I feel like I got very little done though I really did get a lot more done than it at first seems. I managed to cut a load of really nice covers, some of which will fetch high prices at auction as well as on etsy, keep an eye out over the next week or so. I learned a lot about using and making a reed pen. I’ve filled 4 or 5 pages in my moleskine with note and doodles. I plan on using this tool a lot and maybe offer some for sale on etsy. I’m not sure though. I’ll have to make a pamphlet on how to sharpen them.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that the scan of my moleskine with notes about the reed pen had reed pens scanned in below the image. So I cropped the scan here to show just the pens. Please note that these are my first attempts and are not wonderful.

One of the things I found is that it’s really important to get the pulp center out of the reed. If I don’t the ink doesn’t flow freely and then suddenly blobs out, making an ugly spot. On my newest pens I used my tiny metal file set to really scrape out the “pith” leaving me with a nice smooth surface. If I am careful and scrape out the pith I don’t need to scrape out an ink channel, it flows along the veins of the reed easily. I also must eb careful to NOT file down too far, or the ink flows too freely and blobs. It’s a careful medium. I’m pretty sure I’ll have this figured out in no time and will end with easy writing tools.