Fixing a broken pen nib

I got a few really low priced pens from ebay. I love that I can load several different inks all at once. I got an Iraurita pen for about $3.69. It was great for a few weeks and then the soft nib starting getting misaligned more and more. I tried to follow youtube videos for getting rid of baby's bottom on nibs. It just wasn't what I needed and the tines kept getting worse. Then I just whacked them off completely and fixed the pen to my liking. 

 I used nail clippers to get a quick blunt cut across the nib, which did away with the iridium tip. Now it's more of a stub or italic nib. I'm not sure what to call it but it works.

 When I whacked off the tip I used a wet dry sanding sponge with a fine grit to smooth the edges. I tried to keep my hand in the position I normally draw or write with so the stub would be fit to my style. In other words I didn't want to end up with a left-handed nib. That's a simple way to say it. Plus I am sure It wouldn't be perfect precision straight across. At least in my mind makes it fit my hand movements.

 I just plain like the total look of the pen. The pen matches the hardware on my phone case because it is an antique brass. The pen is small and pocket sized and easy to carry around. It is so inexpensive I wouldn't go nuts if something happened to it or it was lost. It would  just cause me to experiment more with my pens.

A video of the pen being utilized after I clipped it is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj8helYhiNE&t=70s

And next the not so relevant part of my post.
Today I went outside to take out the trash, check mail and all the things we must do. I saw a huge looking praying mantis on a fence post. I want to post the pictures here.

Just for fun this is a link to the video of the bug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QrqCNHg05A

New Fountain Pens

This week I ordered from Fountain Pen Revolution. I got 3 new pens and a free pen. I have only inked up one so far. It was the beautiful red Himalayan with the FPR Ultra Flex nib. 

 The Himalayan has chatoyancy. It is the only pen I have that has chatoyancy like a real stone.

 I got an Airmail pen with the red swirls on top and the clear body. The free pen is clear demonstrator pen. The red and clear pen in the middle is discontinued Serwex 362. The Serwex pens were under 5 dollars this past week and probably won't last, because the company making these pens is gone out of business. 

 This is the steel Ultra Flex nib on the Himalayan. 

I recently became interested in flex pens. I now have some G nibs in X750 and X450 Jinhao fountain pens. I have a Noodler's Ahab and the FPR added to my drawing pen collection. 

 The Ahab is the orange and yellow pen. The red/gold flecks is X750 Jinhao. The red with black lines in it is X450 Jinhao. The X450 nibs and feeds can fit in a X750 I recently found when I accidently washed one down a sink drain. I got a pack of 5 nibs and feeds with free converters for under 10 dollars. That's enough to repair or even make 5 pens. 

 The G nib is very pointy and long. It flexes a lot. It will make the finest line with no pressure applied. One thing about it is a little feeder hole at the point where the pen nib is coming out of the section. This area gets gummed up with ink after using it a while or on really hot days in front of the AC. I keep a small cup or vial of water nearby to rinse the nib. I can tell when it is gummed up with ink because it makes a bubble when I turn the converter to squeeze out some ink. These nibs were actually made for dip pens so they are supposed to be rinsed, dried and put away. They will rust over time. I have had mine for months and no rust yet. It is easy to get a pack of the nibs online for future repairs. The pens are easy to take apart and clean and repair. Also these pens can be bought with this nib for around 5 bucks. 

 The orange and yellow pen has the Noodler's Flex nib. I had to look on youtube for instructions to get started with this pen. I learned how to heat set the ebonite feed. I also learned I could do the same thing with plastic feeds. I put my water cup in the microwave until the water gets boiling hot. I take the nib and hold it onto the feed where it should actually fit as it would inside the pen. I use needle nose pliers to keep it held tightly and not burn my fingers. Then dip the pliers, nib, and feed into the super hot water. Hold for a minimum of 20 seconds. I put it back in the pen and test. I have had to repeat it more than once. So it is pretty messy, but I use food coloring or something that will wash away easily.

To see me draw a little flowers with the flex nibs, check out my youtube video link below

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvw3ZPBc0Bs

When I first got into fountain pens I didn't know some inks were easily washed out with water. Several years ago I even got a note from the mailman about an envelope getting hit with rain and washed out. I bought a ballpoint tool pen for everyday use. This pen is amazing. The capacitive touch tip on one end screws off and has to little electronic sized screw driver bits inside. I also bought some waterproof ink to use in everyday fountain pens too.  

 Customized a Middie Blythe yesterday. I have had her a while and she was cute enough without having a new face up. But I just had to.

 I pierced her ears and later realized the mechanism in her head that moves her eyes is leaving very little room for earrings. I usually bend the earrings slightly to keep them from falling out. So this works pretty good for my doll to wear her some fashion jewelry.

 I really can't see it in the photos but I customized her eye chips a little. 

 I carved her a little bit to make her look "younger". What I did was attempt to make her cheeks look fuller or chubby. 

 I added her some pink eyelashes.

 This is a factory Middie Blythe or what is known as the fake Blythe. She has the little mechanism in her head that makes her eyes move back and forth when you turn the wheel. 

Fountain Pen Converters

Not all fountain pen converters are alike. Today I opened the Sheaffer Viewpoint pen and realized it only had cartridges and none of my converters I own are Sheaffer's. So I took a small 1 mm disposable pipette and fitted it over the Sheaffer feed stem. Perfect. It fit. Then I took a converter with a 3.4mm opening and fit the pipette into the converter. It fit. I trimmed the pipette flush inside the converter hole. I also made sure to turn the piston till it was all the way at the bottom of the converter and not lose the plastic pipette into the converter. Then I fit the converter over the Sheaffer feed stem. It worked. I dipped the pen in my homemade ink bottle and drew up some ink with the piston. It worked.
A while back I was experimenting with some dye to see if it would make for a neutral pH ink. I learned the pH would have an influence on the dye color. I also believed that the metal content of the nib would have some play into it. Perhaps the metal did have to do with the strange colors I could get from the dye, since it was a brass nib I had. Weeks later the nib crumbled like bread in the end of the pen. But that wasn't all I did. I took some of my blue ink I made and put a small piece of 99.9% pure copper anode into the bottom of the glass bottle. The only real difference was the ink started to look more blue-green or green-blue as time went by.
Years ago I had read about the displacement of metals in solution without electrical current applied. I was fascinated, because it was kind of like plating without any electricity. It was a theory called Helmholtz Phenomenon from what I recall. The book was very old and was called Planck's Treatise on Thermodynamics. I love to read old books about plating and how it was discovered and developed in the past probably 200 years. Maybe I'm onto something, maybe not. Anyhow fountain pens are really fun to play around with. I like making up colors and experimenting with lines and nibs.
The pen is a really pretty red and doesn't cost a lot either.

Pen display making during thunderstorms in NC

I have been thinking of ways I could display pens for really cheap. I got this old poster frame for free. I just turned the poster around and put the metal clips in the front instead of behind it to give it a shadow box look. 

Next I went through some supplies thinking how can I fix pens to a picture frame. I found a couple of rolls of hook and loop tape from Harbor Freight. Right now the rolls are on sale for $6.99 and offer 35 feet per roll. It took a bit more than one roll for this huge frame. I recall the measurement across the bottom is 30 inches.
I laid some pens on the board and decided how I wanted them arranged so I could easily see the colors and choose or service the pens. I made measurements to estimate how much supplies I would need and make sure I would have enough.
I started with one row of pens and tested it out to see how I would like it and how many rows I think I could make.
At first I used Elmer's glue but it didn't hold well. So I tried Tacky glue. It worked but I tried Duco glue at the same time. It also worked as well and seemed to dry clear and not be as messy as the Tacky glue. I went with the Duco glue since I had more on-hand also. It took almost a tube of Duco glue (~5 buck at Walmart).
I rolled out the rough side of the hook and loop to bond to the board. I just thought rough surfaces bond better than smooth. Sort of dumb really because the other side is the softer velvety side of the hook and loop. I think it might have absorbed more glue. Plus the board is styrofoam inside and solvent glue could melt styrofoam. I tested the glues in an area where it would not be visible to make sure it wouldn't melt my board.
After I got the first strip of hook and loop, I started digging in my pens and sorting out what still works and what is a good pen worth keeping. I laid them down and rolled the opposite side of the hook and loop over each pen, pressing about one finger space between each one. This forms a nice stiff little loop that can expand or be pinched down to accommodate a smaller diameter pen. So it is slightly adjustable for different sized pens. I made sure to get the loop tight enough the cap or some part of the pen would prevent it from falling out. I hung it up and waited over night to make sure nothing came loose or fell down. It worked. I can now see a whole range of art supplies at once. Maybe eventually I can fill it with pretty fountain pens.
One pen is missing because I am already using it. It's my grail pen of course, a Noodler's Safety pen. I think I did this project for under 20 dollars and I enjoyed it. I think I need to stop buying pens too.

Pilot Kakuno EF fountain pen and unbranded pen comparisons

I have been collecting some nice art supplies. I was on youtube watching reviews of fountain pens and heard many times that a Chinese fine is about the same as a Japanese medium when it comes to nib sizes. I had to see it for myself. I got a pen on ebay for $1.25 with an extra fine nib. I then purchased a Pilot Kakuno with an extra fine nib. The pen and converter was about $19.50, so I threw in a little watercolor pad to get the free shipping on Jet Pens. So nice. Who doesn't love free shipping? What's the difference in the pens?

The unbranded pen looks like a Wing Sung but the logo is not on the clip as it normally is. 

Kakuno is heavy plastic that doesn't seem too fragile and so is the unbranded. The line quality and thickness is so similar I wrote a few pages with them both and really don't think I can figure out which one I used. So that mystery is solved for me. I did have trouble posting unbranded pen. When I did post it, I accidentally squirted some ink out of the feed and dripped it on my clothes. 

The Kakuno has the converter inside and has holes in the barrel that would prevent making it an eyedropper pen. This is perfectly fine for me. I have learned the hard way with Moonman eyedropper pens, which can get warm in my hand, then the air inside the pen expands. What did that do? The ink had no where to go and was pushed out through the nib and "burped" like a baby an ink blob onto my art that I had spent hours drawing. So eyedroppers are cool if I keep them full. The weird thing is everyone goes on and on about all the ink it holds, and it is really no different if you have to constantly fill it. Just my opinion. Plus I put my Noodler's sample in it and only have 2 milliliters. So I can't keep it full unless I buy some more or waste some sample trying to clean it. 

Kakuno has a very nice connector inside the barrel that connects the converter. It is nice and deep and will not allow my ink converter or cartridge to come off by accident. It looks like it wouldn't be easy to break like a cheap plastic piece either. I would not be afraid to put a Kakuno in my luggage or bag while traveling. I would not worry about it burping on my art. I would not worry about it accidentally spilling ink onto my clothes or other people's belongings on a trip. Also I don't feel I will get ink on me in public when I don't have any place to clean up and get the ink off me. The unbranded pen is still great for doing art around the house. 

One other thing some people might care about is the Kakuno don't have a clip. Not a big thing for me but it might matter to someone who loves clipping their pen to a pocket or shirt. I like to slide mine in a phone case or a plastic box just in case a leak ever happened. 

Truthfully, I love the cheap pens just because I can put any ink I want in them as long as it can wash out (not acrylic). And it protects the environment. 

 Also I noticed the little watercolor pad is sold as Fluid 100 and inside it says it is a Speedball product. And it says it is in Statesville, NC. How cool is that? Everyone really likes the demonstrator pens with the showy inks inside. Both my pens are loaded with Noodler's Blue Nose Bear ink. I am a huge fan of Noodler's pens and inks.

 I haven't taken the sticker off the Kakuno yet. It is also a bit smaller than the other pen. I favor small pens over the larger ones. They fit my hands just perfect.

Plus I got out my oversized art journal yesterday. I want to get back to filling the pages. It has all handmade pages. The book itself is hand stamped leather made in India. The book has so many pages I called it my art journal for life. It will take my whole entire life to fill this thing but it has a lot of art in it so far. 

 I took these photos just to see how well the gel pens with glitter would show in photographs. I used so many gel pens on this book I filled a recycle bin with the empties. I really couldn't find refills for those things you find in places like Sam's Club or dollar stores. But I did find some refills for gel pens online and ordered a few. My favorite gel pens are Energel but the refills are a bit pricey for a disposable cartridge. Still good pens that last a long time. Fountain pens help ease my anxiety about environmental waste and they are good on the budget too.

Mature tinies and their clothes and shoes.

I had been looking for a mature tiny bjd for a very good while. The companies that made them over the years have discontinued them and sold them out almost immediately--at least for the resin ones. I got this little Lumedoll or Lumelight doll 3rd hand. It was freezing cold outside and I pulled her out of the box. She felt like porcelain. I was scared she would break so I let her sit in my room till she got room temperature. She isn't porcelain but the resin really feels like porcelain.

The first thing I did was trade some clothes with Barbie and the WWE fashion dolls. She wears their outfits well but not shoes. The WWE dolls have bigger feet and Barbie is just too small in the feet. It's already known that WWE dolls can trade outfits with Barbie. 

I found a pair of shoes that were made by Mattel over a decade ago but I'm not sure what doll they belonged to. Maybe a Dora doll? The shoes look good, stay on with socks and she can stand without support in them. 

 Then I tried Monster High and Ever After High shoes on her. She has flat feet but can point her feet well enough that shoes don't look too bad if the toes aren't open. I put her in the little green dragon shoes and they look good. Plus she can stand in these. Other shoes fit but it was obvious they were the wrong shoe for her because she is flat footed. I did see that I can buy some ABS feet for her size on ebay and may actually try that out. The problem is that the dolls feet are not hooked in and I will have to completely restring her to get new feet on her. She is loosely strung right now but poses well, so I don't really get concerned about it. 

Then I had these little Project MC2 doll shoes to put on her. They fit like a glove but wouldn't come off. 

 I had to take an X-Acto knife to open up the slits in the back of her boots for her. 

I promised myself this is the very last doll I will be getting. I just had it in my head for so long that I wanted a doll that is like Barbie only resin.