(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:
- Swatches on 2 Col-O-Rings (one is for sorting by brand, the other by color)
- Little swatch and writing sample on 52 gsm Tomoe River insert
- Little swatch and writing sample on 75 gsm Cosmo Air Light
- Longer swatch and writing sample on 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook
- 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.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
