hatam_soferet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hatam_soferet) wrote2007-04-17 06:00 pm
hatam_soferet) wrote2007-04-17 06:00 pm
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Rain's stopped, and so I am in a position to say: ain't nothing like a nice quill on nice parchment. Mmmmmmmmm :)
Sand tempering works pretty well for me these days. You heat up sand in the oven (I've got mine in an old tomato tin*), and when it's good and hot, park your quills** in it. The idea is for the heat to harden the feather, and then it stays sharp longer and is nicer to write with. The problem is that if you don't do it enough, nothing happens, but if you do it too much, you melt the quill. If you melt it, tiny air bubbles form and are trapped in it when it hardens so you can't cut it to a smooth edge, plus it's far too brittle to be useful.
One thing which works is stirring it around in the sand and hooking it out every ten seconds or so to see how it's doing. Another thing is using a spoon to pour sand over it and into it, as far up the barrel as possible, and then pouring it out and repeating. You know it's good just after it starts going opaque. I find that if you leave it until it's totally opaque, it's too brittle already, but it's hard to describe exactly, and it's one of the things you learn from experience.
* Sand isn't so common in New York City. I couldn't find any building sites that weren't sectioned off, and I don't know any small children with sandpits. I delayed learning this technique until the summer and its associated beach trip. Now I have a big jar of sand. Heh.
** which you have already divested of their various membranes and other extraneous bits
Sand tempering works pretty well for me these days. You heat up sand in the oven (I've got mine in an old tomato tin*), and when it's good and hot, park your quills** in it. The idea is for the heat to harden the feather, and then it stays sharp longer and is nicer to write with. The problem is that if you don't do it enough, nothing happens, but if you do it too much, you melt the quill. If you melt it, tiny air bubbles form and are trapped in it when it hardens so you can't cut it to a smooth edge, plus it's far too brittle to be useful.
One thing which works is stirring it around in the sand and hooking it out every ten seconds or so to see how it's doing. Another thing is using a spoon to pour sand over it and into it, as far up the barrel as possible, and then pouring it out and repeating. You know it's good just after it starts going opaque. I find that if you leave it until it's totally opaque, it's too brittle already, but it's hard to describe exactly, and it's one of the things you learn from experience.
* Sand isn't so common in New York City. I couldn't find any building sites that weren't sectioned off, and I don't know any small children with sandpits. I delayed learning this technique until the summer and its associated beach trip. Now I have a big jar of sand. Heh.
** which you have already divested of their various membranes and other extraneous bits