Favorite Ink Bottles

[Hallel]

I like the Monteblanc "shoe" bottle and Waterman bottles for functionality.

 

I like Iroshizuku and Pelikan Edelstein bottles for their aesthetic.

 

I like Lamy bottles because they are rediculous and goofy looking yet practical. (Like giraffes). I never use the paper tabs though.

 

Least favourite would be the J. Herbin bottles and the little plastic reservior thing inside sailor bottles.

[kestrel]

Functional: Levenger, vintage Sheaffer's, Akkerman.

 

Aesthetics: Iroshizuku, Caran d'ache, and the old glass Visconti mushroom bottles. I would put Visconti on the functional list if they weren't so top heavy.

[Intensity]

Functional: Levenger, vintage Sheaffer's, Akkerman.

 

Aesthetics: Iroshizuku, Caran d'ache, and the old glass Visconti mushroom bottles. I would put Visconti on the functional list if they weren't so top heavy.

Aren't Caran d'Ache very functional, in the sense that they have a slanted front and help get to the ink more easily?

[kestrel]

Aren't Caran d'Ache very functional, in the sense that they have a slanted front and help get to the ink more easily?

I don't have the new bottles, only the old one that looks like a gorgeous, but shallow, crystal inkwell. The drama department at the school where I used to teach is always borrowing it for plays where they need a pretty inkwell for effect.

[Sailor Kenshin]

MB 'shoe,' Waterman, Levenger. And J Herbin. Yes, I know everyone else hates them.

 

I want an Akkerman bottle but I can't justify it.

[Kalessin]

Function: MB "shoe" bottles, old Sheaffer Skrip bottles

 

Aesthetics: Carter's "Ryto" ink, "Cathedral" bottles

[abstract49]

Me, I've given up on finding a favorite bottle. I buy the ink for the ink, not for the bottle (if this has been said before in this thread, forgive me; I'm in the middle of some major computer housecleaning [other computer], and I haven't taken the time to read every post).

 

It's nice to find a great ink in a great bottle, but the ink is the thing. If the bottle doesn't work for one, one has many choices to get around the deficiencies. Goulet has a nifty little conical thingie that comes with an eyedropper, very reasonable (probably available from other sellers as well), and this is probably the best way to get every bit of ink out of a bottle that one can.

 

And, of course, if you love an ink, and you buy another bottle when the current one gets close to empty, you just empty the old into the new, provided it doesn't tend to turn to sludge when it gets low.

 

All that aside, aesthetically, Iroshizuko, Pelikan Edelstein, several others offer some very pretty bottles, and some less expensive ones are pretty nice as well. It's all a matter of personal taste, ne c'est pas? [sorry, no French keyboard]

[VivienR]

I really like the previous Caran d'Ache bottles, the Herbin Heart Shaped bottles.

 

And I don't have in my collection, but surely the Caran d'Ache hexagon bottle, Sailor vase, Graf von Faber Castel's bottle. Oh, and when will come out the new Sailor square bottle, which reminds me of the Caran d'Ache bottle.

[mulrich]

I don't have strong preferences towards any particular bottle (the Akkerman bottle may change my opinion if I ever get one) but some brands I really don't like. Sailor's squatty bottle is a hassle, as are Herbin 1670s.

 

Iroshizuku and Edelstein are probably my favorite looks wise. MB, Waterman, Private Reserve, etc are nice and functional.

[OCArt]

This vintage ad explains why the Sheaffer bottle is the best! What a great companion to a snorkel pen.

[inkstainedruth]

This vintage ad explains why the Sheaffer bottle is the best! What a great companion to a snorkel pen.

 

Yup, I have a few vintage Skrip bottles, they're great for filling pens from. Which is why they were on my list of "functional" bottles. But I've also had them leak (most of the contents of a bottle of Permanent Brown are now on the inside of a ziplock bag) or evaporate (I'll swear that bottle of Blue-Black was at LEAST half full the last time I filled a pen from it...). And some of the ones I've seen for sale, the caps looked rusted....

I must say that I hadn't seen one of those ads before. And now I'm wondering whether the ducklings designate the ink colors, the way the Albert Staehle kitten ads for Carters ink probably did. And if so, what color would the one the fourth one from the end of the line represent....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dannyboy]

Function: MB "shoe" bottles, old Sheaffer Skrip bottles

 

Aesthetics: Carter's "Ryto" ink, "Cathedral" bottles

 

Yes, to the beauty of the old cathedral bottles of Carter's!!!!!!

[welch]

Most beautiful: Parker's art-deco Quink bottles, such as this:

 

 

 

Most functional? Easily the Sheaffer "top-well".

Edited October 20, 2017 by welch

[OCArt]

 

....extracted from original......

I must say that I hadn't seen one of those ads before. And now I'm wondering whether the ducklings designate the ink colors, the way the Albert Staehle kitten ads for Carters ink probably did. And if so, what color would the one the fourth one from the end of the line represent....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Good catch Ruth. A FPN member named mrcharlie listed the Sheaffer color codes from the 1940's back in a post from 2013 here.

His list was 0 Permanent Red

1 Washable Brown

2 Permanent Blue Black

3 Permanent Jet Black

4 Washable Blue

5 Permanent Royal Blue

6 Washable Black

7 Washable Emerald Green

8 Washable Purple

9 Washable Melon Red

10 Washable Persian Rose

11 Washable Peacock Blue

But that doesn't help identify your fourth,grey, duck.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

So many to choose from. The MontBlanc shoe, the Pelikan 4001 series but also the normal "fountain pen ink" series, vintage, you know the long, short ones with a raised bottle-neck?

 

Let's see, also the titled Caran D'Ache bottles.

 

Some Sailor exclusives are also great-looking bottles, the chalice-shaped ones, but for the life of me I can't remember which store(s) specifically now.

 

The Visconti well-shaped bottles are gorgeous.

[gregamckinney]

I think the Akkerman bottles are the perfect intersection of functional and beautiful.

Best Regards, greg

[ParkerDuofold]

Good catch Ruth. A FPN member named mrcharlie listed the Sheaffer color codes from the 1940's back in a post from 2013 here.

His list was 0 Permanent Red

1 Washable Brown

2 Permanent Blue Black

3 Permanent Jet Black

4 Washable Blue

5 Permanent Royal Blue

6 Washable Black

7 Washable Emerald Green

8 Washable Purple

9 Washable Melon Red

10 Washable Persian Rose

11 Washable Peacock Blue

But that doesn't help identify your fourth,grey, duck.

Hello Ruth, OCArt, et al,

 

There are two possibilities off the top of my pointed head...

 

1. Perhaps the gray was a planned pre-production color that never made it into actual production.

 

2. Perhaps it was a printer's mistake... color processing in the '40s/'50s was pretty dicey... I mean look at all the color matching problems we still have with us today, even with all our technology.

 

Just my passing thoughts.

 

 

- Anthony

[OCArt]

Anthony, you maybe right as Sheaffer did make a grey ink in maroon bottle era-- which I'm guessing to be 70's-80's??

Hello Ruth, OCArt, et al,

There are two possibilities off the top of my pointed head...

1. Perhaps the gray was a planned pre-production color that never made it into actual production.

2. Perhaps it was a printer's mistake... color processing in the '40s/'50s was pretty dicey... I mean look at all the color matching problems we still have with us today, even with all our technology.

Just my passing thoughts.


- Anthony

[aardvarkbark]

I only use Diamine and Noodler's. I appreciate the taller more slender Noodlers since I can submerge my entire nib more times than I can in the shorter squatter Diamine, but the Diamine offers a greater sense of stability, though I've never tipped a Noodlers. I only value bottles for their practicality. I invest my appreciation of aesthetics in the pens.

[Flaxmoore]

For function, Sailor 50ml, Pilot Iroshizuku, Platinum 80 ml with the miser. Least favorites, J Herbin 30ml, J Herbin 1670, and honestly, Noodler's and Sheaffer cone. Can't fill a bigger pen (like my Vac 700) without tilting.

 

My 350 ml tanker of Pilot BB is a special case, as is the 135 ml HOD and 100 ml Diamine Registrars. Those are just to fill smaller bottles with- the Pilot has filled my Iro bottle, the HOD and old Quink bottle, DR a 30 ml DR bottle I use for syringe fills.