome. Leave a donation in the rice bowl on your way back down the mountain. Ommmmm...
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sailor Kenshin
Almost always, I will grind through a fill with gritted teeth, even disliking the ink. I have to absolutely despise the ink/pen combo before jettisoning the fluid.
That said, I rarely do complete fills, unless it's a tried-and-true combination.
Because I hardly ever completely fill my pens (apart from when I use cartridges) especially when I'm reviewing an ink, I don't often have a problem of having to "grind through a fill with gritted teeth." If the fill has been in the pen for a while, the unused ink goes into an ink vial.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
I also don't do complete fills unless I know I will be using that pen and ink combo for a while.
Re: Confessions of an Inkaholic
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chrissy
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mhosea
I always dump the ink before it's out. Thing is, I don't write much, just notes, calculations, and rough design drawings, so eventually I get a clue from how concentrated the ink becomes that I ought to think about doing something. In some cases I just add distilled water, but eventually I just dump out the ink and start over with something else, usually after cleaning out that pen and putting it away. Just this evening, I dumped what turned out to be 3 very concentrated drops of Montblanc Irish Green out of a Forest Green Parker 51. The ink went into the sink, not the bottle. Switched to a Montblanc 146 with Montblanc Lavender Purple. Don't know how long that will last. I like the color, but in the past I haven't lasted a whole fill of a 146 before wanting something else. And the 146 holds a lot of ink. Probably I shouldn't have filled it so full.
I don't fill any of my pens completely full. It saves me wasting so much ink. :)
You know what? I've never thought of doing this. I always aim for a full fill, and then since I usually write the whole thing out, it takes FOREVER to write it dry. I'm going to have to try that.