Worst - and best - ink bottles or containers?

[Runnin_Ute]

Levenger bottles are among the most functional and best looking. 

[BlueJ]

I second both the old Parker Penman and the Levenger bottles as good designs, with their plastic inner wells and resistance to tipping over.

 

Pilot Iroshizuku bottles have that nice divot in the bottom to allow a pen nib to get really deep even when the ink level is getting low.

 

The older Montblanc shoe bottles were good insofar as one could tip the last few mL into the "heel" to get a nib deep enough into the ink. The newer "shoes" are less functional as the dam between the "sole" and "heel" is not high enough.

[A Smug Dill]

16 hours ago, Kalessin said:

While I understand why people get rid of boxes (too many hundreds of ink bottles), I keep them because they make stacking easier... and... because I have a secret affinity for packaging.  😁

 

I keep the vast majority of the cardboard retail packaging for the bottled inks I bought, even in cases where I'm not using them to facilitate stacking; I just flatten them along the folds, and put them away in a (reasonably) neatly and densely packed carton set aside for such.

[Dione]

Worst: Original small round Montblanc LE bottles as tops are too difficult to get off of the small round glass bottles and end up spilling ink. Older Sailor bottles are similar but not quite so bad.

Best: GVFC or Pelikan Edelstein with plenty of heft about them and strong tops. The slight disadvantage with them is they are so heavy to ship.

[bunnspecial]

3 hours ago, Dione said:

Pelikan Edelstein

 

I definitely can't agree on this one.

They're pretty bottles and I always have at least one out on my desk for that reason, but to me they're a bottle all about looks.

 

When they're less than half full, I find it very difficult to fill out of them especially given the weight and trying to hold a tilted bottle steady with one hand while operating the pen with the other.

[lapis]

The thing I hate about the Edelsteins is their boxes. Too hard, clumsy and silly to open and get the bottle out. I know, I know, all you're supposed to do is take them apart first and then fish out the sponges ....

[bunnspecial]

23 minutes ago, lapis said:

The thing I hate about the Edelsteins is their boxes. Too hard, clumsy and silly to open and get the bottle out. I know, I know, all you're supposed to do is take them apart first and then fish out the sponges ....

 

Not only that, but the not-quite-rectangular shape makes them not stack as nicely as some other boxes.

 

As an example, Iroshizuku boxes are taller and skinnier, but their shape is perfectly rectangular so they stack nicely. Edelstein boxes-the "dimple" in the top front can make them unsteady IME if stacked more than two high.

 

Montblanc puts as many sponges/foam blocks as the Edelstein bottles, but Montblanc boxes stack VERY nicely, and are also convenient enough that most of my MB inks remain in their boxes.

 

Of course at work on my ink shelf I don't generally have bottles in boxes, but the boxes for a lot are there....and yes even the MBs are unboxed.

 

 

[lapis]

4 hours ago, bunnspecial said:

Not only that, but the not-quite-rectangular shape makes them not stack as nicely as some other boxes.

 

Exactly, and thanks for the elucidation. I'd forgotten that point, although I stack everything, even  those  boxes. Nonetheless, these Edelestein boxes -- in one layer stacked up -- seem to rest at least halfways comfortably up against the back of my Billy bookcase.

[bunnspecial]

3 hours ago, lapis said:

Exactly, and thanks for the elucidation. I'd forgotten that point, although I stack everything, even  those  boxes. Nonetheless, these Edelestein boxes -- in one layer stacked up -- seem to rest at least halfways comfortably up against the back of my Billy bookcase.

 

Let me just say first of all I'm impressed with your ink collection! Given the older dark/light boxes, would I be right to guess that the one to the right of the dropper is the elusive discontinued Brilliant Green? I have a 30mL bottle(bought when it got to the point that 30mLs of anything other than blue or black were the norm in the US) that I bought maybe 2015 and didn't think it was going anywhere so didn't bother buying another even though I liked it. At the time I was in my "I'm using FPs but not really collecting" hiatus from about 2013-2020, and when I returned to the fold last year and started shopping for some during COVID, I found it was an unfortunate casualty...

 

That aside, here's a prime example for me with Edelstein. I bought this bottle in 2012. At the time I couldn't stomach $18 for a bottle of ink and was use to paying $7-10 for things like 4001 and PR. I bought a pen from a local shop(no longer open) and they worked enough specials that I paid a more palatable $12 for this bottle.

 

Oooh for the good old days, when I really splurged buying my first bottle of MB Midnight Blue(iron gall) in for $16-I still have that bottle but it's "turned" and is no longer good.

 

Back to the Edelstein, though-this bottle is maybe at 1/3. Upright, I MIGHT angle an M200/400 into there to fill it. I can't turn it on its side, though, as the ink is still in the neck and won't stay in the bottle. If this were a 4001 bottle, I could probably tilt it onto one of the sides and might even be able to work a 149 in there(granted the 149 test isn't necessarily great since even the current MB bottles can't always fill a 149 fully without a bit of creativity).

[A Smug Dill]

11 hours ago, lapis said:

The thing I hate about the Edelsteins is their boxes. Too hard, clumsy and silly to open and get the bottle out. I know, I know, all you're supposed to do is take them apart first and then fish out the sponges ....

 

I haven't found that to be the case myself, and I opened a newly arrived boxed unit of Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine ink just last weekend. I just flipped open the box lid, with about the same amount of ease or difficulty (due the little tabs on the end of the fold-over strip of cardboard) as with just about any other cardboard box, pulled out the sponges with my fingers, and then pulled the bottle out by its lid and neck.

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

For some reason, I found that ink used to seep out of the Edelstein bottle if I didn't remove the sponges after opening it.

The best bottle for ease of filling that I have used is probably the MB "shoe" bottle.

[lapis]

8 hours ago, bunnspecial said:

... would I be right to guess that the one to the right of the dropper is the elusive discontinued Brilliant Green?

Right! (sorry for the poor quality of my age-old iPhone).

And as to your two well-made shots of the Sapphire... that's right, too. The (newer) Edelstein bottles may in fact be more aesthetic, have thicker glass etc, but that's the problem, so to say. Form follows function and IMO that applies to ink bottles, too. So, they might have and/or could have revamped the old 4001 bottles into something thicker, more sturdy, but with the same (or a similar) form.

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 12/4/2021 at 2:32 PM, Peter_H said:

I’ve just lost a fight with a LAMY Crystal Obsidian ink bottle.  The lid and seal parted company when I tried to open it, leading to permanent black ink spraying everywhere when I finally managed to get in.  I’ve glued the bits back together using contact adhesive and (mostly) cleaned up, except for my fingers!

 

This led me to wondering - what commercial ink containers do members dislike the most?  To balance things up, which is your favourite?  Obviously, I am putting LAMY crystal series on the naughty list: big bottle, small capacity, issues with nib filling as the level drops (quickly) and poor quality lids.

 

Over to you…

Those diamine 30 ml bottles cause me so much pain. The opening is too thin for bigger pens. A MB 149 has no chance. When I want to fill this boy with a diamine ink I have to unscrew it's nib and pour ink with a siringe. And  it's not the only pen. Even the Pelikan m800 is too thick. One of the reasons I use them less than others. (the inks I mean)

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 12/4/2021 at 7:48 PM, Paul-in-SF said:

I think my least favorite bottles, and I have a lot of them, are the Diamine 30 ml plastic bottles, because the opening is too small for some pens, and because I don't know how well the plastic is going to last, and I don't think tall and thin is the best way to maximize access to the ink.

I just commented this without reading all the answers. LOL.

[Detman101]

Favorite: MB shoe style bottle

Worst: Monteverde (They don't seal well)

[Daveyboyz]

I have very limited experience.   I have a Parker bottle and I have a nice antique traveling inkwell which I think needs its cork seal replaced before I could use it again but it is sweet.

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

On 12/5/2021 at 12:52 PM, OCArt said:

 

Wantwantwantwantwant.

[rlpkamath]

Currently facing a problem - the plastic cap of one of my Pilot iroshizuku 50ml glass ink bottles is stuck. Tried popping it into the microwave briefly (I do that with marmite jars) and it started sparking. Then ran hot water over the cap and also tapped it with a blunt object but no luck getting it to unseal. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

ps: for all its aesthetic beauty, its a terrible design.    

[rlpkamath]

V much want to echo the comments on the Diamine and Herbin 30 mls as someone who uses an MB 149 often. 

 

Probably my best bottle besides Montblanc is this Sailor Jentle. 

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

47 minutes ago, rlpkamath said:

Probably my best bottle besides Montblanc is this Sailor Jentle. 

A bit weird, as most people  (whose blogs I've read) consider it one of the worst bottle designs.