Do you keep an ink journal?

[kaseygirl]

I am starting an ink journal and would like to hear about yours!

 

I plan on including a sample of each ink in every pen used, and good/bad combinations. I am trying not to get too OCD!

 

What kind of information is in yours?

 

Thanks

[Judybug]

Yes, I started an ink journal several months ago after trying an index card file which didn't work for me. How much information you record depends on your purpose. My main purpose is to simply keep track of what ink is in each pen. I can't seem to get by with less than about 15 pens inked.

 

Whenever I fill a pen, I record the date, the pen, and the ink. I record this information with the pen that I'm referencing. If I flushed the pen before filling, I make a note of that. If I'm changing ink colors, I make a note of what the previous ink was. (However, I am beginning to dedicate certain pens to certain inks so I'm doing less ink color changing.) If I make an ink change because the previous ink didn't work well in that pen, I make a note of that.

 

So far, I don't make any notations in my ink journal about how certain inks act on certain paper. When I get a new box or pad of stationery, I use one sheet and test, using all the pens I have inked. I keep this sheet in the stationery box or pad for future reference.

 

Judybug

[Con]

I don't know if you'd call it an ink journal or a pen journal,

but I keep one, when I think of it. (lately it looks like

I have been forgetting :embarrassed_smile: )

 

I have a page devoted to each pen/nib and write

a line or two with each ink I try in it, indicating the

brand and color used.

[jde]

In a pocket miguelruis I keep an informal list. I record, of course, the name of the ink. Then the name and nib size of the pen. Some inks fair better with certain nibs, and I use it as a reminder.

 

Cheers,

Julie

[penguinmaster]

I keep an ink review journal for sure. You can see the pages in the ink reviews i do in well..the ink review section. Those are then put in a circa jr book. It's getting pretty thick!

 

-Tom

[DarkAudit]

It didn't start out that way, but the journal I started to give my fountain pens something to do has turned into a running commentary on whatever pen/nib/ink was in my hand at the time.

[piembi]

Started an ink journal some years ago. Did a swab and a short note of the ink. This one contains nearly every ink I have or have had. But the short note does not give me an impression of how the inks looks like used with a certain pen.

 

So I started ink journal #2: When I ink a pen with an ink that has not been mentioned in the journal yet I write about half a page with this pen/ink combination. I don't record which pen is filled with which ink. Might loose track anyway because how to figure out which pen is black P51 med nib #1 and which one is black P51 med nib #2 without trying?

This one works much better. And if I fill an ink into a very different pen/nib combination I simply make another entry. This gives me an idea about how an ink does work with a certain nib or a certain pen ....

 

 

Ahhh! Spelling ....

Edited April 15, 2009 by piembi

[Peter from Sherwood Park]

I hadn't thought of this, but it certainly seems like a good idea!

[pmorin]

I have a Rhodia pad that I write in when I get a new ink, in the following format:

• Manufacturer - ink colour - Pen that is being used with nib size
• one book quote (always the same, but it's from Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age and I love writing it out)
• several lines used as drying times - put a line/squiggle, wait x seconds, try to smear, write time beside, do the next one. I use 5 second increments until it stops smearing (unless it takes an obscene amount of time to dry, in which case I do 10 seconds until it dries and then go back by 5 until I get a smear)
• Qtip swab - in one, two and three layer passes
• I try to leave a little room to write a quick line or two with the same colour if I put it into a new/different pen

 

I also have a page in the back of my journal (Mid-sized "Classic" brand sketchbook) - when I get a 'new' pen, I will do a line to show nib width and mark the pen name, nib width, ink manufacturer and colour beside it. If I remember the next time I ink the pen with a different colour, I'll go back and write just the ink info beside the original entry just to have an idea how consistent line width is.

 

In retrospect, I probably should have started doing this at the back of the Rhodia pad to keep it in one place, but I like having the reference of 2 types of paper.

[hardyb]

I use a large blank Piccidilly notebook. Enter the maker and name of the ink and several lines of alphabetic text. As time goes by I make additional notes as I need to on points of strength or weakness. If I mix something up I record the components and proportions used.

[dizzypen]

i don't really keep a journal. I do write a line at the back of every notebook i have so that i can see how inks respond to different papers. I record make, model, pen, and nib.

 

ETA: this post is making me seriously consider it. I do have several blank notebooks that can be dedicated to that purpose. :hmm1:

Edited April 15, 2009 by dizzypen

[ethernautrix]

I feel privileged that I have seen -- handled, even -- Melnicki's ink journals. They are amazing! Just remembering them makes me want to start one. Oops, but I have given away most of my not-black inks. Then again, I have six pens inked with one of the following: Platinum Black, Pilot Black, Levenger Raven Black, Pelikan Black. Blacks not in use: Noodler's Old Manhattan Blackety-Black Black and J. Herbin Perle Noire. I will correct this oversight later today.

 

Anyway, I hope Melknicki chimes in with his ink journal recommendations. He makes his own notebooks and has hundreds of inks, and here is a very small glimpse:

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2549719004_1348152f4f.jpg

[Skyppere]

I have an ink journal/fountain pen scrap book. It's a hard back black 'n red 8x11 note book. In it Ikeep a list of my inks over the years, a list of pens (I canNOT keep this up to date!), addresses of snails, some amazing snail letters and envelopes I've gotten, some pix of pens I'd like to have but probably never will, business cards... anything and everything related to my pens! It's a lot of fun...

 

And, Ihave another ink journal that I pass back and forth evey 6 months... with a friend.

skyppere

[Skyppere]

I feel privileged that I have seen -- handled, even -- Melnicki's ink journals. They are amazing! Just remembering them makes me want to start one. Oops, but I have given away most of my not-black inks. Then again, I have six pens inked with one of the following: Platinum Black, Pilot Black, Levenger Raven Black, Pelikan Black. Blacks not in use: Noodler's Old Manhattan Blackety-Black Black and J. Herbin Perle Noire. I will correct this oversight later today.

 

Anyway, I hope Melknicki chimes in with his ink journal recommendations. He makes his own notebooks and has hundreds of inks, and here is a very small glimpse:

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2549719004_1348152f4f.jpg

 

Could you tell me more about these journals? What are they like? Do they come already filled with your lovely writing?

In all seriosity, what are the like? Size, shape, thickness etc. Where does one find out about them? 10 minutes ago I didn't know they

even existed, now I feel I can't live without one.

Skyppere

[HedgeMage]

I don't keep an ink journal, per se, but I've recently taken to noting the pen and ink used beneath the date in each entry in my regular journal.

 

--Susan

[antigone]

Yes, I have an ink journal and I look through it whenever it is time to ink a pen

 

It has two sections: one for the inks (one page per ink; I will write the ink's and the pen's name down whenever I have a pen inked with that ink) and one for the pens (also one page per pen and also name of the pen and the ink written down whenever I have this pen inked with any ink).

This way I can keep track of how a specific ink looks in different pens. Or if I want to ink a specific pen next, I can look up how it wrote with different inks in the past.

[ethernautrix]

Could you tell me more about these journals? What are they like? Do they come already filled with your lovely writing?

In all seriosity, what are the like? Size, shape, thickness etc. Where does one find out about them? 10 minutes ago I didn't know they

even existed, now I feel I can't live without one.

Skyppere

 

Those are Melnicki's journals and handwriting. He makes the notebooks in different sizes, but mostly pocket-size. I call him Professor Ink, but he's a very modest guy with many, many inks and amazing ink sample notebooks and pages. I'm hoping he'll see this thread and say more about it.

[JohnS-MI]

I have a pen and ink journal in an A5 Black'N'Red.

 

Each pen gets a page, with whatever ink I loaded first, size, weight, first impressions.

Then a line or two whenever I change to another ink. I try to use an ink I know well

for those first entries, later, whatever ink I am trying in it.

 

The ink pages are organized by basic color, blacks, blues, etc. Those entries are not all

written with the same pen, but at least with a pen I know pretty well, not a new pen.

[kaseygirl]

I would like to thank everyone who has posted so far. There are a lot of great ideas here

 

I am up in the air about swabs. I am not sure they give a good representation of inks, especially in fine and extra-fine nibs. But, the jury is still out.

 

I hope Melknicki chimes in too.

 

[kaseygirl]

ETA: this post is making me seriously consider it. I do have several blank notebooks that can be dedicated to that purpose. :hmm1:

 

I got the idea here on FPN. The blank notebooks are starting to pile up and it seems like a good way to use one!