Free Economy Shipping on orders $88 or more (Contiguous USA only)
🎨I love color.
I was the kid who collected paint chips from the hardware store so it only makes sense that one of my ‘musts’ when it comes to fountain pens is having multiple swatches for every color of ink I own. I actually make it inconvenient for myself not to swatch new inks. When new inks arrive, they get set in the middle of my desk and I cannot move or put away the bottles until I have swatched them.
While you can swatch on any paper, it wouldn't be the pen world if we didn't have a specific tool for every job. A few brands make papers especially for swatches and while they can enhance your swatching experience and give your collection a distinct look, they are not essential.
The most important piece when choosing a paper to swatch on is how does it compare to what you write on? I specifically choose swatchpapers that perform similarly to my day-to-day writing paper so that I am not surprised by how an ink looks when I ink up a pen. Unfortunately, this part is trial and error and you may have to try a few different swatch papers or cards before you find the ones that work best for you.
If you want pretty, the Wearingeul swatch cards have that in spades. In my own Wearingeul card collection I have everything from a fairy to ink bottles & photo strips. I find Wearingeul swatch cards are much more practical for swatching on camera though I do have friends who have their entire collection just swatched on Wearingeul cards. I have always avoided this because I find storing them to be difficult. If you can store them in a way that is practical for you, I think they can be an excellent solution to swatching inks.
Practical, no. Stunning, 100%. The introduction of swatch cards from Colorverse has been a slow rollout over the past several years. While they do offer a basic option the ones that will always stand out to me are the space themed ones, especially the Hubble series. Between the quotes on the back and the stunning designs these are truly eye-catching pieces for any swatch collection.
The swatch cards from Dominant Industry feel newer, at least in North America, but what really stands out is their Ink Archiving Book. Dominant Industry cracked the code of ‘artsy pen people’ who just want to play with inks when they released these two fountain pen friendly, hardcover coloring books. Elegant enough to sit on a shelf but practical enough to actually swatch inks in, these books were the answer for so many people who just wanted to enjoy the inks they owned in nonstressful but creative ways. Both book 1 & book 2 have a 4.9 star rating on Goldspot proving they really are a community favorite.
Ana who owns The Well-Appointed Desk started to create products under the brand Col-O-Ring nearly a decade ago back in 2017 and they have taken the pen world by storm. While there are a number of different Col-O-Ring products in the lineup these days from rotary cards to note pads, my favorite are the Col-O-Ring Dippers because they are made to be dipped directly into ink bottles or samples. My entire ink collection is currently swatched on the Dippers two different ways and I love the convenience of them.
There is a nearly endless list of things you can use to swatch, should you, that is for you to decide. I have chosen to highlight the supplies I see and hear about most frequently when talking to people both in person and online in the fountain pen world.
I love and hate these. Due to the nature of them being glass, glass dip pens are incredibly breakable. A simple bump on a desk can sometimes spell disaster with them and I find that stressful. When I got my glass dip pen back in 2022 I ended up getting one with replaceable tips so that when it inevitably broke I could just switch it out. In the past few years it has been replaced 3 times.
Different and yet similar both Kakamori and Colorverse make metal nibs that can be dipped in ink to swatch and write with. They have a steep learning curve but once you figure them out the results can be spectacular. Most people prefer one over the other as the metal angle on the nibs is different so I recommend testing both out before buying if possible.
If you scroll on Instagram long enough or watch any YouTube swatching video you will probably quickly realize that most large fountain pen creators are pretty DIY with their swatching setup. For example Julia Here is partial to a plastic spoon, Mark Your Pages uses plastic to spread his ink and I am a big fan of the cap of my glass dip pen.
Based on the swatch system you use this is going to be very different so I am just going to tell you how I keep all my swatches organized.
I have two lines of hooks on my desk, the top row is swatches by color and the second row is swatches alphabetically by brand name and then alphabetically by name in each brand section. For the sake of my brain I have broken down ‘color’ into 16 categories; yellow, yellow-green, green, green-blue, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet, red-violet, red, yellow-red, cool gray, warm gray, neutral gray, shimmer, waterproof/water-resistant. In total, 13 Col-O-Ring Dipper clusters grace the back of my desk though at this point I have no idea how many cards each actually contains because I quickly realized each ring can hold far more than the 50 cards that come on it when it is purchased.
I also have a stack of various sizes and styles of Wearingul cards. I tend to purchase my Wearingul video cards based on vibes so unfortunately they become unruly to store. Currently they just live in a stack on my desk and I flip through them when I need a color reference for a video or project. Tidy & convenient, no, but it has worked for the past 2 years so I don't see it changing any time soon.
Swatching doesn't need to be overly fancy, time and time again I find myself coming back to Col-O-Ring Dippers or a pipette, small plastic bag & cap; it is all about figuring out a system that works for you as an individual and lets you enjoy the colors of your inks.
To end our discussion on swatching: if your swatching system is stressing you out, take a step back and re-evaluate. Your swatches exist for you to be able to see the colors you own and enjoy your ink collection. They don’t need to be ’social media ready’ they just need to work for you.
Keep in touch by e-mail or social media.
© 2026 Goldspot Pens
