Ink Carry Case Creation

[InkedQuills]

Hey FPN'ers,

 

I just made a post over on the G+ fountain page about making a case for carrying around four ink bottles to gage response, and one of the users made a really interesting suggestion.

 

He said he wouldn't want anything the size of a actual glass bottle, but would want something more like the Goulet ink sample vials. I think his suggestion is awesome and would work with the design I already make for my pen cases.

 

What I would like to know is how many ink vials would people want to be able to carry around with them? Also, if you would want a different type of marterial from the fleece/raw silk combo?

 

I also think it would be worth while, if there are more than two ink vials, to include a strip of vynal type material above the ink vials so that users could write the ink name on a small label and place it there and easily remove/apply a new label when they change their regular inks.

 

What do people think? Would anyone be interested in that?

Cheers,

Phil

Edited June 20, 2013 by philrakay

[Loeschpapier]

Hm, I would vote for 2, not more than 3. Just based upon the pen holders that are still portable enough when holding three pens. When flying or travelling I would be more than thrilled to carry 3 inks around, even two would be great. I tend to find myself too busy for more than 2 inks when travelling, but I'm sure if I had more time on my hands this might change.

Oh, and I would very much be in favor of a little nifty bottom where the ink can pool so that one can get the last drop out. I currently use a small glass+eyedropper thing. Nothing overwhelming in the eyecandy department, but very functional - it's a used up small bottle of e-juice, the tasty stink free liquid supplying an electronic cigarette. Comes in handy since it fits into the same pencase...

 

Fleece is great since it seems to repel lots of fluids but it only ages well when it is high quality fleece. I would also love something nylon-like since we're dealing with ink and it would be nice to know that a simply wash under the faucet could eliminate all sorts of unplanned ink disasters.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Loeschpapier

[InkedQuills]

Thanks for much for the response Loeschpapier. I will keep all of your suggestions in mind when I make the case.

 

The fleece that I buy is pretty expensive and is a non-pill micro fleece so it should hold up pretty well to a lot of usage. I will consider creating an option with a synthetic material that would allow for easy cleanup if a spill happens.

 

Cheers,

Phil

[Loeschpapier]

Great, Phil! Curious to see what you come up with, ink carriers are not really common yet.
Loved your raw silk penholders. Bit out of my price range for non-leather items but I appreciate the raw silk idea+fleece idea. My kind of fabric! I bet brocade would look lovely, too! And it's pretty rugged, too. I used to sew baby diaper covers from fleece which worked really well, too. In fact, my little boy still loves fleece. I love fleece sweaters! I bet sturdy flannel would work great on the inside, too! I used to recycle all sorts of old sweaters and clothes into baby items. The flannel works well to soak up mishaps, sweat etc, a darker navy flannel would also work great as lining.

Yeah, I witnessed one of the local fleece mills close down a few years ago - and they supplied many local companies with fleece, really nice stuff. The fleece I can buy locally at a retailers is dissapointing compared to their fleece of old!
Good luck with the ink carrier idea - I'm packing for a long trip overseas and am still trying to come with good ideas. Right now it's glas pharmacies vials with rubber dropper on top. And I can't wait to have security at the airport inspect the ink. "What's this??" "Ink."

[InkedQuills]

Thanks again for the suggestions. A few of those options are pretty good ideas for fabric. The reason for the price is because raw silk is not cheap. It is about $36/meter and when I did the price calcuations I thought that was fair. Maybe I will consider dropping the prices further because it is about the same as some cheap-leather cases. I am willing to accept input on the price of the cases. For the 6-pen case what do you think the price should be around?

 

As for the ink carrier, I have a few ideas that will work really well.

[theswordguy]

I know this isn't made of fabric but I thought I would share how I carry ink with me while traveling. I use a Pelican 1010 case with 5 Goulet Pens ink sample vials full of ink along with a travel pack of Kleenex and a plastic syringe for filling my eye dropper. The case is tough and has survived in luggage and my backpack. I carried my pen collection in two other Pelican cases (I was moving and didn't want to ship the pens through the mail). The plastic syringe has formed its own slot in the foam it sits in so it actually stays in place when I open the case.

 

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab323/matteo_bok/PelicanInkCase.jpg

 

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab323/matteo_bok/PelicanInkCaseOpened.jpg

Edited June 23, 2013 by theswordguy

[iamchum]

this kit looks like a blood samples kit haha

[Mags]

Portable pen cases for me need one ink sample and those tester bottles hold 2-4 ml of ink which is quite a bit. One bottle should suffice. My avg trip is under a week round trip for business. As for personal trips and the 2-3 week vacations I am at risk of looking to buy a new pen or ink or pen carry case.

 

Pen cases for 4 pens and 1 ink or Visconti ink pot for me is the ideal size. Truthfully, I go to 1 pen over the other three so I should pack one pen. Mont Blanc makes a travellers pen and case in the 147 model. The untapped potential in the market is to take the design further and lay 2 or 3 pens in the centre and have pockets for cartridges and a small ink vial or ink pot somehow part of the case.

[InkedQuills]

Hey All,

Here are some photos of the ink case. It is obviously not finished. I ran out of time before work, but you can get the general idea of what it will look like when finished.

I designed the case around the ink vials sold by +Brian Goulet & Rachel Goulet. This case will hold 4 vials and has a strip of vinyl above the lids that you can put small labels on, that I will supply, to label what ink is in each vial so you don't have to pull the vials out to know what is there. The vinyl should also allow for easy removal of the labels when you change out the ink in your pens. Of course I don't have access to a large supply of vials, but I am looking to find something similar. I will offer a case that specifically works with Goulet vials and another if I cannot find a vial in similar size.

The case closes to be very small. It should fit nicely in a lot of bags and smaller ones also.

What does everyone think?

 

[InkedQuills]

Portable pen cases for me need one ink sample and those tester bottles hold 2-4 ml of ink which is quite a bit. One bottle should suffice. My avg trip is under a week round trip for business. As for personal trips and the 2-3 week vacations I am at risk of looking to buy a new pen or ink or pen carry case.

 

Pen cases for 4 pens and 1 ink or Visconti ink pot for me is the ideal size. Truthfully, I go to 1 pen over the other three so I should pack one pen. Mont Blanc makes a travellers pen and case in the 147 model. The untapped potential in the market is to take the design further and lay 2 or 3 pens in the centre and have pockets for cartridges and a small ink vial or ink pot somehow part of the case.

That is a good point Mags. Actually the pen cases that I already make will fit this size of ink vial in any of the other slots. So you could buy the 2-pen case and put a pen in one slot and a ink vial in the other. That way you have a fair bit of choice. You could carry two pens or one. Totally up to you.

[InkedQuills]

I know this isn't made of fabric but I thought I would share how I carry ink with me while traveling. I use a Pelican 1010 case with 5 Goulet Pens ink sample vials full of ink along with a travel pack of Kleenex and a plastic syringe for filling my eye dropper. The case is tough and has survived in luggage and my backpack. I carried my pen collection in two other Pelican cases (I was moving and didn't want to ship the pens through the mail). The plastic syringe has formed its own slot in the foam it sits in so it actually stays in place when I open the case.

 

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab323/matteo_bok/PelicanInkCase.jpg

 

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab323/matteo_bok/PelicanInkCaseOpened.jpg

You know what. I have that exact same case in yellow from MEC, and I have some big bottles in it, but I find it impossible to carry around in a managable way. It just sits on my desk, and when I am at uni, it get stuck in a locker. I have always wanted to make something that is smaller and more managable if you have a smaller messenger back. I hope you like what I have come up with.

[InkedQuills]

Done and done! What do you think?

 

[theswordguy]

That is looking nice and it does look slimmer than mine. But I used the Pelican case because I was carrying the ink in a big backpack or in luggage so I wanted a solid case. Your fabric looks good for a messenger bag/satchel type bag.

[InkedQuills]

Thanks. This case should also be solid enough to put in a back pack. The vials are pretty sturdy plastic.