Ink sample collection

I've seen people with ink collection that has hundreds of bottles and even more ink samples, which is absolutely mind-boggling to me.

For some reason, I ended up with a lot more pens than ink.

Apart from maybe 10 bottles total, some are gifts and exchanges (and a batch of Sheaffer Skrip bottles that I got from a liquidation of a stationery operation), this is all I have in terms of ink samples:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2a04f723_z.jpg

Not only my inks are far less numerous than my pens, the rate of my ink purchasing is also very sparse compared to my pen buying. In the photo above, the 11 samples closest to the camera are my latest batch of ink samples bought from Vanness Pens (the only place I buy ink from).

When was the last time I bought ink? 20 months ago. :)

Here are a crude sample of the batch using a dip nib, please forgive the bad handwriting, just look at the colors:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...50794462_b.jpg

Overall I'm pretty happy with this batch, some ink that stood out for me, the Bronze Leaf, the Armada, the Garuda Rood, #64 Sumiyoshi Yamate, Sahara Grey, and the Carbon Kakhi. Of course the Cobblestone is one of my favorites, I should just buy the whole bottle, but $27 can go towards a broken pen (see where my priority lies? :) )

Anyways, this post is nothing but simply an observation at my current ink collection. I'm sure there are some of you who have only one bottle of ink or less, but I'm pretty sure there are more of you who has a lot more ink in your collection than I do.

What's your ink collection look like today?

Interesting thread. Thank you, Will.

I have given the majority of my ink samples, also because I have noticed that the sample containers are not completely sealed, thus allowing evaporation. I still have around 10 ink samples, but nothing spectacular.

Your sample of Kyo Iro Coblestone of Gion looks like a brown with some golden brown hues in it. Is it my screen, or the reality, please?

In the earlier part of this 'hobby' I knew nothing about inks (still don't truth be told), and so went for a lot of samples. In particular this was (semi) useful in trying some of the rarer inks. There are one or two inks that I would love to have, but they are all being hoarded by others and thus unobtainable. These days I don't do samples. I recently gave away a sample I had of Sheaffer Persian Rose. An interesting colour, but not in the colour range I would generally use.

I have around 40 bottles of ink, including a big bottle of Pilot blue/black (which could easily suffice in itself as an only ink to use). The majority are Sailor, Herbin and Diamine, with a scattering of KWZI and Oster in there. Nothing rare.

When I first got into the hobby I bought a 10 ink bottles various brands and a few years later ended up selling them for pittance. since then I've about 2 a year. I've got 13 in total. I don't really use light colours I prefer blue's, blue-blacks and dark colours.

As you say money is better spent on a broken pen to fix up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penwash

...What's your ink collection look like today?

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Yours is too neat. Here is my ink box (my late mother's former artist paint box). The few duplicates are in a drawer.

Attachment 50347

Come to think of it, I've never made a list of my inks. Okay, I have better things to do but I'll do it, since a list will encourage me to use neglected inks.*

Bottles:

Montblanc old 50ml black (2)
Montblanc old 50ml blue/black IG
Montblanc old 50ml racing green (2)
Montblanc old 50ml bordeaux
Montblanc new 60ml royal blue
Montblanc new 60ml irish green
Montblanc new 60ml midnight blue (2)*
Montblanc new 60ml toffee (3) (favorite)
Montblanc new 60ml burgundy red*
Montblanc new 30ml yellow or gold (forget the name - for mixing faux racing green)*
Omas Sepia
Pelikan 4001 black (2)*
Visconti blue
Visconti black
Visconti brown-black (I forget the original color - I decanted it)*
Visconti green (should be called turquoise IMHO)*
Sailor Kiwaguro black/BLACK!*
Aurora black (3)
Aurora blue (2)
Waterman blue/black (favorite getting low - must get more)
Waterman blue (2)
Waterman Havana brown (2)
Waterman South Sea light blue (yet to ever try it)*
Diamine Steel blue
Diamine Kensington blue*
Diamine Passion red*
Diamine blue/black 30ml*
Diamine Magical Forest shimmer (only for Christmas cards)
Diamine Red Lustre shimmer (only for Christmas cards)
Diamine Sargasso Sea blue (favorite but hard to flush!)
Akkerman No. 5 Shocking blue (close alternative to Sargasso Sea)
Private Reserve DC SuperShow blue (close alternative to Sargasso Sea)
Herbin Lierre Sauvage green*
Herbin Cafe des Iles brown*
Omas sepia
Rohrer & Klinger verdigris
Rohrer & Klinger black drawing ink
Higgins Black Magic drawing ink*
Monteverde blue/black*
Stipula Calamo
Nick Stewart Randall blue/black*
Ecclesiastical Stationary Supplies Registrars Ink ("ESSRI") blue/black 110ml IG

Vials 5ml - trades, custom mixes or decanted from almost empty bottles

Pelikan 4001 blue/black IG
Herbin Perle Noir black
Phiden Leap of Faith blue/black
Colorverse blue (FPG mystery ink No. 16)*
Visconti dark red custom mix (FredRydr recipe)
Wroclaw black custom mix (ethernautrix recipe by jj)
Parker Penman Sapphire
Carlisle blue custom mix (junglejim recipe)
KWZ Sheen Machine blue
Vintage Black Cherry (RichardBinder recipe by jj)
Vintage Burgundy (RichardBinder recipe by jj)
FredRydr Rose (junglejim recipe)*
Iroshizuku Budo-Kai LE*
Faux racing green (Chrissy & FredRydr recipe)

Cartridges -

None. I gave them all away as I no longer have any cartridge pens!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fountainpagan

Your sample of Kyo Iro Coblestone of Gion looks like a brown with some golden brown hues in it. Is it my screen, or the reality, please?

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The Cobblestone of Gion ink is a very interesting one, as several members here noted as well, it's a difficult ink color to pin down. It is a brown ink, but with a heavy grey overtone and a touch of green. The scan in my post impart a bit more brown than what you actually see on paper.

I like this grey/brown combination, and I love the name as well. On the opposite side of the brown spectrum would be the Krishna Bronze Leaf, now that one has a lively gold shading. Unfortunately in my scan above, the shading didn't materialize.

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Originally Posted by top pen

As you say money is better spent on a broken pen to fix up.

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It is a preference only for us tinkerer type people :)
Sadly nowadays even broken pens are expensive to get.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penwash

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fountainpagan

Your sample of Kyo Iro Coblestone of Gion looks like a brown with some golden brown hues in it. Is it my screen, or the reality, please?

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The Cobblestone of Gion ink is a very interesting one, as several members here noted as well, it's a difficult ink color to pin down. It is a brown ink, but with a heavy grey overtone and a touch of green. The scan in my post impart a bit more brown than what you actually see on paper.

I like this grey/brown combination, and I love the name as well. On the opposite side of the brown spectrum would be the Krishna Bronze Leaf, now that one has a lively gold shading. Unfortunately in my scan above, the shading didn't materialize.

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Unless it's a different ink I knew it as Stone Road of Gion. I bought a bottle and don't like it as mentioned on a different thread. I tried it in a Pilot Custom 74 and then a Sheaffer Legacy with stub nib and it just won't write properly on the papers I tried it with. It seems to need me to press on hard before it will write

I have about 20 bottles not counting mystery inks and about 50 samples, give or take.

I have way more ink than I know what to do with but I am finally coming to the bottom of my bottle of Quink Black which I use most often (for work notes). Pelikan Black and Take-sumi are each almost half used. The other inks I don't use nearly as much.

I like purples and have some samples waiting to find my Next Purple after KWZ Gummiberry and Diamine Damson.

I like dark blues, teals, and turquoise and have several really excellent examples in the blue and blue green space.

Brown is nice but I only have one, Diamine Macassar. I like it so much I don't need or want anything else.

I also like Red and have a few but use it too rarely to hoard more.

I'm still looking for my go-to permanent black and have some samples in the queue.

I've tried some green ink samples but I guess it's not my thing.

I am trying to avoid getting more ink for awhile as there's just no need. If I start writing more letters, then maybe.

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Originally Posted by azkid

...there's just no need....

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So true!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penwash

I've seen people with ink collection that has hundreds of bottles and even more ink samples, which is absolutely mind-boggling to me.

For some reason, I ended up with a lot more pens than ink.

Apart from maybe 10 bottles total, some are gifts and exchanges (and a batch of Sheaffer Skrip bottles that I got from a liquidation of a stationery operation), this is all I have in terms of ink samples:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2a04f723_z.jpg

Not only my inks are far less numerous than my pens, the rate of my ink purchasing is also very sparse compared to my pen buying. In the photo above, the 11 samples closest to the camera are my latest batch of ink samples bought from Vanness Pens (the only place I buy ink from).

When was the last time I bought ink? 20 months ago. :)

Here are a crude sample of the batch using a dip nib, please forgive the bad handwriting, just look at the colors:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...50794462_b.jpg

Overall I'm pretty happy with this batch, some ink that stood out for me, the Bronze Leaf, the Armada, the Garuda Rood, #64 Sumiyoshi Yamate, Sahara Grey, and the Carbon Kakhi. Of course the Cobblestone is one of my favorites, I should just buy the whole bottle, but $27 can go towards a broken pen (see where my priority lies? :) )

Anyways, this post is nothing but simply an observation at my current ink collection. I'm sure there are some of you who have only one bottle of ink or less, but I'm pretty sure there are more of you who has a lot more ink in your collection than I do.

What's your ink collection look like today?

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You have some I haven't seen before, like the Krishna Bronze Leaf, the Platinum Carbon Khaki, and the kobe 64 (which I think I have to look for).

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Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro

You have some I haven't seen before, like the Krishna Bronze Leaf, the Platinum Carbon Khaki, and the kobe 64 (which I think I have to look for).

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If you send me an empty vial (per our email discussion), I'll fill it up with Khrisna Bronze Leaf and send it to you, I bought a bottle because Vanness didn't have a sample and the bottle cost not much more than a sample anyway.

The Kobe is growing on me, the color shift between wet and dry is rather interesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro

You have some I haven't seen before, like the Krishna Bronze Leaf, the Platinum Carbon Khaki, and the kobe 64 (which I think I have to look for).

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I looked for the Kobe 64 already, but the Vanness swab doesn't look anywhere near as nice a colour as Will's written sample.

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Originally Posted by Chrissy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro

You have some I haven't seen before, like the Krishna Bronze Leaf, the Platinum Carbon Khaki, and the kobe 64 (which I think I have to look for).

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I looked for the Kobe 64 already, but the Vanness swab doesn't look anywhere near as nice a colour as Will's written sample.

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Chrissy, I just scanned the paper using the all-in-one printer/scanner/copier and I didn't do any post-processing. So I don't know how it compares with Vanness' scanning process. But to my eyes, my scan is pretty close to how the ink appears on the paper.

I'm in Florida soon so I was already looking at inks that Vanness Pen Shop stocks. :) I recently tried out some Vinta inks and already have some samples of those in my cart.
The Kobe #64 reminded me a little of my Levenger True Teal that I have in a box somewhere but haven't used in ages. I may try a sample of the Kobe but I'm not sure I would buy a bottle.

As you may guess, I have a lot of inks! I got myself the Diamine advent calendar for Christmas because that is entirely up my alley. I just got another pair of the 25-shotgun-shell cases to store my sample vials as the two I have are full. I have some Troublemaker inks heading my way - 4 bottles of the new extra chromatic colours and their sample set of all the standard colours.

I do not have any of the Japanese special edition inks or any Vinta inks. I want to try more Robert Oster (along with KWZ - I get a bottle or two of those when I attend pen shows as they're more expensive). I'd definitely like to get hold of more Birmingham Pen Co inks, but it is a bit tricky in the UK.

I don't think I have anything really obscure (probably my PenBBS inks are the least available) - I've only been buying inks for a few years, and ones readily available from UK vendors. I do have a lot of oranges and browns and murky greens since I like those, and a much smaller collection of blues.

I'd pick ten teeny bottles of different colours over one large bottle, no matter what it was, any day! (I got most of the 10ml J Herbins when they were on sale recently). Luckily in most cases I'm able to pick both... :rofl:

I can bring you back any Birmingham inks that you need. Please just let me know what you want. :)

The DA Sahara fits my murky mood! :thumb:

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Originally Posted by Chrissy

I can bring you back any Birmingham inks that you need. Please just let me know what you want. :)

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I will have a look and get back to you on that, thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FredRydr

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penwash

...What's your ink collection look like today?

---

Yours is too neat. Here is my ink box (my late mother's former artist paint box). The few duplicates are in a drawer.

Attachment 50347

Come to think of it, I've never made a list of my inks. Okay, I have better things to do but I'll do it, since a list will encourage me to use neglected inks.*

Bottles:

Montblanc old 50ml black (2)
Montblanc old 50ml blue/black IG
Montblanc old 50ml racing green (2)
Montblanc old 50ml bordeaux
Montblanc new 60ml royal blue
Montblanc new 60ml irish green
Montblanc new 60ml midnight blue (2)*
Montblanc new 60ml toffee (3) (favorite)
Montblanc new 60ml burgundy red*
Montblanc new 30ml yellow or gold (forget the name - for mixing faux racing green)*
Omas Sepia
Pelikan 4001 black (2)*
Visconti blue
Visconti black
Visconti brown-black (I forget the original color - I decanted it)*
Visconti green (should be called turquoise IMHO)*
Sailor Kiwaguro black/BLACK!*
Aurora black (3)
Aurora blue (2)
Waterman blue/black (favorite getting low - must get more)
Waterman blue (2)
Waterman Havana brown (2)
Waterman South Sea light blue (yet to ever try it)*
Diamine Steel blue
Diamine Kensington blue*
Diamine Passion red*
Diamine blue/black 30ml*
Diamine Magical Forest shimmer (only for Christmas cards)
Diamine Red Lustre shimmer (only for Christmas cards)
Diamine Sargasso Sea blue (favorite but hard to flush!)
Akkerman No. 5 Shocking blue (close alternative to Sargasso Sea)
Private Reserve DC SuperShow blue (close alternative to Sargasso Sea)
Herbin Lierre Sauvage green*
Herbin Cafe des Iles brown*
Omas sepia
Rohrer & Klinger verdigris
Rohrer & Klinger black drawing ink
Higgins Black Magic drawing ink*
Monteverde blue/black*
Stipula Calamo
Nick Stewart Randall blue/black*
Ecclesiastical Stationary Supplies Registrars Ink ("ESSRI") blue/black 110ml IG

Vials 5ml - trades, custom mixes or decanted from almost empty bottles

Pelikan 4001 blue/black IG
Herbin Perle Noir black
Phiden Leap of Faith blue/black
Colorverse blue (FPG mystery ink No. 16)*
Visconti dark red custom mix (FredRydr recipe)
Wroclaw black custom mix (ethernautrix recipe by jj)
Parker Penman Sapphire
Carlisle blue custom mix (junglejim recipe)
KWZ Sheen Machine blue
Vintage Black Cherry (RichardBinder recipe by jj)
Vintage Burgundy (RichardBinder recipe by jj)
FredRydr Rose (junglejim recipe)*
Iroshizuku Budo-Kai LE*
Faux racing green (Chrissy & FredRydr recipe)

Cartridges -

None. I gave them all away as I no longer have any cartridge pens!

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Your collection size is about the same as mine. A few months ago I thinned it out and now I have even more [emoji2357] [emoji23]. This doesn’t even include all the samples I have!

I just keep buy inks that catch my eye, I have a problem [emoji854]


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