The more value I put towards a pen the more I start concerning myself with what ink I am using in it. Just through regular water flushing of pens I have noticed certain inks behaving differently than others. I decided to test my inks for ease of cleaning and staining prior to using them in the pens that I consider valuable or difficult to clean. The ink reviews on this blog all undergo this test. The inks that I review are inks that I find interesting and use but if there is a particular ink you would like to see reviewed, let me know and I will bring in a sample for review.

   For ink testing, I have prepared a clear piece of acrylic by dividing it into 4 sections with a knife cut and applied an abrasion of varying roughness to 3 of them. For the bottom section I used 100 grit sandpaper, next to it was 600 grit sandpaper, and lastly I used 8000x micro-mesh.Ink droplets are put in each section of the tester plate and then spread to connect in series.

This allows the ink to get into the knife cuts simulating a join in pen materials or components.After a few minutes the ink is flushed from the acrylic tester plate using only 3 mL of water, after which the sample is photographed,  documented, and added to review of the ink.
After the test is completed I clean the tester plate starting with a mild soap and brush, then if needed I use ammonia, my last resort (which has been done) is to re-sand each section. Any other observations about the ink is documented during this stage as well.

Check out the blog's ink reviews to see how they performed in this cleaning test. If your favourite isn't reviewed yet, let me know and I will make an effort to review it.