brush repair & testing inks

While at our son's as "granny nanny" last month, I laid my smaller travel squirrel mop brush on the counter . . . where it promptly rolled off onto the floor and broke. I thought at the time that it seemed odd that the break was so even.

Then this past week I was gently squeezing excess water from my larger brush of the same style and it broke off as well, in the same way. Now I realize that this is a weak spot in how the bristles are attached --- I am hoping that super glue will fix both of them. I did a search online but could not find either brush in a travel form so I would really like to save these.

Then a couple of sample inks arrived from Goulet Pens. I have been wanting to try De Atramentis Document white ink for fountain pens ever since learning of it from Liz Steel's blog. Currently I use a Uniball Signo Gel Pen for white lines but really want a fountain pen white ink -- it would especially be cool to fill my white Lamy Safari pen! Unfortunately, it just doesn't write as consistent of a white line as the Uniball Signo pen. Ink goes on smoothly enough but it dries much lighter than when wet. In one spot, where I may have gotten some skin oil on the dark paper, it would not write at all even after repeated tries.

I also tried a sample of Platinum Mix-Free (whatever that means?) Earth Brown. Here, I was looking for a water-soluble burnt sienna colored ink that I could 'bleed' with a bit of water added. I have used Platinum Carbon Black ink and loved it, so I thought their brand might be good. I love the color, with just the right amount of 'bleed', but it is so thin that I cannot fill my pen's converter. It took 5 or 6 tries to even get it half-filled. Maybe I could fill an empty cartridge with the ink, using a syringe. Or perhaps it would work better in a Noodler's Creeper pen? Not sure . . .