The Great Inkwell Experiment Part Four—Second-Week Results

1. 1. glass well with a simple gravity-closing hinged lid;
   2. glass well with a silver snap-close hinged lid;
   3. metal well with glass insert and a hinged outer cover (thus with space between the insert and the cover);
   4. wooden well with glass insert and an unhinged cloth-lined wooden lid;
   5. glass writing-box bottle, with threaded brass lid;
   6. pottery ink bottle, with a new, replacement, cork;
   7. (control) plastic graduated cylinder, open;
   8. (control) modern glass ink bottle with plastic lid and synthetic lid liner (J. Herbin).

In week two of our experiment the trends continue pretty much as expected. The good are very good, there are a few in the middle of the pack, and the bad are very ugly. And dry.

It is pretty obvious that C is a complete failure, without some kind of retrofitted seal. Likely it will be completely empty by day fifteen. We have several similar types of inkwell in stock, and we may set up a repeat experiment among similar types, just to see what kind of variables different designs introduce. We are intrigued as to the possible reasons for a covered inkwell to out-under-perform an open cylinder!

All this being said, we can certainly make lemonade of the lemon-ish inkwells in this experiment. We are already thinking about ways of making tasteful cork stoppers for old inkwells…

In the mean time, we will continue through the four week period of the experiment, even though the trends are pretty obvious. We shall post the next update in about a week’s time.