Using Spice Racks to Organize, Display, and Store Your Ink Bottles

Anthony Gamboa -

Every fountain pen user that collects inks and pens eventually must figure out where they are going to store all this stuff. In the past, I had all my bottles of ink tucked away in a box labeled "Fountain Pens". I would take a bottle out every now and then to fill up whatever pen I happened to be using at the time. Once I transferred to university, I wanted to use my fountain pens more, so I filled up my favorite pens and put my ink bottles out on my desk for easy access.

That was fine for a while, but my desk space was now very limited and was growing more limited each time I ordered new inks. I decided I wanted to display them some other way and settled on a shelf of some sort. I was just going to look for some nice-looking shelf at Ikea or Amazon that was a good size for one or two ink bottles in front of each other. My partner recommended I look at spice racks so that there would be a rail to protect the ink bottles from falling. I did not think it would matter either way, but I still looked up spice racks because I thought the size would match the ink bottles the best.

My spice rack ink shelf from the left side

I hopped on Amazon and quickly found a rack I liked. The spice rack was being sold as a set of two so that was also a plus. I then looked at their dimensions to see if they fit my ink bottles and empty wall space. Luckily, they were going to fit within the small patch of wall space I had, and they were going to be slightly deeper than two of my biggest ink bottles. This pair of spice racks go with my room exceptionally well and happened to be the perfect size I needed. The railing is also something I realized I do like and find useful, so I am very grateful that I listened to the recommendation of my partner Tyra.

I definitely recommend that you look for a wall mounted spice rack that ships with mounting hardware included. I have a box of various wall anchors somewhere but was dreading finding and digging it out. The spice racks came with screws and anchors so all I needed was to take out my drill.

The spice rack ink shelves from the right side

I can't explain how nice it is to look at my wall and see all my inks out on display. My room feels a little spiced up and my desk feels neater. I smile every time I look at it. I also included a small plant on the rack since I love buying plants, but have trouble finding places to put them since one of my cats seems to love salad.

The set is called "OROPY Spice Rack Wall Mounted, Rustic Wood Hanging Spice Rack..." And it cost $22.99 for the pair. At about $11 per shelf, it’s not dirt cheap, but it is worth it since it has a premium look due to the wood and metal.

Products mentioned in this post:

  • OROPY Spice Rack (I really like this specific spice rack. I'm very happy with my pair and will buy another pair when I need more space)
  • Set of Anchors w/ Multiple Sizes and a Case (The spice racks I bought came with anchors, but some reviews say they are not standard size and some people wanted to use their own. Might be smart to buy a kit if you don't have some at home already)
  • Dewalt Drill w/ Case, Battery, Charger, and Bit Set (If you don't already own a drill you will need one to drill the holes for mounting any sort of shelf. This is the cheapest drill from a quality brand and the set will have everything you need including the drill bits to drill the hole)
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink (Great performing and looking inks with beautiful bottles that look great on the shelf. Around half my inks are these)
  • J. Herbin 10ml Bottled Inks (Really small bottles at a great price. I love these, they are great to try a bunch of different colors. Amazon has a ton of choices. I love the greens like Vert Empire)
  • J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary Emerald of Chivor (The other end of the spectrum of J. Herbin inks. These are more pricey, but everyone should have a bottle of this color. There are other anniversary inks, but this is the crowd favorite.)
  • Diamine 6 Bottle Set of Ink (Smaller bottles of ink so you can try a bunch. Diamine has some nice colors and the brand has been around forever)
  • Noodler's Heart of Darkness (The large ink on the left. Comes with dropper for filling eyedropper style pens. Great black that comes in a huge bottle)
  • Sailor Shikiori Oku-yama 20ml Bottled Ink (I love a lot of Sailor inks, but this is a favorite. Its a darker red and purple color. It doesn't have that bright red ink look you might use for corrections)