Do Less, Swatch More, Use More, Repeat

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I’ve been in a bit of a slump and it’s about all these inks I have around me. You see, I’m not only a Pen Addict, I’m an Ink Addict too. I absolutely love inks and matching them to pens is one of my favorite parts of this hobby. And while cutting back on ink purchases is probably never going to happen, I did tell myself that I needed to swatch more than I get. And so far, for 2024, I have failed miserably.

Why is this a problem? Because I don’t use what I don’t swatch. If an ink isn’t swatched, I don’t know what color it really is, and therefore, never ink it up because it’s not in my Col-O-Ring when I’m trying to match it to a pen. Not to mention, without the ink swatch, I sometimes forget I even have it, eek! I can hear my friend Judy, aka Tokubetsumemori yelling at me to “use your stuff!” (except she doesn’t say “stuff”, lol). I have added another 42 inks to my stash since January but I’ve only swatched 7 inks. Oof, going in the wrong direction here! To be fair, some of those inks were added for review (I put them in my Fountain Pen Companion account so I don’t accidentally buy inks that are in the review queue), and some of those inks were samples and not bottles, but still! I probably swatched about 200 inks in 2023 (and I’m nowhere near done), so 7 in the first 5 months of the year is not good progress.

This is just one of several overflowing bins of inks waiting to be swatched.

Now, this isn’t meant to be a “wah, woe is me, I have so many inks” article. I am VERY fortunate to be able to surround myself with all these fun inks. But, I have had zero desire to swatch the very thing that I really enjoy. I asked myself why not? What is holding me back and where did the motivation go? I’d feel much less guilty about getting more inks if I swatched more inks, because swatching leads to using and using leads to writing and pen play! I wanted to get back to swatching cuz let’s face it, there are some gorgeous inks being released (a bit too often, if you ask me and my wallet) and I’m not getting them because of my huge backlog! Note that this feeling doesn’t apply to doing swatches for reviews, by the way, since I have a plan for those and it’s usually limited to one or two inks (except when I’m being crazy and do 8 for a review, lol).

So I took a step back and looked at my process and omg, no wonder I don’t want to do this any more. You can read about it in more detail in my 2021 article about swatching, but here’s a quick summary with one addition:

1. Swatches on 2 Col-O-Rings (one is for sorting by brand, the other by color)
2. Little swatch and writing sample on 52 gsm Tomoe River insert
3. Little swatch and writing sample on 75 gsm Cosmo Air Light
4. Longer swatch and writing sample on 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook
5. Circle swabs in a blank 52 gsm TR notebook, organized semi-randomly by brand, color, ink properties

Uh, that’s a lot.

Yeah, a 5 step process for swatching 1 ink (6, if you count the 2 Col-O-Rings separately). No wonder I didn’t want to do this any more! It takes a lot of time, and if I’m being honest, I rarely, if ever, use any of the inserts/notebooks as reference points. So why am I doing it? Honestly? I have no idea.

And since no one is the boss of me (except maybe the Bossman, but he doesn’t boss my swatching, lol), I’ve made the executive decision to cut back on all these steps. I’m going to just make the 2 swatches on my Col-O-Rings, with some occasional swatching on Wearingeul cards (I am thinking of swatching all my Wearingeul inks on their swatch cards). Sounds easy enough, but the hard part is telling myself that it’s ok that I spent all that time doing them all these years (I used to enjoy doing this). It will also be a little tough not regretting the decision to stop doing the extra steps. I know that it might feel weird at first, but I know that I will feel so much better when I make faster progress. And down the road, if I change my mind, I can always resume those added steps for inks moving forward, cuz I sure as heck am not going to go back and re-swatch inks I’ve already done.

The journey of a thousand swatches begins with a single swatch (well, technically two, lol.)

Heck yeah! One down, next!!

Wow, Kimberly, all those words just to reach the conclusion that (1) you’ve been kinda nuts doing all this and (2) that you don’t have to do all those things anymore? Yeah. Because change is hard, especially if it was something we once found enjoyable. Because second guessing ourselves is easier. Because it’s much easier to avoid making a decision to get back on track. Because procrastination, denial (especially of an ever-growing backlog and shopping cart) and inertia are real. And because we aren’t always kind to ourselves when “current us” isn’t loving the decisions that “past us” made.

So, to anyone (including me) who needs to hear that it’s ok to change your mind, change direction, change steps, take a deep breath and regroup, etc., I’m telling you that “it’s ok” (or you can imagine Judy telling you to “use your stuff”) - whatever helps you make this hobby enjoyable again. Now, let’s get swatching!

(Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me from various vendors.)

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How I Made 147 Ink Samples

(This post contains affiliate links.)

When the San Francisco Pen Posse asks if you are interested in contributing ink samples to the San Francisco Pen Show, you say yes.

Wait, how many different samples???

If you have been to a pen show in the past several years, you may have seen ink sampling stations like you will find at the upcoming San Francisco Pen Show. They vary in sizes, with the ones at San Francisco checking in at 49 slots per station. Yes, I volunteered to provide 49 different inks in sample vials, to be used for filling the pens attached to the station.

An Ink Testing Station from the 2021 San Francisco Pen Show.

On top of that, I decided that if I was pulling 49 inks off the shelf and drawing an ink sample, why not make three samples for each ink? One for San Francisco, two for me to give away or share with the community.

So yes, I made 147 ink samples. I question my sanity sometimes.

How was I going to do this? First off, I needed vials, and I knew exactly who I needed to get in touch with: Kimberly, ink slinger extraordinaire.

She wrote a sample vial mini FAQ for the blog, and while her original vial choice was not available, I grabbed these Kimberly-approved Eowpower 5ml vials at just under $10 per 50 vials. They will look familiar if you have any ink samples, with their clear vial and blue cap. They are the right size for the samples I wanted to make.

Each vial needed a label, and I happened to be given some by my friend Brenda from The Dormouse’s Desk. These labels are awesome, featuring a super sticky backing while also being removable. They are waterproof as well, and the Uni-ball Jetstream Edge ballpoint I used to write on them wouldn’t smear if I tried. Highly recommended.

Squeeze pipettes.

For ink transfer from bottle to vial, the plan was to use standard pipettes to draw approximately 4ml samples for each vial. I’d made a few random samples like this previously, and I thought they would be fine for this project …

… if I wanted it to take two years.

Pipettes are very functional in small doses, but the ones I have were only 3ml, so it took two squeezes for each 4ml vial. That’s a lot of back and forth for each sample, not to mention the frequent cleaning needed between bottles. A few of them stained, as well, which I had to throw away.

During a Twitch stream a few months back, viewers mentioned a magical tool that could help me make these samples faster, and safer: a pipettor.

A popular tool in laboratory environments, a pipettor allows for drawing and moving of liquids in exact measurements. It also happens to be fun to use, and simple to clean.

I received a few recommendations, and ended up with the ONiLAB 1000-5000μl Pipettor, plus 100 ONiLAB Pipette Tips to fit the device. I did buy the wrong size pipettor (too small) on my first purchase, so make sure to science math appropriately for your needs. I did barely pass high school chemistry, so I have my excuse.

Once I got the correct pipettor and tips in hand, the process was as simple as using a retractable pen. Attach the tip to the device, set the fill number to 4.0 ml, push the pipettor button to fill from the bottle, release the ink with a click into the vial. Repeat two more times, eject the reusable tip into a cup for cleaning and reuse. I could create three ink samples in seconds, and have fun doing it.

The only thing I was missing at the time was a rack to hold the vials for filling, and storage. The MUHWA Plastic Test Tube Rack, on the recommendation of another ink slinger, Mike Matteson, proved to be perfect. Each rack holds 50 vials, so the 3-pack worked out perfectly. I even shipped one full rack in its entirety to San Francisco for the show, safely wrapped and boxed, of course.

All in all, this was a fun project that I’m glad to have taken on. I got to pick out 49 different inks for a testing station, learned new things about the ink sampling process, and had fun doing it. If you are attending the San Francisco Pen Show this week, make sure to hunt down The Pen Addict Ink Testing Station and tell me your favorite ink!

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