The Pen Addict 689/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	689
Title:	A Platypus Riding A Bicycle
Release Date:	October 30th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Robb Knight
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 689
Audio File:	Audio Episode 689
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 689
Length:	6363 min <br />1.05 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode number 689. Today's show is brought to you by Enigma Stationery and HelloFresh. I'm your host, Brad Dowdy, and joining in on the shenanigans this week is my good friend Rob Knight. How's it going, Rob?
Hi. I'm excited to be back. It's been, what, a few months or six months, maybe? Something like that?
It was longer than I had remembered. We were actually talking, I was actually talking to Mike offline, maybe before you, or I don't know, you maybe saw some of the conversation. I was like, he's like, you know that was back in February. I'm like, really? I was like, yeah, that's, it's been a while. So, glad, so I guess that's about eight months. So, glad to have you back.
You joined me during Mike's parental leave, and now you're his official vacation villain, I guess. I'm gonna have to get you a title or something, like Mike used to give me titles back in the day. So, I do appreciate you taking the time to do this. It's very much appreciated.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Anytime. Honestly, this is, it's exciting.
Especially this week, because this is one of Mike's least favorite weeks to record, which I think is why he took the week off. It's where your time has changed over in the UK, but mine has not. So, we're actually, we're closer than ever, Rob.
Yeah.
We're only four hours apart instead of five, so.
Yeah, I'm not a massive fan of this week either. I am recording my other show this week, and I just haven't said anything. I'm just gonna go later, because it's one show. But, like, if I had more than that, it's way more of a problem.
Exactly. So, now I see why Mike took this week off, because it just frustrates him to no end. I'm like, yeah, I get it, I get it. So, since we last talked, when we talked before, I'll put a link in the show notes. It was episode 657. I'll have a link in the show notes. I have a link to Rob's work online.
I'll have a link to Rob's other podcasts, Ruminate, and all your other work. We'll link all that in there. But, I wanted to talk about, and just kind of catch up, like, from this year.
Yeah.
Because when I first brought you on, the whole guise of having the interview was, like, you had literally just kind of dove into the stationery scene within months of when I've talked to you. Not that you didn't use pens in your lifetime before or anything like that, but you're like, oh, there's some cool stuff out there in this pen addict world. And we'll let everyone go back and listen to that.
So, I want to know, have things continued to escalate since you appeared on the show? I don't even have to follow. I don't even have to continue, right? You just go.
Yeah. I mean, I think you know very well that it has escalated quite a lot since then. I mean, I'm looking at the show notes for the previous episode I was on, and they seem kind of quaint at this point.
Yeah.
You know, there's, like, oh, there's some highlighters and a mechanical pencil. I have got handfuls of this stuff now. Like, it's all over my desk.
Have you managed to, like, corral any of this? Do you have, like, piles and stacks? Do you have, like, things coming, you know, out of drawers you didn't know that you had drawers for?
There's definitely a lot more sorting than I had anticipated. You know, I have all the different parts. Like, one has mechanical pencils in, and then I've got my ballpoints, and my gel pens are in a separate pencil case. Like, it's certainly taken a turn. And then fountain pens, like, there's some on stands, and then there's some in the overflow storage and the drawers. It really, what I can entirely lay at your feet and the blame is what you've created is an absolute monster.
Fair enough. Like, you're not the first one to call me the king of the enablers. And, you know, while it's not necessarily purposeful, it's like, you know what, Rob, I kind of like this stuff, so I tend to talk a lot about it. And I get excited. You know, last week, a friend just sent me a random box in the mail, and it contained a bunch of old Bic ballpoint pens, and I was super excited, right?
Right? So it's just who I am, and if you, you know, you've chosen, you know, friendship, you've chosen the friendship path with me, well, you're going to get inundated, maybe, and hopefully I'm not causing too much problem on your desk there.
So when we first talked, and I didn't double check, but you'll know, you had just gotten, like, a Lamy Safari, and was that your first fountain pen?
Yeah, so I believe, I think I had picked up a Platinum Preppy, and I think I had just picked up an All-Star, maybe that week.
All-Star, yeah.
But it was basically those two, that was all I had, because, you know, I was starting off at the cheaper end, and didn't know what I liked.
Off the top, I mean, there's two Twisby Ecos on my desk now, there's a handful of Safaris and All-Stars.
Spoiler alert for a little bit later, I have an Estabrook Funky Town, which is what I'm using at the moment, along with a whole bunch of other fountain pens.
So, yeah, it's, I really, I mean, firstly, I enjoyed it.
Like, you know, I got the fountain pens, and I was like, no, I really like this.
And yeah, I have, you know, maybe 15, maybe 15 or 16 fountain pens now.
Nice, nice. Sorry about that.
Okay, a couple important questions from this follow-up.
Twisby Safari, excuse me, Twisby Safari.
Well, there's a show title.
Lamy Safari or Lamy All-Star?
Do you have a preference over the two?
I think when we...
Only pick one.
I think the Safari.
And I think, I mean, it's tough.
I think I do like both of them for different reasons.
I think the matte, not the matte finish, but the finish on the Safari, I just prefer.
Yeah.
And when I'm writing, I tend to prefer it.
But, you know, they are both very close.
But yeah, if I've got to pick one, I'm going to pick Safari, I think.
Yeah.
And then the Twisby Ecos, do you have kind of like the standard, you know, the colors that they release?
Or have you gone into this, their new fascination with like the black trim and the kind of marbly looking colors?
Have you, have you gone down that route yet to some of their new ones?
So, no.
Right now, I just have two of the transparent ones.
I have purple and yellow.
But I do have a note to go and have a look at some of these newer ones.
Because the white with the black trim, like the marbly effect one.
Yeah.
That's looking very appealing.
Yeah.
Although, you know, I think you discussed it last week, like the prices are all over the place, depending on which ones you want to buy.
So, you know, I need to take that into consideration as well.
Yeah.
And before I'm even able to really fall in love with one, say like the Serpentine, which we talked about last week.
Right.
Before I'm able to fall in love with that one and decide to make a purchase.
Because I'm not like, it's very rare these days, even for me, who's just like fully addicted into this stuff, to see a product launch and me just run and smash the buy button.
Right.
So, with Twisby, like that Serpentine came out.
I was like, oh, that's really good.
And then before I even have a chance to buy it, they've come out with the, I forget the white one's name.
It's like Carrera or something like that.
And then I was like, oh, that one's really good too.
Then they come out with a plum one and like two weeks later, it's like, oh, that's really good too.
And now I'm not buying any of them because like there's probably going to be another one in a couple of weeks and maybe it'll be better.
And I don't need all of them.
So, yeah, that's the world you're experiencing now.
Welcome to my brain.
Definitely.
I mean, I think anyone who's in the streams or in the Slack will know like the Funky Town when that got announced at the shows.
Yeah.
That was my first experience of, I must have this pen.
Like, you know, all the pens I bought I really like, but the Funky Town, it's like it was built for me specifically.
You know, it's hot pink.
It's got sparkles in it.
Like everything about it is just perfect.
Yeah.
I hope I don't get too many of those because my wallet is not going to handle that.
I know.
Like you were all up in my DMs like immediately like with that.
It's like, I need this.
When is it going to happen?
And I'm like, they're just not being like super clear on what they do.
And I would email.
I would text them for you.
I was like, hey, when is this happening?
Because I got a guy who needs this.
He needs this pink pen bad.
In a bad way.
I need it.
I need it for my work.
Yeah.
You need it for your work.
Speaking of which, has your workflow changed, right?
Have you, you were very pretty average journaler or during the day notebook user.
Has anything changed with that?
Like with fountain pens, you use fountain pens more or how does that, how is that going?
Yeah.
So I think when we spoke, I heard I'd started using fountain pens a little bit.
I'm now almost exclusively using a fountain pen.
Nice.
I will switch them up maybe every couple of weeks.
And I make a little note of it at the top every week if I've changed the pen.
So because I might change not just a fountain pen, but I'll change maybe a glitter pen that
I'm using or the highlighter or whatever.
And I'll kind of switch everything for the week.
So mostly because I want to use all these pens that I've got here.
I don't just want to use one just because it's the most expensive or the nicest or whatever.
Like I want to, I want to use all of them because they all have their different, um, just the
things that I enjoy about them, whether it's the ink or the pen itself.
Like, you know, I want to try and at least get some use out of all of them.
Yeah.
That's, that's key.
And, you know, I try to, you know, have, I have too much stuff to use, but I still try
to mix it up as much as I can because I, I like, I was just saying earlier, like, I love
this big ballpoint that I got in.
Like, you know, I'm, and I'm going to randomly, you know, try to mix that into the rotation.
I do kind of, kind of like you, maybe not on a weekly basis, but I will try to pick like
a certain pen for a day or for a week and give them a good run.
And then just kind of go back and forth to like a handful of those more like a grouping
than just like a, you know, um, a singular pen for the day.
But, you know, if I'm using certain pens this week, I'm probably going to stick with those
and then kind of rotate it around.
So are you using, so it sounds like you're using mainly or at least primarily one notebook.
Is that fair?
At the moment, um, I am probably by next week, there's going to be a second one.
Okay.
Um, because I want to start journaling just some events and stuff that happened with the
kids.
Okay.
Um, you know, print out a photo, maybe write a little note about it, that kind of thing.
Um, and, and I, I have been doing that in my current journal, but I, I want to keep all
of those in one place.
So, um, I'm going to move on to the second one and then we are going to get to this soon.
But the, um, the sketching and the drawing has also, um, sort of heavily implied that I'd,
maybe I need to get a separate sketchbook for that too.
Um, so yeah, you know, multiple notebooks I think is in my future, probably very soon.
Which one are you using now?
Remind me.
Uh, this is a scribbles that matter.
Yeah.
Uh, notebook, which is, uh, to be honest, is really good.
Um, you know, I've recommended it to a few people who've, I've enabled in the last six
months, which really is, that's just how this works.
Right.
Um, but yeah, it's a great notebook and the, the one I'm probably going to use for the kids
is also one of theirs as well.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Um, so we were talking about, I put it in the show notes to, to talk about your art.
And I think that's something that, uh, I wasn't aware of, or that you were going to attempt
for raising money for St. Jude's.
Like you and I were both very active in, in raising money through relay for St. Jude's
in September and one of your incentives, um, was, was some artwork.
And I'm just curious how that came about.
And is this something like, I know you've like designed stickers before and you like,
you've done some things for me, uh, personally.
And I'm just curious if that is kind of out of your wheelhouse or is that something like
you were super comfortable doing or, or tell me about how that came to be.
I mean, it started and this tends to happen with my St. Jude campaigns is maybe a week
or two in, I think we need something else.
We need a new thing to offer people to, you know, get them to donate more or, or whatever.
And I had five international stamps on my desk and I thought, okay, what if I charge people?
I can't draw, or at least I thought I couldn't draw.
I can't draw.
Let's just tell people, yeah, ask me to draw you an animal.
It'll be terrible, but it's funny because it's for charity and people will be happy.
And then people started donating and I kind of felt like I couldn't just send them a really
terrible drawing.
Yeah.
Like a stick figure.
Right.
Exactly.
So I, I did something I've never done in my life because I thought I couldn't draw and
I actually sat down and tried.
Um, and it turns out I'm kind of okay.
Yeah.
Like I'm, you know, I'm not amazing by any stretch, but I was like, oh, okay.
If I actually try, look at reference images, you know, look at things online, like I can
maybe draw something half decent for people.
And this turned into me doing 27 of these over the campaign.
Heck yes.
Dude, I like, literally, I'm so proud of you for like doing that and just saying, you know
what, let's, let's, let's take a chance and you know, me, maybe I draw one and it'll be
silly and it'll be fun.
And then honestly, he probably went, oh, I need to lock in on this.
And, and you, you crushed it.
Like, it's so cool.
I got, uh, when I get you to, uh, send me a leopard, I'll put a link in the show notes.
I haven't taken, I haven't put it on Instagram or anything like that, but it's like, it's
like legitimately good.
And, um, I, I love it.
And I think you did a great job and I'm glad that you did this and I'm glad it was successful.
Um, what, what kind of tools were you using for that?
It looks just like a simple, you know, card and, you know, black ink and mild liners maybe,
right?
Yeah.
So for, for the color, for the most part, I would use the mild liners.
Um, I also have some zebra click arts here as well, which I was using.
Yeah.
Um, and so I would do, I would do pencil underneath, um, because again, I, I didn't know what I was
doing.
I was like, can I draw these things?
Like there was a few that really, uh, made it difficult.
And then I would go over it either with, um, the pigra pigma microns or, uh, uni pins.
Yeah.
Uh, which I had around.
Um, I can't, I've still been trying to decide which one of those I like best, but they're,
you know, they're both perfect for it.
Yeah.
I would like follow.
I personally would like follow up on that because that's one of my favorite categories
of pen is that, that type of fine liner.
And those are, are two really good ones.
Yeah.
Well, I've been mixing it up this month, which again, kind of falls into the drawing,
uh, cause I've been doing it in October.
So I've been doing a drawing every day as well.
Um, so I've been mixing it up between those two, but to go back to the St. Jude ones, yeah,
I would use mild liners or, um, the click arts, uh, in a couple of cases, I just used pencil
for some shading and things like that, depending on what people asked me for.
Um, you know, and it, it ranged from something as simple as like, can you draw me a frog
to, oh, there's a platypus on a unicycle in Tokyo in rush hour.
Like the difference between those things is quite vast, but it was kind of fun to tackle
these just really weird requests.
And I can only assume if I do it next year, the requests are going to get even weirder.
Yeah, for sure.
That's out.
That was the next question.
Well, you know, what was the most difficult or the weirdest request?
And I, I would say a platypus riding a bicycle during Tokyo rush hour, uh, that that's going
to be up there.
Was that, was there any more challenging than that?
Or was that the winner?
No, the, the, there was two that were particularly challenging.
What I've noticed is things that are recognizable.
So recognizable characters are really hard.
If they're not quite right, they look really weird.
Um, and somebody requested Pikachu.
Now I was able to draw it and it was possible.
Like you would see it and you know, it's Pikachu, but it just looked very strange because I'm,
you know, because it's so recognizable.
You need it to be perfect.
Otherwise it looks weird.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've seen it all so much.
We have the image like burned in our head, what it's supposed to look like.
Right.
Exactly.
And the, the other hard one was a non-animal one.
Uh, so Joe, who is the developer of Timery, um, he asked for a London bus and on the face
of it, that seems fine, but I didn't just want to do it from side on.
Like I wanted to do it at a bit of an angle so you could see all of it.
Um, and I must've gone through probably five of those cards that I drew on because I just
could not get it right.
Um, I, I sent him the best one and he's very happy with it and he was very kind.
Um, but that one in particular was quite difficult.
So like, I may be going to try and look at folk like learning more about perspective and
things like that, um, in the future.
Cause that was really difficult to do.
Like, I love that we have like opened up something new here, you know, for, for anyone listening,
like getting to open up something new that you, that you do or like get an interest in
and that it came from like analog tools, you know, just using pens and papers like, oh, maybe
I'll make a doodle.
Oh, it turns out I'm decent at this.
And I find it interesting that enough that I want to keep doing it and learn more.
Like, I I'm just fascinated with this, this whole, you know, watching, watching you do
this.
I, I seriously, I think it's so cool.
Yeah.
It has been really nice.
I think like, you know, we can, we can sit here and joke and laugh and go, Brad got,
you know, Brad got robbed to buy fountain bands or whatever.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Um, you know, yeah, fine.
You know, but you know, we like buying stuff I think is, is, is, is core parts of our personalities
as well.
You know, we like shiny things.
And, but as you say, to unlock or to find out that I'm like, oh, I actually quite like
drawing.
Like, I'm not even that bothered if I'm amazing at it.
Right.
I don't think I ever will be because I'm not going to practice and, you know, to be an expert
at these things takes years and years.
Like maybe I will hopefully get better, but the point is I'm enjoying it and it doesn't
cost anything or it doesn't cost a lot because I just have to have a pencil.
Also, I've already got a journal in front of me.
Like I can draw in that.
I can get a sketchbook.
I can draw in that.
Like to draw that line from, oh, I'm going to start bullet journaling to buying some pens
to I'm going to do some drawings like so quickly as well.
It's like, it's been really fun.
Yeah.
I I'm smiling from ear to ear.
I love, love hearing that.
Well, you, you did mention buying stuff, Rob.
And one of my jobs here is to talk about our good friends over at Enigma Stationery.
So let me see what they are up to this week.
This episode of the pen act is brought to you by our friends at Enigma Stationery.
Enigma Stationery offers unique items made from in-house designs, along with top brands
and hard to find imports.
Enigma's newest additions include great options for gift giving season, like new products from
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quality totes, pouches, and more.
I was scoping these out.
I'm definitely going to need the coffee money pouch.
That seems right up my alley and something I'd find a lot of use from.
Along with that, they have another new arrival in the Peanuts 75th anniversary collection in
collaboration with Estabrook, bringing Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and more to your desk with pens,
cases, and accessories.
Whether you're jotting down notes, sketching, or planning your next big adventure, this collection
makes every moment a little more joyful.
And special shout out to Sally, whose pens and accessories look like my favorite from
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That's enigmastationery.com slash penaddict to get a free gift and US shipping on orders
of $50 or more with the code penaddict25.
Our thanks to Enigma Stationery for their support of this show and all of Relay.
Okay, Rob.
We got our shout out of the week.
We'll keep this train moving or the London double-decker bus moving.
Can I do the song?
Can I do the shout out of the week?
Yes.
How was that?
I mean, that was better than most.
So I feel like we might have a challenger here for the shout out of the week jingle.
So we'll see.
This is key to see if Mike actually listens to the podcast on his vacation.
So we'll find out.
I don't think he does.
He tells me he does.
He'll email me sometimes and say, oh, that was cool that you did that.
And I was like, oh, you actually listen.
So I have an interesting shout out of the week this week in that I wanted to shout out
a hashtag on Instagram.
And that is Pelican Hubs 2025.
So we've talked about Pelican Hubs over the years.
And they were scheduled for this past Friday evening, I believe, around the world.
And I started noticing my feed filling up with all of the images from Pelican Hubs that took
place.
You know, I saw some over there in the UK.
I saw some in Germany.
They were literally all around the world, a lot here in the US.
And I was wondering, like, oh, did they use a standard like social tag for this that I could
share with people who have never been to a hub and would like to go?
And it does require you to log into Instagram to see the hashtags, which Rob and I found out
before the show.
But I thought it was cool to just kind of see every hub kind of gets a group shot from like
the banners that Pelican send.
And I thought it was just a really neat look at what goes on in Pelican Hub, the fun that
they have.
And yeah, I thought that was interesting.
So take a look at that hashtag over there on Instagram.
Yeah, I will.
So I'm very impressed with the London banner where they've sort of turned it into, you know,
the circle in the middle logo.
They've actually turned it into an underground sign.
And then they've drawn the Pelican again.
It's so cool.
It was really good.
So these banners are like wall-sized banners.
They're like what?
Probably like a good four by six, four by eight type of banner.
And a lot of hubs will just, you know, hold them up and, you know, in their natural state
and a lot of hubs will get everyone to sign the banner.
That's a pretty common thing.
And then some just go on and put art on the banner.
Maybe one year, Rob, you'll put art on a banner at a Pelican Hub.
Very maybe.
Very maybe.
That's not how people talk.
Have you listened to this show?
Well, yeah, I mean, you know, it's definitely another thing that's on my radar.
Yeah.
But, you know, there's lots of things.
I'm not rushing into anything.
There's a lot to go on in this hobby.
So, yeah, yeah.
You have had quite the year in stationery.
I always have quite the year in stationery.
And I like to talk about some of the new products that cross my desk.
So, I wanted to hit the Novelure Eclipse review that I just posted this week on the blog.
So, this is a retractable fountain pen.
Do you own any retractable fountain pens, Rob?
I do not.
Okay.
No, this would be a first for me.
Yeah, that's a common thing.
Like, not many people own retractable fountain pens.
But it's still this interesting category where different manufacturers will try to essentially compete with what Pilot created back in the 1960s called the Capless, which has later become the Vanishing Point.
And the Vanishing Point is just a masterful design.
It's like, I'm not going to hide the fact that I just absolutely adore everything about the Pilot Vanishing Point.
It was my first gold nib fountain pen all those years ago that I bought.
And they still continue to make them this day and make other variations.
So, since it's a style of pen that I like that's retractable, when someone does something different with that, like Novelure did with the Eclipse, where they have...
The best I can define it is I'm calling it a barrel knock, right?
Like, you take both hands and kind of, like, squish it together.
And it, like, engages the nib to come out the front end of the pen instead of just, like, a button on the back, like a ballpoint pen or something like that.
So, it's curious in that people have wondered, like, can I pinch my hands in those, like, bits of metal?
Like, it's literally an aluminum barrel pen with these teeth going in there.
And you probably could.
Like, I haven't.
I haven't necessarily tried to either.
I'm paying attention when I'm clicking it.
But I haven't had any problem with it.
But I really enjoy the pen.
So, I wanted to put a link in the show notes.
I was mostly surprised at the nib of this pen because I like to write small.
And they offered it in fine and medium.
I chose a fine.
And the line was really, like, nice and clean.
And it held the ink very well.
And I don't know.
I thought it was just a really good writer.
And I'm going to keep continuing to write with it.
And that reminds me, Rob, what type of nibs do you like to write with, with your pens?
Yes.
Well, I was about to say, well, what I like when you do reviews is me and you have very similar writing.
Okay.
In terms of size, in terms of the fact that you're writing in capitals.
Yeah.
I do the same.
So, yeah, I normally, I'll go for an extra fine or a fine depending on, well, sometimes depending on availability as well.
You know, whatever.
But I haven't strayed into anything bigger than that, really.
I have a few Safaris with a medium.
Yeah.
And, you know, those are fine.
But those are fine.
That's confusing.
You know what I mean?
I wasn't going to go there, but I appreciate that you did.
Yeah.
I mean, that's like a true gusher of a pen compared to like even a Safari extra fine.
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah, like I say, it's great for me because your reviews is like if I had this pen and I was writing it because I can see exactly what it's going to look like more or less.
All right.
Then I have a challenge for you.
I want you to try something for me, which given my handwriting style is a certain way.
And you can go look at this review.
And I don't know.
You probably have to embiggen the page, but I wrote it on graph paper.
I wrote it on the Mormon Nemecine.
It's a five millimeter grid graph paper.
So one of the things.
So I took a class this summer at a pen show from my friend Kimberly, who writes for the pen addict.
And she does a handwriting class.
And like you look at this picture and you go, oh, Brad, your handwriting's neat.
It's clean.
It looks sharp and everything.
One thing that she told me, and this is a good example.
So when y'all are looking, if y'all are good and look at this review, you can look at this yourself.
Since I write in all caps, the one thing I don't have is any letters that underhang the line.
Right.
So all my lines are in between the line.
Like my words, my letters don't drop below like the bottom line of a grid.
What I don't do is even touch the line at the bottom of the grid.
Right.
So if you think about if you have line paper or grid paper, you have a bottom line.
If you look at this, I just pulled it up.
Like I don't ever touch the line.
I literally write in the middle of the blocks.
I tried in her class, we were trying to like improve your handwriting.
So she's like, you need to like stop, like put the base of the letters on the line.
And I don't think I could do it.
Like it was so hard for me to hit the lines.
And I think y'all should go look at this.
And I want you to see, look at your handwriting, Rob, and see if you hit the line.
Like do you, does the bottom of your, if you're running in all caps, do you actually touch the line?
Because I, I just find it hilarious now that I've actually learned something from Kimberly that like blows my mind on handwriting.
Oh, I mean, I'm, I've had my journal in front of me, you know, so I've got my notes for, for today written in there and it's a dot grid.
It's a five mil dot grid.
I do exactly what you've done with this.
And I am writing right in the middle of every single row.
I'm not going anywhere near the dots.
It's actually driving me crazy now that I've, I've pulled up this image and it zoomed in on it.
And there's probably somewhere in here where I actually touched the line, but I can't see it.
Nowhere in like an entire a five page has the bottom of my letter touched this line.
And now I need to go back and like redo this whole thing and touch the line across the board.
And my handwriting will look terrible.
Right.
Just because like, I'm trying too hard.
Like this is just my flow, right?
Like you're, you're writing in that dot grid notebook.
It that's, it's just your flow of handwriting.
Right.
And my flow happens to land in smack in the middle of these lines.
And it's, it's, I, I'm just now finding it hilarious.
So I was curious since you wrote like me, if that was something similar.
And apparently it is.
Yeah, it absolutely is.
So, um, try to do that tomorrow and see, like pick a paragraph and try to write touching the bottom of the line for like three lines in a row.
And, and you'll realize like how much of a struggle that is.
Like I had no clue, no clue.
Yeah.
Oh man.
So Kimberly, Kimberly got me good on that.
I had to talk with her after class.
So, um, so I learned something there.
I also learned Rob that I'm a big fan of HelloFresh, which is our next sponsor of this week's episode.
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Rob, it is the end of Toptober.
So I feel like I needed to go out with a bang this week.
And that doesn't mean just, you know, reworking another top five list, which I'm going to continue to work on.
I have updates.
I think I've updated five so far.
I think three are active on the site.
Oh, I think it's six.
And then I have three more that are done that I just need to update on the page.
Let me ask you this, Rob.
Have you ever referenced the Pen Addict Top Five Pens page?
Yeah, oh, multiple times.
Okay.
In the past, you know, multiple times this year, I've been on that page to either for myself or for enabling somebody else.
Like, I'm not going to lie.
It's a good place to point people.
And that's the reason why I did it was just from a pure recommendation standpoint, right?
This is not my favorites.
This is what I would tell you to buy, right?
Because of consistency, quality, you know, a lot of years of usage and things that stand the test of time.
So I did want to do that again with you this week.
So I wanted us to have a little Top Five Pens talk.
And I asked you to build your own Top Five stationery list based on what you've been using.
You know, what you're using now, what you've been using like the last six months or so.
That's kind of like the random number that I had in my head.
It's not what I'm currently using necessarily.
But it's things that have impressed me over, you know, the last six months, maybe during 2025, that have found repeated use, make me smile, are very happy.
I'm very happy with.
And I wanted that list to encompass anything stationery related, right?
I wasn't going to like pick it.
It's like, Rob, give me your Top Five Mildliner colors.
That would actually be a pretty good list.
And you could just like reel them off right now.
But I wanted to just do kind of like a randomizing thing.
So I will let the guests go first.
We'll go from five to one.
It's not, I mean, mine's not necessarily ranked, but it's kind of, it might actually kind of be.
So I'll let you go first.
We're going to go from five to one.
So what is your number five item on your Top Five stationery list?
Yeah, so this is one.
I think this is probably the thing in the list that I use the least, but I've been really impressed with.
And this is the Blackwing Illegal Pads.
Yeah.
I think they, I'm pretty sure they were called Illegal Pads, right?
Because on their website, it doesn't say that.
Oh, really?
No.
I think, like, I remember when they launched this product and they launched it as the Illegal Pad.
Like the Illegal Pad.
Yeah.
But yeah.
Okay.
But I don't, yeah.
Like, it's always been that to me.
Yeah.
No, on their website, it just says Legal Pad.
Interesting.
Set up two.
But, you know, regardless, these are just really nice to write on.
You know, they are pricey for what they are.
But if I've got a lot of planning to do for, like, a house job or, you know, I'm just sort of trying to sort my life out.
You know those days you sit down and you go, I really need to sort my life out.
So, I'm going to need an A4 bit of paper for this.
These are perfect for it.
Like, they'll take fountain pens.
They'll take, you know, ball points, gels, whatever.
And they're just really nice.
Like, this is high quality stuff, but it's just so much nicer than a normal Legal Pad.
It is.
It is.
But, Rob, are they really A4 sized?
Oh, I think they are.
Are they?
I don't know.
No, they're not.
They're America sized.
Rob, 8.5x11, which isn't even Legal Pad.
They call it the Black Wing.
Okay.
We're going to fight now.
Not with you.
I'm going to fight with Black Wing.
Yeah.
This is the title when you go to the URL.
Number one, the URL says illegal in the URL.
Okay.
But then it takes you to the page.
It says Black Wing A4 Legal Pad set of two.
Okay.
I might be wrong.
Okay.
So, it says our take on the 8.5x11 Legal Pad.
Is their take actually A4?
Maybe.
This is confusing.
If you bear with me one moment.
Let me grab one.
No, they are A4.
Let me come back.
They are A4.
Okay.
I would hope so.
It's just weirdly described.
It says our take on the 8.5x11 Legal Pad.
I'm glad they're A4.
Yeah.
I mean, as they should be.
I'd still want to know what's going on with this naming thing, though.
Because this is causing me all sorts of problems.
Yeah.
And now I'm getting all kinds of pedantic.
Is it A4 from the perf down?
Or is it A4 including the binding?
Oh, I don't know.
I haven't got anything to compare it to.
See?
You don't realize who you're talking to sometimes.
I get all angsty about paper sizes and descriptions.
Yeah, that's fair.
We'll follow up on that.
Because a lot of companies will do a measurement of usable area.
Or the size.
The full size of the.
In this case, a notebook or notepad.
So, interesting stuff.
So, it does look like it is an A4 pad.
So, interesting.
That guy.
They should just take out the.
They should just take out that 8.5x11 from the description.
Because that just made me, like, panic.
That's a really confusing thing.
What do you mean it's your take on it?
I know it's their take on a legal pad.
Yeah.
Well, legal pads are not 8.5x11, by the way.
They're.
I think they're around 8.5x14, I believe, is a traditional legal pad measurement.
Blackwing, what are you doing?
We've gone off the rails.
We found Brad.
We found what actually messes Brad's brain up is paper sizes.
But you're not wrong that this is a legitimately good legal pad type of paper.
Which there's not a lot of good ones out there, to be honest.
No.
No, I can't imagine there is.
I mean, I looked around for exactly this type of thing.
Yeah.
And the blackwing ones were the only ones I could find recommended anywhere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Totally.
Totally a good product.
So, yeah.
Go for it.
So, my number five.
I went with an ink.
And I went with Pilot Orochizuku Toro.
Which is.
I think this is called Golden Lantern.
I'd have to look at the translation properly.
Totally.
It's this yellowish orange that kind of captivated me when Pilot.
This is one of their three new colors they launched a year ago.
So, they had an update to the Orochizuku lineup where they took out a handful of colors and added in three new ones.
This one was the most compelling to me.
Because it's kind of hard to describe.
Like, I think it's orange-ish.
But it's got a lot of yellow in it.
But the best part about it is it is super legible.
Right?
I used an extra fine nib when I was doing my review.
I don't have this inked up right now.
But as an ink over the past whatever time frame you want to talk about that stood out to me.
Like, this would definitely make, like, my top five list.
Because now I'm anxious to go grab it and ink it back up in a pen and start to use it again.
Do you have a favorite color of fountain pen ink that you've found so far?
Not at the moment.
Okay.
I feel like I'm really on the hunt for a really hot pink.
Okay.
I actually quite like the one that comes in the pink platinum preppy.
Yeah.
That pink is really nice.
Okay.
But I don't know where I should be looking really.
At the moment, I can't remember what I'm using in my Fungitown.
It's a J Herbin one.
Okay.
But...
And is it a hot pink?
Is it a pink?
It's a red.
Okay.
It's a sort of red.
It's a reddy pink.
I can't remember off the top of my head what it's called.
It might be Rouge Borgen something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's one of those.
Yeah.
But no, I haven't...
I wasn't really sure where to look, if I'm honest.
Yeah.
You know, I know diamine and diamine.
Diamine?
How are you set?
Yeah.
You know, I have a few of theirs.
Like, I have Hope Pink, which I've used, but that's not quite hot enough for me.
That's not my favorite.
That's not my favorite pink.
You know, I like pink inks, and that is not...
I said, oh, Hope Pink is going to be one that I like.
It's kind of not...
I tend to like the darker, magenta-s leaning pinks, as opposed to just like a pure hot pink.
So, I might have to get you a sample of one of the inks that Toro replaced, which is called
Suitsuji.
That actually might be your ink, but it would be a problem because you can't get it anymore.
But I think you would actually like it.
I think I saw that.
Maybe it was on Mountain of Ink, or it was recommended somewhere.
Yeah.
And then I saw that it doesn't exist anymore.
Yeah.
I deliberately went, or forget it then, because I'm not going to start going crazy, like chasing
down bottles of a retired product.
That's not worth it.
Like, I've lived that life back in the day, and then you'll find something close enough.
Like, there's something that's going to be out there that's close enough to that.
So, yeah, maybe I can help you out with that because I'm actually kind of curious myself.
All right.
What's number four on your list?
Number four is mildliners.
Yes.
And if you will permit me, I will give you my top five because I've got, I have a swatch
of all of the colors in the back of my journal.
Okay.
So I can very easily look at them.
Yes.
So we're going to go smoke red is number one.
I think that's probably my favorite.
Okay.
Summer green.
Mimosa yellow, which is the new one from the calm set for the 2025.
I love that.
Just for the record, Rob tracks this, you know, the new releases of the mildliners colors.
So, yeah.
It's very important to me.
As far as I can tell, I'm pretty sure I was the first person to have the 2025 ones in the
UK.
Nice.
At least.
Because I had to import these just to get a hold of them.
Where are we looking?
Where's the list?
The fuchsia from the bright set is really nice.
And also summer green from that set.
Nice.
So, but yeah, mildliners is, is my number four here.
Yeah.
I mean, this was probably the first thing that I really got caught up with.
Like I bought a set of, I think 15 of these and I'm sure we talked about it when I was
on the show.
And then I found out there was, you know, specific sets and all, how many colors are there?
And there's, there's two where one is exclusive to Japan and one is exclusive to the U S.
So I ended up importing one of those.
I built a website to keep track of it.
I use these in my journal.
I use them for some of my drawings I did for St. Jude.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm not breaking any new ground.
I don't think anyone listening to this is going, oh, mildliners.
Oh, what a good idea, Rob.
Like, no, I think most people know about them, but I just really like them.
Yeah, I think so.
But I also think zebra has done a good job at bringing them to the forefront.
It kind of came hand in hand with the, the hashtag Bujo movement movement, right?
Like on Instagram, the visual, the appealing stuff, but they've kind of been able to transition
into just like the everyday use kind of highlighter.
And you just find them on the store shelves, you know, at like the grocery store or, you
know, big box stores and zebra.
I don't know.
They did a really good job expanding this lineup and having people, I guess they, they probably
just kind of like nailed the name too, because like for years I'd called it a midliner, right?
But it's actually a mildliner and I don't know, it just, it works in every which way.
And I just wanted to give a shout out to zebra for, for that.
Like, I, I just think they do a good job with this product lineup and they've just kept it
rolling too.
Like you got new colors in, right?
Like it's at some point you think people are going to run out of colors, but you know,
several thousand fountain pen inks later, like no one seems to be stopping creating new and
interesting color.
So I love that.
Um, and they probably keep, do they keep like a position a on your desk?
Like the, the mild liner is like very accessible.
Well, the problem is, is my wife wants to use them for her job.
So at the moment they live downstairs.
Cause I generally only use one or two a week because I will just pick a couple of colors
to use my journal in.
Um, so they stay downstairs cause she does her journaling in the evening.
Um, so those are in a pencil case downstairs and I can access them if I need them, but I've
basically lost them at this point.
Well, the pen I keep on my desk, maybe, uh, it's, it's not a highlighter or a mild liner,
but I keep this pen at reach because I still, I've had it for probably a year and I'm still
trying to figure it out.
And it's the Uniball one F in 0.38 millimeters in black.
Yeah.
And yeah, like it's confusing to me because the ink is much better than my favorite.
Well, much darker.
Better is, we'll rescind that term.
Um, but compared to my all time favorite gel ink pen, which is the Uniball Signo DX 0.38,
there's no doubt that the one ink is blacker and darker and richer on the page.
And I'm just trying to decide if it's better than the DX.
I like the way this ink formulation works.
It goes a little bit wider on the page.
So that's my only hang up to say like, this is maybe not my favorite, but I think universally,
like more people might like the, the one.
And that's where I'm trying to get and trying to decide if like, that's the thing that, um,
you know, people should be thinking about this one in particular.
I latched onto it, the F model, which is a more expensive model because it's weighted
towards the front end, which is a feature I like in all pens or pencils.
So instead of the standard one barrel, which the standard one just comes in white and like
it has a bunch of color inks and you'll see the color trim on there.
These come in like more muted colors and they have a metal tip.
And that shows you that there's actually like a, like, I think it's brass, like a little
brass section, like on the front, you know, three quarters of an inch or inch of the pen.
And it just weights it properly.
You don't notice it's there, but it gives it a good weight.
And I don't know, I just love that pen.
And it, it just lives on my desk because if it's not around and I want something like
that, I tend to have to go hunt for it.
And I only have this one that I use regularly.
So, uh, it's really good pen.
Yeah.
This is the one that I will, I will grab if I'm doing some jobs around the house or running
some errands, I will grab one of these and grab my little notepad, um, and, you know,
shoot off out the house.
But this is what I normally go for.
Yeah.
Um, these are, and there's loads of really nice colors with these as well.
Yep.
Yep.
So pretty good pen.
All right.
What's number three.
I've noticed we actually have two brand duplicates, which we'll get to as we go through this,
but, uh, this is an interesting one.
Yeah.
So this is the, the life noble notebook, I think is what, what the, the official name is maybe.
Um, but I have an a five and then I have a, a, I want to say not even a six, maybe a seven
that will flip up there by one.
Yep.
Um, but the, the a five is the one I'm really talking about.
I have a plane, one of these, um, and it's been great for like just testing out ink or,
you know, doing just, just again, kind of sketching that kind of thing.
Or, you know, again, writing stuff I need to do in the house.
Um, you know, two kids, I've always got stuff to do.
Um, but these are just really nice.
I mean, I know for you, you use this pretty much as your notebook, right?
At the moment.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pretty much a spoiler alert.
It is on this list.
So, uh, yeah, I, I don't want to say it's hard to explain.
It just works with everything I throw at it and I don't have to think about it and it looks
good and it's the type of binding that I like.
It just feels good.
So yeah, I will definitely have more words on this, uh, momentarily about the one I'm
using and have been pretty much all year.
So yeah, they're great.
Very, very, very highly recommended.
Um, my number three is the retro 51 2025 pin shocker.
It's something I made, but I made it because I want to use it.
So I use this, I think this is probably my most used pin over the past month or two.
Um, since they came in and, um, went on sale, I'm using it for my show notes today.
I love the Schmidt P8127 refill.
Um, I love the style.
I love the color of it.
It just makes me happy.
This is like, this is if I was making a happy place in a pin, this is what it would look like.
Um, because it's fun looking, it's weird.
It writes well.
And I don't know, it's just kind of me in a pen.
Just kind of all encompassing there.
So I'm very happy.
I mean, I've got you, I've got you here now and I can just tell you this, like,
this is such a nice pair.
It really is.
I mean, this is what I'm using at like the last couple of weeks paired with my,
uh, funky town in my journal.
Um, you know, I have, I have my, what I tend to do is have my fountain pen in the front
and a little pen holder, and then I'll have some kind of gel or ballpoint, whatever I've
got knocking about in the side.
And this is what I've paired, paired it with as if I'm like wine pairing or something.
Yeah.
You know, I, I had this and the funky town came in at the same time because I was away
for the week.
Um, and I was like overwhelmed because I've got these two like amazing pens that are like
these beautiful pinks and purples.
Like you did a really good job on this, Brad.
I mean, you don't, you know, me to tell you that, but, um, these, this is a really nice
pen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I, I am so happy with it.
Like I, I'm just really ecstatic with it and I just want to use it all the time.
So yeah, it's, uh, definitely one of my favorites, not just cause I made it, but because
I made it for me.
So it's, uh, it's great.
All right.
Uh, number two for you, Rob, I'm interested about this one.
Yeah.
So this is an Energel, which, you know, pretty, pretty standard.
You know, okay.
It's a Pento Energel.
Um, this is a Pikachu pink edition.
I believe they did four of these.
Okay.
Um, and I actually have two more on the way, um, as we speak, which are different colors.
Uh, they, they seem to be quite hard to find because I guess they were probably a couple
of years ago now.
Um, it's a standard Energel except it just.
It has Pikachu on the side.
Um, but I, I just really liked this pen.
Like it's great to write with.
Um, and it's, it's got Pikachu on it.
What's not to like?
No, what's not to like the, the Energel is my number one most recommended, like off the
store shelf pen.
Like if you don't know what you're doing and you want to like get a nice gel ink pen for
people just going to like the grocery store or something, like it's going to be there.
And I would choose it over like the pilot G2 or the Uniball Signo 207, things like that.
So the Energel is very, very highly rated by me.
And then you throw in Pikachu.
I mean, come on.
Like that's, that's the way to do it.
I even managed to get an Energel pencil with the Pikachu.
Yeah.
Um, it's not, I'm not a massive fan of the mechanical pencil itself, but it was kind of a fun thing
that I ended up with.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have one of those laying around and I see it every now and then I'm like, yeah, I'm
good.
I'm good on that one.
But the pen, yeah.
Pen elite, elite, one of the best.
My number two, uh, on the, the top five stationery list of, you know, my, I guess my year so far
for the last six months, Esther Brooke coffee monsters, fountain pen, Rob, I can't, I can't
leave this pen on inked.
It is kind of been my go-to fountain pen.
I've only inked it with brown ink, um, specifically Robert Oster coffee monster brown, not the
ink that came with the pen or that you could buy along with the pen.
I didn't like that one, but, um, coffee monsters, uh, the coffee monsters co has a separate
Robert Oster called coffee monster.
It's just fits my hand.
Well, the extra fine nib is extra fine.
It's just, I, it makes me smile.
Like, I think that's a lot of this stationery, like, and why a lot of us like certain stationery,
like it makes us feel something right.
Like in happy.
And it just makes me smile when I pick up that pen.
I can't totally tell you why, but it's just the way the colors are the way the swirls
are just in a little bit of the pen, you know, just around the barrel cap and on the grip
section.
And the rest of it is, you know, just like a light Brown.
I don't know that one really kind of checked on my boxes and I've tried to like clean it
and put it away and it always finds its way back into my rotation.
So yeah, that's definitely, um, you know, probably one of my favorite, one of my favorite
pens going right now.
And that one is currently inked up and in use.
Um, so, um, I love it.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm trying not to look at it right now as you're talking about it, because this came
out, I think it was just at the start of when I was getting into all of this.
I think it was around March, April time.
Yeah.
It was back in the spring.
Exactly.
And, and, you know, initially I looked at this one, oh, it's, you know, whatever it is,
$200 or I can't pay that for a pen.
Um, we'd be on that now.
Um, but God, this is such a nice pen.
Yeah.
It really is nice.
Um, I feel like I can, I can fill one of these in my future.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It just works for me.
It just works for me.
I mean, yes, I'm, I'm friends with Helen and I love Helen to death and love what she
does at the coffee monsters.
But regardless of that, just like the pen and the design, it just really suits me.
And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's one of my favorites.
So yeah.
Um, maybe related what is in your number one spot, Rob?
Yeah.
So we're going from the, the coffee monsters pen, which is a subtle, uh, quite a calm, but
very nice, uh, pen to the funky town, which is also a very nice pen, but completely the
opposite vibe.
Uh, yeah.
So I mean, you have one, you have the orange one, don't you?
I think it's so good.
Like, yeah, I'll let you, I'll let you appraise it, but yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, this was, uh, I can't remember, I can't remember what pen show they announced
it at, but they.
Washington DC this year in August, early August.
Yeah.
So I saw the video of this, um, and I saw a few Instagram posts and I was like, I have
to have this pen.
Like they had it all out on, on a black sheet with like a UV light.
So you could see them all lit up.
And I was obsessed.
I mean, she said, I'm messaging you.
I'm like, why is it not on your website?
Like where's the newsletter that I can sign up to?
Mm-hmm.
You know, it was nowhere to be seen.
I was like, come on, just let me buy this pen.
And they were selling them at the shows and somebody, a few people did offer it.
They said like, I can buy you one and send it to you.
I thought, I don't want to, I don't want to start messing around with that right now.
Cause you know, postage and all of that kind of stuff.
Mm-hmm.
Um, by the time it was like a month in, I was like, maybe I should have got somebody to
buy me one.
Like, I can't believe it's taken this long.
Um, yeah.
And then it appeared on the website one night with sort of no fanfare or anything.
I think it was overshadowed by the peanuts collection.
Um, it appeared one night I ordered it and I think it showed up like two days later or
something.
And I, I just, I just love this pen.
Like it is the color and everything you've said about the, the, the coffee monsters one,
like it's, it's just a nice pen to use.
Um, and you know, the, the color is a bonus.
I mean, that's what I love about it, but everything about this pen is just perfect for me.
Yeah.
It's like the color got you there, but the actual experience of using it and not just
like, okay, it writes real nice and feels good, but it makes you feel good too.
Right.
It's just like, it's a very cool thing.
So like the, the, the, the hangup and the delay, which we've discussed and I've discussed
it on the podcast before is they didn't know at they being Esther brook didn't know if
they were just going to keep this as a show exclusive pen or if they were going to sell
it.
Um, they knew they weren't, it wasn't going to be a retail pen, I think.
Um, but they thought they might put them up on their website and they, they finally did
like you said to, to little fanfare, but, uh, I'm glad they showed up.
So people, if they, if they want them, uh, can get them because it's such a, it's, um,
it seems like it's kind of like, okay, basic fluorescent pen, but like the material that
they used, I think it was turnt pen co, um, who does some amazing work.
It's just, I don't know.
It's, it's more than that.
Like it's, it came out really, really nice.
If you like, you know, bright ostentatious pens, like I do.
So like, it's, it's kind of perfect.
Well, I'm also eyeballing the fact that there is a purple listed on their website with no
pictures.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I, I have not laid eyes on any purple.
I would go ahead and say that to, to the audience.
I have not seen any purple.
Um, I would be interested if that, uh, if that came out or maybe was there a purple in the
pictures?
I'd have to go back and look.
I didn't think I thought it was green, pink, orange, and yellow, right?
It was.
And then when the listing went up on the website, there's this purple one with no pictures and
it just says coming soon.
Okay.
Um, so I'm going to be keeping an eye on that.
I mean, given the pen that I just made, I would probably be interested in it too.
So, um, and given my number one on the list, um, being a pink and purple notebook, the life
a five Hachimanjia, a Yame notebook.
It's literally the same notebook that you're talking about, Rob, the life noble note, except
a fancier cover.
It's pink with purple magenta foil stamping for all the beautiful.
I think life's logo is like really beautiful.
And, um, so it's the same size, but the cover's different and the paper is lighter.
It's like less cream colored than life's traditional a five noble note.
So it's a little bit, um, lighter color.
And then the grid is gray.
So I don't know.
It's, uh, I'm using it right now again for my show notes.
Uh, it's been my favorite notebook easily.
Uh, definitely a top fiber for me.
And when I won't shut up about every time we have, every time we do what we're using, you
know, like once a month, once every other month here, I'm still using this notebook.
I'm actually trying to finish it because I have a plotter personal size that I want to
use a little bit more and see how that's going to fit into my rotation.
But I can't quit this notebook, Rob.
And, uh, you know, that's a, that's a good place to be with notebooks because sometimes,
uh, as I have displayed, uh, recently on Twitch, they're hard to fill.
Sometimes you just punt and give them up with, uh, only a few pages used, but, uh, I have
found one in this one that has stuck with me for quite a bit.
Yeah.
I mean, every time I see it on stream, I think I really should order one because it's pink
and, and it's just, it's just really nice.
Yeah.
I'm just glad now that I bought it last year at stationery fest and didn't use it for a
while until I was ready until like January 1st this year, I held it.
But when I bought it, you could only buy it, um, in person from the, the store is called
Hachimanjia.
It's a Japanese stationery store.
They finally started, uh, they didn't really have an online shop set, but now they do.
And there's, there's like a handful of different colors of these notebooks, uh, with different
papers on the inside.
So I'm glad if I, if I want another one, I can just order one instead of having to go
like get someone to mule me three of them the next time they're on a show that Hachimanjia
is at or something like that, something like that.
So, well, this was fun.
Like I, I like talking about more of like a current top five, um, you know, as some products
that have kind of withstood, you know, we, we turn things over here pretty quickly in
the stationery world.
You know, I have, you know, if you ask me my all time favorites, you know, are any of
these going to make the list?
I don't know, but you know, I've got plenty of, plenty of pens that fit that category, but
this, I wanted to cover kind of a top five of what we're using, you know, in the past,
past several months, past year.
And, uh, I think you crushed it, Rob.
I really, really appreciate, uh, you doing this, you coming on the show, you experimenting
with your art and sharing with us.
Is there anything else you need to share with us?
I have all your links and everything.
We'll put that in the show notes for this week.
Anything else you want to, you want to get out there?
Uh, no, I don't think so.
I mean, I'll, uh, I will give you the link to the, uh, October, uh, tag for this month.
So people can go see that as well.
Um, and yeah, I mean, thanks for inviting me in the top five thing was great.
Cause it really gave me a chance to look at what I have here and what I've used over the
and like really nail it down.
I was like, what are the best things?
I mean, there's so many nice things that I've got here that can't possibly make that
list.
You know what I mean?
I've just gushed to you about your pen.
Like it's not that it's not a top five item, but there's so many nice things out there.
They've notebooks and pens and everything else in between.
Like it's, it's such a vast hobby, um, that nailing it down, but this was really fun to
do this.
Good, good.
I'm glad you found this little experiment useful.
It just popped into my head.
So it's a good way to wrap up top tober.
And if anyone wants to share their, uh, top five stationery products over the last year
or so, uh, send them our way.
It's penaddictfeedback.com or you can email me hello at penaddict.com.
Uh, you can also find every, everything I do linked over at penaddict.com.
So Rob, this has been a treat.
I'm sure I will talk to you, uh, online soon and everyone go follow Rob, uh, from all the
links in, in the show notes and until next time say goodbye, Rob.
And goodbye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.