What Is An Inkwell?

[wd7512]

Im sorry, haha, you are all probably face palming. However i have seen this word being used here and im not really sure what it is, could someone please explain?

[jar]

A small bottle meant to hold ink; often designed as a desk accessory. When I was in school they sat in a hole at the upper right edge of each desk. You could dip your pen when needed.

[ac12]

They were meant for quill and dip pens, which have no mechanism to hold much ink, so had to be dipped often.

With fountain pens, the need for having ink wells went away.

 

BTW, if you don't ask the question, you will never know the answer.

I recall there was a study done on this. 10 people may not know the answer, but only 1 will ask the question.

So, you can rest assured that there are many more people who did not know what an ink well was, but did not ask.

[wd7512]

A small bottle meant to hold ink; often designed as a desk accessory. When I was in school they sat in a hole at the upper right edge of each desk. You could dip your pen when needed.

 

Thanks I'm a student so not something from my day.

[wd7512]

They were meant for quill and dip pens, which have no mechanism to hold much ink, so had to be dipped often.

With fountain pens, the need for having ink wells went away.

 

BTW, if you don't ask the question, you will never know the answer.

I recall there was a study done on this. 10 people may not know the answer, but only 1 will ask the question.

So, you can rest assured that there are many more people who did not know what an ink well was, but did not ask.

 

haha ok thanks

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pretty objects that hold ink....for back in the day of two inks only, if....and One Man, One Pen usage level The cap has to twist or you will be adding water to your condensed ink often.

 

Use of two business colors kept one going through two loads of ink a day, so every second or third day one filled it up. If one left it too long, one 're-hydrated' the dried or condensed ink. To have sitting pretty on your desk along with your twenty pens you need one with a screw on top, and they are rare.

If you are a one or two ink only.....person....also very rare...these inkwells will do just fine.

 

When my computer died, I lost a lot of pictures.

Of course one needs at least ten inkwells...and twenty five is better. I may have that or more, I've not counted in a long time.

 

 

I use to have more pictures but when my computer died I lost many. Especially the single glass/crystal..silver or brass topped ones.

 

 

Art Deco...1925-38 or so. Was 'named' in Paris in 1925....each country like with Art Nouveau has it's own style.

French 1925, birds eye maple veneer.

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0081_zps7cgcakwz.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0078_zpsglsnsvul.jpg

 

 

German.. has a bit of Bauhaus and a bit of Art Decco. . '25-30? Black glass, fire goldinghttp://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0084_zpsnwgvxgd4.jpg

 

 

Art Nouveau 1890's 1920's this I think is 1900. I have five or so of that style, some in porcelain.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0086_zpsij8ivokl.jpg

Bauhaus, after 1920----30's, absolutely minimum. Two wells inside....real blury picture.

I must have four double marble inkwell sets, and a couple marble stand single ones in often different colored marble.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0094_zpshxsei5ux.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0093_zpspn9xq4wn.jpg

 

Celebrating the workers whose industry won some battle on the Eastern Front in 1915...silver plate wore off.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/KGrHqVHJCkE7zC5V3IUBPCdwzVCdQ60_12_zps32lee5wd.jpg

 

1920-30's Could be French....Nancy area...

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/D5HSQ9NP_zpszqp2nfcv.jpg

Sterling English Silver topped crystal the flat one, the other is silver plated, a classic (1870?)1890-1910 design.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/Silver%20and%20silver%20plated%20inkwell_zpsrobwiv2r.jpg

Edited June 10, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[wd7512]

Pretty objects that hold ink....for back in the day of two inks only, if....and One Man, One Pen usage level The cap has to twist or you will be adding water to your condensed ink often.

 

Use of two business colors kept one going through two loads of ink a day, so every second or third day one filled it up. If one left it too long, one 're-hydrated' the dried or condensed ink. To have sitting pretty on your desk along with your twenty pens you need one with a screw on top, and they are rare.

If you are a one or two ink only.....person....also very rare...these inkwells will do just fine.

 

When my computer died, I lost a lot of pictures.

Of course one needs at least ten inkwells...and twenty five is better. I may have that or more, I've not counted in a long time.

 

 

I use to have more pictures but when my computer died I lost many. Especially the single glass/crystal..silver or brass topped ones.

 

 

Art Deco...1925-38 or so. Was 'named' in Paris in 1925....each country like with Art Nouveau has it's own style.

French 1925, birds eye maple veneer.

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0081_zps7cgcakwz.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0078_zpsglsnsvul.jpg

 

 

German.. has a bit of Bauhaus and a bit of Art Decco. . '25-30? Black glass, fire goldinghttp://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0084_zpsnwgvxgd4.jpg

 

 

Art Nouveau 1890's 1920's this I think is 1900. I have five or so of that style, some in porcelain.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0086_zpsij8ivokl.jpg

Bauhaus, after 1920----30's, absolutely minimum. Two wells inside....real blury picture.

I must have four double marble inkwell sets, and a couple marble stand single ones in often different colored marble.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0094_zpshxsei5ux.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0093_zpspn9xq4wn.jpg

 

Celebrating the workers whose industry won some battle on the Eastern Front in 1915...silver plate wore off.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/KGrHqVHJCkE7zC5V3IUBPCdwzVCdQ60_12_zps32lee5wd.jpg

 

1920-30's Could be French....Nancy area...

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/D5HSQ9NP_zpszqp2nfcv.jpg

Sterling English Silver topped crystal the flat one, the other is silver plated, a classic (1870?)1890-1910 design.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/Silver%20and%20silver%20plated%20inkwell_zpsrobwiv2r.jpg

 

wow these can be very nice

[tinta]

At one time in Europe & here in Ontario Canada, every student's desk had a place for an inkwell, which was used for dip pens.

I remember the bottles, the actual cylindrical glass "inkwells", were standard sized with a collar at the top that was wider than the diameter of the holes in the desks (unfortunately, always at the top right corner of the table-top). This prevented the the inkwells from sliding through the desk top. These bottles also had caps.

 

In Europe we carried these bottles (inkwells) with us from class to class, while here at my Canadian primary/junior school there was a class moderator appointed to regularly check & fill the inkwell bottles from a large plastic master ink container of (usually blue/black or washable blue ink).

 

When I started teaching, late in the 60s, all the student's desks had the circular holes for an "inkwell" bottle. I retired much later & there were still some of the old desks in use with these round holes.

Edited June 10, 2017 by tinta

[tinta]

Pretty objects that hold ink....for back in the day of two inks only, if....and One Man, One Pen usage level The cap has to twist or you will be adding water to your condensed ink often.

 

Use of two business colors kept one going through two loads of ink a day, so every second or third day one filled it up. If one left it too long, one 're-hydrated' the dried or condensed ink. To have sitting pretty on your desk along with your twenty pens you need one with a screw on top, and they are rare.

If you are a one or two ink only.....person....also very rare...these inkwells will do just fine.

 

When my computer died, I lost a lot of pictures.

Of course one needs at least ten inkwells...and twenty five is better. I may have that or more, I've not counted in a long time.

 

 

I use to have more pictures but when my computer died I lost many. Especially the single glass/crystal..silver or brass topped ones.

 

 

Art Deco...1925-38 or so. Was 'named' in Paris in 1925....each country like with Art Nouveau has it's own style.

French 1925, birds eye maple veneer.

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0081_zps7cgcakwz.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0078_zpsglsnsvul.jpg

 

 

German.. has a bit of Bauhaus and a bit of Art Decco. . '25-30? Black glass, fire goldinghttp://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0084_zpsnwgvxgd4.jpg

 

 

Art Nouveau 1890's 1920's this I think is 1900. I have five or so of that style, some in porcelain.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0086_zpsij8ivokl.jpg

Bauhaus, after 1920----30's, absolutely minimum. Two wells inside....real blury picture.

I must have four double marble inkwell sets, and a couple marble stand single ones in often different colored marble.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0094_zpshxsei5ux.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0093_zpspn9xq4wn.jpg

 

Celebrating the workers whose industry won some battle on the Eastern Front in 1915...silver plate wore off.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/KGrHqVHJCkE7zC5V3IUBPCdwzVCdQ60_12_zps32lee5wd.jpg

 

1920-30's Could be French....Nancy area...

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/D5HSQ9NP_zpszqp2nfcv.jpg

Sterling English Silver topped crystal the flat one, the other is silver plated, a classic (1870?)1890-1910 design.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/Silver%20and%20silver%20plated%20inkwell_zpsrobwiv2r.jpg

Stunning stuff. The modern French set looks almost Bauhaus.

[PaulS]

thanks for sharing the pix of your inkwells - very attractive.

 

quote ......... "Art Deco...1925-38 or so. Was 'named' in Paris in 1925....each country like with Art Nouveau has it's own style."

 

yes, very true - the words Art Deco being the English language interpretation of the name of the Paris exhibition in 1925, the full name of which was Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs.

My reason for waffling on was just to say that I'd imagined the expression Art Deco to have been in use from around the time of the Paris fair in 1925 - but apparently not it seems, it only saw life from c. 1950s ............ which surprised me.

 

I'd venture to suggest re the art nouveau style, that as you say each European country had it's own interpretation and name, far more so perhaps than deco, which looks to have been less varied than the earlier sinewy fashion. Just an opinion.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Tinta, true...

 

(Didn't know Art Deco was '50's.......a turn to geometrical from swirly flowers and sleek willowy girls. Art Nouveau started in the English Craft Art of the @ 1870's. There is much to like there too. )

 

Art Deco had started before 1925 in both countries....4-5 countries...Belgium, Austria, Holland. German 'art deco' design was ignored....but they had to name the new design something, so in Paris in 1925 they named it Art Decco....English is a lazy language....and that French is a mouthful.

 

I really like the '30's Italian design....Air Art Decco...is what I call it, in flying was real IN in Italy then. There's a bar near the coast near Valletta proper, Malta that I don't remember the name, but some Italian...still owned by that family, came from Italy in the '30's and built that pretty big bar in that Italian 'Air' style of Art Deco. .

 

Opened up my Art Decco book, and you were right about what the French called it.....

I only have one each of Art Nouveau and Art Decco....'50's '70's....The Art of the Shakers....Books my wife was done with, but a writer never knows where or when a scene is going to pop out of the hat. And the pictures are pretty.

 

This is a 'typical' German style from the later '30's. I've forgotten what it's called. My wife couldn't remember either, but we use to know. That was my first one. Two pictures to show the brass top of one ink well better, the other seems to be a dip pen ink well.

The little ones up top are missing the tops but are 1850-70...would be out of style by 1880. Unless could be Histerismus. A style mix of antique styes that came in after Germany unified and everyone with out a ancient house, faked it.

The clock is Art Deco.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0097_zpsuhlrghvt.jpg

 

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0088%20-%20Copy%202_zps3zrxau85.jpg

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/IMAG0089_zpsuxstyn7m.jpg

Edited June 10, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[bags_shoes_and_pens]

:A small bottle meant to hold ink; often designed as a desk accessory. When I was in school they sat in a hole at the upper right edge of each desk. You could dip your pen when needed."

 

I recall my desk had a small china inkwell - the ink was mixed by adding water to an indigo coloured powder. Its consistency was variable - awful stuff.

[Barkingpig]

They were meant for quill and dip pens, which have no mechanism to hold much ink, so had to be dipped often.

With fountain pens, the need for having ink wells went away.

 

BTW, if you don't ask the question, you will never know the answer.

I recall there was a study done on this. 10 people may not know the answer, but only 1 will ask the question.

So, you can rest assured that there are many more people who did not know what an ink well was, but did not ask.

AND, you are MUCH smarter than those who failed to ask the question, because you have an answer & they may remain without same; I always consider those who ask a question to be very smart people, to admit there are things they DON'T know & are willing to try to find out. Ask away!

[ErrantSmudge]

If you would like to experience a modern-day inkwell, TWSBI sells one, available in four different colors. You should be able to buy it from any retailer that carries TWSBI pens.

 

https://www.twsbi.com/products/twsbi-diamond-50-ink-bottles

 

 

http://officesupplygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/TWSBI-Ink-Well-Empty-Capped.jpg

[PS104]

I attended elementary school in Brooklyn in the 50s (my alma mater and hence my handle) and every desk (made of wood) had a metal inkwell with a cover in the upper right hand corner of the desk. They were never used for ink.

We grew up and learned to write cursive with fountain pens (two steps forward) but eventually transitioned to using ball point pens (one step backward)

[Bo Bo Olson]

I thought a lot about buying a Twsbi inkwell.

Viscounti has a good one too if you got lots of money. Which I don't.

http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o707/boboolson1/tiablage1_zpsi1ej02vq.jpg

[PaulS]

well, being a native Englishman I'm unable to say objectively whether English is a lazy language or not, but seem to recall it being said English contains more words than most .......... to English folk French appears romantic, German scientific and Italian possibly aesthetic. Deco is seen mostly as hedonistic/erotic, which is probably why it succeeds............ image is everything to most people - what we see is so important, and our eyes formulate an opinion whether we like it or not, since rational thought doesn't kick in till some time after the eyes have looked. "Men love with their eyes - women with their ears" - ZZG. If I had real money I'd spend it all on deco art.

 

As someone who was still using a dip pen at school in c. 1954 - think I was an ink monitor for a while - I can remember the dread of using those scratchy little pieces of steel at the end of a wooden handle - I didn't like them at all. Little ceramic wells in the right hand corner of an oak and cast iron desk ........ the top right corner since it was assumed we were all right handed, and if you weren't well that was just tough.

I don't recall powdered ink - just liquid in a large thick-walled brown coloured pottery jar.

 

Certainly in the U.K., there was a veritable rash of design Registrations c. 1870 - 1890 for glass ink wells, although most were basic and not what might be called artistic like those shown here. I've attached a British made Bakelite example, probably c. mid 1930s although I suppose it could be anywhere from c. 1930 to 1950 - hardly exciting, and with some deco influence - unfortunately the original pens are missing. Bakelite was cheap to make - the test for the genuine article is that if you wet it there should be a smell of carbolic soap.

 

I think Bo Bo's two small faux Sevres wells are Histerismus - another neo something wanting to hark back to a perceived better time .......... Pugin wanted us all to live in Gothic homes - Wm. Morris thought we should all don shepherds smocks and become medieval ploughmen in his Pre-Raphaelite world - but none of it works ............ once you've had a telly then there's no going back.

Edited June 11, 2017 by PaulS

[Astronymus]

Deco is seen mostly as hedonistic/erotic, which is probably why it succeeds..

Sounds more like Art Nouveau. In my opinion Déco is due to the abstract elements more austere. Yet the opposite to Bauhaus.

This is of course just a personal view.

[tamiya]

Always thought the Ink Well was the cavity in the old school desk.

 

The actual container that held the ink we called the Ink Pot; although by my time a Sheaffer Skrip bottle fitted in there nicely, lovely little ink shelf it had too.

 

...

As someone who was still using a dip pen at school in c. 1954 - think I was an ink monitor for a while - I can remember the dread of using those scratchy little pieces of steel at the end of a wooden handle - I didn't like them at all.

...

 

Would this twig any memories?

 

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/kopi-0_bucket/WriteStuff/DSC08457-1280.jpg

 

found this stick amongst mum's pens in her school pencilcase from late 1950s in Malvern Links. Its stamped "Made in England" and nobody's been back to UK since so i'd expect its from school too.

[wd7512]

If you would like to experience a modern-day inkwell, TWSBI sells one, available in four different colors. You should be able to buy it from any retailer that carries TWSBI pens.

 

https://www.twsbi.com/products/twsbi-diamond-50-ink-bottles

 

 

http://officesupplygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/TWSBI-Ink-Well-Empty-Capped.jpg

 

so to me that just looks like an empty ink pot, is that just simply what that is or is there a difference?