Keeping A Chart Of Which Inks Are In Your Pens

[BDarchitect]

I am curious what spreadsheet methods people have found best to keep a running chart of the inks they have in different pens. I have about five pens inked at one time and don't always remember what ink I have in each one, and want to start a simple chart to keep track of that. How have you structured it to be easy to use and expandable? Any image files would be most appreciated.

[LizEF]

I find that the more complex it is, the less able I am to keep it up, so I just make an entry on a dedicated page of my Hobonichi when I ink a pen. The inked pens are kept in one physical location and uninked pens in another.

 

Of course, I never forget which ink is in which pen, but the log lets me see history and compare.

[NinthSphere]

I don't keep a list generally, but when I compare inks or nibs or when I trim down what to bring on a trip, I write out "x pen - x nib, - x ink".

[AlohaLani787]

I use an inexpensive notebook. Each time I ink a pen I cross out the pen's previous entry. I'm trying to limit inked pens to no more than 8.

[adyf]

Filemaker database.

[dragorsi]

I used a few notebooks (tomoe river paper) with dates and inks and pens, but I keep changing my mind what to use so they are not at the same place. But I also started using the currently inked feature over at Fountain Pen Companion, where I can archive a pen ink combo when I put a new one in the pen. It's possible to set the time and date you inked the pen, so you can keep track how long the pen is inked. And you can always export the data so oyu can make a chart out of it if you'd like.

Currently it doesn't list how often the pen was used (but you can manually count it or like I said, export the date), but at my ink list it indicates how often the ink was used, so I can see what I go for.

 

I will still use the back of my yearly notebook to keep track as well, just to have the ink on paper, but the notebook is still on it's way and it will change yearly, so it's good to have a place to keep track for everything, all the time.

[senzen]

I have a spreadsheet... In my head. I should probably download it to LibreOffice to declutter my mind!

 

It could be useful to agree on a standard and upload it to google docs for instance, so everyone could see it and chime in, e.g.

 

1. Pen brand.
2. Pen model.
3. Nib type (steel, gold, carats).
4. Nib size.
5. Any hacks (e.g. cellophane).
6. Ink name.
7. Ink brand.
8. Ink colour range (blue, red...).
9. How ink looks vs "what it says on the tin". e.g. on most pens Kon Peki looks like what is shown on the box, on a dry pen it looks baby blue, on a fine nib with a little cellophane it looks somewhere in the middle.
10. Works without problems?
11. Needs regular cleaning?
12. Needs special storage?
13. Evaporates quickly?

[ErrantSmudge]

I keep a page in my bullet journal for this - pen name, ink name, date filled, and a swatch.

 

Over the year, it makes a nice visual history of my pen and ink use. Here's a link to an example: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/331365-2017-a-year-in-inks-retrospective/

[lgsoltek]

Like ErrantSmudge I keep an ink journal too:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdYIAhmly0H/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1ika7e6nxdzkv

[XYZZY]

I keep a log in a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. I actually took inspiration for this from David Parker's (aka Figboot on Pens) pen log spreadsheet. I don't think that I have retained anything of his, as I wanted very different things, both in terms of what information is available as well as how it's presented, and maybe more importantly how I use my pens. For example, I have a few pens inked and I use them all every day. Whereas I get the impression from his spreadsheet that he uses different pens on different days of the week. I thought it interesting that somebody might want to see their most frequently used "Wednesday pen", but that not how I roll, and it's a great example of why there is no single correct way to record or present this information.

 

The only part that I edit is a "log" with three columns that I fill in. The date of a pen change, the pen, and the ink that I filled it with on that date. When I empty a pen and don't re-fill I just record it using a special "empty" ink. Everything else can be computed from that. There's also a few special sheets that list the inks that I own and the pens that I own.

 

Everything else in the spreadsheet is automagically computed from that log. I've different views that are presented, each is on a different "sheet" which makes it easier to find things on a mobile device.

• Currently Inked
• Inked History: dropdown at top to select a pen, the rest of the sheet is the ink history in that pen
• Pen History: dropdown at the top to select an ink, the rest of the sheet is the history of pens that have had that ink in it
• Ink-LRU: least recently used inks, showing ink name and number of days since it has been in a pen, with least used ink at top.
• Ink-MRU: most recently used inks. It's the same as the "Ink-LRU" just sorted in the opposite order. I don't show currently used inks. I find that I have little use/interest in this list, but doing it was trivial once I had the Ink-LRU list.
• Unused-Inks: Inks that I have that I have never inked up. Longer list than I like, but it's mostly samples. And I decided I needed a complete set of 15ml IRO bottles, most of which I haven't worked through yet.

Years ago when I started keeping records of game history or other hobby history and wanted mobile access, Google Sheets was far and away better than Excel. Now in 2019 Excel would be fine, too.

 

I also keep a separate ink & paper journal similar to ErrantSmudge et.al. It serves to communicate what an ink looks like. The spreadsheet is objective information that I like because that's how I'm wired.

[inkstainedruth]

I don't have a spreadsheet. I just have a file on my computer, listing the various pens by brand and model and if a pen is inked up, change the color of the text and listing the ink in that pen; also noting -- in yet a different color -- details such as whether the pen needs to be refilled or flushed, and if the ink has been diluted (i.e., by being too lazy or busy to flush and just refiling the pen with distilled water).

I also have a couple of composition books, where I dedicated 4 pages per pen and note which inks worked well in a specific pen. And mark the beginning of each listing with a post-it flag, color-coded (too some extent) by brand (e.g., all the Parker pens have red Post-it flags). The flags note what pen model, color and nib -- and in case you're wondering, Noodler's Kung Te Cheng works extremely well on them; IG inks work but are not lightfast.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[drathbun]

I just use a spreadsheet and colour the cell with the ink colour.

[mhguda]

I use a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet. I have a column for the pen, the date I filled it last and the ink that I put in, plus any remarks about either. I started the spreadsheet about eight years ago and still use it regularly. I sometimes put a pen away unintentionally, when it still has ink in it, and the log helps me remember...

[Intensity]

Theres actually such a thing as an ink journal:

https://www.inkjournal.com/collections/featured/products/inkjournal-black-notebook-for-pen-collectors

 

My personal method is to add a line or two of writing to various types of paper so I have a future reference of how that ink and nib wrote on that paper. I mark down the name of the ink, the pen used, and the nib, as well as whether its a recent fill or ink thats been sitting in a pen for a few days. This also allows me to see how the inks fare over time in terms of fading or color shift. Not a single dedicated ink journal, but rather a few different notebooks dedicated to scribbles and ink testing:

a Rhodia dot pad, a Fabriano Bioprima notebook, a Tomoe River notebook, and a crappy paper notebook. I also use these scribbles to do water resistance tests on well-dried ink.

 

ETA: I also use Col-O-Ring cards for ink tests, but it does not give as accurate a representation of what the inks look like on the papers I normally use. Its more like art paper vs coated fountain-pen-friendly paper. Hence I prefer to reference my ink testing notebooks.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Intensity

[TSherbs]

Ink journal, pocket-sized, from Matt Armstrong. I DO forget what colors are in my pens, otherwise. I could just use a list in my daily journal, too, if I wanted. I font need an elaborate spreadsheet for other info. Just what pen, what ink.

[Driften]

I use Figboot on Pens's EDC log for pens, inks, and what is in use.

[loganrah]

I use a google sheets spreadsheet (can be edited from my phone).

 

For pens I list, in order, pen brand, pen model, nib size/type, any modifications, ink brand, ink colour, and any special notes. The list doesn't differentiate between inked and uninked pens except that the latter has empty boxes where ink brand and colour go, which is easy enough to spot since I only have a relatively small number of pens (and only five inked at the moment).

 

I use the same spreadsheet to store other information too, like personal ink and paper reviews (mostly do I like an ink/paper? should I buy more of it?).

[Uncial]

I list it by pen in a notebook. This way I can write beside an entry things of note, such as 'too dry for this pen' or 'do not use with this pen' or 'no shading in this nib' etc.

[Maurizio]

I use a simple list in my digital OneNote notebook the full list isnt captured in the screenshot:

Edited March 5, 2019 by Maurizio

[putteringpenman]

I also use a Google Sheet. Pens are in one tab and inks are in a second tab. The pens have a column that says what ink it has at the moment.