My Ink Book

[Jared]

After receiving your recommendations, and having been inspired by the example of Gehaha (Anna), I created my own ink book out of a Clairefontaine ruled notebook with 90g paper.

 

The inks are in sections according to color, and following the order in nature (prism/rainbow). Swabs of the ink are applied to the left edge of the page by either the back of the inked nib, or combined with a Q-tip. I found that a Q-tip alone did not give an accurate representation of the ink. The name of the ink is written next to the swab, with the type of nib used written underneath the ink's name. My plan is to write with the same ink color using different nib types for comparison purposes. More colors will fill in the gaps when I run out of space.

 

The design allows the same color to be compared to others by pulling back the pages, as pictured here. Colors are a bit washed out in the picture, but this photo is to show you the book's design, not to give an accurate color comparison.

From left to right, top to bottom:

PR Burgundy Mist, J.Herbin Poussiere De Lune, FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire (Noodler's),

MB Burgundy, Noodler's Nightshade, Rohrer & Klingner Alt Bordeaux.

 

I plan to take this book to the ink testing table at the DC Supershow and fill it up with samples of the various types of ink.

Edited June 6, 2009 by Jared

[Gehaha]

Dear Jared,

 

Great!!! You made it to be perfect!

Very good idea for a long term ink sampler.

(Mine is more and more "chaotic" over time... :embarrassed_smile: )

 

Viele liebe Grüße,

Anna

[Jared]

Ah, perhaps the order is the German in me coming out...but you got me started with this great idea.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Jared

[Margana]

Jared, that's a brilliant way to compare inks. You are so right though that a variety of written samples is needed. That's where my first ink book failed. Time for a new one me thinks.

 

P.S. I owe you a letter. One of these days...

[MicheleB]

Good idea for the book and to take it to the show. That's where I got a lot of samples and it's a good place to sit down and rest, but still be productive!

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

Great layout!

[tawanda]

Well done Jared. Your ink journal looks way more organised thna mine. Keep it up, its great fun. Sparks off memories of pens long ago, after a while too. (sigh)

[Scylla]

I keep my ink sampler on index cards, filed by color. I've been having pangs of indecision over whether I should file them by color or by brand, but so far color is winning. Index cards are great for flipping through, and I can change the box they are in whenever I see something I like better than what I'm using.

 

Is there a sampler exchange here? Not an exchange of inks, but of written samples of the ink? Just wondering.

[Blade Runner]

I keep my ink sampler on index cards, filed by color. I've been having pangs of indecision over whether I should file them by color or by brand, but so far color is winning. Index cards are great for flipping through, and I can change the box they are in whenever I see something I like better than what I'm using.

 

Is there a sampler exchange here? Not an exchange of inks, but of written samples of the ink? Just wondering.

I like the versatility of cards which you can move around. I also think it's helpful to have samples from different pens and nibs which affects how the colors show. I'm not so organized. I simply write with whatever pen is available in my daily journal and make a notation of the pen, nib size and ink in the margin.

[dsatco]

What a great idea, especially the DC SuperShow.

[sygyzy]

It seems like everyone is against using a Q-Tip and I understand the reasons but it's hard for me to visualize and truly understand a color by just looking at written samples, with strokes 0.3-0.5 mm wide. Are there any other ideas?

[Sailor Kenshin]

The OP said back of the nib. I used to use the Q tips but now I'm wondering if it doesn't wash out the ink too much.

 

So then what? A paint brush?

 

That's a good idea for one of the smaller Claires I bought recently.

[cubic archon]

I keep my ink sampler on index cards, filed by color. I've been having pangs of indecision over whether I should file them by color or by brand, but so far color is winning. Index cards are great for flipping through, and I can change the box they are in whenever I see something I like better than what I'm using.

That's an excellent idea - I can't believe I didn't think of that, and I have a stack of unused index cards here as well!

[Ravenmoon]

Wow! Now I need some Noodler's Nightshade.....

 

Fantastic book!

[Sandy1]

It seems like everyone is against using a Q-Tip and I understand the reasons but it's hard for me to visualize and truly understand a color by just looking at written samples, with strokes 0.3-0.5 mm wide. Are there any other ideas?

Hi,

 

I too have been against the queue tip. It is tremendously misleading as to ink density (light-dark). And trying to get two swabs the same is pretty rare.

 

So, what's a lady to do?

 

Make-up a modestly dry q tip, then make 1, 2 and 3 passes overlapping, That should give a range of densities. (Similar to the design on a Waterman ink box.) Especially for dark inks, I'll make a dilute swab. That one is (now) random - and is only meant to open-up the ink to make it easier to see the colour of the ink. (MB Racing Green was notorious in that viewers could not come-up with a shared description of the colour; and recently there was a thread that claimed Waterman Blue-Black was Black-Aqua='Blaqua'.

 

So, the from-the-pen seems better, yes. OK then, I take a wide nib, and make a swatch of several parallel lines, intending no overlap or misses. However, overlaps are more common, and at least show ink only without white interruptions. I've tried with a Pilot parallel [plate] pen, and managed good results. (practice practice practice)

 

One may look at most of my Ink Reviews to see reasonably fair examples.

 

Here's the Cd'A Grand Canyon swabs and swatch:

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Review%20-%20Caran%20d%20Ache%20-%20Grand%20Canyon/INK799.jpg

[jniforat]

did you get to fill up your ink book at DC?