Ink Vials

Your ink comes in an amber glass vial, see Fig. 1 (below), secured with either a rubber cork (A) or a rubber stopper (B).

Fig 1 - Corks & Stoppers

Opening the Vial

The techniques for opening the vial differ slightly depending on the type of seal in your vial.

The vials are sealed at high altitude (1 mile), where the atmospheric pressure may be lower than at your location. As the vials move to lower altitudes, the change in atmospheric pressure affects the seal, which may make it challenging to remove initially. Further, rubber expands at lower temperatures, which may further cause your seal to stick.

If you have difficulty removing the seal, gently heat the seal, allowing it to contract, then try again. To heat the seal, you can hold the bottle in your hands or under your arm for a minute to allow your body temperature to warm it, or apply a damp, hot towel, or run warm water over it.

If you have difficulty gripping the seal, use a rubber gripping surface such as a jar opener, to aid you.

Rubber Cork (A)

Fig 2A - Removing the Cork

The process of removing the rubber cork is illustrated in Fig 2A, above.

  1. Grip the rubber cork between your thumb and forefinger
  2. Apply twisting pressure to the cork
  3. While applying the twisting pressure, pull upwards on the cork, wiggling the top of the cork as needed to loosen it

Rubber Stopper (B)

Fig 2B - Removing the Stopper

The process of removing the rubber stopper is illustrated in Fig 2B, above.

  1. Grip the top of the stopper between your thumb and forefinger, squeezing inward to secure your grip
  2. Pull straight upwards on the cork while wiggling it firmly

Sealing the Vial

Resealing the vial will be easier once the initial seal is broken. We apply extra force to the rubber corks (A) to keep them inserted during shipment. If your vials are going to be sitting on a shelf at home, you can simply seat the cork or stopper in the vial and press to form a light seal. If you need to secure the vial for travel, or if you have cats that like to knock things over, follow the instructions below.

Rubber Cork (A)

Fig 3A - Inserting the Cork

To seal your vial using the rubber cork:

  1. Clean the inside of the lip of the vial with a clean cotton rag, paper towel, or napkin. Apply enough pressure to remove any ink or moisture that may be on the inside surface of the lip. There is a ridge inside the lip of the bottle, labelled “inside lip” in Fig 3A, step 1 (above) — it’s important to ensure the inside, top, and bottom edge of this ridge are dry and clean. If they are not, the cork will work loose easily and you will not get a good seal.
  2. Clean the outside of your rubber cork in the same manner. Moisture or residue on either surface will compromise the seal.
  3. As illustrated in Fig 3A, step 2 (above), seat the cork in the vial then apply firm downwards pressure while gradually twisting, as though the cork were a screw.
Fig 4A - Rubber Cork Seal

Your cork is well sealed when 1/3 or less of the stopper remains above the vial lip.

It’s important to have a gap between the bottom of the cork and the top of the ink (Fig 4A, above). If the cork touches the ink, it wants to float: its buoyancy will apply upwards force over time, causing the cork to slowly work itself free and undermining the seal. The inside lip/ridge in the vial will help grip the cork to reduce floating, but only if the underside of the lip is clean and dry.

The rubber corks can not only float free, but they can wiggle free if they’re not sufficiently sealed. Because the cork sticks up above the lip of the vial, it is going to experience jostling. A poorly sealed cork will loosen and work itself free when repeatedly jostled.

To test whether your cork is sealed well, apply the wiggle test: grip the cork with your thumb and index finger as though you were going to remove it. While watching the cork inside the bottle, gently wiggle the top of the cork without pulling. If your cork is sealed, the bottom of the cork will stay stationary when you wiggle the top. If the bottom of the cork moves when you wiggle it, any jostling will work it free. Press/twist the cork more deeply into the vial and try again.

If your cork still wiggles but cannot go any farther into the vial, clean and dry the inner lip of the vial (including the underside of the interior ridge) and the cork then try again.

Rubber Stopper (B)

Fig 3B - Inserting the Stopper

To seal your vial using the rubber stopper:

  1. Clean the inside of the lip of the vial with a clean cotton rag, paper towel, or napkin. Apply enough pressure to remove any ink or moisture that may be on the inside surface of the lip. There is a ridge inside the lip of the bottle, labelled “inside lip” in Fig 3B, step 1 (above) — it’s important to ensure the inside, top, and bottom edge of this ridge are dry and clean. If they are not, you will not get a good seal. Clean the outside of your rubber stopper in the same manner.
  2. As illustrated in Fig 3B, step 2 (above), seat one side of the stopper against the vial lip, letting the rest of the stopper rest loosely. The top of the stopper will be canted to one side. Place your thumb or thumb nail on the side of the stopper that is not yet seated. Apply an inwards and downwards rolling motion with your thumb to compress the stopper and push the stopper into the vial. This will seat both sides of the stopper.
  3. Once the stopper is seated, place the pad of your thumb flat against the stop of the stopper and apply a firm downwards and wiggling pressure to work the stopper fully into the vial. Continue until the bottom of the stopper is flush with the lip of the vial. (Fig 3B, step 3)
Fig 4B - Rubber Stopper Seal

Your stopper is well sealed when the bottom of the rubber stopper is flush with the top of the glass vial at all points. The rubber stoppers have a tendency to stick up on one side, so be sure to visually inspect the entire edge.

If you are unable to get the stopper fully flush with the press-and-wiggle motion, use your thumbnail to press and roll inward any portions that are sticking up, as in step 2 (Fig 3B, step 2).

Any moisture or reside on the inner lip/ridge of the vial or the rubber stopper will compromise the seal.

Transferring Ink from the Vial to your Pen

Your first parcel comes with a vial of ink and a plastic pipette.

Your ink vial (Fig 1, to the left) is made of amber glass. The top rim of the vial is the Lip. Below the Lip, the bottle has a short Neck (not labelled), when then flares into the Shoulder. The side of the vial goes straight down from the Shoulder to the bottom.

The plastic pipette (Fig 2, to the right) is made of soft plastic. The narrow, cylindrical part of the pipette is the Tube, which ends at the Tip. The Tube flares out into the Bulb, which is a bladder. Squeezing the Bulb then releasing it creates suction, which will draw liquid in from the Tip into the reservoir of the Bulb.

The Lip of the vial is too narrow for a pen, and too deep for a converter to reach the ink (and still allow you to draw). It is also too deep for the pipette to reach (Fig 3, left).

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To access the ink the vial, follow the steps below, as illustrated in Fig 4 (right):

A] Tip the vial (carefully) until the ink pools in the Shoulder of the vial. It’s best to have a light source behind the vial and keep the vial at eye-level while you do this, to prevent accidentally tipping it too far and pouring out the ink. The lower the level of ink, the farther you will need to tip the vial to get ink in the Shoulder.

B] Insert the Tip of the pipette into the vial’s Shoulder. This will require bending the Tube to make it fit.

Once your ink and pipette Tip are in the same location, simply squeeze the Bulb of the pipette to expel the air in it. Then slowly release the Bulb; this creates suction and draws the ink in through the Tip into the Bulb (Fig 5A, left).

If you don’t draw much ink, make sure your Tip is seated in the Shoulder of the bottle and covered by ink. Release the Bulb of the pipette more slowly and, if necessary, continue to tip the vial so the Tip is always submerged by ink.

Once your pipette is filled with ink, remove it from the vial and hold it so the Tip points upwards. Be careful not to squeeze the Bulb, else your ink will shoot out! Set your vial down somewhere it won’t be knocked over until you can seal it.

Slide/wiggle the open end of your cartridge or converter overtop the pipette Tube, as shown in Fig 5B (right). It may be a snug fit; your Tube is flexible and made of soft plastic so it will squish. If you’re having difficulty slotting your cartridge/converter overtop the Tube, try applying some downwards twisting pressure.

Once the cartridge/converter is threaded onto the pipette Tube, invert them so the Bulb of the pipette is at the top and the cartridge/converter are at the bottom (Fig 5C, left).

Then squeeze the Bulb to eject the ink into the cartridge/converter. You may need to squeeze a few times to empty any stray droplets.

From there, insert the cartridge or converter into your pen, reseal your vial of ink, and start writing!

You will need to clean your pipette between uses. To clean, draw clean water into the bulb, shake it around, then eject. Repeat until the pipette is visually clean. Let air dry.