Getting Gelly Pens to Write Again!!!

Ok after trying a multitude of fixes available on the internet I finally found one that got my pens working again.

If you have gelly pens, and the Glaze Pens seem to be the worse, and they have quite writing and you can see that the ink is still viable in the pens try this.

Leaving the caps securely attached to the tips of the pens, and I highly recommend wearing goggles here when you do this,

Trying NOT to split the pen cap, take the pens and tap REALLY HARD about a half dozen times straight up and down onto a very hard very sturdy surface like a counter top.  You want to tap the pen tip end down onto the surface.

THEN once you are done doing this with the pen tip down, and the cap still firmly covering the tip of the pen, whap the hell out of the pen onto the hard surface, yes this would be teh writing end of the pen.

And when I say whap the hell out of the pen I ""really''"' mean whap the hell out of it, and yes my rotor cuff is screaming at me right now, however, I now have 38 out of 39 gelly pens writing and quite beautifully I might add, once again!!!

Finding Inspiration

Dried Phlox from my garden.

North Garden In Progress

Last years garden growth.

Raked and shredded with the shredder. I will plant peas in this garden this coming week, and later this spring tomatoes and yellow wax beans.

And now mostly occupying one of the compost bins.  The super wet vegetation is on top we won't shred this due to it being super hard on the shredder.



Dyeing with Pomegranates

You can dye fabric, fibers, and even leather with Pomegranates.  Pomegranate dye can be obtained by cooking down either fresh and/or dried Pomegranate skins, eat the pulp inside your fresh pomegranates. You can also dye with Pomegranate extract available from select retailers.

Madder Root

Fresh Madder Root from my best friends green house - picture and roots courtsey of Karen Hartshorn!

Dried Madder Root - picture and roots courtsey of me!

YES there is a discernable difference in the color and the intensity of the colors you get when using fresh or dried madder root! If you can get fresh roots that is the best way to go, much better reds. The lightfastness and washfastness will be the same but the overall intensities will be different.

Madd About Madder Root

Photo of Madder Root Courtesy of Karen Hartshorn

8 oz to 1 # of whole Madder Root
4-5 Gallon Bucket
Water

Break your madder root into smallish pieces ¼” to ½” inch in length.
Cover in water and soak overnight.
Rinse Madder Root the next day.
You can save the rinse water and use it with other yellowish yielding dyes if desired.

The reason you rinse the madder root, if it is dried madder root not fresh, is to remove any of the yellow dye that is present in the root. Leaving the yellow rinse water will give you dyes more towards the orange/yellow end of the spectrum. Rinsing the madder root after the initial soak will give you deeper truer reds.