I love watching ink swatching videos. I have just finished cataloging my 142 ink samples and bottles in my B5 Sterling ink and A5 Hobonichi notebooks. It took me 5 long days to get them all done. I am so happy to have my collection cataloged and to see what I have. I have spent most of this year finding and acquiring inks I love. Up until this year, I had been only writing with waterproof and water resistance inks. I have been a pen and ink collector since 2016. I think I used waterproof and resistance inks because didn’t want my words to wash away... Since the beginning of this year though, my ink collection has exploded! I think I was smart by watching you to just get samples to try first, thank you for this. I wanted to try out other inks because the waterproof and water resistance inks don’t have the properties that many other inks have; like Sailor, BPC, Vinta, & Troublemaker are favorite inks so far... I could watch swatching videos over and over, I love to see the colors and ink properties, and I watch YT videos while I am writing in my journals, planners, and playing with my Fountain pens... I use 2 journals (1 personal and 1 for an astronomy/telescope learning journal) and 2 planners (1 Hobonichi Cousin & 1 Sterling ink Passport).. I have about 40 pens inked many with dedicated colors. I am now trying to calm my spending and enjoy what I have more... Let’s see how long that my no spend lasts... I want to save for some of my grail pens, and to have more specialty grinds on my pens I love (such as you, I have a Platinum 3776 in Bold nib that I love, but I need to get a different grind so I will use it more) and I need stop spending on impulse.... Thanks for the video, I love the questions and conversation...

Those Octopus Write and Draw inks are amazing at the perminancy they work well with watercolor too :)

I also do really well with rules (that's why I appreciate your content so much!) when it comes to actually inking my pens, my main rule is mostly: if I feel like inking something, I do. Sometimes I'll see some wild swatch on instagram or something and I'll be like "oh that is a good ink" or "oh that reminds me of this ink i have!" and just ink it. Sometimes it's like "I could really go for a green right now." I try to always have one ink sample loaded, because I have a strong preference for my bottled inks. So my bottles are always getting used, and my samples collect dust. I do always write down my currently inked at the beginning of the month, but it's not like "I just inked these up for the whole month" but more like the name suggests: this is what's actually inked up at the beginning of the month. I also have a rule, more about the pens than the inks, that is to not re-ink something that's just been inked (aside from my pilot VP) If I wrote a pen dry, I clean it, and set it aside for a while. Give other pens a chance to shine. I guess another rule I have (is it a rule if it happens naturally?) is that it has to "belong" in the palette of inks I already have in pens. I like my journals to be cohesive, especially my reading journals where I use a different ink for each of the books I'm reading. I do inner monologue/stream of consciousness about what I'm reading every day, so if I'm in the middle of two books, the two inks have to look good together or it bugs me. Anyways, enough rambling! All there is to say, I too love rules. I like my fun organized!

Love that Vintage ink! 😍

I've only used the Octopus Write & Draw of the pigment inks you mention. They clean off the nib and feed just fine with only water, but did stain one of my clear plastic pens (Pilot Kakuno) so I wouldn't use them in any demonstrator. I love this ink for work - it dries quickly and is truly permanent unlike some of the water "resistant" inks (looking at you, Noodlers!). And they come in a ton of colors and even some sheening colors.

Vanness is my only source for De Atramentis Artist Inks which is the only ink I buy anymore. They are all waterproof and fadeproof and mix fine and trouble-free. I make do with the 20 or so colors currently available. I suspect they are identical to De Atramentis Document Inks. Yay to Vanness for carrying so many inks.

Your discount code at Vanness works. Thanks!

soooooo pretty.

I just ordered from Vanness last week and your code worked fine, thanks! As far as Permanent blacks, I have been using Platinum Chou Kuro. It's pricey, but I have found it well behaved, easy to clean (with distilled water), and I've had it inked up in a Platinum Prefounte since October of last year with no issues.

Thank you for the video. I use Noodler's X-feather as my everyday journal and letter addressing ink. It seems super wet and the pen is easy to clean (I use a TWSBI Vac mini).

I had samples of every single Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Inks 😅it was very interesting very early on in the hobby. I made a big comparison, but none of them really impressed me as much to buy a bottle. The black one I think stained my TWSBI Eco a bit.

I have been using Sailor Kiwaguro (black pigment ink) for the last year in a Pro Gear. It hasn't clogged up yet and I'm nearly done with the 50ml bottle... But I use it pretty frequently. The Black Elephant looks very tempting though!

I can’t believe one of those paws did not land in the open bottle! Whew! Have you tried pen flush to help clean out the permanent inks?

I have been doing 3 pens at a time (not including my permanently inked kakuno that always has a black in it). I have been using an ink from my collection that I haven’t used before.

Platinum blue black is also a perminant ink that cleans out semi well but I dont know a perminant black that cleans out well unless you take it apart and use a brush to get it all out theres just too much pigment in order to keep it black there are a few non blacks that are perminant that have weird properties noodlers rome burning is a perminant ink noodlers black is a perminant ink ... but document inks that are good for watercoloring over :/ octopus fluids , carbon black, are the best that I have tested and I test a lot of inks so check out the channel if theres a color you want I can send it along :)