Ink in an inkwell - does it hold well?

I bought a glass inkwell. It looks nice on my desk, and I thought it can keep some Diamine Oxblood that came in an ugly plastic bottle.

I now realize however that the inkwell does not close airtight, i.e. the lid does not have a seal of some sort. This must affect the ink, and leaves me with questions:

How fast does the water in ink evaporates?
How fast does the UV part of ambient light harm the ink?
When does that negatively influence the ink and/or the pen you ink it with?
Can you dillute ink (with water?) at some point? Or is this to be avoided?

Or should I keep the inkwell for decoration purposes only? Alternatively, I could start writing a very great deal in a very short time...

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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Ink kept in any decorative inkwell like this will evaporate really quickly within a few days. Whatever "seal" there is, even if there is one, will never be anywhere near as good as the seal that a tight cap makes on a glass bottle.

I would recommend that you use it as a decorative item. Maybe add some coloured water? Keep your ink in a tightly sealed bottle if you want to keep it for any length of time. :)

Pretty inkwell! I use an inkwell only for my dip pen. Mine allows evaporation too. That said, I've purchased old bottles of vintage ink, added tap water and used that ink in my fountain pens for years. I'm not a purist though and other might frown on this practice.

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Originally Posted by Chrissy

I would recommend that you use it as a decorative item. Maybe add some coloured water? Keep your ink in a tightly sealed bottle if you want to keep it for any length of time. :)

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The colored water solution sounds about right! A local B&M owner has Penman Sapphire bottle filled with colored blue water as decoration.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Linger

How fast does the water in ink evaporates?
How fast does the UV part of ambient light harm the ink?
When does that negatively influence the ink and/or the pen you ink it with?
Can you dillute ink (with water?) at some point? Or is this to be avoided?

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Depends on the seal.
Depends on the ink.
Depends on the ink.
You certainly can, but it is more challenging to replace other ink components that may have evaporated such as biocides and surfactants. Better to minimize evaporation initially.

Once we moved to the Texas Panhandle with its steppe climate and low humidity, I've seen several tightly closed original ink bottles have their ink simply disappear over time.

Depends on your inkwell, your climate, and your ink.