I have all eight bottles of ink from Pelikan and four bottles from Private Reserve so I was wondering how much ink is too much to have before it will sit too long and go bad?

Is there such thing as too much ink? I don't think so.

I have 10 boxes of unused and unopended ink in front of me and another 10 bottles of ink in my desk draw, just in case I get upset and feel the need.

A lot depends on the conditions of storage - even temp and not too hot. I keep mine in my bureau drawer in the room that's the first stop on the house A/C (master bedroom).

Ink can last quite a long time under good storage conditions.

I currently own about twenty bottles, and I am going to stop there for a while and just use up what I have! That's probably enough ink to last me about 3-4 years at the rate I'm going.

Too much ink? Oh, that's what *somebody else* has.

I think I've got 18 bottles in all, of several brands: lots of Waterman, a few Quink, a few Skrip, a couple Pelikan, a couple OMAS, a couple old Penman, and a bottle or Rotring Red from someplace (I don't even remember buying that). Oh, and three bottles of Noodler's. Maybe more than 18 bottles, come to think of it. Somehow I have multiple bottles of Waterman Florida Blue.

I've got a few old Quink bottles in which the ink doesn't look like it's still any good (over 50 years old and with sediment in them), and I'm considering cleaning them out and filling them with the modern equivalents, just because I like the bottle design, but I'm not sure of the wisdom of this.

Three (3) is to much, but 2 is fine.

ps- If cared for, it will go bad in about 15 to 20 years, maybe.

"Too much ink" is just newbie-talk for "not enough pens".

I have 41 inks and just find new reasons to buy and buy.
Now I need to get some more pens.

Any amount of some ink you don’t like is too much of that certain ink.

I've got more than 30 different bottles and firmly believe that you can't have too much ink!

Well, a few months ago, Annie helped me count my inks. 70-something.

Got a few more on order.

Now I don't feel so bad

Here's too much ink.
A few photos from a recent trip to Morocco -








They're actually vats for tanning and dyeing leather, but of course I thought of giant ink wells.
This tannery in Fez is over 900 years old. Godawful smell.

==

OOOHHHH Future pen cases (and Dooney bags)!!!!

Hi,

I had a little too many bottles, so I put a few on the Marketplace. I try to keep my ink box to only have the inks that I like.

Dillon

Don't know. I'm not there yet. (Too many bottles to bother to count, but I think it's over 20).

Ink lasts a long time. I'm adding a codicil to my will in order to pass the hobby addiction bad habit collection to my children and grandchildren. I expect to run out of air before I run out of ink.

When you know you cant possibly use all your ink in your lifetime, you really know you have too much ink.
When you have many more ink bottles than fountain pens, you really know you have too much ink.
When you think of bequeathing your ink for future generations, you really know you have way too much ink.

I'm up to 140 bottles, which sit in a dark closet in my a/c and central heat temperature controlled office. I haven't had to toss any bottles of ink yet and I've been collecting for a good long while. Some of my collection is from the eighties like my Sheaffer Skrips in those cool little ink well bottles. Some are discontinued inks that I'm not sure of the age of, like my Parker Penman inks which were hated in their time, but coveted now. Pendemonium has a nice little article about vintage inks on their website.

Evaporation has become an issue for my older Skrip cartridges. It's easy to tell when the volume is too low in a NOS cartridge, so perhaps my opened have the same problem, but I just haven't noticed it. Evaporation is also why I no longer use aftermarket ink wells. They look lovely, but inks reduce too easily to a dried up blob at the bottom of the well after a few months sitting on my desk. Even the really nice crystal ones with the cool seals I bought from Levenger. YMMV

It's fun to have such a nice, large collection to fill my 38 FPs with. The only real complaint I have is that with 140 bottles ans 90+ sample vials, it's a rare ink that stands out from the pack. The basic colors that every manufacturer makes: Black, Blue-black, blue, plus red, green, brown, purple, and occasionally pink, yellow, and orange only vary so much in shade and hue. I find myself drawn more and more to specialty inks, like Noodler's Heart of Darkness, which are outstanding examples of their type (bulletproof, really saturated and opaque.) Fortunately, their are additives like Tryphon's ink safe which can improve flow and discourage the growth of micro organisms if you find a color you like but are concerned with its other properties. Then, there's always ink mixing which can become a hobby in it self.

Too much ink you say??? Is there such a thing? Lets see let me count.....

INK COLLECTION:
Binder Blurple (Faux Tanzanite) 50% Waterman Fla Blue/ 50% Waterman Purple
CARAN d'ACHE Caribbean Sea
Conway Stewart Turquoise Blue
De Atramentis Kaffee Coffee Scented Brown
De Atramentis Schokolade Chocolate Scented Brown
De Atramentis Vanilletinte Vanilla Scented Brown
Diamine Mediterranean Blue
Diamine Presidential Blue
Diamine Imperial Blue
Levangers Cobalt Blue
Levangers Skies of Blue
Levangers Fireball
Levangers Pinkly
Levangers Smokey
Levangers Blue Bahama
Levangers Always Greener
Mont Blanc Love Letter Rose Scent Red
Mont Blanc Seasons Greetings Holiday Scent Brown (2 Bottles)
Noodlers Baystate Blue
Noodlers FPN Van Gogh Starry Night Blue (2 Bottles)
Noodlers FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire (2 Bottles)
Noodlers FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown (2 Bottles)
Noodlers Eternal Black
Noodlers Burgundy Red
Noodlers Legal Lapis Blue (2 Bottles)
Noodlers Turquoise Blue
Noodlers Tiananmen Red
Parker Penman Emerald Green
Parker Penman Mocha Brown
Parker Penman Sapphire Blue (10 Bottles)
Parker Quink Blue-Black
Pelikan 4001 Turquoise Blue
Private Reserve 2004 DC Supershow Blue
Private Reserve American Blue
Private Reserve Blue Suede
Private Reserve Black Magic Blue
Private Reserve Black Cherry Brown
Private Reserve Chocolat Brown
Private Reserve Plum
Private Reserve Purple Haze
Private Reserve Sherwood Green
Sheaffer Skrip Black (2 Bottles)
Sheaffer Skrip Purple
Visconti Black
Visconti Bordeaux
Waterman Caribbean Blue
Waterman Florida Blue
Waterman Havana Brown
Waterman Purple
64 Bottles of Ink
49 Different Colors

Too much? Ha! I Haven't even scratched the surface! That reminds me I need to find someone selling those two newer scented Seasons Greetings inks from Mont Blanc!

I've got 70+ bottle of current ink and another 20 to 30 bottles of vintage ink going back 3 to 4 decades in age. I've yet to see any go bad.

"Too much," "not enough" -- it's all so subjective....

For me -- and this is just me -- I'm a one pen, one ink guy. I have a Pelikan M600 and a bottle of Montblanc Racing Green, and dats it.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with collecting inks, or having multiple inks for multiple purposes. I'm just one to consolidate.

DilettanteG has 140 bottles of ink. With my mere 21 bottles I now have a goal...and a hero!!

I think I may have said this before, but --

Too many bottles of ink == too many pens == too big a coffee cup == oxymoron

That's so sweet, thanks! I do wish I'd discovered the ink sample exchange program before I bought quite so much. Being able to try before you buy can really save you serious cash!

I believe when you start approaching the 500 bottle mark you may have enough.

Noodler's yellow for mixing
Noodler's cayenne
Noddler's concord bream (purple) for mixing..do not like base color
Noodler's army green for mixing..do not like base color
Montblanc burgundy...bought mostly for the bottle...color, eh, like a weak wine glass stain
PR Lake Placid Blue
PR Copperburst
Parker black
Waterman South Seas Blue

9 bottles...that's enough for my small desk and storage issues

Favorite mixes to make equivalent velvet grey
light avocado green

After reading the prior posts and counting my 23 bottles from 4 manufacturers, I'm proud to say I'm not quite ready for the 12 step program.

Jeen,

Fascinating pictures - thanks. I had visions of one very large dip pen looming on the horizon!

Chris

Hmm... this looks like fun. I don't think I have too much yet. But my collection is growing.

Noodlers:
Cayenne
Eelskin blue
Ellis island
Marine green
Navajo turquois
FPN-tulipe
Luxury blue
Squeteague
Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown
Ottoman Rose

Private Reserve
DC supershow blue
American blue
Sherwood green
Tanzanite
Private Reserve Midnight Blue
Arabian Rose

Diamine
Monaco Red
Prussian blue
Magenta

Parker
Quink blue/black-vintage

Sheaffer
Skrip blue/black vintage

Visconti
Burgundy
Blue

Aurora
Black

Caran d'Ache
Sunset
Amazon Green

But 6 of my children have fountain pens, so we go through a lot.

Dave

Noodlers
Apache Sunset
Luxury blue
Polar Black

Private Reserve
Black Cherry
Gray Flannel
Tanzanite
Arabian Rose
Orange Crush

Sheaffer
Skrip Brown

Waterman
vintage Black
vintage Blue
vintage Blue Black
vintage Brown mixed with Skrip Brown