Mystery Ink #40 and #41

[junglejim]

Gung Hay Fat Choy, Happy Chinese New Years! The Lunar New Year is fast approaching and will be upon us on 01 February. It will be the Year of the Water Tiger; not a very propitious year as past history has shown us. World War 1 started on the Tiger year, as did the Anschluss of Austria and handover of the Sudetenland (Northern Czechoslovakia) to Hitler, which led to World War 2 a few months later. The Korean War also started in the year of the Tiger. Some of us here are old enough to remember the "Missiles of October," which was in the Year of the Tiger.

So, on that scary note... Mystery Ink is now open to FPG veterans, n00bs, newbies, and lurkers. You volunteer, I send free ink, you write with it and post your thoughts and observations. Guessing is welcome, but not required. There is nothing to "win" aside from perhaps personal satisfaction that you recognized it.

No guess is confirmed until the mystery ink is finally revealed. The point of the mystery ink threads is an unbiased review. Fear not about the quality of your handwriting or sketching abilities. We don't care. We are all appreciative of those with the gift of artistic ability, but how well you draw or write doesn't impact your ability to test an ink and provide your opinion on it.

I will act as the Procurer, Packer, and Post Office Porter. This ink flight will consist of 1 packet containing 2 inks, each vial filled with 3mls of Mystery Ink labeled MI-40 and MI-41. There will be 9 packets available and only 2 of the packets will be for overseas participants due to the high cost of international postage ( US$17.85/each ). If you are international, please let me know. If there are more sign-ups for overseas participants than slots, then I will run a Random Number Generator to pick. As per past tradition, if you are brand new to Mystery Ink you will have a Priority Spot!

The inks in this ink flight are dye based, not pigmented, no shimmer and not iron gall. I don’t use any of the Noodler’s Bay State inks, so there won’t be any in the ink flights I send out.

Post below if you would like to volunteer to receive a free ink flight. I will leave this open until 12 Noon PST Thursday February 3rd.

Note: Packets sent to the UK generally arrive within 13 working days. To the EU it may take much longer.

Covid-19 Precautions -- I am now fully inoculated and boosted ( 3 shots ), but for everyone's safety ink samples will be prepared using a face mask and gloves. Ink Packets will be put together with a face mask and freshly washed hands. ( Sorry, but it's impossible to use sticky tape with gloves on... )

Until then, please stay Safe and Healthy!