Search the Community

Hi all, Wondering if anyone might have some advice to get me out of the pickle I'm in... So up until this evening, the cap on my Waterman #12 eyedropper used to look like this: Not minty by any means. But, at least black. It now, looks like this: As you can see, it's now lighter, and has a lovely blue tinge to the chasing....no! It's a tragedy! Or well ...actually ...I can only admit it was my negligence. In a rookie move of stupidity, this morning I put my beloved Waterman 12 eyedropper in my jacket's inner pocket (the inside pocket you sometimes get in jackets, which sits perhaps just below one's chest). This was not the first time that I've done so, and I always am careful to place my pen in a small zip lock plastic bag (I am in need of funds for a pen pouch - although the plastic bag helped today), squeezed the air out, zip it up, and put it upright in my pocket. However, I usually wear a thick sweater (it's winter here in Australia now) underneath my jacket, and I think my choice not to wear one today was my undoing. As the pen was now closer to the direct heat of my body today because I wore no sweater ...and because I'm guessing it was less than half full ...yep, you guessed it! It had a leak. The section was fine, I had put silicone grease on it when it was filled up, so no problem there. But, it must have leaked out of the nib, into the cap, and flowed out of the cap, soaking the cap in warm ink for ....I have no idea how long. A nice marinade of Waterman South Sea/Inspired Blue ink. The result as you can guess, was not pretty. I won't blame you if you grimace. What was once a, not minty admittedly, but certainly black cap, has now turned into a greeny brown ...BLUE disaster. The chasing lines have a bluer tinge in real life, whereas the non-chased part is more greeny.The barrel was affected, but not nearly as much as the cap, which was doing backstroke in the blue. So I guess my question is, can I do anything about it? Micro mesh? Sunshine cloth? Horn of unicorn dissolved in essence of featherweed? I do realise abrasives may wear down the chasing...but the blue tinge to the chasing irks me... I really do love this pen. It writes as smooth as butter, and has a lovely flexy italic nib. It certainly was, and still is my pride of joy, so I feel awful that my negligence of eyedropper heating has caused it to be in the state it is now. Any help or advice you may have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your thoughts in advance! Cheers, Harry