Some interesting words on design, of which the above are a tiny and misleading excerpt, by Frank Chimero, arranged in a pleasing manner by Thomas Baker.

Even for 5 minutes at a time.

I am just saying.

It really didn't.

Personally, I think brown is a perfectly respectable ink colour, and more importantly, it is an awesome colour for sketching..

A perfect time to try out my newly enbladderated vintage Waterman lever fill I obtained in a [...]]]> Apparently this is not something I should do with my new ink; Noodler’s Burma Road Brown. [citation needed]

Personally, I think brown is a perfectly respectable ink colour, and more importantly, it is an awesome colour for sketching..

A perfect time to try out my newly enbladderated vintage Waterman lever fill I obtained in a job lot on the ebat.  I managed to remove the old ossified bladder without too much incident and replaced it with a new one from www.penmuseum.co.uk.  Luckily, I did not yet shellac in the new bladder, as it splurted a big blob on my ferret’s foot as I was doodling him (I think this might be because the bladder was too near the pen walls, and was warmed by my hand – I could be entirely wrong..).

TESTING. TESTING.

I might try diluting it slightly, to see if I can get some better colour graduation – and it does seem a little prone to clogging slightly if I am using light strokes.

I also have the Noodler’s bulletproof black – the main point behind these two ink purchases is their relative water resistance, for ink and wash painting.  Dip pen ink contains shellac, which is death to fountain pens, hence permanence in fountain pen ink is not by standard, very good.

Next: Pen, ink and wash!

ohhh yeah.

Right? Nice chunky full grain leather belt with detachable buckle that’s an 8mm, 10mm, 11mm hex wrench, phillips screwdriver, flathead screwdriver and bottle opener. See [...]]]> This is mostly about my lovely new Waterman ringtop lever fill pen, but I couldn’t let a new toy post pass without a showing of this:

ohhh yeah.

Right? Nice chunky full grain leather belt with detachable buckle that’s an 8mm, 10mm, 11mm hex wrench, phillips screwdriver, flathead screwdriver and bottle opener. See it here.

Anyway, on to the pen.  I bought ‘im on the intertubes  (it is a 52 1/2 V to be precise. Which I think means it’s from about the 20s and is made of hard rubber), expecting to have to replace the sac and fiddle with it quite a bit – but no. It was pretty much good to go. I cleaned it out a little and just started straight in. It’s really very lovely – I am no fountain pen aficionado, but I have heard of the fabled artist nib that Waterman made in the ’30s, and long to try one – but this one is really very nice to use, and seems to have a good thin – thick range.

testing the new nib..

testing the new nib

With a standard Parker 51 for comparison – the ring top pens are quite a bit smaller than a standard sized version.

ringtop waterman and parker 51 for size comparison

The nib. Not quite an Artist nib but pretty pointy and flexy I think..

The nib. Not quite an Artist nib but pretty pointy and flexy I think..

I’ve just started on a distance learning children’s book illustration course, for which one of the first exercises is a study in textures. I tried out the pen. In sketching mode I don’t seem to use the thickness variation a lot.

it's a cardboard cutout wall, ok?

Ringtop pens are supposedly less sought after because they are smaller. I don’t understand this. Smaller things are awesome!

People are wrong.

My stuffing was especially successful this year, even stuffing unfriendly mother wanted the recipe.  I am trying to remember it and preserve it for re-use.  As with most of my savoury things, it’s a little random so.. you know.. caveat coquus. Or some other latin bastardisation.

No Pork Stuffing for Poultry

2 [...]]]> fnar fnar. etc.

My stuffing was especially successful this year, even stuffing unfriendly mother wanted the recipe.  I am trying to remember it and preserve it for re-use.  As with most of my savoury things, it’s a little random so.. you know.. caveat coquus. Or some other latin bastardisation.

No Pork Stuffing for Poultry

2 x onion bagels, whizzed to crumbs (any breadcrumbs will do)

10 dried apricots, whizzed or chopped (soak them for 10 mins in boiling water if they’re a bit hard)

10 dates, whizzed or chopped  (soak them for 10 mins in boiling water if they’re a bit hard)

2 x eggs

zest of one unwaxed lemon

3 x large anchovies, or maybe 5-6 of they tincey ones

c. 75g butter

1 x large onion, chopped small or whizzed

4 x garlic cloves chopped small or whizzed

about 5 knuckle scrapings worth of ground nutmeg (maybe a level teaspoon?)

salt and pepper, generous amount

The anchovies and butter are to replace the flavour and fattiness that the traditional pork mince gives to the stuffing, to keep the breast lovely and moist while the legs cook.

1. Fry up the chopped onion and garlic in butter until they’re golden brown.
2. Turn off the heat. Pop the rest of the butter and the anchovies in and let it all melt in together. This will cool the mix down enough that it doesn’t start cooking the eggs when you mix them together, and deglaze the pan a little to take as much flavour out as possible.
3. Mix together the breadcrumbs, apricots, dates, nutmeg, lemon, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
4. Mix the eggs in the large bowl
5. Once the butter is all melted in the pan, mix the anchovies in til they’re all mushed, and mix in with the rest of the ingredients.
6. Add a little water if it’s too dry.
7. Stuff between the bird’s skin and breast etc

If you don’t have or don’t want to use dates or apricots, you can just sub either in totally, 20 total.

Recipes often call for you to stab the turkey leg in lots of places and stuff the holes with pancetta or bacon etc. This year’s experiment was to make one hole in the top of the drumstick, and use a finger to (carefully) separate the skin, then pour a melted butter and anchoving goo mix into the created pocket, then stuffed the hole with rosemary.  It worked pretty well and required less faff.

I forgot to take photos. It looked great.

fix that now you see it now you don’t insanity with a z-index shaped hammer.

.nivo-directionNav { top: 130px; z-index: 9999; }

I can barely even speak I am so outrageously angry with O Broadband’s customer ‘service’ so all I can say is DO NOT TOUCH THE LYING CRUNTS WITH A BARGEPOLE.

Oh they let you in alright. They let you in. That bit they can do fine.  Try leaving though.  TRY IT. OH IT DIDN’T [...]]]>

I can barely even speak I am so outrageously angry with O Broadband’s customer ‘service’ so all I can say is DO NOT TOUCH THE LYING CRUNTS WITH A BARGEPOLE.

Oh they let you in alright. They let you in. That bit they can do fine.  Try leaving though.  TRY IT. OH IT DIDN’T WORK DID IT.

TRY AGAIN.

NOW TRY AGAIN.

TRY HARDER.

NOTE: The site is now banned from orange mobile devices because it contains ‘adult content’. Really? What would that be? OH IS IT A CRITICISM OF YOUR TERRIBLE SERVICE WOULD IT SCAR CHILDREN?