Pens, Pencils, and A Bit of a Black Vulture.
Vintage dip pens, fountain pens, mechanical pencils — cleaned up, filled up, and put back to work. Plus a feather.
My hands are shriveled and grayed from two days of cleaning old pens. I went for a little drive to fetch six auction lots I got caught up in and questioned purchasing and therefore delayed pick up. But the day was beautiful so after swapping some plants, I decided to face my purchase.
Auctions, flea markets, so many are the same no matter the gloss Instagram puts on it. I love a filthy hunt, but don’t expect a filthy price tag with it (of course I put the number in). But this is how I learn. I picked up my lots and drove home singing. I spread what was inevitably treasure out on the porch and proceeded to spend the next many hours into the dark of night — and the next day — cleaning and investigating.
I cleaned the dip pens twice, once with soap and water, the second time with Bartram Balm. I steel-wooled the metal bits I could reach. I am still deciding what nibs to add. I love dip pens. They are easy, messy, and lead to unexpected marks.
They are also addicting. Like all of this maybe.
I spent the next day finishing the dips and getting to work on the fountain pens!
The pencils are another project altogether. Clean. Take out the eraser? How? Replace? Find new lead. Lead that fits! Oh gosh. Why am I doing this exactly? Because I LOVE these pencils!
This vintage Esterbrook mechanical pencil has been a pleasure to use for hours here on this drawing for #the100dayproject of Self-Portraits, which has been overall a grueling endeavour.
Finally, the pens that receive the most inquiries — fountain pens. I have so little experience with them so I decided to share what I learned here. I learn by opening, cleaning, and using. Here are some thoughts:
1. Buy cheap pens to play. Look closely at the photographs. It is ideal to find them with no rust and with a not inky nib. Some pens have rubber bladders that could rot — these mostly have side plungers so are easy to tell. (I only braved Esterbrook vintage so far and these all have side plungers and no rot.)
2. Take your pens apart! In doing this, they becomes less mysterious — or less scary. Hope the previous scribbler used water-based ink.
a. Take off the cap, remove the nib, and soak all three parts. Clean with a little mild soap, warm water, and cotton swab. They can be messy and splatter!
b. If the nib doesn’t come off, soak it and it will/may loosen the ink that prohibits the unthreading.
c. Use a cotton swab for the hard to reach bits — but gingerly. Don’t jam it. I lost the fluff of one in a bladder!
d. Put the nib back on, plunge the warm soapy water and shoot it out until there is no more ink in the pen. This is fun!
e. Give it all a good final rinse and let dry. Fill it with water-based ink, put it back together again, and play!
f. And — rinse some more. After a few days I tested all of the pens. They all started to write again with the residual old ink. So all are working, but they all needed an extra rinse so I can start fresh.
g. When filling the pen with your new bottle of ink, be sure only to bring ink in — do not exhale into your bottle unless you want mystery ink contamination.
3. Ink! The options are endless and maybe overwhelming. Just this: Use water-based fountain pen ink. I used Noodlers* in my first fountain pen play. I love Noodlers ink for drawing with dip pens and brushes. I found mixed reviews online with fountain pens. Here is what I experienced in new pens. First it works, and then it doesn’t. I don’t know if the ink separates or what happens, but it first comes out a nice black but becomes grey water over time. This happened in three different pens (new pens.) I cleaned them and filled them with Sailor ink and they all work nicely.
*this ink caused some controversy! I learned this AFTER buying a lot for our shop. We still have a large inventory because I’ve been afraid to share it. Do your research. Everything is complicated. We will likely not reorder. I will add it to our shop on Monday and update. Here is our website if you don’t know already: www.pegandawl.com
** I LOVE A Rural Pen Ink — made from guns — and and the human who makes it. Thomas is is a magical, truly, creature and friend, and we carry his ink to if you want to play. This ink is wonderful with dip pens and brushes. DO NOT USE IN FOUNTAIN PENS!
If you have questions, share them here! If you have more to add or ways to correct me — let me know! This has been a marvelous experiment/experience so far. I have randomly chosen one pen (all nibs are different) and one pencil and will play.
PS: This was a great experience and may actually be turning me from not a fountain pen person into maybe one.
PPS: If you are wondering, these pens and pencils will go into our shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Some will go into our Of a Kind Collections.
PPS: When in doubt, you could always use a feather. This one is from a Black Vulture which I ALSO learned was controversial. My goodness, world. I learn these things via IG informants. I found this near my house. We live by two converging streams where animals go to die. The vultures clean up and leave other gifts!
Now I am packed and ready for a little New York adventure today visiting dasha tolstikova and Samantha Dion Baker . Can’t wait to get on the road!
The bottom left was a gift from Emma from Skippy Cotton. I don’t remember brand or colour. Maybe something Manny something.
The bladders in the old Esterbrooks are really easy to replace and you can get the replacements on line from several venders.
I LOVE that you LOVE the old pencils also.
This is the most exciting thing. So much care. Things that just want to make marks rescued! Rescue pens. I love that you do this Margaux.