January 12, 2009

After much debate with myself, I have determined that it is only fair to those of you who have supported and invested in Fountain Pen Inks-A Sampler to tell you why you haven't received your copy, yet.  I don't usually like to reveal personal trials and tribulations to those with whom I do business, but Ibelieve it prudent to give you an explaination.

Since aquiring the Ink Sampler from Greg, my persoanl life has been beset with problems.  My off and on marital seperations, the flood and the clean up.  I felt there would be no conflict between my personal life and my professional life, but that was not to be so.  In December I felt that as soon as the holidays were over I would be able to get to work and have the sampler completed and mailed out to you by now, however, life has ways of throwing us unsuspecting curves.

On December 29, 2009 at about nine in the evening my step-daughter died after a very lengthy battle with Crohn's Disease.  She had suffered through some twenty odd invasive and life threatening surgeries having spent five months in the hospital the end of 2007 and into 2008.  She had been improving until she started to be invaded by severe infections that wouldn't clear up.  She had been almost completely bed ridden at home for the last several months of her life after having spent many weeks and months in and out of a nursing home.

She was six when we married and had just turned thirty-six, fourteen days before she died.  She left two sons and a daughter all under the age of thirteen.  It has been a little rough on the family and we are trying to get into new routines and get settled down from this.  She had no insurance, so we are also struggling with the financial issues surrounding her death.

Please, bear with me while these issues get sorted out and I can get back to working on the Sampler full time.  The Ink Sampler will be delivered just as soon as I can get it done.


                                                                                                         
December 19, 2008

Due to unforseen difficulties the 2008 issue of the Ink Sampler has now  become the
        
                               2009 Fountain Pen Inks - A Sampler. 

The good news is this extra time has allowed for new inks to be delivered or scheduled to be delivered.  Nathan Tardiff is sending the new Le Reine Mauve and Emporer's Ink - Kung Te-chung very soon, along with a few previously missing inks.  We have the new Levenger's bottled inks introduced in November and are being added to the Sampler.  Inking technics are being worked on and articles being written to enhance the content along with the all important ink swatches.

Those who have purchased the Sampler throught the Pre-Publication Sale, your patience and financial assistance is greatly appriciated.  We are hopeful that you will find the delay to your advantage even though you may be "chomping at the bit" to get your copy.  I don't blame any of you a bit.  There are wonderful new editions of inks to the Sampler.  The Pre-Publication will continue until the first issues are in the post office. 

Your continued support is greatly appricated and we are looking forward to your comments once you have received your issue. 


Happy Holidays to one and all, with best wishes for a Wonderful New Year.



October 20, 2008

Good News!  A very  nice gentleman who had been living in Asia the last serveral years has very generously donated four bottles of HERO ink.  He has sent me Black, Blue, Red and Hero's Carbon Inks.  A great big THANKS goes out to him.

The majority of the flood damage has been cleaned up and I am back to testing inks.  Unfortunately, I am going to have to move.  I am working very diligently to get the ink testing finished up so I will be able to get this issue of the Sampler finished before I have to move.  The plan is to prepare at least 100-200 issues before the move.  This will fill all the orders that have been received so far and a stock for the two retailers who will be selling the book through there businesses.

Testing the ink requires very deliberate concentration as my pH meter does not fit in any bottle of ink in the bunch.  The ink must be poured into a beaker, the meter placed in the ink, a swab of ink placed on the paper (with the list I am working from), then the beaker and meter and the empty bottle carried to the bathroom sink, meter rinsed, ink returned to the bottle, beaker and meter cleaned, return the bottle cap and put it in it's box, get the next bottle of ink, get a dry beaker, recalibrate the meter, rinse it and repeat the previous steps. 

Since I only have a dozen beakers I have to stop after they are used to dry them out, make sure they are clean in order to start the next batch of twelve.  With each bottle I test, my biggest fear is that I will accidently dump the beaker full of ink into the sink instead of returning it to the bottle.  So far, so good!  It is a bit more time consuming than I had expected, but it is nearing the end as I get to Private Reserve today. I'm doing them in alphabetical order.  I have been doing not less than one full page a day, which is twenty-five inks to each page.  These are not sampler pages.

There are about 100 inks out of the four hundred and forty inks on the list still to be tested.  I expect to be working on Sampler pages by not later than next Monday.  This will also mean the Pre-Publication Sale will end when the first set of books is mailed out.  Don't miss your chance to get one at the Sale price.



September 22, 2008

Mother Nature can certainly crimp a major project!  When the rains began to fall the ground was cracked and bone dry, before it was all over, the standing water in the basement was measured in inches with carpet, flooring and anything else on the floor was floating.  Fortunately the inks are high and dry along with most of the paper purchased to create the Sampler.  I'm still waiting my turn on the clean-up crews list. 

Carpeting, and flooring must still be removed.  Inks are now packed up and moved to a dry place to prevent them from growing mold and mildew on the boxes.  Possible structural instability must be further evaluated by engineers to determine the habitability of the premises.

Sampler production is on hold for at least another two weeks.  Arrrgh!

All this in a house two miles from the river and over two hundred feet above river level.  Who would have ever thought?



Workshop pre-flood.  The rug was floating as the water went up over the baseboard of the workbench. 

Cross your fingers for speedy clean-up and recovery.



August 28, 2008

Inks from Aurora, Caran d'Ache, Conway Stewart, Lamy, Omas, and Sailor were picked up and brought home last week.  They have been added to the data sheets and are being incorporated into the pages of the sampler.  There are still a few miscellaneous  colors from the above listed inks that were not available, but are on order from different places with expectations of ink arrivals by September 5, if not sooner.

I will begin inking the Sampler as soon as pH testing is completed.  Of the 443 inks currently listed in the Sampler data files 148 of those still need to be tested.  I will go as fast as I can without risking mistakes.




August 6, 2008

New inks have arrived.  The last of the Pelikan inks arrived on Friday.  The Visconti and Art Brown Noodler's inks arrived today.

I am now waiting for Caren d'Ache, Lamy, Rohrer & Klingner, Stipula and Yard-O-Lead to arrive.

One disappointment has come our way.  I had planned to attend the Washington DC Supershow this week, but circumstances have eliminated the possibility.  Hope all you attending will have a great time.  I will just have to plan on next year.

New Page
What Is The Sampler
including three images of what the Ink Sampler pages look like is now completed.