Ink Bottle Storage Ideas

[amberleadavis]

Sherlock, that cabinet is awesome!!!

 

I really like that bottle on the top (round, clear and looks like a Tiffany perfume bottle).

 

No, the Akkerman bottles won't fit on the lower shelves, but that's okay, they can go on top.

 

I have an old secretary (the oak kind, not the office staff kind) and the upper case is filled with books and inks.

[sherlock_tomes]

Sherlock, that cabinet is awesome!!!

 

I really like that bottle on the top (round, clear and looks like a Tiffany perfume bottle).

 

No, the Akkerman bottles won't fit on the lower shelves, but that's okay, they can go on top.

 

I have an old secretary (the oak kind, not the office staff kind) and the upper case is filled with books and inks.

 

Thanks! I'm enjoying it. I love antique furniture, and I looked at quite a few old medicine cabinets, specimen cabinets, curio cabinets, spice racks, collectors cabinets, and so forth, before I decided on a simple set of shelves. Wish I had the money to buy or patience to build something fancier, but I'm pretty happy with the overall effect.

 

If you're talking about the inkwell on the top, second from the right, it is indeed an inkwell. It's very simply a hefty, one-holed bowling ball of a bottle. The stopper and the body each have four lines engraved around their equators. I can't remember where I bought it -- flea market or local antique shop. I had J.Herbin Poussiere de Lune (sp?) in it for a while, which stained the frosted stopper. Not sure how I get that out.

 

I looked at Akkerman ink reviews -- it seemed that most of them were fairly slow driers. I'm a lefty, and as much as I hold up the smeared side of my left hand as a badge of honor, I'm not fond of the effect on the writing itself. Are there any quick-drying Akkermans?

 

I also have an old drop-front desk -- neo-Georgian style with pigeonholes for bills, etc. My grandfather made it from walnut a few years before he died. It's gorgeous, and I use it for letter writing, but it's also fairly small. He built it for my grandmother, who was a tiny woman. So it unfortunately isn't set up to accommodate the amount of writing paraphernalia I've accumulated. So the cabinetry expands...

[Cyber6]

 

I looked at Akkerman ink reviews -- it seemed that most of them were fairly slow driers. I'm a lefty, and as much as I hold up the smeared side of my left hand as a badge of honor, I'm not fond of the effect on the writing itself. Are there any quick-drying Akkermans?

 

 

Well... you are in luck. Iron gall inks tend to be fast drying and very smear resistant, as well as waterproof. The Akkerman Iron Gall (#10) seems to have your name written all over... and is a GORGEOUS blue/black color that changes to black when drying.

 

 

C.

[amberleadavis]

If you are really looking for an Akkerman ink - you can probably get on the LV Pen Posse order.

[Inkheart]

I can't help myself. I couldn't stand the idea of all those nice ink bottles stored away in a drawer, where it was difficult to locate particular colors. I remembered I had some Brazilian rosewood left over from a kitchen remodeling project, so I did the ink rack over a cold weekend. (The pen racks were an earlier project in cherry.)

 

My wife was dismayed to see so much empty space still left on the shelves. Surely she should know me better than that!

 

 

Okay, I am SO building a pen and ink shrine like this LOL! Trying to squash this uncharacteristic pang of envy.

 

Great set-up!

[queenofpens]

I can't claim I take my own advice - they're actually all over the house, wherever I last had them when I cleaned or filled a pen (desk, art table, bathroom sink, kitchen sink).

 

But I suggest either an artist's tabouret (a multicompartment, waist-high cabinet for organizing art supplies that sits beside the artist's easel or table) or a nice medicine cabinet from the hardware store (I do put some of them back in the medicine cabinet if I fill a pen at the bathroom sink after cleaning it - the actual bathroom medicine cabinet only works if you don't have very many medications or personal grooming supplies in there).

[leofoam]

Sherlock, that shrine of yours has to be the most ammusing things I have seen on the forums. By that I mean that no where is one's pen addiction better shown. Keep up the good work and may you someday fill up that shelf.

[MikeyQue]

I can't help myself. I couldn't stand the idea of all those nice ink bottles stored away in a drawer, where it was difficult to locate particular colors. I remembered I had some Brazilian rosewood left over from a kitchen remodeling project, so I did the ink rack over a cold weekend. (The pen racks were an earlier project in cherry.)

 

My wife was dismayed to see so much empty space still left on the shelves. Surely she should know me better than that!

 

 

I can't help myself. I couldn't stand the idea of all those nice ink bottles stored away in a drawer, where it was difficult to locate particular colors. I remembered I had some Brazilian rosewood left over from a kitchen remodeling project, so I did the ink rack over a cold weekend. (The pen racks were an earlier project in cherry.)

 

My wife was dismayed to see so much empty space still left on the shelves. Surely she should know me better than that!

 

That's Awesome, ST - you need to be selling these.... or are you?

[ac12]

I was under the impression that exposure to the sun (UV light) would cause the dyes in the ink to fade.

If so, leaving bottles of ink out where the sunlight could hit it, isn't a good idea.

That is unless you use the ink faster than the sun could fade the ink dyes.

 

I keep mine in their cardboard boxes, and any w/o boxes (like Sheaffer Skrip) are kept in a large cardboard box, to keep the sunlight off the ink.

[amberleadavis]

I was under the impression that exposure to the sun (UV light) would cause the dyes in the ink to fade.

If so, leaving bottles of ink out where the sunlight could hit it, isn't a good idea.

That is unless you use the ink faster than the sun could fade the ink dyes.

 

I keep mine in their cardboard boxes, and any w/o boxes (like Sheaffer Skrip) are kept in a large cardboard box, to keep the sunlight off the ink.

 

 

It's a myth.

 

I've kept my inks exposed to the ambient light of my caboose (office) for decades now. See the pictures here. I display my inks boldly and proudly. Las Vegas is sunnier and hotter than most places in the world. I have had a lot of inks that faded once on the paper. I have had inks disintegrate from the heat and I've had them disintegrate with time, but so far, not a single ink has faded when being exposed to regular light in my office. I do have a summer test running that I put ink into glass bottles and plastic vials and exposed them to Las Vegas sunshine filtered only by my windows. I'll post those results next month.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/INK/attachments/2013-06-05-Cabinet2.JPG

[Tberry010]

Sherlock: I realize it has been some time since you posted here, but I feel compelled to point out the very serious problem I observed with your ink shelves.

As you know anything that is top-heavy tends to topple! You must immediately acquire enough bottles full of ink to place on the bottom shelves to lower the center of gravity of the ink holding device.

Otherwise, inktastrophyy awaits!!!

 

Check out Vanness in Little Rock for Akkerman.

[GemMayhem]

What lovely storage ideas! Here is another one of my favourites from a similar thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/207673-wall-storage-for-ink-bottles/?p=2151274

[amberleadavis]

Oh, yes, buy more ink!!! Fill the empty shelves!

[johnsi02]

I was under the impression that exposure to the sun (UV light) would cause the dyes in the ink to fade.

 

My understanding is that glass is opaque to part of the UV spectrum. So between the glass in the windows, and the glass of the bottles, the ink has some protection.

Once the ink is on the page the UV goes to work.

JS

[stoof2010]

I can't help myself. I couldn't stand the idea of all those nice ink bottles stored away in a drawer, where it was difficult to locate particular colors. I remembered I had some Brazilian rosewood left over from a kitchen remodeling project, so I did the ink rack over a cold weekend. (The pen racks were an earlier project in cherry.)

 

My wife was dismayed to see so much empty space still left on the shelves. Surely she should know me better than that!

WOW!!!

Im glad to see them out of the boxes.http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk245/WIKKID85/me/pen%20stuff/CAM00300.jpg

Tgis is an old pic but i now have over 30 bottles.... notging compared to yours, but im working on it!!

After much thought i decided to keep them out of the box and now have 6 of these baskets full. I put them on the same wall as the window so there would necer be direct sunlight. I hope they will be safe. Some say even indirect sunlight can damage them chemically.

But i see you are fearless as well!!!!

Very nice collection

[scrivelry]

How can you possibly keep track of what you have? In all seriousness, is there any system you have to rotate them? Or are you an artist and thus would need such variety for your sketching?

I am not the owner of these inks, but to me they seem very well and systematically arranged. I don't see how the owner could fail to find whatever they were looking for.

 

T

Edited January 5, 2014 by scrivelry

[amberleadavis]

 

My understanding is that glass is opaque to part of the UV spectrum. So between the glass in the windows, and the glass of the bottles, the ink has some protection.

Once the ink is on the page the UV goes to work.

JS

 

 

I did a whole experiment on that. In my lifetime, those inks won't fade in the bottle and I'm planning on living for a long time. I have a few bottles still in the experiment they have been in direct sun for over a year. No fading, but the inks on paper, those have faded in the same window. So let them out. Show them. Enjoy them.

[WOBentley]

Probably the best thread on this subject so far...

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/230595-how-do-you-display-your-inks/

I am certain all who have posted now have more ink (I know I do!)

[Mardi13]

Holy Toledo,amberleadavis, that's a lotta ink.

[amberleadavis]

Holy Toledo,amberleadavis, that's a lotta ink.

 

I LOVE ink. That doesn't count the samples or the many bottles I have gifted.

 

I love getting inks as presents even if I already have the color. I USE a lot of ink.