testing pen nibs with a mug of cocoa

Yesterday I made some peanut butter fudge at our son Matt’s request; our daughter Kristen is hosting a family tamale-making day at her house and we all brought nibbles. After making fudge, I usually make myself a mug of hot cocoa, which I swish around in the empty marshmallow jar to melt the remains into. I make my own cocoa mix with powdered milk, a good quality dry cocoa, and stevia — mine is more chocolatey and less sugary than premixed kinds.

My cocoa mug is a delicate bone china mug that my daughter and granddaughter found at a British import store; they know I love Scottish Terriers! I didn’t want it stained with tea, so I only use it for cocoa.

The reason for the above sketch was trying out a variety of fountain pen nibs. I was looking for a more flexible nib with good line variability. I would love a fountain pen nib that performs like the Zebra G nibs in my dip pen, which is not convenient to carry with me.

Then I remembered altering a very cheap JinHao pen to hold one of my Zebra G nibs. So I dug it out of the back of my pen drawer and inked it up. Things were going well until I was half-way through the header . . . then I looked down to see my fingers covered with ink and no ink on the paper . . .


Oh yeah, that’s the reason I quit using that pen!