So You're Social Distancing Pt. 1.

We've been sending out ideas and tips and tricks to keep your mind sharp during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an effort to make sure we're reaching all of our followers, we're going to be cross posting those newsletters here for the foreseeable future. Here's Part 1.

Proper Surface Care

With all of the reports on cleanliness and routines around daily life, we wanted to pass on the routines we suggest for cleaning your pens. Whether you're social-distancing, still working in food service or delivery, or a first responder or medical professional we want you to know how to properly care for your Karas writing instrument.

90% of our pens are made out of metal, predominantly aluminum, brass, and copper with some hardware made from stainless steel. In the case of our metal pens there are a variety of ways you can clean and disinfect your pen. Most household cleaners are perfectly safe to clean our aluminum pens. If you're using something strong like bleach or Lysol, we advise wiping off any residue with a microfiber cloth. Alternatively, using soap and water is also perfectly acceptable. We do suggest removing the refill and spring, cleaning the outside major components, then thoroughly drying the pen before reassembling the pen. Using these steps should keep your pen germ and dirt free.

While brass and copper are antimicrobial, they do still need to have their surfaces cleaned. Our personal preference on cleaning raw brass and copper is to steer clear of ammonia, and rely on an isopropyl alcohol solution of at least 70% alcohol. Wiping the outside of individual parts with a cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol then allowing the parts to air dry before reassembling the pen is quick and easy. This can cause some small oxidation, but that's easily wiped away with a jeweler's cloth or sunshine cloth (do not use the jeweler's cloth or sunshine cloth before using alcohol as it can pull off germs into the fabric of the cloth). You can use soap and water with copper and brass but you must ensure the parts are completely dry before reassembling the pen to prevent any potential corrosion or heavy oxidation of threads and internal areas.

Our non-metal pens (acrylic, Delrin, cellulose, etc) need to be handled carefully around many types of chemical cleaners. We suggest sticking to warm water and soap for these types of pens. Disassembling them to main components (cap with clip and finial, grip, barrel with finial) then cleaning thoroughly. If you have an ultrasonic cleaner you can also use warm water and soap (do not use heat if your cleaner has a heat setting) and run a 90 second cleaning pass. Rinse the parts in water before drying them completely. We suggest using a clean microfiber cloth to dry your non-metal pens as this type of cloth should not cause any scratches to the surface of your pen.

Hopefully this is helpful advise on caring and cleaning your Karas Pen Co writing instrument. We realize you may be using this a lot more frequently during this time, and keeping everything clean and in working order is a must.

NAPOWRIMO EARLY?

Yes it's only March, but if you're looking for ideas to keep yourself busy there's a lot of great writing and creating ideas that can help keep your mind engaged in something other than worrying. The official NAPOWRIMO prompts won't be posted until April, but you can get a jump on things and pull prompts from years past to get your poetry juices flowing. And if poetry isn't your jam, maybe start some daily journalling, crack open a new sketchbook, or start storyboarding your plot for NANOWRIMO a little early. Whatever it is, we'd love to see what you're writing, drawing, or creating during this time. If you have Facebook or Instagram, tag Karas Pen Co in your posts, we'll randomly be reposting these creativity based posts over the next several months. You can follow our social media accounts below, and watch all the goings on from the safety of your home.