u/No_Ear_6285

After my last post about being lost and wanting to improve, I really looked at the tutorials and everything. I have an idea of what projects I want to pursue next. So I watched the tutorials in depth made a list of the things I needed and went to the market after an entire day of going from shop to shop in jaipur's city, I could barely find what I was looking for and what I found was underwhelming.

So like are any of you from the Indian subcontinent?

If yes where do you get your materials and everything?

my most recent acquisition come from the Indian Pen makers, Click Pens. I have managed to get my inky hands on the Click Renaissance Ebonite in black color. It retails at 2200. For that price you get an ebonite body, a nib that can be switched out for a JoWo nib (that’s what is in my case, though I expect the other nibs to also be fantastic, will be trying out the fine nib soon and updating). Above all the pen can be eyedroppered and supports C/C, and also comes with a converter...

The writing experience with the click branded JoWo nib has been exceptional. It is a broad no. 6 nib, and the thick lines that it lays down; I am just a fan of it. I had a preconceived notion in my mind that broad nibs are going to be hell for papers and that I will have to find special fountain pen paper and will not be able to use what I am currently using. To my surprise, that has not been the case. Even so that it is working just fine (you see what I did there? XD) even on uncooperative paper. That might be a point to the ink in the click cartridge. It is an exceptionally well-behaved ink and writes very well and even sheen ever so slightly if you put a little too much ink on the paper.

The converter is nothing too special to talk about.

Coming to the pen itself, it is worth every penny, according to me. I had expected ebonite to be heavy material, and that the pen would feel hefty and will be unsuited for everyday work taking into consideration the size of the pen. I was of the mindset that it is going to be a special pen that I would be using occasionally for noting down quotes or poems or something else. Not something I’ll be using for everything, all day, every day. The Renaissance by Click proved me wrong. Since I have taken the pen out of the box and put a cartridge in it, I have been using this one pen and one pen only. It is extremely comfortable and lightweight.

Lastly... The story of my ownership of the pen. I have not bought this pen from the click website or some other store. I one day saw a reddit post; WTS (want to sell) and without check the price I just texted the person. Turned out the pen was exactly in my budget; in the budget I was unable to get any other ebonite pen. The budget that I had been wanting to expand to double the amount to get a decent ebonite pen, that would include the Renaissance if bought new. I chit-chated with the guy, thinking it is going to be a very transactional conversation; you want pen, I have pen, send money, I give pen.

It turned out to be quite the opposite. He was a nice guy, a bit older than me. He somehow gave me the JoWo nib without changing the price and also gave me a sample of the pilot iroshuzoku Ink. I feel in the end, in that steal deal, I got a nice ebonite pen that is India made, a JoWo nib, an ink sample and lastly a friend who has the same hobby....

(Also like if you wanna I'd appreciate you giving me a bit more time to check out this video and critique the hell out of it https://youtu.be/CBZfbkqyOtk?si=y8-UR81Is50Tp2dS )

My girlfriend is always into my hobbies and so supportive of them. To inaugrate my (old) new grinder I was looking to buy coffee for it. She being an angel brought me Tripura Hills from half light, by looking at the notes of the coffee.

She thought I would enjoy something that tastes like caramel, white chocolate and toasted nuts (which I agreed to when she told me).

We were so excited for me to try this coffee. When I was grinding the coffee the choclately aroma was so appetizing and I was just so ready to tell my girl that this is so sweet and this and that. However, when I finished brewing it, things changed. There was no sweet taste, the coffee was utterly a sour mess. I obviously thought it is due to me incompetence at brewing. I ground it finer and finer and ended up making 3 cups in one day. Though I couldn't tell my girl that this coffee is being a Lil mehh ( I can't even call it shit cuz she bought me this). So I told her that I love the coffee and I love the aroma and I am trying to narrow in on the perfect recipe for it. In that endeavour we visited half light's website and read what recipe do they recommend for it. They recommend 25grms of coffee in 250ml of water. That's so much coffee for such a small brew but it's okay, I just wanted to make one good cup so I can tell my girl that baby you got me such a nice coffee I enjoyed it so much I love it. Cuz it would make her sooo happy. So I did it. Brewed it at a 1:10 ratio, as suggested by the roasters. It is still a sour mess 😭. I am gonna grind it even finer now. If not I'll blend it with harley estate robusta.

The point being. How do I tell my girl that this coffee is mehh and also convey that I love the fact that you did this for me. I enjoy each and every pucker I do when I sip it. Just because she got me this. I feel so scared to make her sad and angry at half light 😂.

Also, to mention the beauty of the entire situation. It is such a cute and nice problem to have lol. I am regardless grateful of this situation. Idk just felt like sharing....

I am so happy to have such a girl in my life who doesn't brush off my hobbies as weird, and even tho isn't that into coffee. Is all the time listening to me about grind size, water temp, coffee process and what not (and this is just one of my weird hobbies). Always listens to how this time I achieved such a good cup, and when I get her coffee is always so nice about telling me that I made her such a good coffee.

This reminds of an incident that I'd like to share before I end this girlfriend appreciation post. One day I made coffee for college and took it in my thermos. We both share the coffee, she told me that I made such a nice coffee, she told me how nice I am for making her coffee everyday (she does that everyday😭🥺). The problem was we always share it from the same cup and I could taste that the coffee is extremely overextracted and is bitter but she drank it like it was the cleanest and sweetest cup.

Ig this gives me my answer too, I'll tell her that I love the coffee.

I really generous person sent me their C2s because of my last post. People of this sub are amazing and I can't thank that person enough.

But now the problem is I don't know how to make good coffee with a grinder. When I was getting pre ground coffee the roastery harley estate was less bitter. Plus today I got tripura hills from half life roasters and I made it twice and both times the coffee was sour.

I did grind finer that to help the bitterness in the second cup but can't seem to find my bearings.

I am familiar with the argument of get pre ground and save up for a good grinder but in my personal opinion the starter grinder or the most basic grinders recommend are way to expensive and I feel something cheaper should and must be available for a reasonable amount.

The problem: I recently ordered a coffee and loved it the taste was amazing but ordered it during exams, so it was only the late night coffee cup and nothing more and today I wanted to chase the same experience but the coffee had just lost that flavour. It wasn't what I was expecting it had changed altogether. I hit the realisation that it is probably because I get my coffee pre ground and the sitting on the shelf led to it becoming stale and I was sad about it. Obviously because being a student buying a new bag of coffee 2 times a month is not for me. I look for deals and opportunities to grab good coffees, and time hath betyaed me.

Hence, I thought why not buy a grinder and have my coffee freshly ground when I make it. That will also allow me to buy a v60. I am currently looking at this lifelong ceramic burr grinder. I was told by a friend that it is a great grinder. So I need help with deciding.

I still can't get those clean crisp edges. I wanna learn more than just the pamphlet bind, can someone guide me a little. Ik these are nowhere close to what all the members of this sub do, but still.

Heyy... This is a exciting hobby and I am having a lot of fun with it, one day I started making a notebook it is not in the picture I gave it to my girlfriend and I did not even realise when the sun rose and the night ended. I am from india, rajasthan, jaipur by the way if you are too say hello.

Apart from that what I make this post is to figure out if I need to buy more tools, yes consumerism has the best of me. Jk

But do help me with:

-> what do I do to improve at binding books

-> why can I not get straight edges on my notebooks

-> recommend things, tops, tricks idk honestly