isn't it gorgeous? i love fountain pens and when i saw this post of his about how he makes them in his spare time - i contacted him and asked if i could buy one from him (make sure to check the link as he makes many different kinds of fountain pens and they are all beautiful!).
my pen is heavy and perfect - it has weight and feels just right. and the look is smooth and brilliant. i love my pen!!!
Ed's price is way too low in my opinion...he only charges for parts - his labour is not included in the price. i recommended that he take his collection of pens to an art gallery or a boutique and charge a hefty price. i know what i would have paid for this pen if i was back in the city - i would have gladly paid 4 times the actual price i paid.
for you gun buffs out there - please check out these 2 nifty pens he made with bullet casings and a rifle clip with bolt action AND made out of deer antler!!!! they are soooo beautiful and unique!!!
if you like having a proper pen to do your writing - then you need to check out his pens!
this pic is for Sweet Sandy - she loves butterflies!
here is a pic of frozen, wild berries that we picked last year.
4 cups of berries, six cups of water, some lemon and honey:
cordial baby! cordial!!! and with the leftover pulp:
put it in a jar and cover it with vodka and in 4 weeks you'll have alcohol cordial - woohoo!
we enjoy our berry cordial with carbonated water. we have a soda-stream machine which makes carbonated water. no crappy cans of soda in this house! we carbonate our berkey-filtered water and make our own sodas with our berry cordial - sooo refreshing on a hot day!
jam's off on a field trip to the mainland for work. i bet he is having a ton of fun with his work colleague. he also dropped off the truck at our dealer and we are getting 4 new tires put on the truck (we bought the truck second-hand in 2010, the roads here are all potholed, rutted and dirt - those tires that came with the truck are on their very last legs. hence the need to replace them!).
me, i'm still pretty sick from bug bites. for the past week i have been doing the absolutely necessary chores and feeding the man. and trying to get better. this time of year always sucks because of the bugs. but they say that after you have lived here for many years you start building up immunities to the bug bites. i pray that next year i will have built up enough immunities. being sick from bug bites sucks!
but it comes with the territory and i really love the territory!!! if i haven't hit up your blog, no worries, i will! hope you all are well!
Lovely Pen. And send berry cordial now. I'll swamp you some lavender lemongrass mead.
ReplyDeletethe pen is awesome TB...something i can see you using. and yes - we need to do a swap - i would love lavender lemongrass mead - oh yes i would! xoxo
DeleteThose pens are gorgeous :) Am sure Harry would love one with the bullet casing
ReplyDeleteStill waiting on a pic of the puppy... ;)
Dani - if all of Ed's pens are like the one he sent me - then they are of beautiful quality! my pen is delicious if you can understand what i mean...but i think you can! Harry would definitely love the bullet casing one!
Deletewe haven't been formally introduced to the puppy yet...the mother and puppies are living in a closet still. when they come out of the closet (why does that sound so funny - bahahah!), we'll go over and meet them. then i will get some new pics of katiyja. sending much love! xoxox
That pen is a beauty. The cordial soinds pretty good as well. I made elderflower last year but haven't found the time this year. I'd love to bottle up a load of apple juice in the autumn but I'll need to make a press first.
ReplyDeleteit really is a beauty kev! and i wish we had elderflower here for cordial and wine - yummeh! but i'll have to settle for wild berries. you and jambaloney think alike - he has plans to build a press for cider this year. we have several friends who have apple orchards that are hundreds of years old. they always let us pick apples from them. xoxox
DeleteGlad you love your pen. For clarification, I do charge enough to cover the parts on the pen I sold you and buy parts for the next pen. It helps keep the hobby going which I do for the shear relaxation of it. Plus I'm a penafile and have my own private stash of pens that I take with me to meetings and such. Nothing beats a nice pen and a blank piece of paper.
ReplyDeleteI have thought about getting one of those carbonation machines but have seen a lot of videos of people exploding bottles with them. I'm guessing based on your words, that they really aren't that hard to use. Do you have a brand or model you recommend? I love carbonation and would like to have healthier options than soda.
Ed - i loooove my pen but you really need to charge more for them! but i understand that you enjoy making them and i am glad that you do! i will be getting more from you!
Deleteas for the carbonation machine - we have what is called a soda stream - it works great and is really easy to use. we love it because we don't drink pop/soda but like to drink carbonated drinks. even if you only use it in the summer it will pay for itself in one summer. we love the soda stream and it is not too terribly expensive.
thanks again for a beautiful pen. i consider it an addition to my garden! xoxox
Sweet Kymber,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the beautiful picture of a butterfly. Butterflies and fireflies are two things are really just enjoy watching. I can just stand or sit and watch them for hours.
Now that is a really nice pen Ed made for you. I'll keep his name and blog in my resource file for upcoming gift ideas.
Are you sick from those darn black flies? I've been hit hard with mosquito bites from cutting the grass. Damn bugs!!!!
Get some rest, and take care of yourself.
Sending hugs, and love to both of you.
Sandy
P.S. I'll take one of those berry cordial.....they look good!!!
Sweet Sandy - that butterfly looked like the one that you had recently posted so i grabbed the camera to get a pic for you! i love butterflies and fireflies too! Sandy - Ed's pens would make great gifts and they are not expensive...certainly he is not charging what they are worth! and yes - i have a particular allergy to those gawd-awful little blackflies. the deer flies and mosquitoes don't bother me - but i get sick from the black fly bites (stuffed up nose, congestion, headache...i get the symptoms that people with allergies to pollen get). it's horrible to say the least! jam just called and is on his way home with the new tires on the truck - woohoo! can't wait till he gets home and we can have a nice relaxing evening. sending much love to my Gurlie, as always! xoxoxo
DeleteI used to use pens like that, until I made the mistake of bringing on an airplane. What a mess. I sent you an email with a family photo. enjoy
ReplyDeletebahahahahahah! that must have been a real mess Rob, buddy! going to check the email now! thanks for a new photo! and glad that your boys are doing so well in their new jobs! sending much love to all of you! xoxox
Deletevet's best flea and tick spray
ReplyDeletekills fleas ticks and mosquitoes on contact
safe for pets and we have used it on ourselves
peppermint oil and clove extract
strong but you smell nice
deb - thanks for that - you know i will be making some right away. i have tried garlic in olive oil, garlic in apple cider vinegar, cloves in olive oil and apple cider vinegar...all kinds of combinations! but never tried peppermint and clove. will give it a try! thanks again!
DeleteBeautiful pen. I get a lot of bites in the summer but don't get physically ill. Guess it's because I have lived within a 4 hour radius all my life. I do hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteit is a really beautiful pen DFW! i loove it. and feel fancy taking my garden notes using it - bahahah! as i told Sweet Sandy above - i don't react to the deer flies or mosquitoes like this - just the black flies. and they really cause a horrible allergic reaction. it sucks. but for the rest of the summer i will have to wear my bug suit. and i hope that deb's recipe above works - that would be awesome! xoxox
DeleteThat cordial looks delicious!! and what better way to drink it than with vodka... just kidding. I hope that you're feeling much better. What kind of bugs are they that make you poorly? glad we don't get them!
ReplyDeleteKirsty - the cordial is delicious with or without the vodka...but the vodka is better - bahahahahah! and i make the original berry cordial very, very strong by boiling the berries and then keeping them at a low heat and simmering for at least 24 hours. as for the bugs - our bugs are black flies - i can't be sure but i think down in the states they call them no'see'ums and chiggers. they are awful! i get welts that last for days and then the actual bites take forever to heal. they are truly awful! xoxo
DeleteI have the base, including the large pulley, for an old treadle Singer sewing machine. I keep thinking that I'll make a small treadle lathe with it and try making pens. But then, I keep thinking I'll make a forge, too. Too many interests, too little time. Ed does good work, no wonder you're proud of it.
ReplyDeleteGorges - Ed does some really beautiful work and jambaloney is jealous! Ed also builds book shelves and has a beautiful work table that should be a dinner table!!! he's very handy that Ed and very skilled!
Deleteyou and me are the same! i keep thinking of all of the stuff i want to learn and do - waaaay too many interests!!! xoxox
In the 60's and 70's I always used a fountain pen. But then they just seem to vanish, and I haven't owned one in many years. Writing with a fountain pen is more of an art form, while using a ball point is just mundane toil.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the bugs are eating you up. That must be miserable. I have seen some of Les Strouds shows where he is up in Canada, and the bugs are swarming around so bad he wears netting to keep them off. You have bug suits, don't you Kymber? I seem to remember you wrote about them once.
I hope J gets home soon. There have been many sightings of UFO's in your area lately, I think they are looking for women to carry off!
Harry - i always used fountain pens, too. and then after a few years of work realized that i had cleptomania - if i was at someone's desk and they had an interesting pen...i would always leave with it - bahahahahah! i always tried to return them tho...but i, like Ed, was a penofile!
Deleteand yes, Stroud's shows show how many different kinds of swarming bugs that want to eat you to death! we do have bug suits but i get claustrophobic in them! i only put them on when i know i will be in the yard all day. i seem to have this idea in my head that if i am just running out to water the tomatoes that i won't get bit. and i hate the idea of the bugnets if i am just running out for a 20-minute job. so i don't put on the bugnets. so then i get 20 more bites on top of 100 bites. i have been sick for weeks!
today is the first day that i have not gone outside - i have to stay in for a couple of days. just to not get any additional bites.
and heck - i didn't see any UFO's...but would love to!!! sending much love your way, as always! xoxox
Well, if the extraterrestrials get you, at least you can be on an episode of "UFO files" and make a few bucks!
DeleteThat is a nice pen. As an old calligrapher I appreciate a good pen.
ReplyDeleteAfter I got out of the army I worked as a survey lineman for a while. One Summer the ticks and chiggers were so bad, along with other bugs that I got sick from being bitten so much. After that however I went years without having a tick or chigger bite. I would still find ticks crawling on me from time to time but it was rare for one to attach.
Sadly that immunity wore off a couple years ago and I now get them again although not as much as some.
The deerflies today here were maddening and vicious too.
PP - i am an amateur calligrapher but i did study with a korean master calligrapher and my "hanja" calligraphy is pretty good.
Deletei think what you guys call chiggers are our black flies, or very similar. and i am praying for my immunity to these gawd-awful devils - jam seems much more immune than me to the black flies but he seems to attract the deer flies - he is always covered in deer fly welts! sending much love to my favourite sustainer! xoxox
Tea tree oil works good as a repellent. Ticks are bad here this year.Hope you get to doing better.
ReplyDeleteJohn - i have a ton of purchased natural remedies, as well as home-made repellants and nothing works on these things! but thanks for your suggestion! i have smeared myself in tea tree oil and still been bitten 200 times. the only thing that works is the bug suits, which i hate, and deet, which i hate even more! sending much love! xoxo
Delete