4 Ink Bottle Shapes Explained!

Have you ever wondered why some of your fountain pen ink bottles have a peculiar shape? Well, some features found on ink bottles are designed to allow you to fill your pen with ink even with the level is getting low in your bottle. In this video, we go over 4 of our favorite fountain pen ink bottle designs that have features like this built into them! Have you used any of these ink bottles before and gotten down to the last few drops of ink?
00:02 Intro
05:20 Pilot Iroshizuku Ink Bottle Shape
07:48 BUNGUBOX Ink Tells More Bottle Shape
10:55 Pilot Namiki Bottle Shape
12:52 Tools to Liveby Ink Bottle Shape
14:50 Summary
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[@williamcatalano1762]

Akkerman is probably my favorite ink bottle. It's very cool looking and vintage, like an old potion bottle in Dracula's castle. And it's also very practical with a top reservoir and a marble to hold ink so you don't have to go all the way to the bottom.

[@jimbolt5170]

My favorite workhorse ink is Namiki Blue. And, yes I’ve used an entire bottle-several times. 😄 While the ink has no glitzy, splashy qualities, it just works. The blue is a bit bright, and still suitable for an office environment. It’s very well behaved, and has enough water resistance for everyday use. I like the bottle, too. Attractive and practical.

[@tmc4642]

Oh I’ve always wondered about these design choices! It’s helpful to know which companies have function in mind when creating their beautiful bottles. Thank you for sharing!

[@heathergleiser]

Somehow the Tools To Live By bottle reminds me of a ramune bottle with the ball in its neck. It’s really neat. I’ve got a similar shoe shaped vintage Montblanc bottle and will be holding on to it so I can use it with my other inks.

[@alexyiu8028]

Ink bottles with intelligent filling design always catch my eyes, I vote for pilot one in this case...😚

[@lynettedyck7327]

The Lamy bottle also has that great dimple at the bottom. I have a mixture of Pilot blue and Pilot black that I use for a first fill of all my new pens to gauge how they are writing, and I keep refilling with that until I decide what else I want to use. The inner ink well is very useful!

[@ycplum7062]

Fyi, if you redo this video (with new inkwells/bottles), I suggest you use lightly tinted water instead of ink. And maybe add a stationary camera for the refilling shots.

[@jire9831]

IMO Iroshizuku ink bottles have the best shape for 50ml.

[@ChantelleArts]

this is so fascinating ☺☺

[@axionoscar]

3oysters is cool! It sits on one of its corners for a slant. I have finished at least one bottle per year for the last 5 years.

[@MissMarilynDarling]

the trick to the saucer pilot bottles is you have to shake them flat up and down once the ink will rush up over the edges of that inner cup and be full of ink :)

[@HeidiRaatz]

Excellent video, Daisy! Some of these features are very clever though not necessarily intuitive. 😅 While I don't have all these brands (only Pilot iroshizuku) some other bottles I like include P.W. Akkerman-with a marble like Tools to Live By, Caran d'Ache Chromatics-the bottom of the bottle is tilted but sits upright in the box, the older Kaweco bottles-tilts on edge like the Waterman someone else mentioned, and the former squat Sailor bottles-with built-in inkwell. It's a great subject! What makes good design great? 🤔💭👍

[@osirisgolad]

The Bungubox bottles always make me facepalm because they put the cap on the wrong side of the bottle, both for filling and for making it look like heels. If they'd put the cap above the narrower portion(the heel part of the shoe if you will), and made the hump slightly higher, it would work perfectly.

[@ark-journal]

The ‘using the box to refill’ is also not really functional. In this demonstration, the box collapsed; that would have made a mess. You still have to hold the bottle and box to avoid that from happening. Cute, but not really functional.

[@osirisgolad]

@@ark-journal I agree; even if it were rock solid, I don't like it. Cardboard is flimsy and gets stained easily, especially if you want to refill the bottle and keep using it for years. It is indeed pretty, but that doesn't make up for the eye-watering price(though Bungubox L'Amant is a particularly pretty purple).

[@deprecor1]

true, Montblanc ink bottles are designed with the cap on the side of the "heel". It's easier to fill that way.

[@zofiawang1418]

@@osirisgoladwhen I buy inks, I want my money go toward the ink, not the bottle, nor the box. I suspect I won’t be able to finish one bottle in my life anyway.

[@osirisgolad]

@@zofiawang1418 I sort of agree with that sentiment in principle, but at the same time I completely disagree with it in practice, because price and design do not necessarily correlate. I empty at least a dozen bottles a year so I am often having to deal with low level filling, especially if it's only a 30mL bottle, as is becoming more and more common these days. Look at Waterman ink bottles for example: they're cheap as chips, designed well and in my opinion they're quite pretty too. Lazy luxury brands that milk their reputation from half a century ago like to gaslight customers into thinking good design raises the price of manufacturing, but it's perfectly possible to have good design at a reasonable price. In fact, if it's too expensive to produce, it's poorly designed. Using the correct manufacturing method for the job is also part of industrial design, after all.

[@zofiawang1418]

Can you please explain dry ink vs. wet ink, as well as recommend some dry inks for my very wet pilot medium nibs, and some wet ink for my super dry capless? Thanks!

[@unlvqasl]

You missed 2 older bottles which you can buy empty and fill w whatever ink you want - the Mont Blanc bottles with the inkwell and the old Shaefer Skrip bottles with the inkwell on the top. Both of them are much better than any that you have shown. I buy used empty Mot Blanc and Skrip bottles whenever I can find them.

[@vcrouch6041]

Use something like an Ink Miser to get most ink out of the bottle with no mess.

[@senior_ranger]

Simply different gimmicks. First thing I do with those squat bottles is throw away that "inkwell." If you really want to get every drop, you'll use a syringe.

[@jire9831]

I agree for converters. It's also not as messy. Just flush a couple of drops after the fill to prime the feed and you are good to go. But with piston fillers, you don't have that option.

[@ark-journal]

The ‘Tools to Live By’ doesn’t seem to be reusable. If its design is meant to keep ink in the upper reservoir from falling back, then it makes refilling a challenge. You probably need a large syringe and then perhaps tilt the bottle, in order to bypass the glass ball stop.

[@tbayless8324]

@@ark-journal I guess I won't be buying that one. I did have my eye on it, but... I guess not. Seems like it has a timer on it and you better hurry.

[@HeidiRaatz]

​@@ark-journal I'm betting if the Tools to Live By bottle is anything like the P.W. Akkerman bottle the marble comes out, making it both easy to clean and refill once empty. To return the ink from the top well back into the bottle bottom all one has to do is tilt the bottle enough to move the marble out of the narrow part of the neck. It's actually a really clever and useful design.