05-30-2016, 08:23 AM
First, a disclaimer; I am not condemning my present containers or expecting perfection. This morning shave began with the adulation of my soap groupies crying KAV! KAV! pick me! I looked at the packaging; bright or filled with old world gravitas and charm, wood, aluminum, plastic, open and lidded. Goldilocks had three choices. I felt like Indiana Jones staring at dozens of grails. Did Jesus really use some humble coconut looking cup? I doubt it. As carpenter wouldn't there be some decorative carving, his initials like a personal coffeecup at the shop? Real Archaeologists think of these details.
All shared one commonality-left over lather. It's clogging the threaded lids, dripping down the sides and obscuring if not dissolving paper labels.
Truly, I do clean up as best one can. I saw one soap approaching that thin crescent requiring assimilation into a new puck and the odd regret my Pre de Provence birds are fading like ancient murals.
I finished and began writing a grocery list for Wednesday. DAMN! my fountain pen is dry. I began refilling from the Waterman bottle tipped sideways to pump the last refill. It doesn't work perfectly either. I must go on EBAY for a new bottle, maybe venture into fancy collectable inkstands I can't afford. I look at shaving bowls and scuttles again. I figure a BIG bowl most efficient for lathering without mess and grating soap into. It can have a lid or not. I look at hand hammered copper affairs from Turkey, burlwood from some Colorado studio ( probably still listening to John Denver) and elegant copies of Ming Dynasty ceramics. My wishlist grows huge along with fancy inkbottles. I pause, look at the cash involved. AM I
NUTS? I can wipe out a whole shelf at Phil's if I had that much cash.
I go back into the bathroom, I fight the bond of soap to reopen the Brutalt Bra lid. I wake up, not smelling the roses; but seeing the forest for the trees.
I need to find something to get that last drop of fountain pen ink though.
All shared one commonality-left over lather. It's clogging the threaded lids, dripping down the sides and obscuring if not dissolving paper labels.
Truly, I do clean up as best one can. I saw one soap approaching that thin crescent requiring assimilation into a new puck and the odd regret my Pre de Provence birds are fading like ancient murals.
I finished and began writing a grocery list for Wednesday. DAMN! my fountain pen is dry. I began refilling from the Waterman bottle tipped sideways to pump the last refill. It doesn't work perfectly either. I must go on EBAY for a new bottle, maybe venture into fancy collectable inkstands I can't afford. I look at shaving bowls and scuttles again. I figure a BIG bowl most efficient for lathering without mess and grating soap into. It can have a lid or not. I look at hand hammered copper affairs from Turkey, burlwood from some Colorado studio ( probably still listening to John Denver) and elegant copies of Ming Dynasty ceramics. My wishlist grows huge along with fancy inkbottles. I pause, look at the cash involved. AM I
NUTS? I can wipe out a whole shelf at Phil's if I had that much cash.
I go back into the bathroom, I fight the bond of soap to reopen the Brutalt Bra lid. I wake up, not smelling the roses; but seeing the forest for the trees.
I need to find something to get that last drop of fountain pen ink though.
05-30-2016, 01:15 PM
3 Options:
1. Czech & Speake - No threaded lids, and no dissolvable labels on their top of the line (but very expensive) aluminum containers.
2. Soap Commander and Barrister & Mann - Plastic containers, but the soap is deep enough in them when new, that you shouldn't make a mess outside of the container unless you are lathering while loading like an epileptic madman.
3. Use creams. Problem solved.
1. Czech & Speake - No threaded lids, and no dissolvable labels on their top of the line (but very expensive) aluminum containers.
2. Soap Commander and Barrister & Mann - Plastic containers, but the soap is deep enough in them when new, that you shouldn't make a mess outside of the container unless you are lathering while loading like an epileptic madman.
3. Use creams. Problem solved.
05-30-2016, 03:30 PM
(05-30-2016, 08:23 AM)kav Wrote: I look at shaving bowls and scuttles again. I figure a BIG bowl most efficient for lathering without mess and grating soap into. It can have a lid or not. I look at hand hammered copper affairs from Turkey, burlwood from some Colorado studio ( probably still listening to John Denver) and elegant copies of Ming Dynasty ceramics. My wishlist grows huge along with fancy inkbottles. I pause, look at the cash involved.
Luminarc E5607 Stackable Glass Bowl 4" (between $1.50 and $2.00 at my local Ace Hardware; probably more on Amazon.com). Larger 4.75" and 5.5" sizes also available. The smaller 3.5" Luminarc rests neatly and perfectly (rim ridge preventing it falling in) into a standard [font=有澤太楷書]こぶ志焼 [/font](Kobushiyaki) ceramic mug that is full of very hot water, to make a poor man’s scuttle.
If you need a lid for the 4" Luminarc, a 4.25" lid from a Ziploc Twist 'n Loc Container fits loosely atop the Luminarc bowl, not tightly enough ever to get stuck, but prevents excessive evaporation and allows limited stacking of puck-filled bowls.
As an interim measure while you seek out the ultimate ink bottle for your fountain pen, the Uni-ball Signo UM-153 model gel ink pen lays down a very bold, but crisp and non-feathering, line very much like the line a proper broad nib fountain pen lays down but with no print-through. With practice, one also can make a UM-153 lay down a raised line. The UM-153 is not generally distributed in the United States — more’s the pity — but may be purchased from JetPens on-line at the same time as you are ordering your Uni-ball Vision Elite BLX 0.8 liquid ink pens in purple black.
05-31-2016, 08:38 PM
I can't help you on the inkstands, but I bet you could find a local potter or someone on Etsy would could make you a soap dish to your desired specs.
I personally prefer them to be wide and shallow (to avoid brush clanging), like the one pictured here.
![[Image: 3cff8873658af39424ac8ebd8f22edfe.jpg]](http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160601/3cff8873658af39424ac8ebd8f22edfe.jpg)
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I personally prefer them to be wide and shallow (to avoid brush clanging), like the one pictured here.
![[Image: 3cff8873658af39424ac8ebd8f22edfe.jpg]](http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160601/3cff8873658af39424ac8ebd8f22edfe.jpg)
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05-31-2016, 08:40 PM
(05-31-2016, 08:38 PM)Watson15 Wrote: I can't help you on the inkstands, but I bet you could find a local potter or someone on Etsy would could make you a soap dish to your desired specs.
I personally prefer them to be wide and shallow (to avoid brush clanging), like the one pictured here.
My, that is a lovely dish! It seems like you have just finished making a pancake in an iron skillet.

06-01-2016, 06:20 AM
(05-31-2016, 09:18 PM)Watson15 Wrote: Ha! I should clarify that it is not mine, but one I saw online. I'm not sure I'd go for black, but the dimensions seem practical.
Personally, I plan to put your shave stick suggestion into practice when I need to restock on soap next.
Good luck with the shave-sticks, then.

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