One of my goals at the start of the year was to swatch my entire ink collection and make a record that I can reference when I’m inking up my pens. Since my ink collection has expanded a lot in the past year, it’s been quite a big task, so I’m pleased to finally be up to date with it! 

My original plan was to swatch all my inks on swatch cards and have them on a ring so that I could easily flip through them. Unfortunately, I found the swatch cards I’d bought weren’t the best, and didn’t show off the inks’ qualities to the fullest (to be fair, they were more meant to be revision cards, not ink swatch cards!) so I changed the plan. 

Instead, I decided to have one of my Traveler’s Notebooks as a dedicated ink journal. I already had a TN insert dedicated to my monthly Currently Inked, so I added another blank insert to my Olive TN that I used to make a swatch book of my inks.

I separated the swatches into ink brands, which is a system I like, but it meant I had to guess how much space I would need for each brand in terms of future ink purchases. Some ink brands, like Waterman, I don’t expect to expand too much, as they have a very limited selection anyway, so I only dedicated a single page to them. And other inks on the more expensive end of the spectrum I figured I wouldn’t be buying a huge number of bottles or samples of, so I left less space. 

Brands like Diamine though already took up several pages, probably due to how big their selection is, and how good the price is for their 30ml bottles. I know in the beginning of my fountain pen journey I bought multiple sets of 5 from Amazon, and I’ve kept adding more shades ever since (I don’t think I can make an order from Cult Pens without throwing in a couple of little bottles!)! Similarly, J Herbin is another of my most owned ink brands, as they’re also inexpensive and easy to get hold of. I left more room for my collection of inks from these brands to grow, although I can always just do a ‘continued’ section later in the notebook if I need to.

Overall, swatching my entire ink collection was a big task, but definitely worthwhile, as it allowed me to really take stock of my collection, get a better idea of what each ink looked like and their unique properties and figure out a few brands I’d like to test out more inks from (the main ones are Wearingeul and Pilot Iroshizuku). 

I also got to try out some inks I haven’t used much and discovered a few new favourites that way! The biggest revelation was Vinta Sandugo, which I got a sample of from the Northern Pen Show last year. I’d never had it in a pen, and was amazed by how beautiful it was when I swatched it! I loved the rusty orange colour of the ink, combined with the green sheen. And I like how the sheen was even visible in the writing sample. Similarly, I hadn’t used my sample of Vinta Makopa since I first got it, and really loved the bright magenta colour, and the more subtle sheen. 

I’d also been enjoying using Troublemaker Milky Ocean in my TWSBI Eco, but hadn’t appreciated just how beautiful it was until I swatched it. I already liked the soft blue base colour, but the swatch really showed off its shading properties, and I love the hint of pinky purple you can see! 

This project really got me excited about my ink collection, and I can’t recommend enough that you do something similar if you don’t already keep a record of your inks! It’s a great way to not only make a handy reference for inking pens but also to appreciate your ink collection, and how unique each ink is, and find some old favourites you might have forgotten about!

So do you keep a record of your ink collection? How do you have it organised? And what are some of your all-time favourite inks?