back from the holidays

Two weeks, and I mean two whole weeks of doing nothing but relax. The place isn't anything exotic or fancy, just the regular family house in the countryside, and old farm really, but I'm grateful for it. I took long walks in the woods, had too many cups of tea and painted a little... now it's hard to think about getting back to work!

Check my Flickr stream in a few days for the scans of the stuff I painted.

Goodness inside

Usually when people think about Nutella don't think about ink at all, but I'm weird so...



When a co-worker gave me a tiny 30g replica of the famous jar of sweet spread I had to know where I could get more, turns out sets of three mini jars are only sold during holidays so for Easter I hoarded some sets.



They are great for keeping ink! The lid screws tidily, thick food-grade plastic so there aren't many chances it might react with some ink, the jar is quite capacious, the plastic is clear so I can check for precipitations in mixtures, nearly perfect I'd say!

I don't really like sweet stuff that much, the things I do for the sake of pens...

pen guts

I received a Waterman 52 today.

So far I've managed to open it without much drama and I'm carefully removing the remains of the perished bladder, I'm feeling a little like an archaeologist checking the innards of a mummy.

I can't decide if I like more the thrill of restoring a pen to former glory or the excitement of the first time the inked nib touches the paper, with many of my pens one feeling is often followed by the other, so I'm up for an emotional roller-coaster with this pen.

In Italian the word "pen" (penna) is grammatically feminine so I often use endearments for vintage pens, like old ladies, because they might be old but they deserve some respect for being still around after so many years!

little quiz

For all the pens/art supplies addicts out there: what is this?



During lunch break I stopped by one of the smallest but best stationery store in town, I was chatting with the owner when she showed me this item and I couldn't believe my eyes! It had to come home with me!

The vial is very small, 5,5 cm or 2,4 made of glass with a rubber stopper but the container doesn't really matter though it's nice, what it's really special it's what is inside.
I'm pondering about getting another one so I can use it without regrets.

So, what do you think it is? :)

16 june 2010

The pens in my pencil case at work this week (sorry for the photo, taken with my mobile)


Fountain pens for work and mechanical pencils with pocket brush pen for sketching ;)

Lamy Safari XF nib filled with a dyi burgundy mix
Pelikan M150 M nib filled with Noodler's Prime of The Commons
Eversharp Skyline XF nib filled with dyi Noodler's olive green mix
Mabie Todd Blackbird (just finished restoring the other day) M nib filled with J Herbin's Bleu Nuit

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
Pentel F.357 (multi pen with 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7mm leads all in one)
Muji pen/pencil duo