Pantry Style: Weck Canning Jars and a White Pen

updated May 2, 2019

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Slowly, because they’re a little expensive, I’ve been adding Weck jars to my pantry to hold things like candied ginger, special sugars and salts. I love their clean lines and how neatly they stack. But sometimes I would lose track of what was in them — is that whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour? Things were starting to look a little tatty as I added masking tape labels until I discovered the white pen!

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

I love the look of white ink on jars, even on jars filled with salt where it’s not easily seen at first. This works really well for canning projects, too!

The pens do take some getting used to in order to manage the ink flow. I recommend practicing on less fancy jars first before you commit to your preferred jar. I’ll probably redo the molasses sugar, pictured above, for example. It was my first jar and you can see that I hadn’t quite figured it out yet. The ink can easily be removed, but only by using solvent based removers (like nail polish remover) or by carefully scraping with a razor blade, both which require extra caution.

The pen I use is a Japanese white indelible paint pen from the Kinokuniya Stationary Store in San Francisco’s Japantown but most well-stocked art supply stores should carry less obscure brands like Sharpie’s paint pen. Just ask for a pen that writes on glass and you should be fine.

I’ve also heard of white china markers and liquid chalk, but have never used them. Do you have any experience with these or other white marking products?

Weck Jars on the Web:
$22.50-31.50 for a case of 6 plus shipping Heath Ceramics
$13.25-23.30 for a case of 6 plus shipping Weck Canning Jars

White Paint Pens on the Web:
$3.99 per pen plus shipping Sharpie

(Image: Dana Velden)