March: Palette in Action & Update

Beverly Hall has created another lovely painting with the inks from our March Palette.

Updates

Good news, pen friends! And just news. Let’s start with the good:

New Service!

I have a new subscription offering: Ideal Ink Service. If you’re interested in finding your ideal ink, this service is for you. I often get requests from writers about what ink I recommend for a certain mood they’re trying to achieve for their book – and there are so many inks I can cite that it’s difficult to give them a good answer, especially when ink performance is so dependent upon the pen and paper a person is using. That’s why I created this service — to help you find your ideal writing experience for whatever goal you have.

How does it work? We talk about your goal, then I send you 3 samples a month that I think you’ll like. You give me feedback about what you like/didn’t like. I use that feedback to iterate and send you new samples.

Like all the subscriptions, you can pause or cancel at any time. If you want a different frequency sending the samples out, just let me know!

New Products!

My empty cartridges finally came in, along with my pen refill tool. The pen refill tool will be going out as part of the Deluxe package this month.

I have also been working with Jinhao pen company since last November on an order, which has just shipped. I expect to receive it in the next few weeks. I’ve ordered an assortment of their pen models. As a user of Jinhao, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of their pens and the speed of their feeds, especially in their starter lines.

I have also become a retailer for LAMY and Diamine. I’ll be placing my initial orders this month. They each have a $500 minimum opening order for new accounts, so I may have to delay one of the orders until I find a day job.

I linked my Twitter account (@BirminghamGlenn) with this site, and new products and posts get sent over automatically.

I have most of my ink backlog uploaded now. (I am still lacking the entries for my J. Herbin inks but expect to have those up soon.) I’ve had some health problems the past month that have really drained me, but I’m finally on the mend. This month I’ll be tackling making the papers available on the site.

Day Job

This is a primary business for me at the present. I am very much in the red from the startup costs, still, but I have been using my time while I have been otherwise unemployed and recovering from some health concerns to get this up and running.

I’m very grateful for everyone who has stuck with me through this first quarter of the subscription ink parcel and given me feedback. I will continue working on ways to improve it (including custom packaging, which has been often requested but is out of my budget at the moment), and adding inks, pens, and tutorials.

I haven’t achieved my vision for this site yet, but I get a bit closer every month. Which is exciting! I can’t wait to make all my plans for this come to fruition.

However, I have come to a point where I need to go back to work and get a day job again. I was hoping that between this buiness and our books, I would find a way to squeak by on paying my bills as I grew the businesses, but that hasn’t happened (largely because my health issues have prevented me from spending the time and energy I need). Unfortunately, I’ve run out of time (well, money really) and need to find a day job again.

So this will be moving to a side business in the near future.

What does that mean? Mostly, that I may be less available via email, Telegram, or Discord during business hours. I also expect that when I first go back to work, I will be unavailable for about two weeks while I rebuild my stamina for working in a structured environment. (One of my favorite things about working for myself has been being able to set my own schedule.)

I’ll keep you updated, but you can expect the same personalized service and care from me that I’ve always put into this. It just may not be quite as snappy during the next couple months.

I appreciate your continued support and your understanding during this transition.

— Glenn