Pens, Inks And Samples Pass-Around In Australia

[Newjelan]

Thanks loganrah, the box arrived today. As I mentioned, I’m in NZ until the middle of April, so will be able to update and forward the box to the next recipient in late April.

 

Who wants it next?

[Chaos-incarnate]

I wouldn't mind it around that time- even into May if you want more time with it. I should be sorted by then. I'm in Perth, and have some ink samples and cheap pens too for it I think- one more recently ended its life on a plane so I'm giving up on that idea for now- I'll stick to the Lamys and my Pilot lol. The knock off Lamy is still going strong though- recommend those :-)

[A Smug Dill]

I can add three 1.8ml samples of each of the following Sailor ‘Kujukuri Coast’ limited edition Jentle inks to the box, in celebration of my actually managing to get them shipped here from Japan (not without hassles or cost!).

Getting one's hands on bottles of those in Australia, Europe or North America isn't so easy, I tell ya!

I can also add some samples of the two Platinum Classic Ink iron-gall inks I have: Khaki Black and Lavender Black, if there is room left in the 180x100x16mm cardboard 'envelope' I use for 'large letters' containing pens and such. That seems to be the cheapest way (~$0.40 for the envelope and ~$0.06 for each empty 1.8ml sample vial bought in bulk on eBay, and $2 in postage to send as a large letter) for hobbyists to pass such things around by post in Australia. If anyone can think of a cheaper way, please let me know!

@ Newjelan, if you want me to send those ink samples to you in April, please let me know by private message. Otherwise, I'll send them to Chaos-incarnate when you're done with the box.

[Newjelan]

Chaos-incarnate, PM me with your address and I’ll send them on to you. It will likely be by the last week in April.

 

Those Sailor inks look great Dill, so I’ll PM you with my address. BTW, I have the full set of the Platinum Classic IG inks, so I can include them in the box when I pass them along.

 

Once I’m back in Oz and have a chance to go through the box, I’ll post some suggestions of what I can include before I pass it on.

[A Smug Dill]

Newjelan, a packet containing twenty-eight ink samples is on its way by letter post to you.

 

28 × 1.8 ml sample vials

LID	Brand	Colour and/or Type	Qty
10	Diamine	Jalur Gemilang	3
30	Diamine	Iridescink Robert	3
31	Diamine	November Rain	2
32	Diamine	Skull & Roses	2
33	Robert Oster	Marrone Mustard	2
204	Sailor	Kujukuri Coast Hakkakuao	3
205	Sailor	Kujukuri Coast Hamanasu	3
207	Sailor	Kujukuri Coast Katagaishikai	3
210	Sailor	Kujukuri Coast Hamachidori	3
240	Sailor	STORIA Night Blue pigment ink	2
278	Sailor	STORIA Lion Light Brown pigment ink	2

[Newjelan]

I wouldn't mind it around that time- even into May if you want more time with it. I should be sorted by then. I'm in Perth, and have some ink samples and cheap pens too for it I think- one more recently ended its life on a plane so I'm giving up on that idea for now- I'll stick to the Lamys and my Pilot lol. The knock off Lamy is still going strong though- recommend those :-)

 

Hello Chaos-Incarnate, I am back in Aus and will be ready to send the inbox to you in about a week. So please PM me with your address details.

 

Newjelan, a packet containing twenty-eight ink samples is on its way by letter post to you.

 

 

 

Thanks A Smug Dill, I have returned to Aus and received your parcel as well. I will add the inks to the box.

 

I am overwhelmed by all the inks in this box and once I've had a chance to go through what's there I will come back and ask for suggestions to add to it.

[Chaos-incarnate]

PM sent, sorry a bit slow- I'm at work and didn't get notified of your post. I don't really get time to cruise the net at work so I didn't see it :-)

[loganrah]

I'm expecting a bottle of photo-flo to arrive later this week. I'd be happy to make up some sample vials of that and send them on to whoever has the box if people think that would be useful?

 

Since you only need tiny amounts (1/10th of a ml or less) for making ink wetter and the cheapest bottle I could get was almost 500ml I expect that a 2ml sample vial would be quite useful to people.

[Chaos-incarnate]

That would be interesting, I haven't really worked out what inks are wet and dry yet so I could experiment :-)

[A Smug Dill]

I'd be too scared to add anything to my two driest inks: Platinum Classic Ink (iron-gall) Khaki Black and Lavender Black ink!

[loganrah]

I'm definitely going to start by adding it very dilute to 2ml vials to see if it will fix the problems I have with some drier inks. Definitely wouldn't put anything in to a whole bottle without a bunch of testing.

 

When the photo-flo arrives and Ive sorted out some samples I'll post here and send it on to wherever the box is. Might be able to through in some GvFC ink samples as well.

[loganrah]

Update: the photo-flo has now arrived. I can make up some sample vials and send them off either late this afternoon or Monday if you can PM me your address chaos-incarnate.

 

I can add 8 2ml samples of photo-flo. Since a bottle of ink only requires about 1ml at 1-200 times dilution (this needs to be carefully tested for every ink starting at the lowest concentration) each vial should be enough for 100-200 bottles of ink!

[Newjelan]

The box is on its way to chaos-incarnate. I had planned to ask people if there was anything they would like included but as it was heavy, full and getting costly to post, I just added a few random items. Thanks and Cheers

[Chaos-incarnate]

I have received the photo-flo thank you loganrah :-) The vials are slightly different colours, are they supposed to be? With the dilution rates you mentioned, I think 200-300 bottles is very conservative - there's heaps! Thank you, and I shall put all but one into the box when I send it on.

 

I have not posted a picture before, I hope this works:

http://imgur.com/fpngallery/zNJe1Q8

[Chaos-incarnate]

The box has also arrived thank you Newjelan. I haven't gone through it yet- I've just got home. I'm looking forward to swatching the inks, with 180 inks you must have some nice colours :-)

Plus the ones A Smug Dill included and the extras he put in- I've been looking forward to trying some of those colours!

 

I will post up some photos of all my inks if anyone has requests before I send it on- I need to buy some empty vials first so it might take a little while. The ones I have leak as I found out. Speaking of which, the Diamine November Rain vial in the box leaked and there is only about 0.5ml left in it :-(

[A Smug Dill]

Speaking of which, the Diamine November Rain vial in the box leaked and there is only about 0.5ml left in it :-(

 

How disappointing! I'm a little surprised, actually; I checked every seal and gave every filled sample vial a good shake while holding it inside a paper towel, before packing them for shipping. It also crossed my mind to seal each vial with wax around the lid, but I was trying to fit them inside a 16mm cardboard envelope and there wasn't any room for error or too thick a glob.

 

Still, I guess one can never fully pre-empt the mischief of gremlins.

 

Never mind. Even though I only have a small 30ml bottle of Diamine November Rain, I'm sure I can spare another sample vial for you. I also received some more German market exclusive monster-sheening inks just yesterday, so I can send you some of those as well if you like. Oh, and Lamy Benitoite too, since you're into document inks. The online catalogue of inks I have has been updated, so just let me know if there's something in it of which you want a sample, and I'll be happy to send it to you directly.

[loganrah]

I have received the photo-flo thank you loganrah :-) The vials are slightly different colours, are they supposed to be? With the dilution rates you mentioned, I think 200-300 bottles is very conservative - there's heaps! Thank you, and I shall put all but one into the box when I send it on.

 

I have not posted a picture before, I hope this works:

http://imgur.com/fpngallery/zNJe1Q8

Interesting, those vials were reused ones, some of them with a little staining, though I very thoroughly flushed them out. It looks to me like the photo-flo has absorbed some of the colour from the stains in a couple of vials. I'm not an expert but I doubt the amount of colour in that, once diluted very heavily as photo-flo needs to be, would cause any issues when mixed with other inks. Sorry about that, I really cleaned them out and figured the stains were permanently attached to the plastic of the vials.

[Chaos-incarnate]

Interesting, those vials were reused ones, some of them with a little staining, though I very thoroughly flushed them out. It looks to me like the photo-flo has absorbed some of the colour from the stains in a couple of vials. I'm not an expert but I doubt the amount of colour in that, once diluted very heavily as photo-flo needs to be, would cause any issues when mixed with other inks. Sorry about that, I really cleaned them out and figured the stains were permanently attached to the plastic of the vials.

Oh it wouldn't show at all with the dilution rates I agree, I just couldn't work it out because the colours didn't match the lids. Initially I thought they were leaching colour from the lids but it didn't match, and then if you lay them out they go across a colour spectrum so then I wondered if it came in different colours.

I honestly was confounded lol. I guess I wasn't at my brightest; in my defence I was coming off nightshift and sleep deprived ;-)

Thanks again!

[Paperbear]

Hello could I please put my hand up to take part in this pass around? Im new to this forum but not new to fountain pens. I have a few inks I could contribute and was thinking I could also contribute some samples of some lovely fountain pen friendly paper that people may like to tryout

Thanks

Edited May 26, 2019 by Paperbear

[Chaos-incarnate]

Hello Paperbear :-) Yes of course! (You are in Australia?) I'm still waiting for the sample vials I ordered to arrive so I'm a little while away from sending the box, I'll let you know when if that's ok?