What did ya do today?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Getting new ink always lifted my spirits. What color?

Blue

Played with ink today, got some hangers for the string trimmers and whatnot, and dedicated a spot in the shop for that stuff.

Contemplating the idea of a Commonplace Book.

Cool. I tried doing a Commonplace book… then I looked at examples and got both inspired and intimidated.

[dneal]

Woke up to snow this morning, although nothing of account.

Still, used it as an excuse to sit inside a warm house and drink coffee all day.

[Sailor Kenshin]

So I was looking at a thread on FPN (The Tyranny of Choice, about Too Many Inks), and whining about that very thing. What did I do? Woke restless at 0dark30, rummaged through inks, filled six pens in addition to the six that were already filled.

These were all inks from last year's InkVent. The first filled pen was a Waterman Kultur. It immediately spewed its entire load of Garland into the cap. Shame on Waterman. I've had two-dollar Chinese pens behave better.

There followed four Nemosines with Harmony, Garland, Copper, can't remember fourth color, and a Jinhao Shark fude with Nightshade.

So much for tyranny of choice.

[dneal]

Got a sterling Aurora from another here, making a trifecta of this pen style.

I lightly buffed the body with a flannel silver cloth, chose the best of the 3 nibs (I had one in particular in mind), and popped in a cartridge of Aurora Blue-Black.

There's nothing not to like, and actually the first time I've used that ink.

A fine day.

[dneal]

Watched a ruby-red sunrise amongst lavender clouds.

[Chrissy]

What to do today:
Today I plan to sit, watch and count all of the wild birds visiting my garden for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Have been preparing by cleaning out and refilling all of my feeders. Fingers crossed my regulars will visit.
At 4pm GMT here I plan to join a morning Zoom meet for a US pen club.

[Sailor Kenshin]

It's too early for today's report, but yesterday there was the usual cooking/cleaning, plus picking up sticks, and a heavy wooden picnic table (ow).

I had a Jinhao Shark loaded with InkVent Nightshade, but it wasn't going well. Then I discovered a leak into the section. Shark's in pen sick bay, and Nightshade is now in a nice gushy Pelikano Jr.

[countrydirt]

Exciting Saturday around here. Laundry and dishes then off to brunch with my honey.


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[Dougc]

Took big risks on Friday the 13th, and finally got this Conway Stewart running well. It started out (typically) drying up after a paragraph or two, only to near gush when it reprimed itself. The problem was that not enough air was returning to the reservoir.

That ebonite feed above has a wider channel to allow more air, but just tamed it enough to reduce it to a saturated/faint sort of surging. Part of the problem was that there's no breather hole in the nib, but the truth is that the feed simply isn't long enough. Hmmm... what to do?

The nib/feed holder has a molded portion where the nib goes, and a "stop" that will only let it go in so far. Since I can't lengthen the feed, I shortened the nib. I took just under 2mm off the end, and now when everything is inserted properly the end of the feed lands closer to the tip. Where the "M" size marking used to be visible, it's now just under the edge of the section. Since it's ebonite, it's heat-set properly too. Flow regulation and consistence corrected.

Still a little to broad for me, and I'll likely regrind it.

Ooh, it reverse writes too! First time I ever bothered smoothing that side. Maybe I'll grind a stub and leave the reverse writing portion.

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And I'm still experimenting with videos... Maybe I should review this pen.

Is this one you got from me? I never had issues.
I wonder if it was the weird angle I use.

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[dneal]

My son's birthday. Had BBQ for lunch, he did laundry, wife made brownies.

Protip: some crumbled up brownie, cut up banana, and 3 dollops of vanilla greek yogurt. Mmmmm.

[dneal]

Worked on 3 guitar studies. Two I knew from muscle memory, one not so much. Sor, Carulli and Sagreras.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Stayed up to watch The KC Chiefs over the Cincinnatti Bengals. Exciting game! People were talking about it in the supermarket.

After numerous tries, different inks, different converters, I gave up on a Jinhao Shark. My work is done.

[countrydirt]

With a high of 12 F and about 3 inches of snow on the ground, I filled the birdfeeder for the freeloading sparrows and finches and retreated to the warmth of the house. Oh and started playing around with the mystery inks.

[dneal]

20 and gray here - typical January.

Got out and bought some notebooks, but otherwise meandered back and forth between the house and the shop.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Watched a snow flurry. It's gone now. Too much cooking/cleaning. Now staring out window and wondering which pen to use today for a letter.

[countrydirt]

My group of retired musician friends got together for the first time since early December to play a little old timey stuff and limber up our unused singing voices.

[Sailor Kenshin]

My group of retired musician friends got together for the first time since early December to play a little old timey stuff and limber up our unused singing voices.

Fantastic.

As a kid I had lessons in piano, violin, viola. Used to be able to read music. Last year I bought a lap steel guitar (why?). I can't even tune it. Also a viola, but at least I can get a sound from it.

[countrydirt]

My group of retired musician friends got together for the first time since early December to play a little old timey stuff and limber up our unused singing voices.

Fantastic.

As a kid I had lessons in piano, violin, viola. Used to be able to read music. Last year I bought a lap steel guitar (why?). I can't even tune it. Also a viola, but at least I can get a sound from it.

I've been hacking at a guitar for probably 18 years. I also tried banjo for a while but mainly work with the mandolin now along with singing harmony. I've been blessed to have some really great musical mentors and friends that help and encourage.

[countrydirt]

My "honey" and I met for coffee this morning and then got together later for cake and strawberries. That's a pretty good day in my books!

[dneal]

A lot of this lately.

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