The Well-Appointed Desk

This is the final part of my Ink 100 series. If this is the first time you’ve seen these posts, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 to get caught up on this journey.

Since I started this project, my goal was to keep at least one or two bottles of ink across the ROYGBIV spectrum. For the sake of organziation,  I am going to reveal my final “ink keepers” in that same order. What I didn’t consider was some of the more unusual inks like the multi-chromes and shimmer inks. I have separated out the multi-chrome inks but I left the shimmers within their color category.

The biggest surprise in the process of this project was how sentimental I would become over certain inks. Some were purchased at specific events or when I was with a friend. Maybe a bottle was my first swap or remind me of a specific pen? I am glad I went through this process. I was able to make my ink collection feel a bit more manageable and it is easier for me to see what I have. Will I add new ink to my collection at some point? Probably. Will I pare down what I own a bit more? That might also be a possibility. Either way, I am happy to be able to sort through my collection more efficiently.

Now, on to what made the cut!

Red:

For the red category, I groups red-purples and pinks so its a much bigger category than I anticipated. I went into this project thinking I’m not really a red ink person so I’d keep one or two specific bottles. Instead, I ended up with 28 inks in this category.

Colorverse #31 Electron, Bungubox Lycoris Red and Sailor Jentle Irori can look orange or red depending on the paper and nib width.

There are two shimmers in the red group (No Fixed Address by Robert Oster and Pen BBS #140 Bloom Ink) and a couple super sheenrs: J. Herbin Rouge Hematite and Sailor Jentle Grenade, .

If you bet me 100 bottles of ink at the beginning of this project that I’d have more than 10 red/pink/red-purple inks, I would have taken that bet. You win! I had so many more. HA!

Orange/ Yellow/ Ochre/ Brown:

When I first planned this project, I forgot about browns and ochre colors so I am lumping orange and yellow together and it encompasses the brown, sepia, ochre colors as well. I ended up with 11 colors in this category. This included one shimmer ink (Pen BBS #111) and one pigment ink (Platinum Sepia Pigment Ink) and way more brown inks than I would have imagined I would need. Who knew I wouldn’t be able to part with brown ink? Not me.

Green:

Shockingly, I ended up with only 10 green inks and one is a shimmer ink. There are three inks which are very similar (Sailor Waka Uguisa, Pen BBS #342 Match Green Tea,  and Pen BBS #Tolstoy) so I need to probably ink these up and figure out which one or two will stay but they are all the closest to my dream green. I didn’t dave any kelly greens or bright green which, while I love them in general, I never use in a pen. The other greens I saved are unique and provide a nice range of hues.

Aqua/ Teal/ Blue/ Indigo:

I knew this would be my biggest group and it totals at 25 inks. This includes bluish greens, greenish blues, aquas, turquoise and tumbling into deeper blues.

As I got to the end of the sorting, I hit decision fatigue. Some of these inks are quite similar in color like Bora Bora Waters by Robert Oster and Inspired Blue by Waterman but they serve different purposes within my collection and therefore both are staying. Waterman inks are great for vintage pens and the Bora Bora Waters has slightly more sheen and safe for modern pens.

In my blue category, I have three shimmer inks: Pen BBS #338 Guardians of Good Fortune, J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor, and Van Dieman’s Parrot Fish.

Violet:

I ended up with nine violet/blue-violet inks. I love Monteverde Birthday Cake so much I was surprised that I kept any other violets but I found some violets in my collection that are similar but different from Birthday Cake. So, yeah! I have more inks to try and experiment with and I’m excited about that. Only one of the inks in this category is a shimmer: Colorverse #89 Mystic Mountain.

Neutrals:

This category is my grey and black inks.

I figured I’d only have one black ink (Platinum Carbon Black) but I forgot about Kyo-no-oto #1 Nurebairo which is a dry but sheeny black and I also kept the Colorverse Office Series Permanent Black and the Colorverse Pigment Black, Selectron. So, three out of four blacks are waterproof or water-resistant. I want to do more painting and multi-media work, so I’m keeping the additional blacks to see if they are a good alternative to Carbon Black.

I love grey inks so I should have guessed I would end up with eight different greys ranging from purply-grey, blue-grey and a neutral grey from Dominant Industry called Downpour. The last ink in this category in Colorverse Vortex Motion which is such a wonka-doodle sheening dark ink that is almost black but lean purply with a green sheen. Its also a bit sentimental to me.

Multi-Chromatics:

These seven inks are those color shifting colors and can look different on different papers or is a different color when wet than when it dries. I separated these out since they are hard to fold into the standard ROYGBIV rainbow. I saved seven inks in this group and they are mostly greens, blues and purples because that’s how I roll.

Final Thoughts:

The final count? 97 bottles of ink. I can’t believe I actually did it. And honestly, I don’t feel like I am at a loss for choice. I still have FOUR different blacks!

I was fairly ruthless in saving only the colors I truly loved rather than making decisions based on having “all the Sailor inks” or some other brand. If I were to break the inks down by brand, I kept about 23 bottle of Colorverse, 17 bottles of Sailor and 13 or so bottles of Robert Oster. Every other brand I kept less than 10 bottles. In some instances, I now have just one or two bottles from some brands and, other brands, I didn’t keep any of their inks.

My final selections are not a reflection on any brands. My decisions are entirely based on my personal preferences for color. In some cases, a color I particularly liked but had more than one bottle meant the decision came down to flow and usability for my particular pen preferences. I prefer fine nibs and drier inks so I based my decisions around those needs. Hence, more Sailor inks survived in my collection for their easy flow in fine nibs. With Colorverse, its a very dry ink but I keep a stash of White Lightning handy for just such moments.

Are any of the inks I kept on your favorite list? Are there any inks that you are surprised I kept?

This is Part 4 of my Ink 100 series. If this is the first time you’ve seen these posts, check out Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 first to catch up on my inky adventure. Now onwards…!

The Ink 100 project is reaching its conclusion (thank the ink gods… it feel like this went on forever!). While I had some large collections from specific brands left, some of the inks left were onsie-twosies and other oddball inks.

Some ink bottles only had a dribble of ink left and those were culled immediately. That eliminated six bottles. I also had some inks decanted into nagelene bottles from an ink purchase Jesi and I did a few years ago. Sadly, any inks that were decanted into the nagelene bottles developed cracks in the caps and the inks have started to evaporate changing the consistency and fluidity. Those all got chucked too. Sad but they were no longer functional. I also had a bottle of older Birmingham ink that changed color DRAMATICALLY. Originally, Canterbury Raisin was a beautiful shading lavender purple but for some unknown reason, the ink is now 100% pale turquoise. Weird, right? Also, garbage now.

This leads me to some of the true lessons of this Ink 100 project. Owning more ink than I could possibly use in several lifetimes can result in inks that shift in color, evaporate or suffer from other ink-tastrophes. I need to keep the inks I love and use the inks I own.

I need to keep the inks I love and use the inks I own.

As I worked my way through all six drawers in my Ikea Alex unit, I was able to start getting more ruthless as I reviewed colors across brands that fill a similar space in my collection. I don’t use certain color categories a lot — like golden yellows — so I only need one option in this color range.

In other cases, I had several options that were quite close in color so I needed to decide which one would be better for me. For example, the lovely Bungubox Kaoru and Vinta Karnival 1908 are quite similar in hue. As much as I love the tiny little  shoe bottle that the Bungubox uses, the Vinta Karnival is just a bit darker and will be better for me in the long run.

Many of the light, multi-chrome inks are not used frequently (see previous comments about FINE nib pen preferences) but they are so pretty its hard to let them go. I have a couple stub nibs I use so I will keep a few of these colors but I did make some cuts if the colors were close.  And shimmer inks? I slashed 90% of the shimmer inks I own. I just don’t use them no matter how much I find them pretty. I only kept seven shimmer inks.

Colorverse Culling:

Just when I thought I was done, I realized that I forgot about the Colorverse inks that I had on a bookshelf. Sigh… more culling!

Since these Colorverse inks were still in their boxes, I laid all the swatches out on the boxes in their sets. Since I’d gone through the other ridiculous volume of inks, and despite my sentimentality about many of these Colorverse inks I was ready to hit my goal, feed my cats and be done with this part of my project.

Hitting my goal:

After culling the Colorverse inks, I did a count and my total counts was… drum roll, please… 94 bottles of ink! Woot!

Rule breaking:

So, there was a bit of breaking my own rules so I will ‘fess up to those now.

In the end, I didn’t count my special, limited edition ink sets. I think of them more as collectibles than daily use inks. I have three sets from Colorverse, all space themed, a couple sets from Vinta and then two very rare, unique box set ink collections. I may change my mind on some of these sets in the next few months but for right now, they are bookshelf sets so they are not clogging up my ink drawers and therefore do not count in the final tally.

I also did not include any samples or the minis included in the Diamine Inkvent sets. Again… sets, right? I would like to verify that I’ve swatched all the Inkvent colors before I let those go or maybe, purchase full bottles of favorites (I have 6 slots open before I have to start doing the “one in, one out” game).

The Final Selections:

Would it be fair not to give the final list and not show EVERY SINGLE COLOR? Of course not, so stay tuned. The final Ink 100 selections will have a whole post dedicated to my selections. Stay tuned, that post will go up next week. I might even trim a few more colors before then…