I like to write letters. Theselokta notecards are my favorite.

I usually keep a few styles of lokta paper notecards around. The butterflies are particularly lovely and encourage me to find green ink.

Usually, I write with Noodler's Heart of Darkness, and ink that is designed to stand the test of time. Lokta paper is known for its durability and is resistant to mold, rot and bugs. The paper has a wonderful texture and simply looks beautiful, showing the pulped fibers it is made of.

There are claims in the packaging of how eco-friendly, local economy-friendly and indigenous peoples-friendly the makers of this paper are. These are all great things.

Writing on this paper takes a Medium nib or a very, very careful hand with a Fine and you must use ink that will flow. The paper accepts the ink, does not feather very much but even quick-drying ink will take a moment or two.

Beware the smudge!

The messages you send to loved ones will last forever on notecards that look lovely enough to keep!

Now you have to write things that are worth standing the test of time. It is fun tho, I treat writing letters on these a lot like I do taking photos with 120 roll film, every shot costs a few dollars, make it worthwhile!

I am sure folks toss my works of art into the trash.

Nepal Greeting Card and Envelope Set: Butterfly Notecards, Handmade Lokta Paper via Amazon Read the rest

This Moonman clear demonstrator is my showy fountain pen with a lot of crazy colored ink of choice.

A few years back I bought a TWBSI Eco. I enjoyed using it and it became my black/red ink pen of choice. A color I used to use a lot of. I wanted another pen to fill up with some of the neat colors I've acquired over the last few years. The Moonman C1 is a great choice.

The tank is huge and it looks really cool when filled with a teal or something crazy like Noodler's Rome Burning. I also enjoy that I can fill the huge tank and write all day without fear of running out.

I enjoy living with out wonder as to ink level. My checking my beloved DuoFold involved inky fingertips.

The fine nib writes like a fine nib and flows ink pretty well. The Rome Burning is pretty soupy and can gum things up. I ran about 1/3rd a tank of it thru the pen and I didn not have a problem. You can unscrew the nib so I am going to assume there are lots of medium, bent and other nibs available. It looks an awful lot like the nib on my TWBSI, but I do not have the pen handy to check.

Moonman C1 Fountain Pen, Transparent Clear Acrylic Demonstrator, Fine Nib Gift Writing Pen Case Set via Amazon Read the rest

Shipping on my favorite notebooks went from 30 days to overnight.

Last time I ordered a Maruman notebook it took a month for it to arrive. I love the Mnemosyne paper for writing upon with fountain pens and my favorite inks. I have been writing a lot lately, letters to friends as well as the mundane shit that passes thru my head. As my last notebook filled up I started to freak out a bit.

I did not, however, get off my ass and just order a new notebook.

I waited until I was surely doomed. Then I checked online and delivery times were down to 1 day. I ordered 2 notebooks. I like the "182" which is about 5"x8", spiral bound with perforated and SQUARE RULED pages.

I rarely tear pages out, but perforation is nice when you need it.

Ink doesn't feather. Pens both fine and medium glide over the surface. The white is good for me to spend lots of time staring at a blank page thinking about whatever terror I am trying to get out of my head and onto a page.

There are many size and rule options.

My go-to pen is a Parker Duofold International with a medium nib, and my favorite daily-use ink is Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

Maruman 1 Hardcover Executive Notebook (N182A) via Amazon Read the rest

This Billy Jealousy Marked IV Life tattoo aftercare kit helps me heal up quick.

I have a number of tattoos. I got the first when I was very young, and I think aftercare was some 'romantic' notion of Jack Daniels and some diaper care creme. I then stopped getting more tattoos because I realized that art required I find a real artist. Took me a long time.

I will spare you photos of my tattoos, and me the shitty things that the nasty .001% of our readers will say.

It took a long time to find an artist whose work I love and has a personality where we enjoy chatting for hours while he draws on me with an uncomfortable pencil. The work is fantastic, I love it, and I wanted the art to look as good as it can for as long as it can! Part of undertaking this project 'so late in life' is because the tattoos will now have a lot less time to deteriorate...

Aftercare is a big deal in healing your tattoo up well and making sure it looks good for a long time. My artist recommended some very common, but very heavy salves and lotions. After a day I broke into some pimples and pores were clogging. I was worried I'd damage the new tattoo.

A friend knows just how few 'beauty care' products I keep around: zero. She saw my arm and immediately took pity and brought over this kit of stuff. I had never heard of 'Billy Jealousy" before, but I am told they are a wonderful line of Man-Focused beauty aids. Read the rest

I picked up one of these Kaweco Sport fountain pens the other day...

I am unclear what is 'sport' about this pen, but it is a classic. The barrel is a bulbous octagonal design, something like a Rotring pencil that needs a diet. This shape feels wonderful in my hands. The plastic is lightweight and the nib puts down ink.

I bought a converter because I hate using cartridges, however the blue cart that came with the pen is just fine. I will prefer using this with Noodler's Ink however, I am an ink snob.

I tested a medium nib but was sent out the door of the shop with a fine. I will be swapping it, as the paper I am most enjoying these days really needs the broader nib. I do believe their fine is a fine and their medium a medium.

I still enjoying writing letters to folks I like and dropping them in the mail. I think it freaks people the fuck out.

Kaweco Sport Classic Fountain Pen Black M (Medium Nib) via Amazon Read the rest

An experimental dermal implant changes color in the presence of high acidity or blood glucose, potentially allowing diabetics and other patients to monitor their wellbeing without taking samples. The implant material can be integrated into tattoo ink formulations, making them as discrete or ostentatious as the wearer wishes.

MedicalXPress:

As detailed in the journal Angewandte Chemie, a colorimetric analytic formulation was injected into the skin instead of tattoo ink. The pigmented skin areas varied their color when blood pH or other health indicators changed. ... The authors claim that such sensor tattoos could allow permanent monitoring of patients using a simple, low-cost technique. With the development of suitable colorimetric sensors, the technique could also extend to recording electrolyte and pathogen concentrations or the level of dehydration of a patient. Further studies will explore whether tattoo artwork can be applied in a diagnostic setting.

I've used the same fountain pen and Fisher Space Pen for years: I used to constantly lose disposable pens, costing me scads of money every year. The two refillable pens I own now cost enough that I'm always a little paranoid about their whereabouts, so I've yet to lose them. Filling the fountain pen costs pennies. To snag a refill for my Space Pen up in Canada, I can expect to spend around eight bucks, plus shipping. That's 12 different kinds of BS.

Earlier today, I ran across this video. After watching it, I picked up the Zebra refills at Office Depot. It worked!

With my ink budget sorted out, I can spend more money on fancy paper. Read the rest

King Size "Pro" Sharpies are my go-to Sharpie. Read the rest

For note taking with a fountain pen, which I do, there is no better paper than Maruman Mnemosyne.

While there is a lot of variety in ink, and I like to swap between several colors and pens, Maruman Mnemosyne is the most reliable paper I've found to write upon with my fountain pens. It takes a lot of ink to bleed through, doesn't feather very much, and allows my nibs to glide over the paper.

I like quad-ruled paper, as well. Makes it easier for me to sketch things, or to organize the page. College-ruled paper annoys me.

Mnemosyne was the Greek goddess of memory and gave birth to the muses. "Nemo" is right there in the middle. He's my dog.

Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration 5 mm Grid 6.3 x 8.3" via Amazon Read the rest

Watching the interplay of liquids used to make these beautiful calligraphic letters looks like geothermal vents opening and releasing gases and lava into the air. Read the rest

It turns out that ink is made largely by mixing pigments with liquids! Various emulsifiers and such also factor in. How about that! The bright sheets of colorful slime are very satisfying and relaxing, and the Printing Ink Company's trade videos seem, somehow, to understand the appeal of this. I want to eat the ink. Read the rest

The art of tattoing is really, really old, according to a new study of some Egyptian mummified bodies that date back to around 3,000 B.C.E.

The mummies -- accidental ones, people whose bodies were buried in sand that nicely prevented rot -- have been in the British Museum for a long time, but only recently have their tattoos come under scholarly examination.

It turns out that the hot tattoo for women back then was a curious "S" shape, while for men it was ... a sheep.

Sheep? As Atlas Obscura explains:

While a sheep might not seem particularly fierce, bagging a barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) with just a bow and arrow—or more likely trapping one, considering the speed and precipice climbing abilities of the animals—was the ultimate in ancient Egyptian big game hunting. The bull is a more obvious symbol of power, and one that would later serve as an important icon of royal authority in Egypt. The woman has two tattoos on her upper right arm and shoulder: a vertical line with angled top (possibly a short staff or throwstick) and a series of S-shapes. Taken alone, this new evidence for tattooing arts in early Egypt is interesting, but within the larger context of Egyptian art from between 3500 and 3100 B.C., it is remarkable. [snip]

No group had to hunt a barbary sheep or a hippopotamus to survive—but a successful capture or kill of such an animal revealed exceptional hunting skills. Perhaps it is these skills that the man in the British Museum sought to immortalize through the combination of an animal of power—the bull—and an animal whose capture symbolized hunting prowess—the barbary sheep.

I wanted a teal ink. Sailor Jentle Yama-dori is my new teal ink.

I had some limited edition Mont Blanc teal ink that I liked, it ran out. I decided to try this Sailor Jentle ink. I like it better! The Sailor Jentle ink is a dark blue-green with a very nice sheen to it. The ink looks much better after 2-3 minutes of drying.

On Doane Paper with my father's old medium nibbed Duofold the Yama-dori is just beautiful.The sheen after this ink dries is beautiful and includes greens and purples. Dad's Parker flows like the god damn Nile and the Sailor ink only gently feathers around the heaviest deposits. I am going to try this in my Levenger L-Tech, which has become my standard blue ink pen. The Levenger doesn't flow nearly as well as a Duofold, but the Sailor Jentle is water-based and seems pretty slick. I have been using Noodler's Luxury Blue but far prefer the muted tone of teal.

The Sailor Jentle ink bottle is a trip. Follow the instructions on the side or be frustrated. Don't ask me how I know!

Sailor Ink Bottle Yama-dori via Amazon Read the rest

Spend an hour relaxing as Peter Deligdisch aka Peter Draws experiments with cool glass inkwell pens and glowing ink. Read the rest

Somehow having a 10-year-old around makes pens evaporate! These erasable gel ink pens are favorites.

We seem to lose a lot of pens. These fine point Pilot gel pens have become the ones to order for replacement. The ink really does erase, even after a trip through the washing machine. Very cool for anyone who folks who make mistakes.

Trust me, mistakes are made.

Pilot FriXion Clicker Retractable Erasable Gel Pens, Fine Point, Assorted Color Inks, 7-Pack (31472) via Amazon Read the rest

I prefer Noodler's ink, and they have so many varieties I never seem to run out of new ones to try. Depending on what I'm writing, or who I am writing to, I like to change my ink and pen kinda frequently. Read the rest

Doane Paper makes wonderful pocket-sized notebooks with paper that is fantastically compatible with fountain pens.

I absolutely love my Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks, but they are big and rigid. These 5"x7" Doane Paper pads have similarly awesome paper, and fit in casual clothes pockets, if you need small they also make 3"x5".

The paper is slightly off-white and is quadruled with a light blue. My Levenger, Pilot and Parker's all glide over the paper very smoothly, tho the Pilot Vanishing point definetly shows its "travel-ness" when compared to the Duo-fold. Ink gets absorbed quickly and only slightly bleeds through unless I write with a heavy hand. I tried various Noodlers and Parker Quink black. Noodler's Blue Nose Bear is almost the same color as the grid lines.

Doane Paper Large Utility Edition, 3-Pack Grid + Lines Memo Notebooks via Amazon Read the rest