An Inky Problem

[MsTeacher]

Hello inky friends!

 

I have a trusty TWSBI (?eco) piston refill pen and it is wonderful. I use diamine ink, which is lovely. However, now the little bottle is getting lower and lower, I can't get the pen in low enough to suck up the ink. I feel like there must be an obvious solution, and it probably isn't what I tried (tipping the bottle, dropping the bottle, mopping up ink).

 

Feeling rather foolish, and the worst thing is that I have no ink in my pen!!

 

 

[zaddick]

Pour ink into a sample vial and fill from there. Other smaller containers work well too.

[MsTeacher]

Pour ink into a sample vial and fill from there. Other smaller containers work well too.

 

 

Ahhh... brilliant. I have one of those, complete with a lid!

[JulieParadise]

You could also use a syringe or an eyedropper and place drops of ink, one after another, onto the nib & feed until it almost bulges, operate the piston to suck in ink, continue. Sounds more shaky and messy than really is. Helpful is something to hold your pen (a narrow glass or sth.). This way you could use your ink until the very last drop.

[Chrissy]

Pour ink into a sample vial and fill from there. Other smaller containers work well too.

 

Yes, this is the way for a piston filling pen.

 

I bought a few Lamy Nexx pens immediately before I started reviewing Diamine inks. They have grips that prevent them from reaching down to a lower ink level in Diamine 30ml bottles. I also use a sample tube to fill these

[Chrissy]

The other method is to buy Diamine 80ml bottles.

[minddance]

A syringe and needle is a must in an ink junkie's arsenal.

[SoulSamurai]

Ink Miser has a device used to help you more easily fill your pen when ink is running low in the bottle - I think some types of ink bottle come with a similar system built in, like some Pilot bottles.

 

 

http://luxurybrandsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/ink-miser-intra-bottle-with-cap-and-upside-down-miser.jpg

[PAKMAN]

May have to invest in an "Ink Miser"! I've had several bottles that had that feature that worked well.

[doggonecarl]

You could also use a syringe or an eyedropper and place drops of ink, one after another, onto the nib & feed until it almost bulges, operate the piston to suck in ink, continue.

 

Nib and feed come out. Fill the barrel with ink and replace the nib and feed.

Edited July 11, 2018 by doggonecarl

[Fountainer]

You can wrap plastic foil around the nib to form a kind of straw from it to focus the suction in the tip of the nib, thus suck ink from the very bottom of the ink bottle.

[Paganini]

Another idea is to grab an old ink bottle with a filling system that works for your pen (I have an old LAMY bottle I use for this purpose) and fill it with the ink you're using. This process can get messy without a kitchen funnel.

In a pinch, if you don't have a sample bottle handy (which I didn't, until recently) you can use a plain old whisky shot glass.

- N

 

P.S. Some online stores sell empty bottles on the cheap, so if you don't have one handy, that might be a more economical method than buying the pen miser type reservoirs.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Paganini

[inkstainedruth]

I'll agree with most of the suggestions here -- except for the one by JulieParadise. Tried that trick once, after seeing a Goulet Pens video a few years ago. and trust me -- It IS both shaky and messy....

I personally like using sample vials. Most of the time, I already have samples of inks from trying them before before buying a full bottle. So when the bottle gets low, the remainder gets sucked up with a syringe, or, if my hand is feeling particularly steady , just pouring it into the vial.

Vials can also double as inexpensive traveling inkwells.

Mind you, I haven't actually finished too many ink bottles -- just my first bottle of De Atramentis Red Roses (and my first bottle of Waterman Mysterious Blue is getting pretty low, because it's the only ink I use in one of my Parker Vacumatics).

I picked up an Inkmiser when I was at Fountain Pen Hospital last Christmastime, but haven't actually tried it yet.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Kelly G]

If it is an ink I like, I buy another bottle and dump some of the new ink into the old bottle. When it becomes clear there is no contamination (no SITB growth) in the old bottle, I don't worry about dumping the ink back in the new bottle when I have created enough room.

If I'm not crazy about the ink, I dump it and move on. I've never started one of those "dump" bottles that collect all the dumped inks.

[southpaw]

Ink sample vial is simplest and cheapest and my go-to.