Editing The Pen Addict 632/transcript (section)

== Glass pens and stationery trends. ==

* I noticed you have, you know, have quite a few glass pens. So I just want to talk about glass pens in general. And then kind of, you know, what's inspiring you in the stationery world right now.
* Right. Um, glass pens. So I think, um, the U.S. is a little bit like one year behind the, the, the fad that, or like the, the most hot thing, because I think it was a year or two ago that ink starts, like ink is the thing in Japan. And people are not going to buy a lot of fountain pens to fill those ink. So instead glass pens came to the foreground because it's a cool tool with variations that you can use to enjoy ink. So the association of ink swamps and glass pen, um, audiences has been mentioned a few times, I think on the Tokyo Inklings, um, yes, podcast. That's where I learned a lot about it initially. Oh yeah. And I was, I was just kind of on the sideline looking in and just like, I don't know if I need a glass pen. And, and I think it was, it started last year when I got to be friends, uh, closer friends with a few people in my community who owns an,
* I don't want to call it a very prosperous amount. Um, glass pens.
* Um, and her name is Polly. Not a hoarder. Polly pan. Go look up her Instagram. She's amazing. And she is on the hunt always for these, um, glass pens that are exclusive to Japan and like at events. I know food a fan is always shocked to see that Polly was able to get these like super limited glass pens at these Japanese events. And I, I got to like know her more and got to try some of her glass pens and art impression of glass pens might have always been like, it's scratchy. It feels like it's going to be broken. And I think that's probably due to the, uh, the most popular glass pen here is probably like the J. Urban type. Yeah, I'd say so. They're not really, they, they, they offer you the worst experience compared to what you would have tried by these Japanese craftsmen. Like specifically at SSA, a pen show, we cajoled our own glass studio to come to SSA pen show for the last year. Like all of us have been visiting Kurasiki, going there and buying a glass pen from them, writing in person, seeing them tune and grind the nib. Cause you could sand a glass nib to be extremely smooth. And when you write on it, it sometimes even feels better than writing with a Sailor Pro gear. Like that's, that's my experience. Okay. And they're so beautiful. And the craftsmanship of course, and crafting the design of it is just out of this world. And that, that whole innovation had been going on in Japan for a year or more, I would even say. And so I'm really happy to see that trend coming in. And I think it's something that people needed to, to dip their toes in carefully because the impression is glass do break, but a lot of these brands, like even Bungu box, they, they have warranties. So even if you break the nibs or something like that, that happened to Kelly, she sends it back to Bungu box and they were able to reshape it for her, like under warranty. So there's a lot more responsibility and like a pride to the things they make from the Japanese makers. And I, I super admire that. And the fact they, our own glass studio has like two craftsmen. They call the person who's the fire person who shapes it. And the person who's the coat, the water person who sands and grinds. And then he's the guy who came to as a pen show. Okay. Mr. Ono Takusan. Um, and then also like not just Japan, of course, one of my favorite brands that I got to learn and know about this pen show was glass of fee. And they, she makes these awesome, like super crafted shape, like the little foxes holding, holding things. Um, the sailor moon, like one, super intricate artwork. And it just kind of opens up another facet, I think, of the pen world. Like, you know, we have seen a lot of innovation and creativity with pen bodies and things, but how about, how about glass? And what if they offer amazing writing experiences, stub nibs, flex nibs, or not, sorry, not flex, stub nib and the calligraphy music nibs, um, thin, fine nibs, medium, stub, but all that kind of stuff. And, and then now you have things to play with, with your inks. Yeah. So now that I've learned like over the past, I don't know, just really this year, like I have obviously known about glass nib pens for a while and have definitely seen some amazing works of art out there learning now,
* like mostly this year, like you're saying in the U S getting to talk with several of these makers, learning the customization options that are available. Like I'm probably at some point next year. Yeah. I talked to, talk to them very much. Uh, at, actually I spent a lot of time with them at stationery fest going, huh? I did not know that was what we could do. So like, I'll could, that's one of those things where I'll continue to do my research and I'll end up with something like that specific for me. Right. Like that's why we do all this stuff is to find the things that are specific to us. And luckily in our hobby, like we can find notebooks and pens that really speak to April or really speak to Brad and like fits my handwriting style. Like my handwriting style is going to be different from April's. And yeah, that's like, these things are just like really, really cool works of art. Now these, um, these glass dip pens and like, if I actually would have made it up to the front of the line, some of these in San Francisco. Yeah. They were swamped. Yeah. They did not bring enough. Yeah. Like if there were like little foxes there, by the time I got up to the table, like I would have just gone for it. But yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to look into that because I think that's an interesting aspect. So what do you use a glass dip pen for primarily? Are you, will you write your journal entries? Like literally just use it like a pen, right? Yes. I write in my Hobonichi with it. Um, you know, it works just like a fountain pen. Um, some other people have more meditative practices with it. You know, people who wants to practice their handwriting and just copying books. Uh, in Japan, there's a habit called the morning, right? Like they copy a phrase or paragraph from a book or a quote, and they make it a whole ceremony ritual out of it on a single pristine page, just copying it down. Um, I think that's what Polly does on her account. So she, she writes in kanji and like Japanese and stuff like that. Um, and then some people do art with it, like, especially with the cool food day nips, um, that Hanabi glass studio was making and customizing, you can make really cool marks and use it for drawing. And because you can redip them almost immediately, like into a different color, you can, you'd have so much flexibility with it. That's the one that, that's the one that got me when I was talking to him and he was showing me, uh, how it worked. I was like, okay, I did not know this was the thing. It's not like you need to use a glass pen, but you want to use it. Right. I don't need any of this. I literally don't need any of this, but man, it means something to me. And like I said, like I've never been just as compelled by my own stationery right now, then we still get to learn about new things. Like, you know, Hey, you know, I'm going to explore, you know, a new journal or a glass dip pen or something that's going to continue my enjoyment of this hobby that we love. So, yeah, I think we'll probably wrap it up there because I could talk to you for hours. Like you're one of my favorite people, uh, in the world. I'll just go ahead and say that. So like, I have so many more questions for you and so many more, things I can learn from you. And I appreciate how much time you spent with me today, talking about everything and, and putting it out there. So it's really great stuff. Always awesome to talk to you, April, before we go, can you tell people where they can find you online if they're interested in, in finding out more? Absolutely. So I'm on Instagram as penguins creative. I also run a sub stack called the penguin posts. And I think that's where I am trying to deviate from the social media world as I wanted to share more in-depth thoughts and writing, um, about my adventures, if you will, my food blogging and, um, my love for stationery and related stuff. You need to grab a drink when one of those posts comes live that they're super enjoyable, but, uh, yeah, make sure you're hydrated. They're very long. I ramble a lot when I'm, I think I'm like those old school millennial that like still wants to write a blog instead of short videos. Um, so I do that. I also stream on Twitch, um, sporadically. So twitch.tv slash penguins creative. Uh, and I think that's the three best place to find me these days. Uh, and, or if you meet me at a show, yeah, running around if, if they can actually, uh, get to the table to see you, which is, uh, you know, that's, that's a 2025 problem we can solve. Uh, we're doing a really fun road trip event. If you didn't see at the pen show for travelers, that's November. Um, so in November, we are doing a, a great American road trip for travelers company. So they do these stamp, uh, traveling caravan concepts. And the last time they did one was in Madrid, um, before the pandemic. And this year they just ventured out to Malaysia, I think this week. So in November, the Japan team, the travelers company, Japan team is coming, um, to LA, um, specifically to long beach for two days, uh, November 2nd and 3rd. And then there'll be going to San Francisco. Um, we're going to be hosting a pop-up at heat ceramics, um, in the mission district on the sixth and seventh. And then they're actually going to come to my area. We're going to go like take a ferry, go all the way to port Townsend to visit the folks at our toolkit and do a pop-up there. And it's going to be super exciting because we're going to have events like the aspiring Viking. Have you heard of those where you build your own notebook? So there's going to be a buffet of paper types and you basically pick and arrange them as you wish. And they, the craftsmen will spiral bounded for you on the spot. And so it's really exciting. And they haven't done this in so long. And, um, I'm very exhausted, but also very excited.
* So hope to see you there. No rest for you. There's a lot going on. You need to send me some information about that so I can share with everyone, make sure I have the right links. If people are interested in finding out more about that traveler's road trip, because it sounds spectacular. So, uh, thank you again, April, just real quick, everyone. I'm, I'm Brad. You can find pretty much everything I do at penaddict.com. I'm on Instagram at penaddict stream on Twitch with April. We need to do a co-stream one time, uh, figure out all this new technology that they have on there and do a, we'll do a co-stream sometime. Uh, you know, when you're, when you're not busy, you know, I'm intimidated by all the new things on Twitch. I'm just like, I know I, I, I get it lost a little bit. So we're going to wrap it there. I will talk to you later. I will see you on the road, road soon and, uh, uh, have a great rest of your night. And thanks so much. Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]