writing gadgets

Well, maybe not 99 but I'm getting there. I took it as a project to decant the inks from their bottles into 50ml test tubes for storage. Takes up less space, makes it easier to find any specific ink (because the racks can be cataloged), and safer (presuming the plastic doesn't crack like glass can shatter). Inks  as of 2018_12_26. Note that in the album link the first two pics are of the empty bottles (well, mostly empty, 6 bottles still have ink; 4 are Scribes' Inks documents (permanent so they seem to stain the plastic 5ml vials), 1 is Noodler's (need more large test tubes) and 1 is Akkerman (decanting that may take some time)). The next two pics are the 50ml test tubes the inks now reside in. The last two pics are the samples I keep at my desk. The first are samples from purchased inks while the second are the samples I've acquired from online/local stores. There is no significance to the yellow labels, they are just more flexible and do not require a littl...

What a day! Seven bottles of ink and two pens arrived. This covers six bottles of Diamine (Blood Orange, Regency Blue, Golden Honey, Burgundy Royale, Tropical Green, Dark Forest), one bottle of Akkerman (Delfts Blauw), Pilot Custom Heritage 92 (piston filler), and the Conid Regular Bulkfiller. The two pens will be covered in separate postings. For now this is just a group pic and some things moved around and unboxed. I know, based on some other ink reviews I've seen, I'll be getting a couple more bottles of the Akkerman; shocking blue and probably crimson. The bottle for Akkerman is rather unique; the ink resides in the bottom and the upper neck contains a marble that cuts off that part. The idea is you turn the bottle upside-down, fill the neck with ink, right the bottle and the marble seals the upper neck so you can refill the pen from the neck section. Clever! These bottles come in 2 sizes; 60ml (standard line) and 120ml (Dutch Masters line). Anyway, enjoy the pics! New P...

Part of the Four Seasons collection of Pelikan's I'm working on. The last pic shows the entire flight. The first four pens in that pic are 'technically' my season pens (winter, summer, spring, autumn) but I would like the set to be matched (all M600, all vibrant colors (I really like the cracked celluloid look)) so this is a work in progress. Only two to go (need vibrant blue (is out there but M800/5) and vibrant red (no idea if such a beast exists)).  Still, I have a representative pen for each season. Pelikan Souveran M600 Vibrant Green

This is part of my migration to an all piston-filler lineup for my main pens. I have liked the Sailor cartridge/converter pens I have used so this will replace them. The design and size of this pen is close to a Montblanc 149. If folks are interested I can start keeping track of the stats. Drop me a line at my email if you are interested. I chose this pic only because it was the pen close to the red color it shows. I'll probably shoot this pen again. The issue, which is much more prominent on another photo shoot, was my testing the 'night sight' mode on the Pixel 2XL. I keep debating with getting a real camera but I suspect my lighting issues will be resolved with a couple of small, tabletop lights. So, off to Amazon I go. All of that is just to indicate that a few albums will have some 'night sight' shots that I will try to fix. Since the numbers are so small I'll just shoot those pics again.  Sailor 1911 Realo

Picked up this month only because I have a thing for demonstrator pens. Normally the clear view of the contents is nifty but the most exciting thing to see is in this one is the cartridge/converter. Still, demos are cool. Once I flush the ink from this cartridge and replace it with something nicer it will look better. Kaweco Sport Demonstrator

First up will be the Parker Sonnet. I really wanted to like this pen. Simple and somewhat understated. But as the pictures will show, the feed was in atrocious condition (I have no idea if this was at the time of sale or not) and that may have contributed to the poor performance of the pen. On the other hand, when I replaced the feed and reinked the pen the results didn't improve. So maybe I need to work on the nib? Maybe it is just crap? I have nicer pens. I don't care anymore. phhhhbt! Parker Sonnet