Dr. StrangeInk

or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Sell Some Ink

By Jessica Coles

My interest in fountain pens began nearly a decade ago and it used to be under control.  Especially at the beginning of my obsession, it was easy to keep my collection small since I couldn’t really afford much.  But that changed quickly when I became enamoured with ink.  I could buy a few different inks and use them all in any pen! Wait, they sell samples of ink? Ink subscriptions?

Well, you can probably guess what has happened to my ink collection over the course of a decade.  Totally out of control.  Maybe that isn’t the right way to describe it.  I have control over the actual collection with a great system of organizing bottles, samples, swatches and knowing how to find any of them quickly.  Most of that is thanks to the Fountain Pen Companion and Col-o-ring swatch cards (not to mention a deep love of organization). However, even the best organization system can’t make up for a serious lack of space.

The older kids grow, the more space they seem to use. Since the house isn’t growing, space inside seems to be shrinking and my studio has recently been invaded by teens.  In order to stay sane during the process, I’ve decided to part with a large portion of my ink collection. The easiest way for me to do so is on my own website since it is already set up to handle orders, shipping, and inventory management. At the moment there are nearly 90 inks loaded into the store ready to go. I’ve set two prices for shipping, but if I can ship ink in a less expensive way, I refund the surplus that was collected for said shipping.

I was initially quite hesitant to post about this on Well-Appointed Desk, however, Ana forced me to do so. I hope it is a way for some people to find joy in the huge variety of ink that is out there at a lower cost! The ink sale can be found here.