Ink Organization and Display for Maximum Enjoyment

[DilettanteG]

My second shipment of shelf risers arrived today:

 

 

These expand to fit the shelf width and are sized so that I can actually close my hutch doors, but they don't look quite as clean. Plus, the taller risers made the labels easier to see. I angled the inks so that I can read the labels from my desk chair:

 

 

 

I also moved my newest inks into the other glass enclosed shelf and again angled them so I could see them from my chair:

 

Maybe now I'll finally get my ink sampler updated.

 

Still waiting on the last set of shelf risers for the inks still in my closet. Amazon seems to be sending them at a more leisurely pace. I think it may finally be time to ditch my Amazon Prime membership, especially since they upped the annual price again.

 

I was able to clear out enough closet space to fit some more shelves in there, so I might move everything back in my nice, dark closet and use these cabinets to display my pens instead. It would be nice to have all of my inks in a single place and in alphabetical order. I'll post more pictures in case anyone is still looking at this thread. Plus, it's kind of fun for me to track my progress visually like this. I've been organizing and reorganizing my house for months now and I suspect my office is going to involve a few false starts. 

[DilettanteG]

My latest ink purchase arrived and has filled up my new ink shelf. Kind of like having a dedicated drop zone for bottles to play with before re-entering a buying frenzy. 

 

[DilettanteG]

The last of the shelf risers came today with the larger, liquor bottle sized steps. They're nice, sturdy, clear and taller so you can see the ink labels much more clearly. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to realize the highest and lowest bottles are still both difficult to see and to reach. Also, my office gets pretty sunny in the summer, so I'm dubious about keeping the other bottles behind glass in display cabinets. Even being stored in the dark my Parker Penman Emerald has dehydrated to a solid.

 

 

 

So, it looks like a bit more shopping for me to find a shelving unit that will fit in my closet and be deep and tall enough to support these new shelf risers. (The other option is pull out shelving, but I'd worry they will send bottles flying everywhere.) I doubt I will find clear acrylic or glass shelving large enough for my entire collection. (My husband is not keen to help me mount shelves, plus then I'll have to pull them out if I need clothes storage again.) Wire shelving should be an improvement. It will still obstruct my sight line partially, but it should allow more light so that when the closet is open the back bottles are easier to see.

 

I do really prefer having all my inks in one place in alphabetical order, so I'm not too sorry to have to go back to that. Plus, it frees up my display cabinets to store pens. Also, I think this built in unit might be better designed for my paper collection with clear pull out bins for each shelf.

 

I'll post again when I've made some more progress. Hopefully someone else out there finds this process helpful.

[Sailor Kenshin]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:40 PM, DilettanteG said:

My latest ink purchase arrived and has filled up my new ink shelf. Kind of like having a dedicated drop zone for bottles to play with before re-entering a buying frenzy. 

 

 

I see Diamine, Pelikan (or Kaweco?) JH, Levenger and?…Dey prettyyyy.  
 

My 'solution,' years ago, was white wire stepped shelves, and, uhm, books.  It still is.  The important thing for me was keeping brands together.  Later I began corralling most of the orange/reds/pinks/browns together…staining.

 

I'm leafing through old journals, some going back to the 1990s.  Amazing and mysterious that some of the pink ink is still vibrant and readable while a page or two of blue black has faded.  
 

Good luck!

[DilettanteG]

@Sailor Kenshin Yes, books are the solution for everything! 👍 Thanks for the compliment. It's so nice to actually see what I have without digging through everything. I don't think I have any Kaweco or a lot of the newer brands. Though the Park Penmans did get a place of pride in front.

 

I'm trying to not buy inks unless they're a different color or have different properties from what I already have. We'll see if that works the time around. Coming back to FPN always means new inks and pens for me. you guys are very convincing.

 

Wire stepped shelves are a smart way to go. A dry environment where air can circulate sounds like a way to help prevent mold. Either I've been lucky so far or haven't really checked my bottles carefully.

 

I haven't looked at my old journals, but pink is not the color I would have thought would be archival. Guess I should listen to Barbie more carefully. She's a role model. 😉

 

And my husband is going to install custom cut shelves for me to store all my inks in the closet! Of course when, that's a different story. Can't wait to actually see my entire collection at a glance.

 

Edited to add the ? inks in the picture above are KWZ Sheen Machine and Sheen Machine 2. Looking forward to trying those on some Tomoe River paper.

[AmandaW]

4 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

And my husband is going to install custom cut shelves for me to store all my inks in the closet... see my entire collection at a glance.

Does he think you will lose interest in adding to your collection cos you can see them? Hmmm... I don't think it works like that: the gaps will be easier to see too.

[amberleadavis]

Where did anyone find great risers?  I ended up using 2x4s to create risers and they are imperfect.

[DilettanteG]

@AmandaW I like the way you think! 👍 Though, after 25 years of watching me collect writing paraphernalia, I think he's stopped trying to apply any logic to it.

 

@amberleadavis Here's what I used and the links:

 

#1  is the largest, and sadly, most expensive of my clear acrylic risers. These are advertised for liquor bottles and for not much more you can get ones with built in LED lights. (No electrical sockets in my closet 😞)

 

They're super sturdy and look like this:

 

 

And I bought them on Amazon, but they're probably pretty generically available at any organizer or bar store. I paid about $50 each plus tax here:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/BARsics-3-Tiers-Assembled-Display-16x6-5x12-5/dp/B096SDVWVQ?pd_rd_w=T52tZ&content-id=amzn1.sym.f8bd5c4a-4a1d-4518-8a74-d7b144a3f981&pf_rd_p=f8bd5c4a-4a1d-4518-8a74-d7b144a3f981&pf_rd_r=7WK8BH4M6WPMJX04BG45&pd_rd_wg=GnDTs&pd_rd_r=c5abc47d-e97e-489a-a1d0-50cde7e2347c&pd_rd_i=B096SDVWVQ&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_pd_rhf_ee_s_rp_c_d_sccl_1_2_i

 

 

 

 

[DilettanteG]

#2 are the smaller and much cheaper ones from the Home Edit line at Walmart. I think they may only be available online. They stack with the rest of their organizer stuff, like the clear drawers I used for my ink samples that they are sitting on here.

 

They look like this:

 

 

And I bought them thru Walmart. I think they have a more expensive line at The Container Store as well. These cost me about $8 each plus tax. Here's the link:

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Home-Edit-Clear-3-Tier-Riser-Pack-of-2-9-57-x-9-57-x-5-Plastic-Modular-Storage-System-Cabinet-Organizer/783160463?athbdg=L1100

 

 

 

 

 

[DilettanteG]

#3 is the expandable option I used to fit my office hutch drawers, as the other two didn't fit.

 

It looks like this:

 

And I bought them at The Container Store for about $20 each.

 

Here's the Link:

 

https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/pantry-organizers/everything-organizer-collection-expanding-3-tier-organizer/12d?productId=11019167

 

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for sharing!

[DilettanteG]

And finally, #4  are my original shelf risers  which might be the cheapest, but I've had them for so many years I no longer remember what I paid or where I bought them. I think they're called Expand-A-Shelf and are an opaque white. I seem to recall that they're made for spice jars and are a bit too short for tall bottles like Noodlers. Since you can't see thru them everything looks a bit darker and more jumbled.Here's a reposted picture of my collection on them before I upgraded.

 

 

They were fine before my collection grew quite so unwieldy.

 

Hope that helps!

[DilettanteG]

19 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

Thank you for sharing!

My pleasure. Sorry for the multiple posts. It took me awhile to find all the photos and the links. Hope you'll share what works for you.

 

My ink stash is still very much a work in progress. In fact, I ended up deciding to move all but my unsampled inks back into the closet. I get a lot of light in my office and I'd hate to replace all these bottles. So, until my husband gets down to the "shelves in my office" task in his very long to do list, they're back, but OUT OF ORDER, adjacent to the other inks. This will probably make me crazy until I re-alphabetize them... again.

 

 

However, it did allow me to put most of my fountain pens in my display cabinet on some very dodgy new pen stands. Now I can just grab an inked one without searching thru pen boxes and see my Pelikan Cities and Places series 24/7. So, that's a win!

 

[amberleadavis]

Okay, I took updated pictures.

 

This is cabinet 1.  It's an Eastlake secretary with a cylinder top.

 

[amberleadavis]

Cabinet 2 has been remade from the old post office boxes.

 

[amberleadavis]

Cabinet 3 is a set of barrister's book cases.

 

[AmandaW]

Oh my, very pretty!

[amberleadavis]

Cabinet 4 is another set of book cases.

 

[amberleadavis]

And cabinet #5 for when I haven't put stuff away yet.

 

[amberleadavis]

3 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

Oh my, very pretty!

 

 

Thank you!  @SamCapote is still my idol.  I think the way @DilettanteG is organizing is much better.  I don't have my alphabetized and can't say if I have a particular ink.  I use the displays as an icebreaker.  After seeing all that ink, whatever my client confesses to - well it's not as weird as all those bottles of ink.  Now the paper and pens are not displayed as prettily and I don't have the kind of pens I want to display.