Ink Bottles: How Do You Display or Organize Them?

[Ashland]

Hello.

 

What sort of stands, racks, and so forth do you use to organize or display your ink bottles?

 

I have mostly Private Reserve & Noodlers bottles, & I think that a tiered stand would be nice if there were a feature to prevent me from knocking off other bottles while reaching for a favorite.

 

Please share your recommendations.

 

Thank you,

Ashland

[WillAdams]

I have mine in a small shelf in my drop leaf desk at home.

 

I use an empty black and gold cardboard box or boxes containing empty bottles as risers (just two levels) and it works out well enough to accomodate almost two dozen bottles (over a third of which are empty, pending a way to inexpensively refill them).

 

I still think one of the racks sold to display sports balls (maybe a baseball or softball-sized one would work better than a golf-ball one?) would work well for inks.

 

William

[DilettanteG]

I've picked up a number of "expand a shelf" units at Linens-n-things for $10 a pop, but they're widely available. They seem to fit all of my ink bottles, and I have three regular shelves in my office closet devoted to them. (They used to be on my office bookshelves, but I noticed my ink wells were drying up, so in the dark closet they went!)

 

The inks seem to sit low enough on each tier that I haven't had problems knocking them over.

 

Here's a picture:

(btw: I've no relation to the company)

Edited October 27, 2006 by DilettanteG

[Formillion]

I am also looking for something similar.

 

It would be nice to have a little cabinet to store and display various items.

 

I found a site for people who collect model cars and they've got a huge list of links to manfuacturers of display cases. This may give you some ideas.

 

A huge list of curio cabinet manufacturers.

 

Gemo Displays

Edited October 27, 2006 by Formillion

[corniche]

(over a third of which are empty, pending a way to inexpensively refill them).

Hello Will,

 

Think... Colfer's Imperial Concentrated Inks™

 

 

Hello Ashland,

 

I have a lot of inks and I keep mine in one of those metal office storage cabinets. I use a graduated series of Styrofoam blocks to "tier" them on the shelves- this works great, (DilettanteG's picture makes a good reference to how mine look). Just make sure there is enough of a height gap between the tiers and you'll never bump another bottle.

 

You can get the blocks at most florist and arts/crafts outlets. This approach works well for me because I have a lot of inks; however, if you only have a small collection, (AND YOU ARE NOT PLANNING TO CONSIDERABLY EXPAND IT), one of the ready-made units that Formillion or DilettanteG suggest would probably be the way to go.

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Sean

 

[KCat]

i don't really want to display mine due to the problems of light altering ink color (i don't know how much of a concern that really is but I've always heard they should be stored away from direct light.)

 

I've thought about getting a relatively inexpensive medicine cabinet to hang in my craft room. But it would have to be deep enough and allow me to move the shelves around to the proper heights.

[corniche]

i don't really want to display mine due to the problems of light altering ink color (i don't know how much of a concern that really is but I've always heard they should be stored away from direct light.)

Hello Ashland,

 

KCat has a point, (this is one reason why I store mine in a cabinet- another is to keep a very busy and precocious black feline by the name of Sebastian away from them- I've had my fill of chasing rolling bottles across the room ), but ink, like pharmaceuticals- should be kept out of direct sunlight.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

[Formillion]

i don't really want to display mine due to the problems of light altering ink color (i don't know how much of a concern that really is but I've always heard they should be stored away from direct light.)

Hello Ashland,

 

KCat has a point, (this is one reason why I store mine in a cabinet- another is to keep a very busy and precocious black feline by the name of Sebastian away from them- I've had my fill of chasing rolling bottles across the room ), but ink, like pharmaceuticals- should be kept out of direct sunlight.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

I was actually worried about this and I currently store my ink bottles in a valet style box. I keep pens, keys, and other items on the top (which flips open) and some ink bottles in the lower pull-out drawer. Obviously, I don't want to mess up the ink but it would be nice to display the bottles.

 

I get some sunlight in my room but not all that much. My lighting is supposedly 'UV-Free." My guess is it's still not worth the risk, so I'll probably just store the ink in the valet.

 

Barry

Edited October 27, 2006 by Formillion

[*david*]

I have an amazing contraption called a Desk Drawer where I keep my ink.

[corniche]

I have an amazing contraption called a Desk Drawer where I keep my ink.

Hello *david*,

 

I'll never be able to keep up with all you jet setting trend-setters and your new fangled inventions!

 

All the best,

 

Sean

[corniche]

i don't really want to display mine due to the problems of light altering ink color (i don't know how much of a concern that really is but I've always heard they should be stored away from direct light.)

Hello Ashland,

 

KCat has a point, (this is one reason why I store mine in a cabinet- another is to keep a very busy and precocious black feline by the name of Sebastian away from them- I've had my fill of chasing rolling bottles across the room ), but ink, like pharmaceuticals- should be kept out of direct sunlight.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

I was actually worried about this and I currently store my ink bottles in a valet style box. I keep pens, keys, and other items on the top (which flips open) and some ink bottles in the lower pull-out drawer. Obviously, I don't want to mess up the ink but it would be nice to display the bottles.

 

I get some sunlight in my room but not all that much. My lighting is supposedly 'UV-Free." My guess is it's still not worth the risk, so I'll probably just store the ink in the valet.

 

Barry

Hello Formillion,

 

There is nothing wrong with displaying your ink bottles- just situate them where they are out of direct sunlight- because inks like to wear .

 

All the best,

 

Sean

 

[solaris]

I keep my ink bottles inside a huge Caterpillar boots' box...

[sonia_simone]

I use the same high-tech method as *david*.

[KCat]

I have an amazing contraption called a Desk Drawer where I keep my ink. 

some of us need very large desk drawers (and multiple ones at that).

 

I find it annoying to have to sort through the boxes in my cabinet (used to be a china cabinet) to find ink. That's why a medicine cabinet concept appeals to me. It means having all the inks visible. Well, theoretically. I couldn't fit all my inks into one cabinet unless it was more of a shallow pantry than a cabinet.

 

Hey, that's it! I need a pantry in my craft room.

 

edit again: the doors on the closet are sliding. So there's no way for me to hang a rack inside the door of the closet otherwise that's what I'd do.

Edited October 27, 2006 by KCat

[dwmatteson]

I keep my 20-or-so bottles of ink in a clear 1.8 gallon Rubbermaid tote. The tote is, in turn, stored in the lower section of my living room china cabinet.

 

To keep track of which bottle is which, I put a round sticker on top of each bottle with the name of each color using a sample of the ink.

 

It's a little heavy and sometimes flexes funny when I take it out. It works pretty well overall, though.

 

Don M.

[sonia_simone]

I've had two houses with ironing-board type spice racks (in fact, in both cases I suspect they did in fact once house ironing boards). Narrow racks flat to the wall with a single door. This would be completely perfect for ink bottles.

 

Even more annoying than trying to find my paltry 30 inks in the drawer is trying to find the right ink sample. (OK, I could label the top of the cap, but then I could not re-use it, and there goes a nickel down the drain. I pick weird things to be cheap about, I realize.)

[Ashland]

Wow! I never expected so many replies; thanks everyone.

 

I should have mentioned that I would be "displaying" my ink inside an armoire with closed doors & eventually inside a restored rolltop desk. My all-purpose pen paraphernalia shoebox in a drawer is becoming disorganized & runneth over.

 

I like the idea of DilettanteG's tiered shelves, but having individual compartments for each bottle would be superb. I've seen similar clear plastic organizers with tiers and individual squares for lipstick, but I've never seen any large enough for 15ml essential oil bottles or for ink bottles.

 

Corniche's idea of stacked styrofoam blocks is also good. I could hollow out a space for the bottom of each bottle.

 

Regards,

Ashland

[James P]

I use those tiered shelves to display inks at pen shows - obviously, you stole my idea!!

 

I wonder if there's not some untapped market here for some enterprising entrepreneur to fashion some fashionable ink storage cabinets/containers for the desktop or some such . . .

 

 

Hmmmm.......

 

Does anyone know anybody like that? :ltcapd: :

 

James P.

[rosey]

I recently bought a small drawer made by Keep it Simple found at Target stores and it works perfectly for my ink bottles. I set it on my desk where it is handy. The only problem is that I didn't buy the bigger size because now I'm running out of room in the small size drawer I bought!

 

I do however keep some of my Noodler's and J Herbin ink bottles out on display on my desk. I like the looks of the bottles displayed. But,a fter reading some of the posts about light being bad for the ink, should I be doing this?

[beaker606]

So far I have very few bottles of ink (less than a dozen). My wife picked up a long, narrow drawer at an antique shop that used to be part of an old Singer sewing machine cabinet (the old kind you powered by foot on a lever and wheel system). Anyway, the drawer is about 16" L x 5" w and is as tall as a Noodler's ink bottle. I keep my inks in there on a shelf of the book case in my bedroom. I have my dip pens and nibs in the same drawer. Along side that drawer is an identical drawer in which I keep stationary, note pads and basic pen paraphernalia. And to the other side is my pen frog to display my pens I keep in a regular rotation.

 

I wish I had a digital camera to post a pic, but alas I don't.

 

Of course, my wife recently bought a very belated birthday and Father's Day gift that may change it all--an antique solid wood desk (oak?) so all this may change soon. Yeah!

 

Kevin

Beaker606