Clever Ideas For Holding Ink Sample Vials Steady?

[Essensia]

I use sand in a small storage container because it will hold items of varying sizes, from sample vials to bottles of Noodler's ink and Perfect Pen Flush.

[Sailor Kenshin]

shot glass from second hand store or goodwill -- 50 cents.

Second that! Though I wouldn't drink from it after.

 

Just today, I used the upturned top of a small glass jar candle that I've been using as a paperweight. The sample was Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo.

[Ted A]

AMAZING.

 

There are almost as many solutions as there are different inks!

[sexauerw]

I just build a holder using Lego ® blocks.

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/N24m,mZMOTMymT/4542382.1/1600/p/Ink+Sample+Vial+in+Lego+Holder.jpg

 

 

 

 

[sexauerw]

_{By the way, here is a shot of the corner of my desk where I keep my toys. Both calculators are fully functional. I prefer the larger one, but it is strictly solar, no batteries, so it won't work at night. The room lights are not quite sufficient. The little blue and white one is battery operated so it is my night-time calculator. You can see a total of three ink bottle holders; the front one is a sample vial, the middle one is a Nalgene bottle and the back one is a Noodler's bottle. The red bar on top of the calendar is a USB hub. And I'll have to rebuild the calendar at the end of next week so that it will display the proper days for June, 2013. Oh, and the bottom gear of the clock advances one tooth every second.}

 

 

_{http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/ANxMNNxMI3NZWA/4542484.1/1600/p/Lego+Toys+on+Desk.jpg}

 

 

[amberleadavis]

Bill, thank you for the ideas. Not only am I forcing my child to labor in the making of lego ink holders, we expanded into Sculpy. I'll have to post some pics soon.

[Heliotrope]

I love the Lego idea!

 

I use an acrylic lip stick holder that I got from the Container Store (cheap, sturdy, easy to clean, attractive, holds multiple vials, fits nicely in my ink sample box):

 

 

This one is level all the way across. Some had different levels (higher row in the back), but the taller walls made the higher rows impractical for this purpose.

[amberleadavis]

Great idea!

[rfranca]

Honestly,

I ask my wife to hold the vial

 

 

It's true

[DanF]

Here are a couple of holders I turned on my lathe. The glass bottle isn't really a sample, but my Vanishing Point won't go deep enough into the Sailor Sie-Boku bottle to fill, so I use this.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1131.jpg From a small piece of box elder burl.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1133.jpg Black Walnut

 

Dan

Edited May 30, 2013 by DanF

[JefferyS]

Wow, a lot of great solutions here.

[Heliotrope]

Here are a couple of holders I turned on my lathe. The glass bottle isn't really a sample, but my Vanishing Point won't go deep enough into the Sailor Sie-Boku bottle to fill, so I use this.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1131.jpg From a small piece of box elder burl.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1133.jpg Black Walnut

 

Dan

 

 

Wow! These are beautiful. Do you sell them?

[OakIris]

I think that sexauerw's use of the Lego blocks is quite clever - easy to get the "parts" and easy to make. Heliotrope's lipstick holder looks pretty cool, too. But:

 

Here are a couple of holders I turned on my lathe. The glass bottle isn't really a sample, but my Vanishing Point won't go deep enough into the Sailor Sie-Boku bottle to fill, so I use this.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1131.jpg From a small piece of box elder burl.

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_1133.jpg Black Walnut

 

Dan

 

Dan's sample holders take the prize, I think! They are indeed beautiful, as Heliotrope already commented; I especially like the box elder burl holder. I imagine you only make these for your own use and pleasure, Dan, but if you were to offer them for sale, I imagine you would have many takers!

 

Holly

[tinta]

Don't know if it is clever, but it works. Here is mine.

It's actually a rack I use for drying my nib-units + converters, before I put them away to rest.

 

Four holes were drilled all the way through a block of walnut & its oak base, so that air could circulate around the nib-units with their converters.

 

I gave my drier block three coats of walnut oil.

With more than a pound in weight, this drier is very stable.

The nib-units usually spend 3 or more days in this drier (depending on humidity).

Then I assemble my pens & put them away in their cases.

 

A flat bottomed center hole was originally designed to hold a pen cap while it's drying .

 

It just happens that the same hole also fits a ink sample vial.

 

I really love "DanF's" box elder burl vial stand.

 

(Edited to remove a duplicate image.)

Edited May 30, 2013 by tinta

[Heliotrope]

Don't know if it is clever, but it works. Here is mine.

It's actually a rack I use for drying my nib-units + converters, before I put them away to rest.

 

Four holes were drilled all the way through a block of walnut & its oak base, so that air could circulate around the nib-units with their converters.

 

I gave my drier block three coats of walnut oil.

With more than a pound in weight, this drier is very stable.

The nib-units usually spend 3 or more days in this drier (depending on humidity).

Then I assemble my pens & put them away in their cases.

 

A flat bottomed center hole was originally designed to hold a pen cap while it's drying .

nib-set drier 1-1.jpg

It just happens that the same hole also fits a ink sample vial.

 

I really love "DanF's" box elder burl vial stand.

 

(Edited to remove a duplicate image.)

 

 

I envy you who are so handy with wood!

[dcwaites]

Blu-Tack. I use it on vials and those pesky 30ml Diamine bottles.

and on Noodler's bottles, and Mont Blanc bottles, and Iroshizuku bottles, and to hold pens for photos, and, and, and.

 

I am of the understanding that if you acquire about twice the body weight of a two-year-old in Blu-tack, it will actually hold the two-year-old in place for at least 3 seconds. But that may be a rumour...

[DanF]

Thanks for all of the kind comments. I'll be playing around with some other shapes and woods, and be able to offer some for sale if there is demand. Feel free to PM if interested.

 

Dan

[DreamworK]

I had the idea that an angled ink vial holder would actually be more ergonomic while refilling a fountain pen...I just made this quick sketch a few minutes ago to see if anyone talented in woodwork could use the idea. I have zero experience with woodworking.

 

http://i.imgur.com/AMyH1QP.jpg?1

[RJJ]

Excellent ideas all around!

[DanF]

About angled holders --- I think it would make it harder to fill because it would effectively lower the level of the ink in the vial. Tilt a vial at an angle and you will see what I mean. It would make it harder for the pen to be submerged in ink.

 

Dan