Ink Book

[Jared]

I am an admitted fan of ink, and would like to create an ink book to catalog and compare inks on paper. I would appreciate your advice about:

-what type of book/paper (Clairefontaine spiral or sewn binding?)

-how to apply the inks (multiple inks on a page applied with a Q-tip or small paint brush?)

-and in what order (by brand or color?)

 

I'm planning to take the book to the DC Supershow's ink testing table this August and fill it up!

 

Thanks,

Jared

 

 

[PJohnP]

Jared :

 

 

Actually, my ink book's been a Staples bagasse paper notebook of late. It's one of the best papers I've recently played with to test pens, nibs. and ink. Even better, these notebooks are relatively inexpensive !

 

 

 

John P.

 

 

[bphollin]

Great idea, Jared! I think I'll start one, too. I've had a bunch of inks come and go and I wish I'd kept a record of them.

 

-what type of book/paper (Clairefontaine spiral or sewn binding?)

I'd say go with the types of paper you use often. If you use Clairefontaine, keep a Clairefontaine ink journal. I use composition books, Rhodia pads, and Neenah brand papers, so I'll want my ink journal to reflect what inks look like on those papers. I'll probably tape the loose sheets into a composition book until I think of something better.

 

-how to apply the inks (multiple inks on a page applied with a Q-tip or small paint brush?)

Aim for consistency in your application. The trouble with Q-tips is they absorb ink so the swatches will be variable depending on how much pressure you apply. I suggest cutting a small strip of paper (1/4-1/2" wide), dipping that in the ink bottle, and running that across the journal. Someone in the ink comparisons forum does this--I wish I could remember who I ripped the idea from.

 

Also think about how you'd like to keep a record of the inks: swatches, writing samples, or both?

 

-and in what order (by brand or color?)

Why not both?! You gotta fill your inky thoughts journal somehow.

[merzig]

My ink journal is a small 4"x6" blank photo album filled with paper cut to size to fit the sleeves. A little more work than a regular journal, but it means you can reorganize as you see fit. Loose sheets also mean you can more easily compare ink samples side-by-side (you don't have to fold bound sheets over or flip back and forth in the book).

[dcwaites]

I have found that a D.Leonardt's DP400 dip pen nib in 1/2 mm is a very close approximation to many fountain pens. It means that you can try a number of different inks easily, all you have to do is rinse it in water and dry with a tissue.

 

For paper, I would recommend a good quality, hard, smooth paper that is as close to a pure white as possible. My favourite for this is Stora Enso 4CC, which should be available in the States. It doesn't absorb the ink very much, so it sits high and proud on the paper, giving you a very good idea of what the ink really looks like. Many papers let so much of the ink sink in that the ink looks dull and lifeless.

 

 

[someonesdad]

I have a Clairefontaine journal that was given to me and I use it as an "ink journal". But it's pretty simple -- I just write the name of the pen and ink on one line when I remember that I have a new pen/ink combination. I don't bother with dates. It is occasionally handy to compare a current ink with a previous one. I can't see the purpose of using Q-tips to spread ink. Yes, you see the color, but it often doesn't tell you what it will look like with an inked nib.

[fixedintime]

I have a Clairefontaine journal that was given to me and I use it as an "ink journal". But it's pretty simple -- I just write the name of the pen and ink on one line when I remember that I have a new pen/ink combination. I don't bother with dates. It is occasionally handy to compare a current ink with a previous one. I can't see the purpose of using Q-tips to spread ink. Yes, you see the color, but it often doesn't tell you what it will look like with an inked nib.

 

I have started using your method. Just one line identifying the pen and ink each time I refill a pen. Like you I am not a fan of the Q-tip spread the ink approach. It does not really do a good job of showing me what it will look like when I write as it tends to over accentuate the color - at least in my mind.

[encremental]

Not a book, exactly, but I use a Moleskine Memo Pockets book (used to be A6, but I have been so bad with inks that I have recently upgraded it to A5 :embarrassed_smile: ) with each pocket assigned to a colour group - greens, blues, yellows/reds/oranges, purples, browns, and finally greys & blacks - and I have put a piece of the appropriately coloured card as a backing to each pocket. I then paint a sample with a watercolour brush and bits of writing from different pens for each ink onto a little arrangement of boxes I knocked up in MS Publisher, printed on high quality paper (in my case white Conqueror). I find the advantage this arrangement has is that you can get the separate sheets out and directly compare them. I'm actually quite proud of the system!

 

John

[Margana]

It's great that you are going to the DC show. That ought to be an eyeful.

 

I should think the most useful journal would have the paper you are most likely to use with your pens. I didn't start that way but wish I had. These days I have several ink books. The most useful has a few lines of writing noting the pen used. Then I flip the pen over and drag a swath of ink from the nib slit down the edge of the paper. I get a sample about 1/4" x 1" from that method.

 

Q-tip samples tend to be a bit paler than the ink from a pen but at an ink table at a show, it seems the easiest method. If you use strips, it might be useful to affix the strip to the page. It will remind you of the darkest concentration of the ink in case you are fond of wide, wet nibs.

[Goodwhiskers]

Maybe two notebooks: one with really good paper and the other with really bad paper. Price and paper quality are often not related.

[Viseguy]

-what type of book/paper (Clairefontaine spiral or sewn binding?)

If you plan to post scans of your ink samples, a book that lies flat on the scanner bed will help.

 

-how to apply the inks (multiple inks on a page applied with a Q-tip or small paint brush?)

With a fountain pen, if you want to see how the inks will look in real life. When you're comparing several inks at the same time, a dip pen is convenient (easy to wash, dry and re-ink), but may not give the same effect as a FP. Q-tip swatches are dramatic, and they can demonstrate the range of shades that's possible with a given ink, which is useful information, but they don't necessarily give an accurate picture of how the ink will look coming out of a FP. I've never used a paint brush; that might be interesting. I usually do one ink to a page, but occasionally multiple inks for comparison, too.

 

-and in what order (by brand or color?)

That's a personal choice, I'd say. In my book of inks, whatever ink happens to be in the pen that day goes onto the next page. I decided at the outset that it would be good to have to leaf through the book to find things; it's a way to rediscover inks I haven't used in a long time. But that's just me. Organizing by brand or color makes sense.

 

[tawanda]

I use a notebook for all my ink, pen and associated paraphernalia. I record dates of items bought and sold (with prices - its great to watch things go up and down!), where or who from, initial thoughts, and sometimes addenda, when I've been using a product for a while. I also record my favourite or catastrophic pen/ink/paper combos.

 

I'm actually on my third volume. The first was a Moleskine, but I realise that using cream paper distorts ink colours, so now I use a plain, white Rhodia or Clairfontaine.

 

If it all sounds terribly sad, I apologise. But its a great excuse to use a new 'present' as soon as possible.

[all my hues]

I use a notebook for all my ink, pen and associated paraphernalia. I record dates of items bought and sold (with prices - its great to watch things go up and down!), where or who from, initial thoughts, and sometimes addenda, when I've been using a product for a while. I also record my favourite or catastrophic pen/ink/paper combos.

 

I'm actually on my third volume. The first was a Moleskine, but I realise that using cream paper distorts ink colours, so now I use a plain, white Rhodia or Clairfontaine.

 

If it all sounds terribly sad, I apologise. But its a great excuse to use a new 'present' as soon as possible.

 

 

Wow, that's really neat. I just have a Black n' Red where I do swabs of color, reviews, and prices of inks I want to buy and the best vendor for them. But recording dates of items bought and sold is also a great idea

 

EDIT: next to the swabs of color, I write with the ink in a few different pens to see how it looks like from different nibs

Edited May 3, 2009 by all my hues

[knitwit1912]

I don't have a specific notebook just for ink, but I have a couple notebooks in which I have pages dedicated to ink samples. I had three Moleskine cahiers before I started using FPs again and got a Rhodia notebook soon after I got my first FP so I just started using the back pages of both as samples, so I could see how the ink behaved and looked on the kinds of paper I'd likely be using.

 

I usually write a couple lines, noting whether I'm writing on the initial filling of the pen (as one of my pens takes a while to get going) and a little on how I like the ink and how it behaves. The only time I've used a q-tip swatch was when a bottle of ink had a fairly different colour from the sampler I got, and I wanted to confirm that it was the ink, not the pen, though I might do swatches with future samples.

[tawanda]

Slightly off-topic, I know, but my local chemist (drug store) sells brown plastic pill bottles at 25p for 25ml size. I decant all my samples and oddments into these. I then write a label in the appropriate colour, and run a q-tip line across the bottom of the label too. I keep all these bottles in a small portable tool box. They look really neat.

[karynv]

I started keeping records on index cards, then (after buying crummy index cards) switched to a Myndology index card notebook. I write the name and details of the pen at the top of the card, then write the name of each ink I use in the pen underneath.

 

When I remember.

 

 

[lefty928]

I am an admitted fan of ink, and would like to create an ink book to catalog and compare inks on paper. I would appreciate your advice about:

-what type of book/paper (Clairefontaine spiral or sewn binding?)

-how to apply the inks (multiple inks on a page applied with a Q-tip or small paint brush?)

-and in what order (by brand or color?)

 

I'm planning to take the book to the DC Supershow's ink testing table this August and fill it up!

 

Thanks,

Jared

Chiming in on going for white paper. You should go with paper you prefer writing on, although the suggestion that you use a dual bad paper/good paper system is interesting.

 

I don't like Q-tip or other swatch methods, preferring to see what the ink looks like coming out of a nib (quite different, sometimes).

 

Recently, I've started using a 6" x 9" Rollabind filled with not so great but usuable Rollabind paper to record inks by brand and color. I start a new ink's page (or ink I haven't used since I began the record) by writing the brand and color heading with either the pen in use or a glass pen (mine leaves a very wet and intense line, however). Every subsequent time I refill a pen that hasn't been filled with the ink before, I jot down the date and pen used and (for consistent comparison) write the ink's brand and color on that page. If you are intending to organize your pages by brand or color, I'd suggest using using some kind of detachable paper system, rather than a bound book. Wait, you might be thinking of one swatch/swab per ink to demonstrate the color, like Greg Clark. That would fit on a page or a small number of pages you save for that color/brand in a bound notebook. Sorry, I have to remind myself that not everyone is as compulsive as I am! My memory hazily recollects that girlieg33k and, hmm, Southpaw?, and others posted pretty neat scans of their ink-record systems a couple years ago, and they were more along the swatch/indexing sort of line.

 

My own ink record mainstay is more of a pen-fill diary using a couple of giveaway wirebound notebooks filled with the equivalent of smooth sketchbook paper. If I hadn't started my first records with that one, I might have used a small Clairefontaine notebook. The first few pages are saved for a table of contents, which I write as I go along. Pages are numbered, and organized by pen, not by ink, and I always start a new pen's page on the recto. When I refill a pen, I note on its page the pen used, ink brand and color, any notes on behavior or compatibility. I used to add diagonals and other set scribbles, and a small box bisected by a diagonal line, with the upper half completely filled in. After filling up the verso side, I'll start a fresh page and note on the TOC and old page where the notes continue. It's rough, but I frequently refer back to it and the less organized first notebook (which contains a lot of ink samples from the '06 D.C. Supershow!).

[penswrite]

great idea, if it hasn't been done better before

like poems

about

roses after Shakespeare

and that girl

 

go person, do a great book!

 

have fun.

[biffybeans]

Great question, but please forgive me for not reading through all of the other responses before adding mine. When I've been doing my ink reviews, I've been using two kinds of paper. One absorbent, (Canteo) and one not. (Clairefontaine) You will probably want to choose a product that is closest to the paper you will use on a regular basis.

 

Many ink/pen combinations write thinner/dryer on paper like Clairefontaine, and wetter/darker/wider on a paper that's more absorbent.

 

Maybe try meeting in the middle and use something like a Canson Universal Spiral Drawing pad.

 

Stephanie

 

I am an admitted fan of ink, and would like to create an ink book to catalog and compare inks on paper. I would appreciate your advice about:

-what type of book/paper (Clairefontaine spiral or sewn binding?)

-how to apply the inks (multiple inks on a page applied with a Q-tip or small paint brush?)

-and in what order (by brand or color?)

 

I'm planning to take the book to the DC Supershow's ink testing table this August and fill it up!

 

Thanks,

Jared

 

[English John]

I started with an A6 cartesio notebook, 1 page per ink.

However, I have now created a loose leaf ink record in an old Filofax that I used to use.

I cut to size sheets of various papers and punch the holes in, so I can compare the inks on different papers , move them around etc.

An individual ink sample per page , written in one pen. If I use another pen I write another sample page

 

The main advantage is that I can do multiple examples of an individual ink on different paper AND in different pens.

 

So I can look at Lake Placid Blue on copier paper, cream conqueror , clairefontaine triumphe , Air Mail paper ....and then get the pages out and compare to say Visconti blue examples on those papers. Or I can compare Lake Placid Blue in a dry fine nibbed pen to a wet medium pen.

 

I think this will help me find the best pen-ink-paper combinations.

 

I hope this rambling is useful to someone out there.

 

Cheers

 

John