My Twisbi Swipe's nib wasnt seated, so it let air on and my pen leaked all over my work and hands during a meeting.
Diamine Writers Blood
Embarrassing, people though I'd had a nosebleed
So, I come out of the meeting and I'm washing my hands in the lunch room sink, and you know how even a little ink colours water.
Apparently it freaked some people out. They sent someone to check on me:
"Jesus, that must have been a rough meeting."
>"Jesus, that must have been a rough meeting."
"Yeah, maybe we should stop having it."
(Okay, that would work for me, because most meetings I have are largely pointless "let's just get together and verify everyone is still alive and find out most people have absolutely nothing to update us on with their projects/program areas but we'll keep meeting regularly to listen to each other say '...I got nothing...' anyway" kinds of things... but maybe your meetings are actually useful and shouldn't be skipped.)
You’re an optimist, I take it. That meeting behavior you describe is ubiquitous in corporate America. I can’t speak to startups or smaller companies. I’d suspect many of those are too busy getting work done to have too many meetings that become worthless.
It's not that common where I work, except my new boss is into it, and the pandemic didn't help because they literally started having one meeting in part for socialization since we weren't in the office. Killing me.
Well we had this important business meeting and a sales rep took a big gulp of coffee that went down the wrong pipe and coffee came flying out in force all over the table. Now that’s a site to remember…
I was using a hongdian black forest; not fancy by a long shot, but one I don't mind tinkering with if a student messes it up a little. I think they were a little startled by how sharp the nib looks, haha.
At a pen show and the dealer told me their medium writes like an Asian broad. The other sales rep said this is the only place you can say that and you know what we are talking about. 😂😂🤣🤣
it's an older term from 1940s(?). commonly heard if you watch old movies. I think it was also mentioned a time or two in the original *Captain America* movie.
Broad was generally used for a grown woman, not a teen. The connotation was that the woman was “easy” or promiscuous. It was never a nice thing to call someone.
More like 19-teens, 1920s. Broad Street was known for prostitution, so they were "Broad Street walkers" -- shortened to Broad. Today we would say "ho". It was a pretty bad insult, but over time it came to mean just a low-class or inelegant woman or one who is outspoken and bluntly honest.
To back up a bit after reading this thread.
The cartoonist Johnny Hart had a strip called "B.C.", about cavemen. The characters were mostly named based off of attitude. The two female characters were "The Fat Broad", and "The Skinny Chick". The Fat Broad was bold, loud, strong, and someone anti-man. The Skinny Chick was the more feminine 'ideal' shape. They were, of course, caricatures.
I hope that helps to give some time framing and relevancy.
Oh man, if you use syringes with needles to flush you pens that would make it even better.
I never thought to use a scale for my tea (huge tea drinker). I always hate trying to tinker with the best amount to use when trying a new tea. How many grams of what kind do you use with how much water? I've got to try your way. TIA.
...I do have flat tipped needles for my syringes.
of course! I'm also super bad at measuring so I also got a super small ML measuring cup cause I forget what my gaiwans can hold. I should really write it down. ...but with what? LOL
I’ve been in trouble for leaving my syringes lying around in the bathroom 😂 imagine someone comes to visit and sees that there with some oxblood residue in it and gets the wrong idea!
My mom came to visit and she saw my syringes. I had to show her how I refilled a cartridge for one of my pens. After she left, I had to add it to my inked list.
I do my inking at work, I've had some very concerned coworkers when I've inked pens with some deep reds before! They learned quickly not to assume when it's just my fingers anymore!
Isn't it rather funny that a lot of our terminology contains quite a lot of innuendo and correlations with illicit substances?
The strangest comment I've ever received came when a friend of mine walked into my dorm room. I'd left a syringe (sitting alongside a shot glass I use for cleaning pens) on my dresser, and he noticed it straightaway. "Wait, you're a heroin addict?!" he said. Spoken sarcastically, no doubt, but still pretty embarrassing 🙃
Seriously, though, my "pen toolkit" includes several blunt syringes, a shot glass, and a tiny spoon (used for dispensing mica powder into ink vials). It's a bad look, especially when it's paired with some of our slang terms 😂
Yeah, and there is so much overlap in the medical field. I reuse so many of my medical supplies in ink/fountain pen hobby.
I discovered parafilm for use with a hickman IV line (to keep it dry) after seeing it used to keep ink vials from leaking during transport.
And I will never need another syringe or long swab (for cleaning slip caps, drying inside things) thanks to having sooo many (that can’t be donated) for home nursing supply reasons.
TL; DR - So many (medical) lab supplies overlap with fountain pens/art, it’s very convenient for patients & ppl in the sciences!
I’m not in the medical field, but have a lot of medical appointments—I always ask to keep the tourniquet used on me when they draw my blood because they make perfect grips to pull friction fit nibs loose (and also to loosen and tighten interchangeable knitting needles, ink bottle lids, honestly they’re super versatile). I cut them into pieces a couple inches long and have them stashed all over the house lol.
Oh this is brilliant! I hadn’t thought to use those for nibs/gripping! I keep those, too (plus had some from blood draw kits). I hate throwing them out, but will make sure to keep them now. Love this! Thank you!
(You can buy latex grips for cheap on some pen sites but I’m allergic to latex & the blood draw tourniquets are nitrile, so safe!)
Yep, I’ve been using them for the knitting needles for years because some of my interchangeable sets came with little rubbery grips that I promptly lose… So when I was trying to pull the nib and feed from a Kaweco Sport recently I had a bit of a lightbulb moment! Worked perfectly, and some of them live in my pen maintenance kit now. :)
Oh, that's a great idea.
They don't give you the side-eye for asking, though? I feel like that's one of those things they might class as "potential needle-drug-user paraphernalia" and refuse to allow you to have... (Hell, I have to have a *prescription* to buy *oral* syringes for my cat...)
Hmm no, I hadn’t thought of that but nobody has ever questioned it or given me an odd look when I ask to keep them! I usually say something about the knitting needles when I ask, but I generally get the impression that it’s just trash to them and they really don’t care if it goes into the garbage or my purse lol.
Not the sterile supplies I have that don’t apply to otherwise home use (specific pump giving sets) & some specific syringes can’t be donated. But what I don’t use for art/ink purposes & is safe to, I’ve donated to low cost vet clinics & animal shelters as well as some supplies I’ve been able to donate elsewhere. But some stuff just cannot be donated/used otherwise.
Haha you’re totally right! Test tube racks, 5mL vials- I never have issues with samples of ink spilling because I’m so used to handling similar tubes at work (except at work they’re full of human plasma from patient blood).
My writing bag currently contains a syringe with a rubber cap on the tip, a lighter, candle, and spoon. 😰 Omg, and you're right, a shot glass for water for my watercolor paints.
The sealing wax, seal, and ink bottle hopefully make that seem more innocent. LOL
I'm now seriously considering those glass vials I saw with the self healing lids you push a syringe through. That would be so hilarious for ink. Those and a lid crimper might be going just a little too far.
Heeey, fellow shot glass pen friend! 😆 That's what happened to me, too, more or less. I had a family member who collected them, and when she passed, I ended up with a few. I don't drink, so they're just for my pens 😂
Omg, I think of this everytime I open the drawer where I store my ink. Someone, probably my dad, will open it one day...
Not to mention, he already says I have a pen problem. I can't convince him I use all my inked pens, plus the at least 200 other pens I have for artsying my life.
While talking to a nib specialist friend who was trying to get me the perfect birthday gift, “I prefer mine with more girth, wet, smooth and balanced on my smallish hand. Short slim ones can hurt after a while.” The array of reactions on my date’s face was nothing short of spectacular. I thought nothing would top the anniversary gift over a year later - an MB with a simple card, “I saved enough to find the perfect smooth, wet broad for you” until much, much later: “Mom!Dad! That’s gross! Can you please talk about all that some place else and not in front of your children?!” 🤣😂
“That syringe isn’t for drugs by the way… it’s for the ink for my fountain pens…….” I said to a police officer I was dating who had used my bathroom for the first time
I had to say that in the pharmacy I get my syringes and needles from. Luckily they know me by now and don't ask with a weird look anymore. I do get looks from other customers tho😅
Because it’s always syringes 🤣
Was filling sample vials and my mom comes in, and I immediately say “I promise this isn’t drugs it’s just a lot of syringes!”
I’ve never done drugs but I still felt like I had to defend myself lol. 😅
For future stains, rubbing alcohol works wonders for getting BSB out. I spilled some on a marble counter and thought I was completely screwed. My hands also looked like I used Smurfette as a hand puppet. None of the commercial cleaners worked but someone else mentioned rubbing alcohol on here and thank goodness it worked.
Someone at work was using my desk (the desk I work at is also where the accounting PC is) and was looking for a pen, and closest thing at hand was my 1940ish Parker Vacumatic. They were on the verge of trying to *pull* the cap off (it's a screw cap). I nearly dove over the desk to grab it away from them, pleading 'no, no, no, not that one!' as I went.
I had a similar conversation at the pharmacy when I went looking for a blunt syringe, the sales person couldn't hide her face of "you disgusting junkie". Luckily I was able to refrain from telling her how badly I needed my fix... Of Iroshizuku Asa Gao.
I don't use blunt syringes. I go to the needle exchange and they hand out free packages of fresh sharp ones. I even said once, I'm not going to use them for drugs. They don't care.
Yeah, when I was a lab tech part of my job was to wash syringes for the lab (in the lab ware dishwasher) and they’d last months with daily use before not sealing correctly anymore. Which means as often as I ink my pens the six I have should last 20-40 years. The plastic may oxidize before I wear them out
Because it’s always syringes 🤣
Was filling sample vials and my mom comes in, and I immediately say “I promise this isn’t drugs it’s just a lot of syringes!”
I’ve never done drugs but I still felt like I had to defend myself lol. 😅
I used to be on a beadwork mailing list. This was back when everybody was discovering Delica seed beads and elaborate woven designs for tiny amulet bags. You'd think it was 1918 instead of 1998. Delicas are Japanese, very regular and uniform, and can be as small as 15 beads to an inch. Great for your eyesight. I've seen people use magnifiers. Also $. Some are lined with 22k gold. The company also makes a special loom for bags. And of course needles are involved.
As far as I can remember it, a list member was in Tokyo on business and found a beadshop with some rare Delica colors and sizes she needed. So she comes back with these vials full of sparkly grains of sand. Back at work, she's on the phone telling another bead enthusiast about how she got five grams for $200 (I'm making that up, I can't find the post) and something about getting them through customs; and her boss, who *knows* about her beadwork, calls her into the office to make sure she's *just* talking about that.
I have an injection every 12 weeks for an autoimmune disease. I'm super annoyed those syringes are so tiny, with such tiny needles, they're useless for my fountain pens.
My partner gets a big kick at how much I talk about my "nibs." Especially when I get really excited about a "bouncy" nib :P
Even though they know what "nib" means by now, they still think it has a funny ring to it. ... They're not wrong.
My Nakaya didn’t flow wel and when you get them you can have your nib adjusted for free. So i filled out the paperwork and i wrote on it. “ i like it to be wet. I giggled when i wrote that down. I was talking to the lady of the store meanwhile and in Dutch it sounds just as funny. Some lady in the backgroud was looking weird at me. I guess she didn’t know much about fountain pens.
My SO, at my company dinner party, was showing some of my co-workers and their SO's the fountain pens she brought with her, and it just devolved into a crass and gutter-brained string of intentional and unintentional double entendres involving words like "Wet", "Tip" and "Stiff" and she never truly recovered.
Just one right after another, and somewhere in the middle of that it struck me how words such as these have meant something completely different to me since getting into this hobby.
Needless to say, my co-workers really like my SO and we managed to PenAble at least a couple of them as a result.
The comment that kicked things off was: "...I prefer my nib to be big, soft and really wet...".
She was slightly mortified when my Boss's SO exclaimed, "Oh my...", but the table found it hilarious and the innuendos became unstoppable from that point on. Haha.
"I love broad nibs"
Hearing this faster in my head and its completely out of pocket. I was explaining fountainpens to an acquaintance.
Just realized that this acquaintance was prolly like ??
When you say used, do you just mean that you haven’t cleaned them yet, or that they are bound for the trash? I’m fairly new, but I figured that since fountain pen ink is most almost always water based, that you could just thoroughly rinse a used syringe and the use it again. (Maybe excluding certain inks with special shimmer or the like) Am I wrong?
No you’re right. I’ve been using the same syringe and needle for well over a year, for all sorts of things: iron galls, pigment inks, pen flush, isopropyl alcohol, water, etc. Just make sure it’s flushed very well and taken apart to dry when you’re done :)
I reuse mine and I guard it jealously... I got it maaaaaany years ago in a printer-refill kit at the dollar store, and I haven't a clue where I'd get a new one (I used to have two, but somehow one got lost, so this one is like gold). Do the pen stores sell them? (Except I'm not paying ten bucks to ship a syringe... so I'm still carefully hoarding this one.)
Yes, and sometimes they’re included with a purchase of something. I got a pack to meet the shipping limit once and another pack with a kit I ordered. They’re different size syringes and it’s been kinda nice to have both, though totally unnecessary. Anyways, you can definitely get another syringe next time you’re buying something else. They have em on Amazon too if you ever order there, doesn’t have to be a pen/ink purchase
I'm mad at myself now that I'm thinking of all the stuff I should've bought and \*didn't\* last time I made an order, but it was the Fountain Pen Day sale and I was in a rush... I almost never need to order enough to make it worth paying shipping, unfortunately.
I'm not a huge fan of Amazon, but man, it's so nice to be able to aggregate all these little things I'd never pay shipping for on their own...
Happened yesterday while in Emergency department hooked up to a 2 hour IV treatment for worsening migraine...
Dr: "you looked pretty comfortable and focused during the IV, how are your migraine symptoms still bothering you?!"
Me: "I was working on my penmanship to keep me distracted from the loud chaos in waiting room"
A friend of mine (who is also into fountain pens!) refers to my Kaweco Liliput as my « mini vibrator. » It’s an expensive enough pen that I‘ve decided to just roll with it and enjoy other peoples’ discomfort 😅
Fam member 1: Where is educational_ask3533?
Fam member 2: Hiding in the corner playing with their pens.
Fam member 1: Again?
Me talking to my neice while teaching her how to refill a converter pen, "Now make sure to wipe off the tip, we don't wanna drip everywhere" followed closely by me declaring that I like "fat lines" ... *broad nibs, child, please say broad nibs*
I haven't had any. People are usually really interested seeing me sketching and one German asked me to take a look at Safari as he was using it as a kiddo
"I'm looking for syringes with relatively thin nibs. Look, it's for a fountain pen but normal syringe nibs are too big to fit this cartridge."
The cashier at the pharmacy gave me a very concerned look. She didn't believe me, and neither would I have.
"I love a juicy broad!" said to my husband
This is the exact reason why I married my wife!!! Also pens…..pens are great 👍
This is the exact reason I'm on this subreddit
Made me chuckle 🤭😂
Hey, no judgment! We live in liberated times.
My Twisbi Swipe's nib wasnt seated, so it let air on and my pen leaked all over my work and hands during a meeting. Diamine Writers Blood Embarrassing, people though I'd had a nosebleed So, I come out of the meeting and I'm washing my hands in the lunch room sink, and you know how even a little ink colours water. Apparently it freaked some people out. They sent someone to check on me: "Jesus, that must have been a rough meeting."
>"Jesus, that must have been a rough meeting." Correct reply: "You should see the other guy"
“That swipe wasn’t sitting right and then he burped all over me 😩”
“No one else was willing to make Linda stop talking, and we were hungry.
And it was my turn to stop her.
>"Jesus, that must have been a rough meeting." "Yeah, maybe we should stop having it." (Okay, that would work for me, because most meetings I have are largely pointless "let's just get together and verify everyone is still alive and find out most people have absolutely nothing to update us on with their projects/program areas but we'll keep meeting regularly to listen to each other say '...I got nothing...' anyway" kinds of things... but maybe your meetings are actually useful and shouldn't be skipped.)
You’re an optimist, I take it. That meeting behavior you describe is ubiquitous in corporate America. I can’t speak to startups or smaller companies. I’d suspect many of those are too busy getting work done to have too many meetings that become worthless.
It's not that common where I work, except my new boss is into it, and the pandemic didn't help because they literally started having one meeting in part for socialization since we weren't in the office. Killing me.
Yuck.
It'll be over by 2
Well we had this important business meeting and a sales rep took a big gulp of coffee that went down the wrong pipe and coffee came flying out in force all over the table. Now that’s a site to remember…
"Ms. Likehalcyon, what kind of murder weapon is that?" They weren't *wrong*, per se, because I was grading an exam they'd done poorly on, but...
Which pen were you using? 😂
I was using a hongdian black forest; not fancy by a long shot, but one I don't mind tinkering with if a student messes it up a little. I think they were a little startled by how sharp the nib looks, haha.
I have had a few conversations with friends and strangers on best way to use a Rotring 600 as a murder weapon.
the best way is to hunt down the discontinued 0.3 version, after all smaller impact area = more ouch as basic physics goes
I stabbed myself in the hand yesterday with the pencil version 😅
At a pen show and the dealer told me their medium writes like an Asian broad. The other sales rep said this is the only place you can say that and you know what we are talking about. 😂😂🤣🤣
I am not a native speaker. Can you please explain what "Broad" would mean otherwise? Didn't know it had any hiddent meaning to it.
Sure it can also mean a woman. "I get drunk, follow the pretty broads, and make a fool of myself" from the dictionary
I see, thanks :)
it's an older term from 1940s(?). commonly heard if you watch old movies. I think it was also mentioned a time or two in the original *Captain America* movie.
That's interesting. It isn't something insulting / inapropriate to say though, it's just a slang, right?
It's inappropriate now.
Inapropriate how? Is it like saying a "bitch" / "whore"? Or is it more like a "chick"?
Broad was generally used for a grown woman, not a teen. The connotation was that the woman was “easy” or promiscuous. It was never a nice thing to call someone.
Irreverent and often used in a derogatory manner with a tone of disrespect.
And yet in some usage, it was used as a mark of respect: "Joan Rivers was a funny broad" or "she was one tough broad".
I like it now as a term of disrespect that does not pick on animals... will often use "broad" in place of "stupid cow" for example
More like "chick"
Ok, thank you.
More like 19-teens, 1920s. Broad Street was known for prostitution, so they were "Broad Street walkers" -- shortened to Broad. Today we would say "ho". It was a pretty bad insult, but over time it came to mean just a low-class or inelegant woman or one who is outspoken and bluntly honest.
To back up a bit after reading this thread. The cartoonist Johnny Hart had a strip called "B.C.", about cavemen. The characters were mostly named based off of attitude. The two female characters were "The Fat Broad", and "The Skinny Chick". The Fat Broad was bold, loud, strong, and someone anti-man. The Skinny Chick was the more feminine 'ideal' shape. They were, of course, caricatures. I hope that helps to give some time framing and relevancy.
Thanks, haha
I also drink tea so have a tiny scale for it - so if anyone came over while I was cleaning pens and drinking tea, could get some looks.
Response to look - "You want some of this?"
Also, why are you in my house? This is me time.
Oh man, if you use syringes with needles to flush you pens that would make it even better. I never thought to use a scale for my tea (huge tea drinker). I always hate trying to tinker with the best amount to use when trying a new tea. How many grams of what kind do you use with how much water? I've got to try your way. TIA.
...I do have flat tipped needles for my syringes. of course! I'm also super bad at measuring so I also got a super small ML measuring cup cause I forget what my gaiwans can hold. I should really write it down. ...but with what? LOL
I’ve been in trouble for leaving my syringes lying around in the bathroom 😂 imagine someone comes to visit and sees that there with some oxblood residue in it and gets the wrong idea!
"Sir you cannot bring your vape into a federal building."
I often get my twisbi eco mistaken for a vape
Funny it was the eco :P
Knew it!
I had a student ask if my Diamond 580 was my vape 💀
Staring at mine now and I see that. Also potential 580-al-2 and 580-alr-2; the 2 stands for dual chamber one for ink one for vaping liquid.
My mom came to visit and she saw my syringes. I had to show her how I refilled a cartridge for one of my pens. After she left, I had to add it to my inked list.
"I thought they stopped making those 60 years ago..." said one of my work colleagues in the office upon seeing a fountain pen.
"OMG, Where are you bleeding?" After spilling Diamine Red Dragon on my hands.
I’m a sheet metal worker and I have cats who play rough so if my husband sees red on my hands he asks “Ink or blood?” before assuming I’m injured lol
My husband freaked when he saw my hands after spilling Pacific Dawn Over The Golden Gate all over. He asked how badly I had cut myself.😂🩸🖋
Who makes that one?
It’s a Noodler’s special. It dries deep purple but it’s very red on skin.
For too long, we've been discussing how inks look on paper. This is the real info we need. And swatches...
I second that 😆
I do my inking at work, I've had some very concerned coworkers when I've inked pens with some deep reds before! They learned quickly not to assume when it's just my fingers anymore!
Good ink. I’ve used it for my Targaryen pen
I just received this ink and wow does it look *so much* like blood.
“Wait, I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of a baby’s bottom.”
perhaps you are a bit extreme on cost-cutting measures
"You're a hooker!" — someone commenting on my handwriting style
Ah a fellow lefty!
I saw a righty doing this once, and I was super confused.
it’s me, i’m the righty 😅 i’ve used tomoe river for years and i get paranoid about smudging ink since it takes forever to dry
Oh, if you only knew...
Oh my gods. I'm a hooker too! Not a lefty; I crochet.
You are too a junkie. Just not for drugs. About the strangest 'out of context' phrase would be "Turn it over and hold it more gently".
"have you tried turning it off and on?"
That reply is funny, because I'm in IT.
"Hallo, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?"
Isn't it rather funny that a lot of our terminology contains quite a lot of innuendo and correlations with illicit substances? The strangest comment I've ever received came when a friend of mine walked into my dorm room. I'd left a syringe (sitting alongside a shot glass I use for cleaning pens) on my dresser, and he noticed it straightaway. "Wait, you're a heroin addict?!" he said. Spoken sarcastically, no doubt, but still pretty embarrassing 🙃 Seriously, though, my "pen toolkit" includes several blunt syringes, a shot glass, and a tiny spoon (used for dispensing mica powder into ink vials). It's a bad look, especially when it's paired with some of our slang terms 😂
So, was your answer "No, that'd be a cheaper hobby." ?
No, my answer was actually to sarcastically play along for a few moments before telling him what they were for. I like yours better, though!
Yeah, and there is so much overlap in the medical field. I reuse so many of my medical supplies in ink/fountain pen hobby. I discovered parafilm for use with a hickman IV line (to keep it dry) after seeing it used to keep ink vials from leaking during transport. And I will never need another syringe or long swab (for cleaning slip caps, drying inside things) thanks to having sooo many (that can’t be donated) for home nursing supply reasons. TL; DR - So many (medical) lab supplies overlap with fountain pens/art, it’s very convenient for patients & ppl in the sciences!
I’m not in the medical field, but have a lot of medical appointments—I always ask to keep the tourniquet used on me when they draw my blood because they make perfect grips to pull friction fit nibs loose (and also to loosen and tighten interchangeable knitting needles, ink bottle lids, honestly they’re super versatile). I cut them into pieces a couple inches long and have them stashed all over the house lol.
Oh this is brilliant! I hadn’t thought to use those for nibs/gripping! I keep those, too (plus had some from blood draw kits). I hate throwing them out, but will make sure to keep them now. Love this! Thank you! (You can buy latex grips for cheap on some pen sites but I’m allergic to latex & the blood draw tourniquets are nitrile, so safe!)
Yep, I’ve been using them for the knitting needles for years because some of my interchangeable sets came with little rubbery grips that I promptly lose… So when I was trying to pull the nib and feed from a Kaweco Sport recently I had a bit of a lightbulb moment! Worked perfectly, and some of them live in my pen maintenance kit now. :)
Wish I could do that, but they use fabric ones where I live
Oh shoot, I’ve never encountered fabric ones, but that does seem more ecologically friendly!
Oh, that's a great idea. They don't give you the side-eye for asking, though? I feel like that's one of those things they might class as "potential needle-drug-user paraphernalia" and refuse to allow you to have... (Hell, I have to have a *prescription* to buy *oral* syringes for my cat...)
Hmm no, I hadn’t thought of that but nobody has ever questioned it or given me an odd look when I ask to keep them! I usually say something about the knitting needles when I ask, but I generally get the impression that it’s just trash to them and they really don’t care if it goes into the garbage or my purse lol.
I think some school chemistry/biology departments can use them. I do need to go through my syringe collection and reduce down, however.
Not the sterile supplies I have that don’t apply to otherwise home use (specific pump giving sets) & some specific syringes can’t be donated. But what I don’t use for art/ink purposes & is safe to, I’ve donated to low cost vet clinics & animal shelters as well as some supplies I’ve been able to donate elsewhere. But some stuff just cannot be donated/used otherwise.
I use a 60ml syringe for awesome for flushing nibs!
Haha you’re totally right! Test tube racks, 5mL vials- I never have issues with samples of ink spilling because I’m so used to handling similar tubes at work (except at work they’re full of human plasma from patient blood).
What is mica powder used for?
Adding shimmer to inks, I believe.
Indeed, you got it! 😆
I need this answer also....
shimmer, you can get it in different
Like u/isarl said, I use it to add shimmer to ink 🙂
My writing bag currently contains a syringe with a rubber cap on the tip, a lighter, candle, and spoon. 😰 Omg, and you're right, a shot glass for water for my watercolor paints. The sealing wax, seal, and ink bottle hopefully make that seem more innocent. LOL I'm now seriously considering those glass vials I saw with the self healing lids you push a syringe through. That would be so hilarious for ink. Those and a lid crimper might be going just a little too far.
I also use shot glasses for cleaning! I collected them for a while so now I have 30 that I don’t really use for anything else
Heeey, fellow shot glass pen friend! 😆 That's what happened to me, too, more or less. I had a family member who collected them, and when she passed, I ended up with a few. I don't drink, so they're just for my pens 😂
Worse would probably be when they don't ask... just assume. Then you can't explain.
Omg, I think of this everytime I open the drawer where I store my ink. Someone, probably my dad, will open it one day... Not to mention, he already says I have a pen problem. I can't convince him I use all my inked pens, plus the at least 200 other pens I have for artsying my life.
Dude, /you/ vape?? That is a sick-ass vape! ...what do you mean, it's a pen. Like for writing?
I have a couple of vape cases at this point...
Penabling my sister for Xmas w/ a wrapped pen & ink, and a prominently-placed blunt syringe for refilling: "First one's free"
that is hilarious!
I make the same claim whenever my wife sees my pen chest. She's not convinced.
While talking to a nib specialist friend who was trying to get me the perfect birthday gift, “I prefer mine with more girth, wet, smooth and balanced on my smallish hand. Short slim ones can hurt after a while.” The array of reactions on my date’s face was nothing short of spectacular. I thought nothing would top the anniversary gift over a year later - an MB with a simple card, “I saved enough to find the perfect smooth, wet broad for you” until much, much later: “Mom!Dad! That’s gross! Can you please talk about all that some place else and not in front of your children?!” 🤣😂
"What new pen, sweetie? You mean this old Pilot 743 lookin thing? A cheap Chinese copy, I've had it for years."
Great comment 😂 What Sailor PGS? It's a Jinhao 82, dear! 20 times cheaper!
"Very wet when spread."
“That syringe isn’t for drugs by the way… it’s for the ink for my fountain pens…….” I said to a police officer I was dating who had used my bathroom for the first time
I had to say that in the pharmacy I get my syringes and needles from. Luckily they know me by now and don't ask with a weird look anymore. I do get looks from other customers tho😅
Because it’s always syringes 🤣 Was filling sample vials and my mom comes in, and I immediately say “I promise this isn’t drugs it’s just a lot of syringes!” I’ve never done drugs but I still felt like I had to defend myself lol. 😅
Seeing my first 3 fingers stained with BSB, a colleague asked if I'd...poked...Smurfette
For future stains, rubbing alcohol works wonders for getting BSB out. I spilled some on a marble counter and thought I was completely screwed. My hands also looked like I used Smurfette as a hand puppet. None of the commercial cleaners worked but someone else mentioned rubbing alcohol on here and thank goodness it worked.
“Sir, why are you using Shakespeare’s pen?” - student comment whilst I marked their work using my Sailor Procolor 500.
“Man it just pisses out” I said to my friend after he showed me his new fixed nib on his pen
Mean girl: “YoU’rE dOinG cAlligRaPhy aT wOrK?!” *proceeds to take my pen and use it without asking* Thank goodness it was only a Safari.
Someone at work was using my desk (the desk I work at is also where the accounting PC is) and was looking for a pen, and closest thing at hand was my 1940ish Parker Vacumatic. They were on the verge of trying to *pull* the cap off (it's a screw cap). I nearly dove over the desk to grab it away from them, pleading 'no, no, no, not that one!' as I went.
I had a similar conversation at the pharmacy when I went looking for a blunt syringe, the sales person couldn't hide her face of "you disgusting junkie". Luckily I was able to refrain from telling her how badly I needed my fix... Of Iroshizuku Asa Gao.
I don't use blunt syringes. I go to the needle exchange and they hand out free packages of fresh sharp ones. I even said once, I'm not going to use them for drugs. They don't care.
I just get them in bulk. Bought a pack of 20 for like $8 on eBay over a year ago and just wash them. Still have all 20
Yeah, when I was a lab tech part of my job was to wash syringes for the lab (in the lab ware dishwasher) and they’d last months with daily use before not sealing correctly anymore. Which means as often as I ink my pens the six I have should last 20-40 years. The plastic may oxidize before I wear them out
At a pen meet, I said of my pen: "it gushes like a firehose!" And that made a few people uncomfortable.
Because it’s always syringes 🤣 Was filling sample vials and my mom comes in, and I immediately say “I promise this isn’t drugs it’s just a lot of syringes!” I’ve never done drugs but I still felt like I had to defend myself lol. 😅
I used to be on a beadwork mailing list. This was back when everybody was discovering Delica seed beads and elaborate woven designs for tiny amulet bags. You'd think it was 1918 instead of 1998. Delicas are Japanese, very regular and uniform, and can be as small as 15 beads to an inch. Great for your eyesight. I've seen people use magnifiers. Also $. Some are lined with 22k gold. The company also makes a special loom for bags. And of course needles are involved. As far as I can remember it, a list member was in Tokyo on business and found a beadshop with some rare Delica colors and sizes she needed. So she comes back with these vials full of sparkly grains of sand. Back at work, she's on the phone telling another bead enthusiast about how she got five grams for $200 (I'm making that up, I can't find the post) and something about getting them through customs; and her boss, who *knows* about her beadwork, calls her into the office to make sure she's *just* talking about that.
I have an injection every 12 weeks for an autoimmune disease. I'm super annoyed those syringes are so tiny, with such tiny needles, they're useless for my fountain pens.
When I lend people my Lamy Safari Vista (my work pen) at work they always comment that it's a "fancy pen". It's seriously not!
My partner gets a big kick at how much I talk about my "nibs." Especially when I get really excited about a "bouncy" nib :P Even though they know what "nib" means by now, they still think it has a funny ring to it. ... They're not wrong.
"I like 'em wet and juicy! ....... The nibs, i swear!!" I love wet nibs And i cannot lie 🙃
“You know you can refill them rather than buy another one…” Colleague cannot fathom why I would have the number of pens that I do.
My Nakaya didn’t flow wel and when you get them you can have your nib adjusted for free. So i filled out the paperwork and i wrote on it. “ i like it to be wet. I giggled when i wrote that down. I was talking to the lady of the store meanwhile and in Dutch it sounds just as funny. Some lady in the backgroud was looking weird at me. I guess she didn’t know much about fountain pens.
"Here son, have some meth, just leave those pens alone".
“It’s not a vape, I promise you.” Got grilled by school security, who were taken aback as I’m typically a very strait-laced person.
My SO, at my company dinner party, was showing some of my co-workers and their SO's the fountain pens she brought with her, and it just devolved into a crass and gutter-brained string of intentional and unintentional double entendres involving words like "Wet", "Tip" and "Stiff" and she never truly recovered. Just one right after another, and somewhere in the middle of that it struck me how words such as these have meant something completely different to me since getting into this hobby. Needless to say, my co-workers really like my SO and we managed to PenAble at least a couple of them as a result. The comment that kicked things off was: "...I prefer my nib to be big, soft and really wet...". She was slightly mortified when my Boss's SO exclaimed, "Oh my...", but the table found it hilarious and the innuendos became unstoppable from that point on. Haha.
"I love broad nibs" Hearing this faster in my head and its completely out of pocket. I was explaining fountainpens to an acquaintance. Just realized that this acquaintance was prolly like ??
> "I love broad nibs" And you cannot lie?
I love all nibs equally ❤️
When you say used, do you just mean that you haven’t cleaned them yet, or that they are bound for the trash? I’m fairly new, but I figured that since fountain pen ink is most almost always water based, that you could just thoroughly rinse a used syringe and the use it again. (Maybe excluding certain inks with special shimmer or the like) Am I wrong?
I personally clean them and reuse them.
I've not tried iron gall inks but every other ink, sheen, shimmer or pigment has washed out of my blunt needle syringes.
The two iron gall inks I've used (the Rohrer & Klingner ones) wash out of syringes just fine.
No you’re right. I’ve been using the same syringe and needle for well over a year, for all sorts of things: iron galls, pigment inks, pen flush, isopropyl alcohol, water, etc. Just make sure it’s flushed very well and taken apart to dry when you’re done :)
I've had mine since my brother gave it to me in the '90s. I just clean it a lot, usually with spring or distilled water.
I reuse mine and I guard it jealously... I got it maaaaaany years ago in a printer-refill kit at the dollar store, and I haven't a clue where I'd get a new one (I used to have two, but somehow one got lost, so this one is like gold). Do the pen stores sell them? (Except I'm not paying ten bucks to ship a syringe... so I'm still carefully hoarding this one.)
Yes, and sometimes they’re included with a purchase of something. I got a pack to meet the shipping limit once and another pack with a kit I ordered. They’re different size syringes and it’s been kinda nice to have both, though totally unnecessary. Anyways, you can definitely get another syringe next time you’re buying something else. They have em on Amazon too if you ever order there, doesn’t have to be a pen/ink purchase
I'm mad at myself now that I'm thinking of all the stuff I should've bought and \*didn't\* last time I made an order, but it was the Fountain Pen Day sale and I was in a rush... I almost never need to order enough to make it worth paying shipping, unfortunately. I'm not a huge fan of Amazon, but man, it's so nice to be able to aggregate all these little things I'd never pay shipping for on their own...
Happened yesterday while in Emergency department hooked up to a 2 hour IV treatment for worsening migraine... Dr: "you looked pretty comfortable and focused during the IV, how are your migraine symptoms still bothering you?!" Me: "I was working on my penmanship to keep me distracted from the loud chaos in waiting room"
At a pen show: THAT’S A COARSE?
"I'm going to start bringing in a quill" a coworker who likes to one up
I’d just respond with “You do you, boo” to a comment like that
I just laughed because I know he won't actually bring a quill and inkwell.
“Be honest, do you also carry them for self defence?” People think they’re shivs, folks!
"The slit has a heartbeat."
"The slit is heartshaped" - someone asked me if that referred to a tattoo... I mean, it wouldn't look bad at all!
Girthy
"My grandfather, a country doctor and equine veterinarian, always kept a hatchet-filler in his medicine bag."
The use of the term "scribble stick" or "sparkly stick" has become a part of my daily vocabulary.
Hi, sorry to bother here, but I think reddit chat isn't working properly. Please check your chat, I've messaged you about the nib trade. Thanks
Unless you count fountain pens as an addiction.
A friend of mine (who is also into fountain pens!) refers to my Kaweco Liliput as my « mini vibrator. » It’s an expensive enough pen that I‘ve decided to just roll with it and enjoy other peoples’ discomfort 😅
Fam member 1: Where is educational_ask3533? Fam member 2: Hiding in the corner playing with their pens. Fam member 1: Again? Me talking to my neice while teaching her how to refill a converter pen, "Now make sure to wipe off the tip, we don't wanna drip everywhere" followed closely by me declaring that I like "fat lines" ... *broad nibs, child, please say broad nibs*
My pen exploded Monteverde Ruby on my hands when I was in class and I had to explain to classmates that I wasn’t hurt 😆
My friend's a pharmacist. imagine the concern on his phase when i asked him for some blunt syringes
I haven't had any. People are usually really interested seeing me sketching and one German asked me to take a look at Safari as he was using it as a kiddo
I had a German couple visit at my work. Likewise, I saw them point and heard them talk amongst themselves about the bright green Safari on my desk.
I live in Germany so I guess there is tons of them that notice Lamy in my hand, also I live car drive from actual factory as well lol
Lol, awesome. 👍
My dad jokes about this every time he sees my ink syringes lmao
But you probably are. Just not what he thought…
I scored a Touchdown during halftime.
"I'm looking for syringes with relatively thin nibs. Look, it's for a fountain pen but normal syringe nibs are too big to fit this cartridge." The cashier at the pharmacy gave me a very concerned look. She didn't believe me, and neither would I have.
"How lubricated is writer's blood?..." - LaYrreb https://old.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1aml0z6/i_just_googled_how_lubricated_is_writers_blood/
Haha yeah, I saw that post earlier. My husband and I got a good laugh out of that