Worst - and best - ink bottles or containers?

[Sailor Kenshin]

1 hour ago, rlpkamath said:

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.    

 

 

Keep up the hot water treatment, and also try a grippy thing (some sort of rubber sheeting.)

[lapis]

11 hours ago, rlpkamath said:

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.    

Best thing to do IMO would be to place it at least for a few seconds in an ultrasonic bath.

As to the bottles themselves, I'm 100% with you. A lot of us folks find them great (likely due to the pimple on the inside bottom), but otherwise IYAM they're not at all well built.

[bunnspecial]

I find many of my Iroshizuku bottles tight also.

 

I also dislike how "tipsy" the tall narrow bottle feels-I'd rather have something with a bit lower of a center of gravity to lessen my chance of knocking it over when handling/filling. Of course Noodler's bottles may be the worse in this, especially since any disturbance when you're opening a new bottle can spill ink, but I'll also forgive Noodler's over the fact that Nathan uses off the shelf bottles to keep prices low. I might prefer he fill them a bit less, though-I overflowed a perfectly level and stable new bottle the other day when I stuck a 149 down in it to fill.

 

I agree that they're beautiful bottles and the ink inside them is great. Filling is just always a bit tense, from opening the bottle, breaking the bubbles on top(they're ALWAYS there) and actually diving deep down into the bottle to fill it.

[bunnspecial]

16 hours ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

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

 

I have a few Bungubox inks in that bottle, and I'd have to look but I think maybe the Storia ink I have is in those(although the Storia ink itself is not something I'm particularly fond of).

 

I do like that they're space efficient and stable. The included ink miser IMO makes up some of the shortcomings.

[A Smug Dill]

38 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

I have a few Bungubox inks in that bottle, and I'd have to look but I think maybe the Storia ink I have is in those(although the Storia ink itself is not something I'm particularly fond of).

 

I don't think so. The old Sailor Jentle ink pots with the round footprint are 50ml bottles, whereas the old STORiA ink pots are 30ml bottles.

[VillersCotterets]

On 12/11/2021 at 7:41 AM, rlpkamath said:

Probably my best bottle besides Montblanc is this Sailor Jentle. 

23 hours ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

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

Yes, many consider the bottle too low but that's exactly why it works for me. I can store them in a shallow case and with my Sailor pens they work perfectly. The problem comes when you try to use them with pens where the ink suction hole is too high. This is, in my opinion, an often overlooked bad design of the pen. Then people tend to blame the effect ―the pen can't reach the ink inside all commercially available bottles even those with an ink miser like the Sailor bottles― instead of the cause―the pen is poorly designed. 

I like the look of that ink bottle. I don't remember who made it :

 

 

[VillersCotterets]

On 12/11/2021 at 7:35 AM, rlpkamath said:

Currently facing a problem - the plastic cap of one of my Pilot iroshizuku 50ml glass ink bottles is stuck.

This type of problem can be avoided by wiping the mouth of the bottle clean before closing it. You have likely a ring of dried up ink that acts like a seal. An ultrasonic cleaner would break it up. 

[bunnspecial]

8 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I don't think so. The old Sailor Jentle ink pots with the round footprint are 50ml bottles, whereas the old STORiA ink pots are 30ml bottles.

 

Sorry, you're right. I picked up my bottles of Storia in a larger lot of ink, pulled them out of their little brown tubes, swapped and dipped them, decided I didn't much care for them, and they haven't seen the light of day since. The Bungubox inks I have in this bottle are a different story.

[bunnspecial]

2 hours ago, VillersCotterets said:

On 12/11/2021 at 7:29 AM, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

.

Yes, many consider the bottle too low but that's exactly why it works for me. I can store them in a shallow case and with my Sailor pens they work perfectly. The problem comes when you try to use them with pens where the ink suction hole is too high. This is, in my opinion, an often overlooked bad design of the pen. Then people tend to blame the effect ―the pen can't reach the ink inside all commercially available bottles even those with an ink miser like the Sailor bottles― instead of the cause―the pen is poorly designed. 

Here's my metric on this...

 

One of my go to, frequently used pens is the Montblanc 149. I have 5 of them in different nib sizes and rarely do I not have at last one inked. My 149s range in age from a 1960s version to one just a couple years old.

 

If I can't properly fill a 149 from a bottle, I'm going to have an issue with it.

 

Am I saying the 149 is the only pen on the market, or the most important? Not at all, but it is an important pen for ME to be able to use out of a given ink bottle...

 

And yes, an ink miser can't completely fill a 149, or at least not an older one(in capacity of ones made since the ~80s is lower than 50s and 60s versions). The issue is when you stick the nib down in the bottle, it will displace enough ink that the miser starts to empty. As you draw ink up, the level in the miser goes low enough that the pen can no longer suck up ink. Of course the solution is to stop, refill the miser(or whatever ink reservoir you may have) and resume.

[Karmachanic]

9 hours ago, bunnspecial said:

I overflowed a perfectly level and stable new bottle the other day when I stuck a 149 down in it to fill.

 

Eureka! 😁

[mouse2cat]

For me being able to reasonably store inks in a small amount of space is a huge plus. I know everyone seems to like the flying saucer Lamy bottles but they take up too much space in my box. Also I have a private vendetta against Lamy Blue.

 

I'm going to come in from a different angle and say the DeAtramentis bottles are great. The opening is big enough, they feel stable, the cap is solid. 

 

For pure beauty, the Iroshizuku bottles are lovely. 

 

The Herbin 30 mil bottles are the worst. I find them ugly and impractical. 

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Eureka! 😁

You're supposed to run up the street naked when yelling that, though, aren't you?

I love the Akkerman bottles because they are designed with that glass stone to block the neck after tipping ink into the top of the neck for filling.  And the old Skrip ink jars with the glass shelf to fill from (one Skrip box I have shows a drawing on the top flap of someone filling a Snorkel from the ink shelf).

Least favorite?  Yeah, might have to agree on the 30 ml Diamine bottles.  But also the 4 oz. Noodler's eyedropper bottles, unless you've got an eyedropper pen or an empty bottle or vial to transfer ink into....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Karmachanic]

2 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

You're supposed to run up the street naked when yelling that, though, aren't you?

 

Straight out of the bathtub!

[bunnspecial]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

But also the 4 oz. Noodler's eyedropper bottles, unless you've got an eyedropper pen or an empty bottle or vial to transfer ink into....

 

Doesn't buying one of the 4.5 oz bottles solve the issue of "having an eyedropper pen"?

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

8 hours ago, mouse2cat said:

I'm going to come in from a different angle and say the DeAtramentis bottles are great. The opening is big enough, they feel stable, the cap is solid.

I agree with that, that cap is very nice. Unlike the MB caps it screws on easily, I've had the MB caps roll off once or twice when I've tried to screw them on.

[katerchen]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:52 AM, OCArt said:

 

Is that a concept bottle or actually for sale? I only see more conventional bottles on their site.

 

[A Smug Dill]

33 minutes ago, katerchen said:

Is that a concept bottle or actually for sale?

 

 

It seems, from the above, that such was not a ‘concept’ or prototype that was never available in Krishna's actual retail products, never mind whether someone can still buy or order one today.

[Mech-for-i]

15 hours ago, VillersCotterets said:

Yes, many consider the bottle too low but that's exactly why it works for me. I can store them in a shallow case and with my Sailor pens they work perfectly. The problem comes when you try to use them with pens where the ink suction hole is too high. This is, in my opinion, an often overlooked bad design of the pen. Then people tend to blame the effect ―the pen can't reach the ink inside all commercially available bottles even those with an ink miser like the Sailor bottles― instead of the cause―the pen is poorly designed. 

I like the look of that ink bottle. I don't remember who made it :

 

 

 

That one is from a range of Calligraphy ink , from Kakimori of Japan

[Mech-for-i]

My recently acquired Ostrich 85th anniversary edition IG blue black had a pretty nice and functional bottle

[mouse2cat]

I'm surprised no one has made a heart shaped bottle. It would have a great shape and would be adorable as heck.