Preppy cartridge fountain pen converted to an eyedropper

After seeing the Preppy's over at Unposted today I was inspired to finally post about one of my favorite things to do: Convert my fountain pens from cartridges to eyedroppers. Ready? Let's go...all you really need is the above items and a cloth to clean things up should things get messy. You don't actually need two inks, I just decided on a blend.

Here is what most people are worried about, but actually the easiest part of the process. Go to Lowes or Home Depot... in the plumping section they should have something called "waterproof grease" Ask the guy in the orange vest, he knows where the hide it...buy it... its only a couple of bucks and it will last you a year. Act cool like you are going to go home and tackle that pesky water leak in your master bathroom. Use works like " Grease trap" and "Stop Valve." Pull your pants down a little in the back, and bend over a lot... it helps. Trust me.

Take your finger, dip it in the grease and run it around the threads of the nib. A light coating will take care of things and seal it up nicely.

Here's a better shot of how thin of a coating you can get away with. (click for larger view) Gently set this aside, let's grab some ink.... its time for the wet work.

So take your pen body and start dumping some ink in it, an eye dropper, or a squeeze bottle or anything that you can draw ink up with and fit in the end will work. I live dangerously- so I go for a syringe. You will be amazed how much ink you can get in here at the end of the day.

Screw the nib back on the body and IMPORTANT! Wipe down the pen for a minute or two, some of the grease will seep out of the threads and just wipe it off, it will not kill you. The job of the grease is to keep the ink in the pen.

You now have an eyedropper. The only maintenance you need to do is whenever you add ink, just run a little grease around the threads again. There you are.

Here's another blend... Some Private Reserve Midnight blues and some J Hervin Vert Olive. Heavy on the Olive. This whole process only works on fountains that do not have any holes in the body, the Preppy's and the Petits are great, fun pens to do this with. Enjoy.

Free Ink! (kinda)

Did you know that if you buy 2 bottles of different color ink you pretty much have opened up doorway to another world full of rainbows and unicorns? Well, that is not all true- but what you have gotten yourself into is a whole new world of mixing possibilities. So here you have your normal Private Reserve American Blue and your typical J. Herbin Vert Olive....two great colors that I appreciate individually for what they are.

However, if a little Mr. Blue mixes parties with a decent amount of Mr. Green (5:1 ratio for the math majors out there) Presto. Happy day... you have yourself a new color to write home about (or with.)

Here you have it in the light, everyone owns a Preppy eyedropper right? If not, you should... we are talking a serious tank of ink. Instructions on how to make one later this week. A little more blue might actually make this even cooler. That is the fun part.

And here you have the mix, some of you might be concerned about ph factors and mixing certain types of ink can cause explosions and blah, blah, blah. I strictly went for color here, I mix the ink, I put it in a non-expensive (or explosive) pen and I write with it. I am happy and that's the main goal I was going for. If I hate the color, I burn through it and try again. No harm done. Have a great day! -Seth