Do you use an inkwell?

[hollyuk]

Up to now I have kept my inks in the bottles they came in - probably becuase I have been experimenting to find the colours I like best. I'm intrigued to find out if any of you use an inkwell, and what the advantages may be. Also how do you get the ink from the bottle to the ink well?

[Ghost Plane]

Absolutely. I can't get that lovely Herbin ink into my MB 149 without one.

I had bad luck with the lovely Visconti well as the top pops off about every 3-5 uses no matter how careful I am. Bad design. So I acquired a Laban ink well. With a steady hand, I can pour directly from the Herbin bottle into the well. But PR needs an eyedropper, which I got from my local pharmacy.

[glamourdoll]

Hi Holly:

 

I leave my inks in their bottles. I think some bottles have better designs for filling than others do. I am thinking about getting a dappen dish to pour ink into, and then draw up the ink from the dappen dish. A dappen dish is a really small glass cup, usually used by a nail technician for keeping the liquid component of acrylic nails.

 

I have one inkwell, which is rather cute, but it's basically a porcelain cup with a hinged lid. I've never filled from it. Although, I do use it to hold a few standard international cartridges.

 

I have thought about starting an inkwell collection just because I think that they're neat.

 

xoxo

Lily

[hollyuk]

My husband has bought me a Montblanc ink well - it is new, but old stock so it needs a bit of a clean is it's 'dusty' and the brass lid needs to be polished up. The reason I asked the question in that I'm not sure whether to use it, or just have it as 'desk furniture'. The bottles of ink I have at the moment all have wide enough tops for my pens to be inserted into the ink so I don't 'need' an inkwell. Just wondered if other did!

[jbb]

I keep ink for fountain pens in their bottles but I have several antique inkwells on my desk for dip pens. Many antique inkwells allow evaporation fairly readily. For dip pens I just add water. For fountain pens I try to keep my ink more pristine.

[DrPJM1]

I tried using one but the ink evaporated quickly and I just like to change inks often. I keep inks in their original bottles and use a syringe to pull the last drops from each bottle.

[RayMan]

I've always been attracted to inkwells. I've never purchased one, however, because the attractive ones I've seen always have flip top lids. The flip lids are convenient, but it seems that they would promote evaporation.

[Ghost Plane]

Laban have metal lids that lift on and off. They're so convenient to refill that the ink doesn't last long enough for significant evaporation.

[mikey]

Yes, if you consider the Mont Blanc shoe bottle to be an inkwell.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[BillTheEditor]

I keep my PR Lake Placid Blue in a Visconti Netto. Very handy.

 

I also have two nice little inkwells that Susanna (Giardino Italiano, www.pens.it) sent me a while back. Noodler's Polar Black is in one, Polar Blue in the other. I've also got a handmade wood and glass well bought at the Main Street Art Fair in Fort Worth, done by an artist in Germany and filled with a no-name black ink. I need to empty it and put something nicer in it -- it has an excellent design with a deep center well that is perfect for fountain pens.

[Bob Cratchet]

I keep my PR Lake Placid Blue in a Visconti Netto. Very handy.

 

I also have two nice little inkwells that Susanna (Giardino Italiano, www.pens.it) sent me a while back. Noodler's Polar Black is in one, Polar Blue in the other. I've also got a handmade wood and glass well bought at the Main Street Art Fair in Fort Worth, done by an artist in Germany and filled with a no-name black ink. I need to empty it and put something nicer in it -- it has an excellent design with a deep center well that is perfect for fountain pens.

I do have a 1932 Silver inkwell, but I only have it for show, my inks remain in the bottles for safety

 

Bob

[ruud2904]

I own two double inkwells. One is a viintage art deco bakelite sengbush handi-pen set. I had it filled up with black and red ink once. But the ink evaporated very swiftly, I do not do that again. I keep that set just for fun and display at my desk at work. The other set is a French bronze double art deco inkwell set with a deer. This one is sitting at my computer desk without any use. For ink mixing I use the PR ink mixing kit. That is a very handsome kit with a couple of empty ink bottles. If I want to emty an ink bottle, I usually buy a fresh one of the same brand and color and just empty the remaining fluid into the new bottle if some has been used of the new ink.

 

Ruud