How Do You Organise Your Inks And Swatch Cards?

[NickiStew]

A great question. All of my sample vials are colour coded and organised by brand in foam vial mats. These are then stored in a box to prevent light deterioration.

All of my swatch cards are kept in ring binder albums organised by brand and colour. This helps keep them pristine and out of direct sunlight for longevity.

 

That's not to say I'm right! How do YOU do it?

Edited September 29, 2016 by NickiStew

[praxim]

I have about twenty bottles in a drawer....

 

I have about twice as many pens as inks. Different proportion of interest, I guess.

 

Edit: typo

Edited September 29, 2016 by praxim

[praxim]

To clarify a little, and as mentioned in a somewhat related thread, every ink use is recorded in a journal so that I have examples of every pen used with an ink, and every ink used in a pen, written with the relevant combination of course (including repeats). Thus it is searchable on pen or ink to see what happens when I write, on that paper. I like this more than ink samples alone.

 

Your range is amazing.

Edited September 29, 2016 by praxim

[mehandiratta]

 

A great question. All of my sample vials are colour coded and organised by brand in foam vial mats. These are then stored in a box to prevent light deterioration.

All of my swatch cards are kept in ring binder albums organised by brand and colour. This helps keep them pristine and out of direct sunlight for longevity.

 

That's not to say I'm right! How do you do it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is amazing... WOW

[migo984]

My colour cards are organised in a similar way to yours, with swabs, washes and writing samples on Artist Tiles, approx 3" x 4", stored in plastic sleeves in 2 purpose made binders. I only sort these by colour group as I usually look for a colour rather than a brand. But I keep a swatch of every colour organised alphabetically by brand on Mnemosyne Word Cards, for a quick check when I buy a new ink.

 

Examples of the Artist Tiles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re my inks, I think I only have 6 samples in vials. I hate the things. My several hundred bottles of ink are awaiting reorganisation. They'll be going into tall (6ft) wooden storage, using the Gratnells plastic standard and deep trays similar to the storage solution used in classrooms and labs in schools and colleges. I'll have about 40 trays in total in a two column shelving system.

 

Example of storage system, although my trays will be translucent white and a mix of shallow and deep.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by migo984

[Fuzzy_Bear]

Inks are in a drawer. No swatches. I just load a pen.

[Tas]

http://www.taskyprianou.com/me_ooo.jpg

[NickiStew]

My colour cards are organised in a similar way to yours, with swabs, washes and writing samples on Artist Tiles, approx 3" x 4", stored in plastic sleeves in 2 purpose made binders. I only sort these by colour group as I usually look for a colour rather than a brand. But I keep a swatch of every colour organised alphabetically by brand on Mnemosyne Word Cards, for a quick check when I buy a new ink.

 

Examples of the Artist Tiles:

 

 

 

image.jpg

 

 

 

Re my inks, I think I only have 6 samples in vials. I hate the things. My several hundred bottles of ink are awaiting reorganisation. They'll be going into tall (6ft) wooden storage, using the Gratnells plastic standard and deep trays similar to the storage solution used in classrooms and labs in schools and colleges. I'll have about 40 trays in total in a two column shelving system.

 

Example of storage system, although my trays will be translucent white and a mix of shallow and deep.

 

image.jpg

 

Excellent! Thanks for sharing. N

[Tas]

You lot are far too organised . . .

Mine all just live in the "drawer of shame"

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_drawer_of_shame_2.jpg

[NickiStew]

You lot are far too organised . . .

 

Mine all just live in the "drawer of shame"

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_drawer_of_shame_2.jpg

 

Absolutely loving the 'Drawer of Shame'!

[Fuzzy_Bear]

You lot are far too organised . . .

 

Mine all just live in the "drawer of shame"

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_drawer_of_shame_2.jpg

More organised than mine! Although mine are all sitting flat.

[T4TEXAS]

Yikes!

[joepike16]

What type of cards do you use to catalog your ink swabs?

[NickiStew]

What type of cards do you use to catalog your ink swabs?

 

I make my own - Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper

[Technomancer]

I use a Staples Arc notebook. I find the paper quite fountain pen friendly and the pages can be moved around easily. In fact I just changed my system from alphabetical to spectrum sort order, and it only took a few minutes.

[migo984]

I make my own - Bockingford 200lb watercolour paper

Do you use HP, CP or NOT? I used to use Bockingford but the inks behaved differently, and sometimes looked quite different too, on watercolour paper, when compared to writing papers. I still occasionally use Bockingford or other makes for swatches if I'm going to use the ink for sketching.

[NickiStew]

Do you use HP, CP or NOT? I used to use Bockingford but the inks behaved differently, and sometimes looked quite different too, on watercolour paper, when compared to writing papers. I still occasionally use Bockingford or other makes for swatches if I'm going to use the ink for sketching.

 

I use a wide range of different papers and surfaces, but I have found Bockingford to be the best of the bunch for what I'm trying to achieve i.e. get as much colour out of the ink as possible - Im using the inks like watercolours. For handwriting, shimmer inks and high sheen inks - smoother less absorbent stocks will give much better results.

[T4TEXAS]

Nickistew, where do you get the foam vial holders?

[NickiStew]

Nickistew, where do you get the foam vial holders?

 

https://www.theconsumablescompany.com/product/tube-rack-224-capacity-x-16ml-holes-blue-foam/

[amberleadavis]

Niki, that's impressive. I store my samples in my bottom desk drawer and the swatches were on 3x5 cards. Now I have them in notebooks.