Hello,

A bigger problem than spillage has ever been is that the dog used to like lapping up the ink if I left it down low. There is nothing inherently untidy about it all though, it depends on the individual.

What the one would find annoying the other would take pleasure in. That it is a skill in and of itself to get right and that after a while becomes second nature is something I like about the method. A possible disadvantage, you don't stop it in your pocket like a pencil. On the other hand you will most likely not displace it like the ever elusive pencil either.


These are the main components of my lay-out set-up.

I use the ink well - the base of a broken bowel from around three hundred years ago I dug out of the garden - in combination with the sumitsubo as blotter.

Tim mentions the dividers which I am finding more and more uses for and more and more useful.

Lay-out from off centered snap line: Here, I must admit the bamboo pen can be problematic butting it up along reference marks off the story stick. The solution is carving a pointed pencil shape on the end opposing the bladed end, (see the bamboo pen to the right of the red ink well and pen).

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff