How to swatch fountain pen ink

What a swatch is for

A swatch is a small card that shows how one ink behaves on paper: its color when thin and when pooled, how much it shades, and whether it sheens. A box or ring of them turns a shelf of bottles and sample vials into something you can flip through in a minute, which is how most collectors decide what goes into the next pen.

Swatches also earn their keep before you buy. The Journal Shop's swatching guide suggests buying small samples of 2 to 5 ml from specialist retailers before committing to a full 50 ml bottle, and a swatch of the sample is the record of what you thought of it. That only works if every swatch is made the same way, which is the point the rest of this guide keeps coming back to.

What you need

Paper matters more than anything else. The Journal Shop recommends Rhodia or Tomoe River paper for accurate color, and EndlessPens adds Clairefontaine revision cards and purpose-made swatch cards to the list, noting that the paper you swatch on is crucial and that matching the paper you actually write on gives the most useful result. Many collectors use ring-bound swatch card books: Anthony Newman of UK Fountain Pens uses Col-o-Ring books from Well Appointed Desk, and SusieG Studio keeps three of them, one just for sample vials.

For applying the ink, cotton buds are the common choice because they hold enough ink for a block of color and are thrown away afterwards. For writing the ink's name, both Newman and SusieG Studio use a glass dip pen. The Journal Shop also suggests a dip pen or a broad watercolor brush for the swatch itself, noting that a dip pen gives cleaner edges while a brush tends to show sheen more dramatically.

The three-pass method, step by step

This is the method described by both EndlessPens and Anthony Newman. Its purpose is to put the driest and the most saturated version of the ink on the same card.

Dip a cotton bud in the ink and shake off the excess.
Hold it nearly flat against the card and zigzag a block across most of the area. Newman covers about 70 percent of the card.
Re-dip and zigzag again over about two-thirds of the same block, starting from the same end.
Re-dip once more and zigzag over the last third, so that end gets three coats.
Optionally, as Newman does, use the now saturated bud to color a strip along the bottom of the card right to the edge.
Write the full name of the ink above or below the block with a dip pen dipped in the same ink.

What to write on the card

At minimum, the full ink name and the brand. EndlessPens recommends the full name rather than a shorthand, and SusieG Studio writes the brand alongside it; with dozens of blues from a dozen makers, a name alone stops being enough surprisingly quickly. The Journal Shop adds the date, so you can tell later when a card was made.

The back of the card is useful too. SusieG notes properties such as sheen there. She also does a quick water test: while the swatch is still damp, she drops a little water on it and lets it dry, which hints at the underlying base color of the ink.

Letting it dry and judging sheen

Give the card time. The Journal Shop suggests 20 to 30 minutes of drying on Rhodia before you judge the color. Newman files his swatches in the ring only once they are dry.

Sheen, the metallic glow some inks show, is easy to miss on a flat glance. The Journal Shop's tip is to hold the page at about 45 degrees to a lamp or to daylight and tilt it slowly, because the sheen shows up only at particular angles. A layered swatch gives you both thin and heavy coats of the same ink to check.

Common mistakes

Changing paper partway through a collection is the big one. The Journal Shop stresses using identical paper, tools and labeling across the whole library so that inks can actually be compared; a blue on coated paper and a blue on copy paper are not the same comparison. Leaving off the brand, swatching with a different number of passes each time, and filing cards before they are dry are close behind.

The other trap is trusting a photo of a swatch. John Bosley of Fountain Pen Love explains that automatic white balance on a camera leads to inconsistent colors, that daylight is roughly neutral while incandescent bulbs push colors warm and fluorescent tubes add a green cast, and that even the background color can change how a camera balances a shot. The card in your hand, in daylight, is the reference.

Some collectors keep a phone index alongside the paper cards. InkRota, a fountain pen ink tracker, can read a starting color from a photo of a swatch card on the phone, offers a few candidates to pick from and adjust, and says plainly that lighting changes the reading. Its drawer can then be sorted around the color wheel, which makes it quick to see how many blues you already own.

Frequently asked questions

What paper is best for fountain pen ink swatches?

The Journal Shop recommends Rhodia or Tomoe River for accurate color, and many collectors use ring-bound Col-o-Ring card books. The most important thing is to use the same paper for every swatch so the cards can be compared.

Can I swatch with a dip pen or brush instead of a cotton bud?

Yes. The Journal Shop notes that a dip pen gives cleaner edges and a broad watercolor brush tends to show sheen more. A cotton bud makes the layered light-to-dark block easiest. Whatever you choose, keep using it.

How long should an ink swatch dry before I judge the color?

The Journal Shop suggests 20 to 30 minutes on Rhodia paper. Judge the color, shading and sheen once the card is fully dry, and file it only then.

Why does my swatch look different in photos?

Cameras guess the color of the light. John Bosley of Fountain Pen Love notes that automatic white balance gives inconsistent colors, and that daylight, incandescent and fluorescent light each tint a photo differently. Compare inks on the cards themselves.