Cut 'Em Things

As mentioned in my previous entry , I've ordered new Toho Sangyo Urushi Tubes from Fishingshop.kiwi , which is based in Japan. I genuinely have no idea what is the use for these Urushi Lacquer tubes from sport fishing companies but I am glad they have it. Some people buy this from Amazon for Kintsugi repair but are instantly disappointed since this specific Toho Urushi is not approved for tableware.  Look at how many Urushi tubes I ordered lol. Short feedback for Fishingshop.kiwi: Date of ordering was April 23, 2021. I have to wait for them to check stocks before I can pay them. After a quick e-mail follow-up, I only got the confirmation from them on April 27, 2021, which means I can finally make the card payment. I paid immediately after receiving. There were a few hours that lapsed before my order status updated to "paid" I was kind of expecting that they'd be shipped out before the Golden Week starts. But they didn't. I had to wait for the Golden Week to end be...

 Everything went south after using the Vinta Dugong Bughaw (Blue Blood) ink in this Zebra G Nib Titanium and Jinhao X750 mod. This pen had seen heavy use and probably over a dozen ink refills over the few weeks (less than a month) that I've owned it. It was a fun flex pen but there is nothing to be sad at for this whole setup is dirt cheap. If you're planning to use sheening inks on this Jinhao X750 Zebra G Nib setup, make sure you have enough research about the inks you want to use. The Vinta Dugong Bughaw, while gorgeous on paper, is one nasty thick ink. It would be perfect for feeds with wide channels.  Side note: you can score this feed to create deeper channels. The part of the feed where the ink channels are shallow, is where most of the ink dried up. The photos you above are the Nib and Feed after being soaked for 5 days on warm water with mild soap. I keep the water warm by replacing it few times a day.

 Checking out my Urushi Preppy pens in the middle of curing time. I planned a 48 hour curing time for my sealing layer of my 4th base layer. 4 primer layers might sound overkill but I've sanded too much on some parts that the substrate gets exposed. So this is like  a do over thing. They should be okay by tomorrow evening.  I'm impressed by how smooth and shiny they look but in reality they are not perfect and there are small bubbles here and there. Definitely spend some more time applying Urushi coats and make sure get very good lighting.  There is about 20g left in my Urushi tube. I have no spares left and the fishingshop.kiwi order looks like it hasn't been shipped yet and as of this writing, the Japanese Golden Week just started. This is going to be a long wait to finish these Preppies. If you are interested in how I got this all started, here is a link to my previous blog post .

I do love my pens and pencils but I want to get my hands busy with these stationery things with anything other than writing with them. So for my next project I want to try to "coat" my Preppy with Urushi Lacquer. Note: This is my first time doing this and I am just learning as I go along. I tried my best to be well informed before doing March 21, 2021 I took off the clip with a my trusty Dremel. It's not difficult to remove and easy to smooth out as long as you have good hand control. Setting the Dremel on High will easily eat away the plastic material of the pen. We better be careful. It looks nice when clipless. Clipless, it feels like you've taken away a chunk of Preppy's personality. It still looks pleasant and slender, sort of androgynous  When it's all smooth after, I proceeded to sand the cap and case with 600, 1200, 2400 grit sand paper. If ever I  would do this again, I would use coarser sand papers as it does get the thing Short update: For my later ...

 Ducky X Varmilo Miya Pro Moonlight Is this really a "Pro" model? Time to upgrade to a better keyboard. After countless hours on Youtube, I have finally decided that the Miya Pro is the one for me. The main selling point for me is that it has dedicated arrow keys and the layout uses a standard bottom row, making the keycap replacement much easier. Unboxing The packaging has a premium feel. This entire thing is heavy. The outer box may be familiar to you as I've seen this countless of times in YouTube videos. Getting rid of the brown box, we get to the real box. Very solid box. It'd nice to get but who cares about boxes. The shop where I got it from told me to keep all packaging and contents as it will be required to present it when claiming for warranty. I don't understand why but it is their policy so I have to follow. Not evident on the photo, but there is a silver-y "PRO" witten after MIYA on the box. Opening the box, you'll see the faint colors o...