I picked up this stack of Kyokuto Word Cards at Maido in San Francisco. They are small cards measuring just 1.5″ x 3.5″ (3.7 x 9 cm) and contain 100 sheets. I paid $2.75 for them. They are hole punched at the narrow end and held together on a clamp ring making them perfect to store and collect ink sample swabs. Because the clamp ring is easy to open, ink samples can be rearranged by color or manufacturer on a whim.
I’ve started using them to have swab references of the Ink Drop colors I receive. I plan to go back and do all the previous color swabs so that I can get all OCD and mix and match them by color, which ones I’ve purchased and manufacturer at a whim. The paper quality seems good, only one ink swab of the ten I tried showed any bleeding or feathering. Its bright white and my printer husband estimates the paper weight between 60 lb and 80 lb cardstock. Think of the card stock used for magazine blow-ins (those subscription cards that fall out the first time to open it) for a comparable weight. The cards are very smooth paper, there is little-to-no texture.
The nice thing about this set (or any of these mini-flash-cards-on-a-ring) is the ability to add more cards as needed. If they exceed the ring capacity, larger rings are available in most office supply stores or I can split the colors between multiple rings or divide them into smaller rings — all the reds, all the blues, all the blue-blacks, etc. I just love how easy it is to review, sort and be as anal about my ink collection as I want to be.
The closest product I could find online is the Maruman Mnemosyne Word Cards which measure 4.1 x 2.1″ (5.4 x 10.5 cm) with 100 sheets for $4.95. For more about the Maruman Mnemosyne Word Cards, check out the review on The Pen Addict. Have fun and nerd out with your new ink cards!
Wow, great idea – very Pantone of you!
What are you swabbing with?
I use a paint brush!
Thanks!
I’ve been using the Maruman Mnemosyne Word Cards since @PenAddict’s recommendation 2 months ago and I love them 🙂
Wow, I may still have ones like these lying around, unused! If so, I definitely want to do this myself. And if not, I may have to get some so I can do this! I usually do a swab in my ink review notebook, but I can’t rearrange the pages after the fact, and I’m kind of locked into the format of that notebook now (sadly). This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Great idea!
These look great! I use the Mnemosyne cards and that metal ring is so handy for sorting the inks by hue. I also use a dip pen to write the name of the ink to get a better idea of how the ink writes. Perfect for sorting the TONS of ink samples I always seem to be amassing.