Which ink sample cards?

[Plume145]

57 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

 

Whereas I do use the art card for pen and ink drawings (with light washes) so it was to hand and known to work when I began swatching my inks for my personal use. What was more important to me than the actual choice was to then continue using the same stock to make comparison between inks fair.

 

I also make notes on the back of my swatch cards of anything notable that comes up when used on other papers or with other pens.

You know, that makes me wonder: are all art papers made to the same specs across batches? Like, if I buy a pad from a reputable art brand, say cotman's or Winsor & Newton or Canson, not the fanciest pro-grade stuff, just a solid offering from their basic or student line, but from a reputable art supply company rather than the no-name stuff from a large retailer, will it be consistent? That's something to know, because I can just go to the nearest art store, pick the one that I fancy, and I'm done. 

51 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Absolutely. Which is why I bought a few of the Arttec Como pads in one go (so that they're from the same batch; I noticed the cover has changed since I bought the first pad for experimentation, maybe 18 months ago), and 200 round sheets of lab filter paper (because I was at risk of running out if I were to cut two-inch squares from my first lot of 100, having experimented with and ‘wasted’ a dozen sheets), etc. for my ink cataloguing.

You know, that makes me wonder: are all art papers made to the same specs across batches? Like, if I buy a pad from a reputable art brand, say cotman's or Winsor & Newton or Canson, not the fanciest pro-grade stuff, just a solid offering from their basic or student line, but from a reputable art supply company rather than the no-name stuff from a large retailer, will it be consistent? That's something to know, because I can just go to the nearest art store, pick the one that I fancy, and I'm done. 

23 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

For illustration, here are some of my earlier experiments:

 

The swatch card has very little to capture how an ink would look when I'm writing with it. I'll cut out squares of my most commonly used types of paper to do actual writing samples on them for each ink in the catalogue; the swatch cards will just be my initial visual filter for narrowing down the field of candidates when selecting an ink with which to fill a pen.

Wow, yes, that makes a lot of sense, and also confirms that what you need and use is pretty out of my league. This is really ambitious stuff! But thanks for the chroma thread especially because I was thinking of maybe doing some ink chroma this time (I hadn't with my previous ink sampler). This lab filter paper in particular looks like a great tip, because I was a bit worried about paper towel strips being too fragile longer-term. I'll have to track some of the lab filter paper down here (although, this I probably can order online). 

[AmandaW]

5 minutes ago, Plume145 said:

are all art papers made to the same specs across batches? Like, if I buy a pad from a reputable art brand, say cotman's or Winsor & Newton or Canson, not the fanciest pro-grade stuff, just a solid offering from their basic or student line, but from a reputable art supply company rather than the no-name stuff from a large retailer, will it be consistent?

 

I expect the odds of consistency to be better, but there are no guarantees that the name brand wouldn't change it's stock (Tomoe River did recently). If there were a significant change, or you changed your mind on your layout etc, there's not that much harm in making a new set of swatches (unless like Smug we are talking hundreds of bottles!).

 

My swatches began as a spur of the moment rainy-day project - using the stock I had and even the business card holder was someone's discard found in a drawer here (it was that which prompted it!). I'm still adding swatches several years later, but not promising that I won't change my mind and start again with a better design in mind.

[Plume145]

 

7 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

 

I expect the odds of consistency to be better, but there are no guarantees that the name brand wouldn't change it's stock (Tomoe River did recently). If there were a significant change, or you changed your mind on your layout etc, there's not that much harm in making a new set of swatches (unless like Smug we are talking hundreds of bottles!).

 

My swatches began as a spur of the moment rainy-day project - using the stock I had and even the business card holder was someone's discard found in a drawer here (it was that which prompted it!). I'm still adding swatches several years later, but not promising that I won't change my mind and start again with a better design in mind.

Hmmm, that's what I was afraid of. I don't mind buying enough extra paper to last me well into the future, my only problem is that if it's not consistent, even two pads bought at the same time & store risk having different paper (or even the same pad can have different paper!)

 

This is actually already a redo - my previous one was a spur-of-the-moment deal like you describe, then I found the format impractical and the paper not good for shading, so I'm starting over. I'm actually hoping not to have to do this again! It's stayed in my recollection as quite a relaxing sort of activity, but I have much less free time than when I did it the first time, I'm way less into exploring/experimenting with pens and inks than I was then, and in any case, quite a lot of the samples barely have enough for a single swatch. Also, while It's definitely not as many inks as Smug, it's still upwards of 150. 

 

Mostly I'm just looking for a reliable aid to help me shop for inks in the future, by viewing online reviews and comparisons. Like, I'm interested in ink X, I find a picture online where it's side-by-side with a swatch of ink Y (which I also have swatched) and is more greyish; I want something more grey, so X it is. That kind of thing 🙂  If samples were cheap and easy to come by, I wouldn't even bother, basically!

 

Ideally, I'd spend no more than $25 (a little more for a ready-made solution) and 2-3 relaxed winter afternoons on this. That kind of project. After this is done, depending on how much hassle it was and whether I have enough ink left in the vials, I may or may not do the chromatography. 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

8 minutes ago, Plume145 said:

Ideally, I'd spend no more than $25 (a little more for a ready-made solution) and 2-3 relaxed winter afternoons on this.

 

Now that's ambitious. I think an Arttec Como Sketch Pad sold at a discounted ‘street price’ is about half that budget (even when buying in Australia), and a box of plastic sleeves to fit inside large folders and hold the swatch cards exceeds that budget — and I'm reading it as US$25, not A$25 — on its own.

 

Personally, I don't expect to have the time or appetite to produce the ink cataloguing artefacts for more than five inks in one session, so it'll take me anywhere from three to six months to catalogue all the inks I have.

[Plume145]

26 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Now that's ambitious. I think an Arttec Como Sketch Pad sold at a discounted ‘street price’ is about half that budget (even when buying in Australia), and a box of plastic sleeves to fit inside large folders and hold the swatch cards exceeds that budget — and I'm reading it as US$25, not A$25 — on its own.

 

Personally, I don't expect to have the time or appetite to produce the ink cataloguing artefacts for more than five inks in one session, so it'll take me anywhere from three to six months to catalogue all the inks I have.

nah, not ambitious at all, just run-of-the-mill frugal (at best 🙂). Remember the scope of it is much less than what you're doing. So A3 pad of Como = about $20 (Australian - my quote was US$, converted from euro, my currency). My size of swatch card would be around A7 size (narrower, but anyway). Single sheet of A3= 16 x A7. With 25 sheets to a Como pad, 16 x 25 = 400 swatch cards (IOW, 4 x col-o-rings). 

 

I have about 160 inks. 400 is plenty to make several mistakes, and still have loads left over to add to the collection for years to come at my current rate of addition (which has been stable for years). 

 

I don't need plastic sleeves, because I won't put them in a binder but in a fan-type swatch book. Works better for my use, and can be left out as a conversation piece 😉 All I need's a hole punch, binder ring, and thicker card for the covers, and I already have all of that 🙂 

[Misfit]

Hi @Plume145 Ana of The Well Appointed Desk blog who created Col-o-ring cards along with her husband, set up an Etsy shop to help people outside the US buy them. Here is a link to it. 
 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheWellAppointedDesk

[sombrueil]

People have different goals for their ink cards. For some, there is a delving after and recording finer-grained knowledge, but for others it is more like a library catalogue ... which spring green is the one I want?

What I mainly find my cards are doing for me so far is being able to compare colors and shading /sheening/haloing between similar color inks, and getting a sense of where I have redundancy and vacancy. 

Some folks find redundancy satisfying, or at least not a problem. I am the other kind of person.  If there are ink colors I find I don't particularly enjoy writing with, I get rid of them, since experience has shown me that I almost never change my mind about that. Objects of any category which are going unused, or piling up, really disturb me (I don't collect anything at all). So the color cards are a way for me to ascertain, for example, that I already have three different reddish brown inks, more than an adequate number considering that I only use that color occasionally. 

That's a reason for me to not use swabs, too -- I don't get much information from them.  A blurry-edged 'scrubbed' blot of ink does not resemble anything I do with ink. Even the color is impaired, for me, compared with using a non-absorbent method like a palette knife. 

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, Plume145 said:

I know the ones you mean! They're great little notepads. But I think I need sturdier/thicker stock, plus I think all of the no. 10 pads have lines or grids, there's no blanks. 

For my purposes, the fact that they are lined or grid format doesn't matter.  I'm not doing swabs, per se, because I don't think that swabs give an accurate depiction of what the ink will look like coming out of a nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Plume145]

19 hours ago, Misfit said:

Hi @Plume145 Ana of The Well Appointed Desk blog who created Col-o-ring cards along with her husband, set up an Etsy shop to help people outside the US buy them. Here is a link to it. 
 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheWellAppointedDesk

Thanks Misfit 🙂 I did see that! I use Etsy fairly often, so it was one of the places I checked for cards during my initial research, and I did see her store. Good for her! It's turning into a well-stocked product line. 

 

Unfortunately, it's still US$25 & change for just one pack - and I need at least one more to get through the inks I currently have. Considering I may turn out to need only a single sheet (if I try it and discover it's not right for me), that's too much to spend. That's like, two inks and a converter, or thereabouts, you know? 🙂 

14 hours ago, sombrueil said:

People have different goals for their ink cards. For some, there is a delving after and recording finer-grained knowledge, but for others it is more like a library catalogue ... which spring green is the one I want?

What I mainly find my cards are doing for me so far is being able to compare colors and shading /sheening/haloing between similar color inks, and getting a sense of where I have redundancy and vacancy. 

Some folks find redundancy satisfying, or at least not a problem. I am the other kind of person.  If there are ink colors I find I don't particularly enjoy writing with, I get rid of them, since experience has shown me that I almost never change my mind about that. Objects of any category which are going unused, or piling up, really disturb me (I don't collect anything at all). So the color cards are a way for me to ascertain, for example, that I already have three different reddish brown inks, more than an adequate number considering that I only use that color occasionally. 

That's a reason for me to not use swabs, too -- I don't get much information from them.  A blurry-edged 'scrubbed' blot of ink does not resemble anything I do with ink. Even the color is impaired, for me, compared with using a non-absorbent method like a palette knife. 

Yes!! That's exactly it, pretty much all of it right here! Ink twins, haha  Comparing inks you have to each other, seeing what's similar since you can't really tell from the bottle, shopping your ink stash, all of that. Also, in my case, shopping for new inks, by looking up comparisons that people have kindly posted online and hoping I have one of the inks shown in the lineup (often I do!)

 

I'd say it's like an organisational tool (the library catalogue you mentioned!) It's a much more compact version of having a bunch of ink samples around. The vials are hard to store and take up a lot more space than a little stack of cards, especially if you want them organised by color or brand instead of all thrown together in a box. Sure, swatch cards don't contain as much information as an actual quantity of ink, but it's still more than nothing at all, and I don't need to sacrifice half a desk drawer to house inks I don't really like enough to use, just to have a way to compare. 

 

I understand what the complaint is about swabs now, the non-absorbent tool sounds better in just about every way. I also agree on having something that approximates your real-life use, so for that I just use a glass dip pen to write the name of the ink. I have one that feels surprisingly similar to the kinds of relatively juicy F to B nibs I like. 

 

That's my 'realistic use' sample, and then the swab is extra, and if I also do the ink chroma than I honestly think it's almost as good as having the actual sample but for a fraction of the space 🙂 

8 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

For my purposes, the fact that they are lined or grid format doesn't matter.  I'm not doing swabs, per se, because I don't think that swabs give an accurate depiction of what the ink will look like coming out of a nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Yep! I like to use a glass pen. It's perfect for sampling because you can just rinse and dry really quickly in between inks!

[carolee45]

 I was at a website where the person had 3 other similar sized swatch cards plus the col-o-ring.  It was just great. I wonder where I could buy other swatch cards that would be same size as col-0-ring.  I love the idea of swatching on different papers.  I imagine the guy I am talking about made them himself.  I do not know anyone besides the Well Appointed desk who makes these wonderful cards.  Now I have been to so many ink websites, I forget which one it was!!!

[carolee45]

Just found the person on You tube I was talking about; the Wet Pen.  Totally fantastic pen and ink reviews.

[mizgeorge]

48 minutes ago, carolee45 said:

Just found the person on You tube I was talking about; the Wet Pen.  Totally fantastic pen and ink reviews.

And a member here - @Matthew TWP

[Matthew TWP]

13 hours ago, carolee45 said:

 I was at a website where the person had 3 other similar sized swatch cards plus the col-o-ring.  It was just great. I wonder where I could buy other swatch cards that would be same size as col-0-ring.  I love the idea of swatching on different papers.  I imagine the guy I am talking about made them himself.  I do not know anyone besides the Well Appointed desk who makes these wonderful cards.  Now I have been to so many ink websites, I forget which one it was!!!

 

🙂

 

I'm not sure whether you've already seen this, but yes... I do make my own swatch books 🙂 They're really cheap and easy to make, as long as you have a modicum of patience. I made a video about how I make mine...